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You were quick to run an article about how a federal court has permanently barred Robert Schulz and his organization, We The People, from promoting a "tax scheme" ("Court orders end to tax protest scheme," Sept. 10-23, 2007, page 5). However, perhaps you were too quick.On Aug. 30, 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that We The People does not have to turn over to the government any information identifying people who have obtained materials from or donated money to We The People. The court approved a motion to stay Judge McAvoy's entire injunction order. And the court directed the government to submit its written response to We The People's emergency motion as soon as possible.

IRS OFFERS FORECLOSURE VICTIMS ADVICEWashington, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service is reaching out to former homeowners who have suffered foreclosure and now are being hit with taxes on any money they were forgiven on their mortgages.

With 2008 little more than two months away, tax practitioners finally have their clients' attention on the need for year-end tax planning.As in prior years, year-end 2007 presents unique tax planning challenges, as well as traditional opportunities. Especially this year, sunset provisions, phase-ins and phase-outs, and inflation adjustments, as well as retroactive and prospective legislative changes and deadlines set in final regulations, all contribute to chasing a moving target.

BIOFUEL ENGAGES GRANT THORNTONBioFuel Energy Corp., a Denver-based producer of ethanol, has named Grant Thornton as its new independent accountant.

Regular readers know that we often challenge financial reporting participants to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."This ancient oath covers all the bases by binding witnesses to tell what they know to be true, not diminished by leaving something out and not augmented by adding something extraneous. One or even two out of three simply isn't good enough.

SEC OKS RULE ON DEFERRED VARIABLE ANNUITIESThe Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a rule from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that would crack down on abusive sales of deferred variable annuities, particularly to senior citizens.

As a financial services professional, one of your key responsibilities is to find balance between your credits and debits at the end of the month, the quarter and the fiscal year. But what happens when debits or credits are missing, or when you cannot access vital records online?You could be facing a major problem.

INTUIT ELEVATES GOODARZI AND WARD; COMBINES DIVISIONSTax and financial software provider Intuit Inc. has named Sasan Goodarzi president of its Intuit Financial Institutions Division and a senior vice president of the company, and tapped Jill Ward, vice president of its Accountants Central unit, to serve as vice president and general manager of its newly formed Intuit Accounting Professionals Division.

The development of future partners is of utmost importance in firms of all sizes due to the number of Baby Boomers now occupying those seats.What criteria is your firm using to select future partners? At what age do you select them for the partner track? Who is responsible for their development and learning the economics of today's accounting firm? Or are you simply waiting for another firm to acquire yours?

You may well ask, where did I find a title like this? I doubt that you have ever wondered what Sir Isaac Newton has to do with running a CPA firm - or, for that matter, any business.While everyone knows Newton as the discoverer of gravity, it's really his three laws concerning the behavior of moving objectives that are meaningful today. Even though these laws were defined 320 years ago, they can help explain the behavior of some of your partners today. His laws of motion apply to physical entities operating in space, and describe how these entities interact. However, they can just as easily be applied to human entities interacting in an environment of workplace change.