Practice Management

Changes to the Internal Revenue Service's Offer in Comprise Program went into effect July 16 -- with the most noticeable difference being that taxpayers who submit lump sum offers to the agency must now make a 20 percent nonrefundable, up-front payment to the IRS.

The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that employer incentives encouraging their employees to purchase environmentally friendly hybrid cars, are considered taxable compensation.

The Senate Finance Committee pushed hard for answers from a tax policy nominee on when the Treasury Department will supply recommendations on an overhaul of the tax system, and how best to meaningfully improve the nation's tax compliance.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson has delivered a report to Congress outlining the priority issues her office will tackle in the coming fiscal year.

The 40-year-old firm of Paul E. Daoust & Co. PC CPAs, based in Charlton, Mass., announced that it has acquired the Sturbridge, Mass.-based practice of CPA John M. Larson.

Prosecutors are looking into Deutsche Bank's role in providing a lesser-known questionably tax shelter sold through a Silicon Valley firm, according to published reports.

Three weeks into the clean-up effort following the massive flooding at its Washington headquarters, the Internal Revenue Service said that the office -- which houses some 2,700 workers -- won't reopen until early 2007.

During his administration's mid-year congressional review, President Bush said that high tax revenues were responsible for helping the government reduce the budget deficit faster than originally anticipated.

SAP AG has acquired Praxis Software Solutions and will integrate the company's Web-based CRM and e-commerce capabilities into SAP Business One, which targets small and midsized companies.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced two initiatives aimed at simplifying the way small businesses, individual taxpayers and tax preparers file and pay their federal taxes. The initiatives include:* Enhanced batch provider software for tax pros: New software will allow preparers to make large numbers of payments on behalf of clients with a single mouse-click by using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. Improvements include electronic registration and enrollment, real-time payment and enrollment data, real-time file transmission and replication, and enhanced report generation. The software can be downloaded at www.eftps.gov, under "What's New."