Practice Management

Having been scrapped from Congress's legislative agenda in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a vote to permanently repeal the estate tax could be held in the Senate this week.

A laptop containing fingerprints of nearly 300 Internal Revenue Service employees and job applicants is missing, according to published reports.

Dixon Hughes PLLC has acquired South Carolina's Trammell & Co. PA, an accounting firm focused on the construction industry.

Sacramento-based S.J. Gallina & Co. LLP and Roseville, Calif.-based Bartig Basler & Ray CPAs Inc. finalized a merger deal last week.

Some taxpayers make novel arguments in attempts to be taxed at a favorable capital gains rate. Wolman v. Comm. is a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals order and judgment affirming a Tax Court decision, and it shows how creative taxpayers can be.

Years ago, I remember watching a news vignette about a drawbridge in some frigid state that kept an operator on duty 24 hours a day.

Continuing its merger tear throughout the Midwest, regional powerhouse CPA and business advisory firm Virchow Krause & Co. will merge with Oak Brook, Ill.-based William F. Gurrie & Co. Ltd.Terms of the union, which became effective June 1, were not disclosed.

Can there be any more emotional topic than partner compensation?It seems that no matter what a firm partner is paid, there is always the issue of relative pay. In other words, how much did I get paid in comparison to you? If I received more than you, I feel good, and if I received less, I don't. It makes no difference that the disparity may be minimal.

Although the continuing thirst of states for more dollars to fuel spending increases has led to a variety of efforts to augment tax revenue, they differ widely on what they consider sufficient contact with a business to give them the authority to tax it."Nexus" is the minimum amount of contact between a taxpayer and the state that would permit taxation by the state. It arises from the Constitution's due process clause, which requires a minimum connection between a state and an entity that it seeks to tax, and the Commerce Clause, which prohibits states from unduly burdening interstate commerce.

With a Congress and an administration too fond of tax cuts and spending to solve the growing budget deficit, the tax gap has become a more convenient focus for deficit reduction. With the tax gap, the Congress can urge action by the Internal Revenue Service without having to figure out what to do itself.The IRS estimates that the tax gap is $345 billion, which, if collected, could make a significant dent in the projected annual deficit, which is now approaching $500 billion.