Practice Management

The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2005-88, which explains steps that large corporations and tax-exempt organizations can take to seek waivers from electronic filing requirements.

The heads of the nation's five major oil companies testified about their $30 billion in third-quarter profits before a joint session of the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee and Commerce Committee.

St. Louis-based accounting firm RubinBrown LLP has acquired Henderson, Warren and Eckinger PC PA, one of the largest locally owned firms in Kansas City. Terms of the merger were not disclosed.

Taxpayers will be able to request an automatic, six-month filing extension for most common individual and business returns, according to new regulations released by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, announced a plan to cut taxes by nearly $70 billion by 2010.

Accounting firms tend to embrace one of three types of governance systems - the benign dictator, the republic or the democracy. Many of my clients often ask me these questions:* Which one is the best?

* REFORM PANEL RULES OUT NATIONAL SALES TAX: The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform ruled out a proposed national retail sales tax, and said that it would instead suggest changes to the current Internal Revenue Code framework, such as slashing benefits for mortgages and health care. The nine-member panel said that curbing benefits would help achieve the panel's original goal of simplifying the current tax code, while at the same time funding the cost of repealing the controversial alternative minimum tax.While agreeing that a national retail tax would boost revenue, the panel said that a hybrid tax would raise issues of "simplicity and fairness."

States have taken two different paths in response to falling revenue from corporate tax collections.On the one hand, some states have focused on lowering corporate taxes or at least changing them to make themselves more attractive for investment. At least five states have debated bills to reduce corporate tax rates in 2005, while dozens of others have introduced bills that shift corporate taxes away from the property and employees of corporations, and onto the customers of corporations.

Several provisions of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 have required tax advisors to be very proactive with their clients to consult with them about the impact of the statutory changes, as well as subsequent regulatory developments.Among the more significant areas requiring immediate attention have been the new domestic manufacturing deduction, the brief window for repatriation of dividends, the tax shelter reporting and disclosure rules, and the new requirements with respect to nonqualified deferred compensation.

Accounting firm Weaver and Tidwell LLP has signed a merger deal with Dallas firm Brown & Nelson PC to add forensic accounting and litigation support expertise to the firm.Financial terms weren't disclosed, and the firm will be absorbed under the Weaver and Tidwell name. It's the second acquisition of the year for Weaver, which merged in Dallas' Brehm & Co., a firm specializing in construction accounting, in June.