Practice Management

The Internal Revenue Service kicked off tax season this week, saying it plans to mail 16.5 million tax packages to taxpayers this month who have filed paper returns in the past, but the packages won't include any tax credit forms because of delays in patching the alternative minimum tax.

Banking giant HSBC USA has said it would sell its Wealth and Tax Advisory Services USA business to some of its managing directors for up to $65.9 million as part of a management buyout.

Sage Software said it is sending executives from its business management division on the road to talk to business partners in 10 metropolitan areas.

The president of a company that hosted tax forums for the Internal Revenue Service has been sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding the IRS of more than $1 million.

The IRS often takes a beating in the reports from the Treasury Department’s inspector general, and two of the latest pointed to problems with security at the IRS and how the agency is spending money on security projects.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have implemented enhanced standards of conduct for tax preparers.

Accounting firm Weaver and Tidwell said it planned to merge with Patterson, Newman & Associates on Jan. 1, allowing Weaver and Tidwell to expand its energy practice.

Snodgrass, Dunlap and Co. plans to merge its office in Iola, Kan., with Jarred, Gilmore & Philips, an accounting firm based in Chanute, Kan., on the first of the year.

Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. said it is merging in Daniel Ryan & Co. on Jan. 1, adding between 10 and 16 professionals to its staff and giving KLR more expertise in tax planning.

This free, new webinar details how practitioners are implementing the new audit standards that change how non-public company, not-for-profit and governmental audits are performed.