Practice Management

LarsonAllen announced that is has acquired the offices of Florida’s Chastang, Ferrell, Sims & Eiserman LLC, in a deal effective Nov. 1.

The Internal Revenue Service announced the selection of five new members for the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee.

BKD LLP will combine with Houston’s Beacon Alliance LLP, in a merger effective Nov. 1.

While succession planning has taken the stage as one of the main issues facing CPA firms today, there is a correlated issue that firms cannot ignore - how they keep the intellectual capital that older partners have developed over the years.Firms today cannot afford to lose the wisdom, intellectual capital and relationships of their senior partners.

TOP HALF OF TAXPAYERS PAY HIGHEST TAX SHARE IN DECADES: The share of income taxes paid by the top half of taxpayers reached its highest level in decades, according to a report from the Joint Economic Committee.According to figures supplied by the Internal Revenue Service, the top half of taxpayers ranked by income paid 96.70 percent of the individual income taxes paid in 2004, compared to 86.05 percent in 1949, 89.35 percent in 1959, and 90.27 percent in 1969. The top 1 percent of tax filers paid 36.89 percent of 2004 income taxes, while the top 10 percent accounted for more than two thirds (68.19 percent) of those taxes. At least part of the increase in taxes paid by the higher percentile may be related to higher capital gains following the reduction of the capital gains tax rate in 2003.

New online payment options, changes to the Offer in Compromise program, and the impact of the National Research Program are, among others, key issues for the tax practitioner community.

The provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, enacted on Aug. 17, 2006, include a package of changes related to tax-exempt entities and charitable contributions. Many of the provisions were designed to tighten perceived abuses involving tax-exempt entities and deductions for charitable contributions. A few of the new provisions, however, liberalize the charitable giving rules.

Horne LLP, a Jackson Miss.-based CPA firm, announced its first growth outside the southeast, with the acquisition of the Tucson, Ariz.-based firm, Moran, Quick & Associates.

The Internal Revenue Service is seeking applications for vacancies on the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities.

The Tax Policy Center has released a series of data tables taking a look at the effect of the major tax changes enacted since 2001.