Practice Management

Washington - Organizations that provide seller-funded down-payment assistance to home buyers do not qualify as tax-exempt charities, the Internal Revenue Service said in a recent ruling.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson announced that the 2007 Low Income Taxpayer Clinic grant application process is now open. The grant program is in its eighth year and continues to expand.

Organizations that provide seller-funded down-payment assistance to home buyers do not qualify as tax-exempt charities, the Internal Revenue Service said in a ruling last week.

With the House Ways and Means Committee due to hold hearings on corporate tax reform next week, the Tax Foundation recently released a comparison of the U.S. corporate tax system to other countries around the world.

BKD LLP has purchased the Colorado Springs, Colo., practice of Grant Thornton LLP, in a deal effective May 1.

Banking group the Wachovia Corp. will acquire the defined contribution record-keeping business of Ameriprise Financial Inc.

Details have surfaced on the complaints lodged against Austin law firm Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, one of a trio hired by the Internal Revenue Service as part of a plan to outsource some debt collections.

Both houses of Congress appear to have reached a deal on a $70 billion package of tax cuts, according to published reports.

Continuing on its merger tear throughout the Midwest, regional powerhouse CPA and business advisory firm Virchow Krause & Co. will merge with Oak Brook, Ill.-based William Gurrie & Co. Ltd.

The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, a volunteer group that works to improve customer service and satisfaction at the Internal Revenue Service, has released its 2005 Annual Report.