Practice Management

As White House administration officials hint that Treasury Secretary John W. Snow will depart his post sooner rather than later, media reports are already swirling about who will be his successor.

Top-ranked accounting firm The Rehmann Group, based here, will add Perrin, Fordree & Co., a $5 million, 38-employee firm based in Troy, to its fold effective Jan. 1, 2005.

Interest rates for calculating the amount owed on refunds and deficiencies will remain unchanged for the calendar quarter beginning Jan. 1, 2005, the Internal Revenue Service said.

Ernst & Young has shed its investment banking arm by selling the practice to the consulting firm run by former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

The Internal Revenue Service will increase the minimum threshold for Federal Unemployment Tax Act deposits, a move that will impact more than 4 million small businesses.

Senate Finance Committee chairm Chuck Grassley and ranking member Max Baucus called for an independent investigation of the Internal Revenue Service's Offer in Compromise program by the Government Accountability Office.

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.

The Internal Revenue Service has appointed Henry V. Singleton, CPA, as director of its Retailers, Food, Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Industry Section, headquartered in Illinois. The section reports to the IRS Large and Mid-Size Business Division.

The City of Hartford filed a lawsuit in District Court this week to block an Internal Revenue Service test aimed at reducing erroneous earned income tax credit payments that the city alleges violates taxpayers' civil rights and discriminates against its African-American and Latino taxpayers, who make up the bulk of those who receive the credit.

The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 will alter the rules for the contribution of used motor vehicles, boats and planes after Dec. 31, 2004, the Internal Revenue Service warned.