Practice Management

The Internal Revenue Service has expanded a program aimed at enabling some business taxpayers to resolve certain tax issues before they file their returns.

The Internal Revenue Service is allowing limited exceptions from coverage of the new deferred compensation rules for certain stock appreciation rights, or SARs, that "do not present potential for abuse or intentional circumvention of the purposes" of Section 409A.

The Internal Revenue Service has appointed 12 new members for the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council, the group that serves as a forum for IRS officials and public representatives to discuss relevant and emerging tax issues.

Top-ranked accounting and consulting firm Rothstein Kass, which specializes in serving the alternative investments industry, said that it is selling its interests in RK Consulting, the firm's investment fund administration affiliate, to stave off independence issues.

In addition to his role as a dictator who started World War II and sent millions of people to their deaths in concentration camps, Adolf Hitler was a tax evader, according to a recent report.

The Internal Revenue Service has released tax tables to help taxpayers determine whether they would benefit from an optional new sales tax deduction.

GAO SAYS IRS IMPROVED PERFORMANCE IN '04, BUT BETTER DATA NEEDED ON SOME SERVICES: The Internal Revenue Service scored high marks for processing returns and issuing refunds smoothly during the 2004 filing season, but didn't fare as well on accuracy in answering tax questions, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

Just as the Internal Revenue Service was becoming increasingly more aggressive in its settlement offers in tax shelter cases, and obtained a few additional weapons for its arsenal in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, a series of defeats on the litigation front may force the agency to reevaluate some aspects of its strategy.

Improving taxpayer service, enhancing enforcement of the tax law, and modernizing the Internal Revenue Service through its people, processes and technology should be the tax administration's top priorities for 2005, according to the American Institute of CPAs.

Filomeno & Company PC, an eight-partner CPA firm based here, has expanded its financial planning practice with the merger of fee-only planning firm Thibodeau Financial Advisors LLC into its fold.