Practice Management

Tax prep giant H&R Block Inc. announced that its first-quarter tax preparation and related fees rose 3.7 percent from a year earlier, to a total of $1.98 billion.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that its special enrollment examination could be converted to a computer-based test as soon as this fall.

A court order will allow the Internal Revenue Service to ask PayPal, a money transfer service owned by eBay Inc., to turn over information on customers who might be evading taxes.

Tax Freedom Day will fall on April 26 this year, according to the Tax Foundation's annual calculation using the latest government data on income and taxes.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox announced that Wall Street fund lawyer Andrew "Buddy" Donohue will join the agency as the next director of the Division of Investment Management.

Taxware, a provider of transaction tax calculation and compliance solutions, has released its annual list of the "Top 10 Most Unusual U.S. Sales Tax Laws for 2006."

Tax research and software provider RIA has upgraded its proprietary Checkpoint service to include expansion of user access to BNA content, international standards and titles from sibling Thomson company PPC.

The Government Accountability Office gave a thumbs-up to the Internal Revenue Service's $11-billion budget request, saying that the agency appears to have recognized that throwing money at enforcement can only reduce the tax gap so much.

Bearden & Smith PC has merged with regional accounting firm Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLC. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

H.R. 5114, the Tax Return Choice Act of 2006, was introduced in the House and referred to the Ways and Means Committee.