Practice Management

Advanced degrees are being obtained by a higher percentage of the middle- and upper-class population than ever before. Many of these students hold full-time jobs. The recent development of online universities has only served to fuel this trend. The ability of working students to take a business expense deduction for tuition expenses likewise has grown in importance.With MBAs being one of the hot degrees to have as of late, because of its apparent ticket to success in many different business settings, it's a small wonder that a recent Tax Court decision has attracted more than its share of attention. That case (Allemeier Jr., T.C. Memo. 2005-207) appears to have opened up the possibility that the expense for obtaining a larger number of MBA degrees can be written off as a trade or business expense.

A member of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform has been complaining loudly about the requirement that the panel always meet in public to discuss its plan, according to reports.

The recently passed Treasury appropriations bill for next year sets a budget of $10.7 billion for the Internal Revenue Service, with most of the agency's $434 million increase tabbed for enforcement efforts.

The House and Senate passed the Treasury appropriations bill for next year, allocating a budget of $10.7 billion for the Internal Revenue Service, a $434 million increase from 2005 that will mostly be directed to enforcement efforts.

Xpert Business Solutions and Socius 1, two national technology consulting firms, announced a merger that will leave the two businesses operating under the name Socius. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As the Senate approved a measure with $60 billion in tax cuts, the House will consider its own measure containing $56.6 billion in cuts. Both plans are spread over the next five years.

Yount, Hyde & Barbour PC announced it will merge with its neighbor, Rose, Sanderson & Creasy LLC, a Richmond, Va.-based CPA firm.

Although President Bush's tax reform advisory group recommended against shifting the U.S. to a European-style value added tax or a national sales tax system, congressional advocates of consumption taxes haven't given up the fight.

The Senate will debate a tax bill that would cut taxes by about $61 billion over the next five years, and would include a $5 billion tax next year for the nation's biggest oil companies.

The Internal Revenue Service has launched its revamped Web site at www.irs.gov.