Audit & Accounting

Tax practitioners who take the plunge into financial planning find that it's a natural step to go from preparing a tax return and answering a client's questions, to tax planning and full-scale financial services."Financial planning has been a nice blend of what I'm already doing for my clients," explained Matawan, N.J.-based CPA Salim Omar.

SUN HEALTHCARE JETTISONS E&YSun Healthcare Group, an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of specialty health services primarily to seniors, has dismissed its auditor, Big Four firm Ernst & Young, and named PricewaterhouseCoopers as its new independent accountant.

By now, the excitement of receiving college acceptance letters is likely to have been long ago replaced by the shock of the tuition bills that follow enrollment. Or the joy of a child's graduating from college - and no longer incurring tuition - is eclipsed by the obligation to repay student loans. As families scramble to get the largest grants and lowest interest rates available, they should not overlook the tax implications of the arrangements they make.The tax breaks fall into two categories: ones for paying the education costs themselves, and deductions for paying interest on loans used to pay the bills. Most of the tax provisions are restricted to those with incomes below specified amounts, and those amounts vary from one tax provision to another. This creates additional confusion for families attempting tax planning and increases their need for professional guidance.

FIXED-INCOME ANNUITY HELPS RETIREMENT INCOMEMixing a fixed-income annuity into a retirement income account provides greater long-term wealth for investors than a portfolio of equity and bond investments alone, according to a study by MassMutual Financial.

A new wealth management firm is launching as a result of a merger between Yampolsky Mandeloff Silver Ryan and Citrin Cooperman & Co. LLP.

FedEx said it is preparing to meet with an audit team from the Internal Revenue Service to discuss the IRS's tentative conclusion that FedEx should reclassify its delivery drivers as employees rather than independent contractors.

In partial deference to corporate appeals, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has agreed to allow a one-year deferral for part of the implementation of Financial Accounting Statement 157, Fair Value Measurements.Investors have long called for financial statements that report market values - observable or calculated - and FASB constituents in the corporate sector have generally supported the concept. But after a year of preparing to implement FAS 157, corporations went to the board to complain that implementation had turned out to be prohibitively difficult.

The alternative minimum tax isn't the only tax that will continue to surprise taxpayers if Congress fails to act on its repeal. The estate tax, currently set to expire in 2010, will return with a vengeance to a full 55 percent in 2011 if Congress does nothing.The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that in 2009 there will be 9,600 estates subject to the estate tax. While that number falls to zero in 2010, it will jump to nearly 62,000 in 2011, with increases every year thereafter.

Since this is our first column of the New Year, it may be particularly appropriate to look back into 2007 to try to predict some of what will happen in 2008. The history of important tax developments that took place in 2007 is rich and varied. Shakespeare's "What is past is prologue" was never so apt.In that spirit, we have selected 10 developments as standouts in terms of their impact on the future, and especially on 2008 tax strategies. We explain each of these top 10 below. And, of course, respecting the difficulty of prioritizing just 10 2007 tax developments as most significant, we conclude by listing several more as runners up!

The Institute of Management Accountants has joined a widespread call for the Securities and Exchange Commission to accept financial reports prepared under international accounting standards without reconciliation with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.The IMA's main concern is not so much that filings by foreign companies might be easier, but that convergence with international standards would effectively replace the U.S. set of standards - which the institute believes are onerous, if not downright crushing.