Practice Management

Document management software developer SmartVault has introduced an affiliate program that pays referral fees to accounting professionals, QuickBooks ProAdvisors and consultants who recommend the software to their clients.

Many of the Internal Revenue Service’s plans to protect its employees and provide service to taxpayers during and after a major disruption are not up to date, have not been adequately tested and do not contain sufficient detail to be effective, warned a government watchdog.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson urged Congress to simplify the U.S. Tax Code and recommended measures to reduce the burden on taxpayers who are struggling to pay their bills.In the first of this year's two required reports to Congress, she designated the complexity of the Tax Code as the most serious problem facing taxpayers. According to data compiled by her office, U.S. taxpayers and businesses spend about 7.6 billion hours a year complying with tax-filing requirements. "If tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States," she said in her report. "To consume 7.6 billion hours, the tax industry requires the equivalent of 3.8 million full-time workers."

GUIDANCE ISSUED ON TAX STATSWashington, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service has issued interim guidance on the ability of a tax return preparer to use statistical compilations of anonymous tax return information to support their business.

Two New York City-based CPA and business advisory firms, Josephson Luxenberg & Kance CPAs PC, and Maybaum & Maybaum CPAs PC, have merged, effective immediately.

Regional accounting firm Schenck Business Solutions has created a Financial Crisis Response Team to help companies challenged by the recession.

The stimulus bill signed into law this week includes significant tax savings of up to $1,000 per year for workers who commute by mass transit.

Tax return examiners at the Internal Revenue Service often select the wrong prior or subsequent year’s tax return when looking for inconsistencies with the current tax return.

Here is some advice from the Internal Revenue Service about reporting gains and losses on tax returns:

Meyers Norris Penny, the 7th largest accounting and business advisory firm in Canada, has merged in Shiner Kideckel Zweig Inc., an insolvency specialist with eight offices in Ontario.