Practice Management

Of the nearly 2,500 missing children whose pictures have appeared in the paper versions of tax forms over the past five years, 87 have been located thanks to leads generated by taxpayers, according to a recent report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.Since 2000, the Internal Revenue Service has partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help locate missing children by publishing their pictures in printed instructions and publications as part of the IRS Picture Them Home Program.

In a merger of companies that primarily provide accounting technology to schools, Dallas-based Tyler Technologies Inc. announced that it has acquired Bangor, Maine’s Advanced Data Systems Inc.Publicly-traded Tyler said that it had acquired all of ADS’s common stock, as well as an office building used in the business, for approximately $4.2 million in cash. ADS develops and sells fund accounting solutions, primarily in New England.

Tax prep giant H&R Block Inc. reported a third-quarter loss last week, pointing to its struggling mortgage lending arm even at the start of a strong beginning to the fourth quarter’s tax season -- where the company makes the bulk of its profits.Block said that it lost $44.7 million in the three months ending Jan. 31, compared to gains of $12.1 million in the same period a year ago. Revenue for the same quarter increased to $955.1 million, from $860.3 million.

The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new Internet-based version of its popular Exempt Organizations Workshop covering tax compliance issues confronted by small and midsized tax-exempt organizations, including charities and churches.The online workshop, "Stay Exempt - Tax Basics for 501(c)(3)s," consists of five interactive modules on tax compliance topics, including maintaining tax-exempt status; unrelated business income; employment issues; handling the Form 990; and required disclosures.

More than a dozen senators have signed on to sponsor a bill that would stop the Internal Revenue Service from using private debt collectors to collect unpaid taxes.Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. introduced the legislation. Both objected to the plan last year.

An agent of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has been indicted on seven counts of bank fraud and related charges, according to the Justice Department.According to the indictment, between March 1999 and August 2000, Special Agent John Thomas Jr. conspired with others to fraudulently obtain more than $100,000 in loans from a trio of banks in Jacksonville, Fla. He obtained loans from each bank in the name of computer service provider Zan Tan Man Enterprises, which prosecutors say had no revenues, no experience in the computer field and no employees. If convicted on all charges, Thomas could be sentenced to a maximum term of 185 years in prison and a fine of up to $6.25 million.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 included a provision, applicable to distributions after Dec. 31, 2006, permitting the rollover of plan assets of a deceased participant in a qualified plan to an IRA for a non-spousal beneficiary. Previously, the law had permitted such rollovers only if done by a participant during their lifetime or, if after death, only to a spousal IRA. Unfortunately, certain restrictions under the new law that are out of a taxpayer/participant's hands may actually prove to be the reason why rollovers by non-spousal beneficiaries will never catch on as a viable tax strategy.The non-spousal rollover provisions may be the latest example of a good rule that provides no incentive for change by those who control the infrastructure - in this case, the plan sponsors and administrators. Some practitioners are hoping for a technical or substantive correction eventually to fix the problem.

In response to requests from Congress, the Government Accountability Office has released a new report outlining a trio of approaches that would reduce the tax gap - while at the same time laying out the significant obstacles that any approach would face.The GAO said that simplifying the Tax Code, or passing fundamental tax reform, could potentially reduce the tax gap by billions. For the 2001 year, the Internal Revenue Service has estimated that errors in claiming tax credits and deductions contributed $32 billion to the tax gap alone. However, the report notes, "these provisions serve purposes Congress has judged to be important, and eliminating or consolidating them could be complicated."

Thanks to a seldom-observed holiday, the Internal Revenue Service announced that taxpayers will have until April 17 to file their 2006 returns and pay any taxes due.April 15 falls on a Sunday in 2007, while April 16 is Emancipation Day, a legal holiday in the District of Columbia.

For years your firm has done just fine, thank you, without the assistance of a business development executive. But is it time to reconsider? The changing professional environment and new demands on CPA firms and partners suggest that it just may be.Let's review some of the arguments in favor of the practice, and provide some tactical direction in how to pursue it.