Practice Management

The co-directors of a data research center have filed a federal Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, claiming that the agency is illegally withholding information about its operations.

The recent Internal Revenue Service report indicating that it collected $3.2 billion from 1,165 taxpayers from the "Son of Boss" tax shelter scheme may just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to filling government coffers. Hundreds of individuals and corporations are still fighting in court, while most likely thousands of other tax shelter participants who have yet to be investigated should consider stepping forward, rather than waiting to be targeted.While usually poker-faced, the IRS this time around seems publicly pleased with what it has achieved, and the odds are good that we will see more of these kinds of settlement offers to help clean up a number of other popular abusive tax shelters. As numerous stories reported, the IRS recently announced a settlement initiative for executives who transferred millions of dollars of compensatory stock options to trusts and other vehicles owned by family members and then claimed that the exercise of those options and sale of the stock was not taxable to them.

Marking its second deal in a month, top-ranked firm Armanino McKenna acquired Cupertino, Calif.-based ValueNomics Research Inc. in late April, boosting its business valuation and litigation support practice, and strengthening its presence in Silicon Valley and San Diego.

The Internal Revenue Service has named Janice J. Lambert as its chief financial officer.

Members of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform are set to discuss "return-free" filing, among other things, at their next meeting, slated for May 17.

The types of activities that allow a state, under its own rules, to tax a business entity vary widely. In fact, the same company with relatively light activity within one state might be subject to tax in that state, yet not be taxed in a state where its activity is greater.

The Resnick Group LLC, based here, has merged its practice with New York-based accounting and financial consulting firm Druckman Hill LLP.

With two dozen deals currently in the pipeline, business advisory and financial services provider Fiducial says that acquisitions will be the main engine of its growth over the next three years.

STF Services Corp. president Charles F. Ter Bush has left the Syracuse, N.Y.-based tax forms company to join LexisNexis as vice president for the tax and accounting market segment.

RSM McGladrey Financial Process Outsourcing, a unit of national CPA and business consulting firm RSM McGladrey, has acquired Madison, Wis.-based Franchise Services Options and Houston-based Restaurant Reporting Plus -- two of the nation's larger providers of back-office outsourcing services to restaurants.