Practice Management

Tax and accounting software and products provider CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, has agreed to acquire ATX/Kleinrock, a provider of tax preparation and research materials. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.ATX/Kleinrock, headquartered in Rockville, Md., supplies tax preparation, accounting and tax research software products to more than 48,000 tax professionals and CPAs throughout the country.

Schedule M-3 is part of the effort by the Internal Revenue Service to get a better handle on abusive tax shelters and other aggressive tax techniques by getting sufficient detail on book/tax differences that it can guide IRS auditors to transactions in need of further examination.The IRS is sufficiently confident in its ability to track book/tax differences on Schedule M-3 that earlier this year it removed book/tax differences as a criteria required for reportable transactions. While the former Schedule M-1 required only 10 lines of information, Schedule M-3 expands that to 90 lines of information, with an emphasis on making a distinction between temporary and permanent book/tax differences.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that long-distance telephone customers will be able to seek refunds ranging from $30 to $60 on their 2006 tax refunds.

Boston-area firm Braver PC announced an investment in a majority interest of Mansfield, Mass.-based Andrews Computer Systems Inc.Andrews serves more than 250 clients working in a range of applications and industries. The acquisition will gives Braver's clients access to a full-service computer technology company. The 10-member Andrews team will join the accounting firm's technology group and be marketed as Braver Technology Solutions LLC.

In an August letter, the Internal Revenue Service said that the NAACP did not violate its tax-exempt status when the civil rights group's chairman gave a speech criticizing President Bush.

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, announced that its acquisition of the assets of ATX/Kleinrock has been completed.

The Government Accountability Office is urging the Internal Revenue Service to require more comprehensive reporting of data relating to donor-advised funds, in an effort to address tax compliance challenges.In its report, the GAO outlined a series of steps for the IRS in data collection regarding tax-exempt donor-advised funds including suggesting that the Service collect Form 990 data for, and provide guidance on calculating payout rates for donor-advised funds and supporting organizations, as well as urging Congress to provide the IRS with the authority to protect taxpayer identification numbers from public disclosure. The GAO also recommended that the IRS require more thorough reporting of supporting organizations' ID numbers of and report the TINs of recipients of large loans.In contrast to private foundations, donor-advised funds and supporting organizations give donors less control over how donations will be used, but provide more favorable tax deductions, lower administration costs, less oversight from the IRS and fewer reporting requirements.

Like most everyone else, Congress will return from its summer vacation in the coming week.

When I was child and invited to a birthday party, I almost always left with a bag of goodies, usually candy, maybe a lollipop, some chocolate bars, sour balls, and probably a piece of licorice.

The Platt Consulting Group, operated by principals Michael and Kelly Platt, founders of online news portal AccountingWeb, have acquired monthly newsletter Inside Public Accounting from Atlanta-based publisher Hudson Sawyer.Terms were not disclosed.