Practice Management

Democratic leaders are already making promises that the future of the alternative minimum tax will be the focus of the debate over next year's budget, according to published reports.

The Government Accountability Office has given good marks to the Internal Revenue Service’s 2005 and 2006 financial statements, but said that the agency did have to overcome “serious internal control and financial management systems deficiencies.”

Accounting software group Sage has made another purchase -- acquiring U.K. merchant services firm Protx for $25.6 million.Established in 2001, Protx provides online payment services for small and medium businesses in the U.K., with a customer base of over 10,000 businesses.

The Internal Revenue Service announced increases in user fees for installment agreements.The increases -- the first since the fees were implemented in 1995 -- result from increases in labor and other costs of processing the various applications.

CBiz and Mayer Hoffman McCann PC announced the expansion of its not-for-profit practice through the acquisition of CPA David Brown Jr.’s Minneapolis-area practice.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Brown and several of his associates will be located in the downtown Minneapolis office of CBIZ and MHM.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark Everson announced the of two new deputy commissioners, in personnel moves effective Dec. 1.Kevin Brown, currently the commissioner of the IRS Small Business and Self-Employed Division, will become deputy commissioner for Services and Enforcement, responsible for overseeing the agency’s four operating divisions, Criminal Investigation and the Office of Professional Responsibility.

My fifth grade teacher was, in, simplistic terms, an angry dolt who never should have been allowed in front of a classroom of impressionable young minds.

Home mortgage loan giant Fannie Mae announced that it expects the tab on a review of its accounting, as well as the preparation of up-to-date financial statements for the first time since the end of 2004, to run upwards of $1 billion this year.

Sacramento headquartered CPA and management consulting firm Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire cross-town accounting firm Essary, Dal Porto & Lowe LLP.Financial terms of the deal, bringing together one of the city's oldest firms with one of its largest firms, were not disclosed.

Personal exemptions and standard deductions will rise, tax brackets will widen and income limits for individual retirement accounts will increase in 2007, due to inflation adjustments announced by the Internal Revenue Service.