Practice Management

Aronson & Co. announced a merger with Capron Associates LLP, a small public accounting firm based in Bethesda.

In an effort to provide relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Internal Revenue Service said it would accelerate its review and approval process for new organizations seeking tax-exempt status in order to provide relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Looking to expand its geographic reach, accounting firm Wiss & Co. LLP has formally merged with The Distinctive Group in an agreement effective Aug. 1.

Schneider Downs & Co. Inc., with offices in Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, announced a deal to merge with BKR Longanbach Giusti LLC, another Columbus-based accounting firm.

The Internal Revenue Service currently has no corporate strategy to combat identify theft, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Until it adopts an agency-wide strategy, it will be unable to help taxpayers and the government combat what TIGTA calls "the growing threat" of identity theft and support the prosecution of offenders.

A federal judge has filed paperwork alerting the Internal Revenue Service that he plans to halt their experiment in outsourcing debt collection, siding with a Texas company that claimed they had been unfairly excluded from the bidding process.

IRS TO PAY FOR INFORMATION DISCLOSURES: A judge has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to pay more than $250,000 after determining that an IRS agent disclosed confidential information during a criminal investigation.

The Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005, passed as part of the 2005 Energy Act and signed by President Bush on Aug. 8, 2005, includes a series of new credits aimed at encouraging the purchase of various types of new alternative fuel vehicles.

With Congress preparing to reconvene in early September, Senate Majority Leader William H. Frist said a vote to fully repeal the estate tax will be tops on the to-do list.

Super-regional CPA and business advisory firm J.H. Cohn LLP has expanded its construction services group unit via a merger with Red Bank, N.J.-based Callahan & Co., a three-partner, 16-person firm specializing in the construction niche.