Practice Management

Retroactive beneficial tax legislation, such as the just-passed “Tax Relief and Health Care Act,” is always welcome.The legislation, which President Bush is expected to sign shortly, contains numerous tax provisions, including a slew of tax benefit extenders, energy tax incentives, health savings account changes, tax administration modifications and technical corrections to earlier tax legislation.

Two Jacksonville, Fla.-area practices, located just a mile away from each other, announced that they will merge in a deal effective Nov. 30.

Intuit Inc. continued stuffing its own holiday stocking on Thursday, announcing that it has inked a $142-million deal to acquire Electronic Clearing House Inc.

Aside from identifying a number of nuances in last year’s tax law changes and interpreting the effects of congressional leadership turnover, a new tax guide should help midsized business owners monitor a series of federal tax trends for 2007.Published by national CPA firm RSM McGladrey, the “2006 Tax Planning Guide” includes a Top 10 list of tax-planning strategies for midsized companies and issues owners should watch for on the horizon.

There’s no question that the Free File program, the Internal Revenue Service’s partnership with the manufacturers of tax prep software, is a win-win deal on many fronts for both parties.In exchange for the manufacturers in the Free File Coalition making free filing offers to taxpayers on the basis of such factors as income (in 2007, taxpayers making less than $52,000 a year get access), the IRS has agreed not to offer taxpayers its own free alternative. The program, which includes participation from electronic prep heavyweights Intuit and H&R Block, is now in its fifth year.

Got a question for the Internal Revenue Service that needs answering? Why not ask your local stakeholder liaison? Who’s that? They are IRS employees who are attempting to establish a relationship with those representing small business and self-employed taxpayers. The liaisons provide very specific information about the policies, practices, and procedures followed by the IRS.Take for example the Issue Management Resolution System (IMRS), a stakeholder liaison initiative intended to capture, develop, resolve, and respond to significant national and local stakeholder issues. Under the program, practititioners’ notify IRS of concerns about IRS policies, practices, and procedures, and IRS researches the issues to bring about resolution.

The Washington headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service reopened to the agency’s employees last week, following some $25 million in repairs made necessary after massive June flooding.

In a letter released last week, the Internal Revenue Service said that a publicly-traded acquiring corporation can deduct amounts it paid to settle a class action securities litigation lawsuit against the target entity that was triggered by misstatements in the entity’s reported earnings.The ruling is directed only to the taxpayer requesting it and may not be used or cited as precedent.

Protiviti Inc., a provider of technology risk consulting and internal audit services, announced that it has consolidated its public sector operations and that the new, wholly owned subsidiary had already made its first acquisition.

Leaders are always searching for ways to increase accountability to get the results they need. My advice is to start by defining your role when it comes to delivering results.Simply put, the leader's job is to ensure every member of the team wins, and winning is defined as meeting the organization's top objectives. I only wish someone would have explained this to me earlier in my career. The reason this is so powerful is due in part to the inherent quid pro quo. Throughout my career, one of the best ways I've found to help people win is to establish an accountability-based culture focused on producing results, not activities.