Practice Management

A federal report says that the Internal Revenue Service needs to put a better system in place to evaluate the results of the private debt collection program it implemented this fall.The Government Accountability Office looked at a trio of issues, including whether the IRS addressed critical success factors before limited implementation, whether the IRS will assess lessons learned before fuller implementation, and finally, whether the IRS’s planned study will help determine if using private contractors is the best use of federal funds.

The Internal Revenue Service is pushing back the printing schedule for a number of its tax products, including several versions of the 1040 and 1099 forms.Earlier this month, the IRS warned the Senate Finance Committee tax staff that delays in enacting a number of expiring tax breaks could have an adverse impact on tax administration -- affecting outside contracts with vendors to get the forms and instructions printed, and possibly eventually having a negative impact on collections.

In recent interviews, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson has said that the agency will postpone initiating collection activities against taxpayers in areas struck by Hurricane Katrina until next year.

In response to a senator’s inquiry, the Government Accountability Office will review the operations of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division and compliance department.

In a press conference timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of President Reagan’s signing the last major tax reform act into law, former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued a call for another tax reform push.Wyden has introduced his Fair Flat Tax Act in the Senate, which includes provisions to lower tax rates and broaden the overall tax base. The legislation would allow taxpayers to file their returns on a simplified, single-page 1040 form; collapse individual tax brackets from the current six down to just three; and set a single, flat corporate rate. The bill would also end the alternative minimum tax and contains a unique provision to provide a refundable 10-percent tax credit for every taxpayer’s state and local taxes -- a benefit for taxpayers who don’t itemize.

A federal panel is recommending changes to governmental accounting that would require the cost of future Social Security and Medicare payments to be accounted for year-by-year as workers accumulate entitlements.

The partners of a pair of Charleston, S.C., accounting firms announced that on the heels of a merger, their business will be acquired by regional accounting firm Dixon Hughes PLLC.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Rehmann Group announced plans to merge with Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Boyes, Wright, Pittman & Co. PLLC and Traverse City, Mich.-based Weber, Curtin & Pahssen LLC, in a deal effective Jan. 1, 2007.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Beginning in January, Link2Gov will be able to process credit card payments related to federal business tax Forms 941 and 940 for an expanded number of filing years -- 1997 through present balance due.

Rea & Associates Inc., an accounting and business consulting firm with 10 offices in Ohio, will merge with Lake County, Ohio-based Lynch, Anselmo, Ott, Bryan + Co. in a deal effective Nov. 1.