Practice management

Partners are the culture in a professional service firm -- what they believe, what they reward, what they do, and how they do it determines what and how things get done.

Boy, did President Obama create a furor in a Roanoke, Va., speech in July, where he said, "If you have a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Denver-based Top 100 firm Hein & Associates didn't want to be anyone's secret -- even a good one, as managing partner Brian Mandell-Rice had become accustomed to hearing from clients.

Recent tax news

Proponents of states' ability to require remote vendors to collect and hand over sales tax are positioning themselves for hoped-for legislative action before the end of the year.

California’s State Board of Equalization is warning that beginning Sept. 15, a new law will take effect expanding the types of out-of-state retailers who are required to register with the board and requires them to begin collecting and remitting use tax on sales of tangible personal property to California consumers.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told an enthusiastic Republican National Convention that unlike his rival Barack Obama, he would not raise taxes on small businesses or the middle class.

Staff members at privately held companies are less likely to receive information from management about how the business is performing than employees at publicly traded companies, according to a new survey.

In my travels around the country, I hear many firms talk about being a “one-firm” firm.

The Internal Revenue Service took the wraps off its new Web site Thursday, with new navigation and language features.

The American Institute of CPAs has written a letter to Internal Revenue Service Commission Doug Shulman saying that new interim about how taxpayers must apply for Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers for 2011 returns are burdensome and may prevent some taxpayers from getting the documentation they need to qualify for an ITIN.

The experience for new employees at the Internal Revenue Service is not always positive, even though the IRS has taken steps to improve the onboarding process, according to a new report.

If Shakespeare ever had a great Twitter writing tip, it would have to be, “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

The Sports, Arts and Entertainment Group of St. Louis accounting and business consulting firm Anders Minkler & Diehl and Festus, Mo.-based Barnes Sports Group have officially merged after a year of working together as affiliated entities.

The IRS has completed its six-city swing through America, with forums staged in Orlando, Atlanta, San Diego, Las Vegas, Chicago and New York.

The owner of a Long Island tax preparation service was sentenced to serve one year and one day of imprisonment for preparing false federal tax returns for her clients.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman outlining its concerns with what it sees as a “widespread problem affecting numerous taxpayers”: erroneous letters from the IRS to taxpayers filing foreign trust forms.

The Internal Revenue Service has stepped up its efforts to investigate possible misconduct in the municipal bond sector, more than doubling the number of examinations it conducts per year.

The Senate Finance Committee has released the legislative text of the tax extenders bill, spelling out the reasons for extending certain tax breaks or for letting them expire, along with dissenting views from a trio of senators.

Republicans are pitching their tax overhaul plan on the appeal of lower rates and a simpler system—and figuring that voters won’t mind the lack of details about the potential pain.