Practice management

The Internal Revenue Service has problems with its tax return preparation assistance, but still offers helpful advice with tax laws, said a report issued by a Treasury Department watchdog group.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has written letters to the Big Four accounting firms asking what they are doing to let their financial institution clients know about waivers on mortgage accounting standards that could let borrowers refinance their loans.

If you didn’t see the WebCPA news item last week or the write-up in the 08/17/07 AICPA News Update e-mail newsletter, I’m telling you about the subject of those two pieces now. It is the AICPA’s Professional Ethics Executive Committee’s exposure draft that proposes a new Interpretation 101-17, Networks and Network Firms, under Rule 101, Independence, of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct. I suggest you read the exposure draft.

CPA firm WithumSmith+Brown has outgrown its current location in downtown New Brunswick and is moving to a new location around the corner.

The Internal Revenue Service is encouraging more midsized companies to file their corporate returns electronically as the Sept. 17 deadline approaches for calendar-year filers who asked for extensions.

More than 8 million people file tax returns each year who don’t need to do so, imposing heavy costs on the Internal Revenue Service, according to a new report from a Treasury Department watchdog.

Tax information publisher BNA introduced the BNA Tax and Accounting Center, an online service that unites all of the company’s tax and accounting information in one place.

Software developer Centage introduced a business performance management tool that displays financial and operational key performance indicators on a user’s desktop.

I am increasingly noticing more and more businesses providing unsatisfactory customer service, or, just as irritating, virtually no customer service. Often, at these same businesses, not surprisingly, supervision is also missing. These businesses don’t generate loyal customers, or for that matter many happy, repeat customers. Also, these disgruntled patrons usually don’t provide constructive feedback to the business owner because they are too angry or feel it would be a waste of time. The Ken Blanchard Companies, which helps improve companies’ performance, productivity, and bottom-line results, reports in a survey that customer loyalty ranks as the fourth-most important management challenge to address, and is predicted to be more important by 2010. In the same study, customer relationship skills are cited as the second most important employee development skill, ranking just behind managerial skills.

The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel has issued a report calling on the Internal Revenue Service to improve its services and customer satisfaction as well as reduce the burden on taxpayers.

Congress hopes to partially remedy the tax gap by making tax preparers more responsible for the positions their clients take on returns.Because paid preparers prepare over 62 percent of all individual income tax returns, they are a critical quality control for tax administration by helping to prevent noncompliance, according to an April report released by the Government Accountability Office.

IRS SIMPLIFIES E-SIGNATURESWASHINGTON, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service said that it plans to simplify the signature process for electronically filed individual tax returns by allowing tax practitioners to avoid the need to send a paper signature document in support of their clients' e-filed returns.

Gina Gwozdz realized just how valuable blogging can be when, as a sole practitioner vying for clients with three other CPA firms in the small town of Bullard, Texas, she started looking to expand her reach beyond writing articles and columns in her local newspaper.Research led her to find a blogging community within the accounting and tax profession, and there she discovered that she could jumpstart her new practice by taking the plunge. She decided to go online and start Gina's Tax Articles at http://glgcpa.blogspot.com.

Like motherhood and apple pie, a pipeline process that helps you organize and realize your opportunities is easy to label "a good thing."But there's a considerable gap between knowing this and making it happen in your own firm. My goal in this article is to help you bridge that gap.

After more than 25 years of consulting with large and small accounting firms, I feel comfortable in sharing with you my observations about great partnerships and how they got that way.Most new firms, and some long-time firms, unfortunately don't give a lot of thought to this question. Their main concern is surviving. But the sooner a firm can start focusing on what makes a great partnership, the better off it will be. Think about this: If you don't address this question, how will you know if you are admitting the right types of partners? What technical and personal skills would you want? What personal values (character) would you look for?

The United States Tax Court has ruled on a case involving a taxpayer, David Billings, who asked to be relieved from liability for the tax owed on money his wife embezzled from his employer without his knowledge, and has decided in his favor.

This coming January officially marks the three-year countdown before the axe falls on the lower individual capital gains rates now in place.Since May 6, 2003, thanks to the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, gain from the sale of most long-term capital assets is subject to a maximum tax rate of 15 percent (5 percent for individuals in the 10 percent or 15 percent tax bracket). Starting in 2011, however, these rates are scheduled to revert to their former pre-May 6, 2003, levels of 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Nevertheless, before the party ends, a 0 percent rate will replace the 5 percent rate for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2007.

The Internal Revenue Service received a double barrel of criticism from Treasury Department watchdogs for not validating the amount of savings it claimed it would generate from various taxpayer service projects, and for laxness in security.

Potential Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has written a letter indicating that he would be willing to support an overhaul of the Tax Code called the FairTax, which could replace the income tax system and all payroll taxes with a non-regressive national retail tax.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have issued notices warning about two kinds of transactions that could arouse their interest: "toggling" grantor trusts and contributions of a successor member interest in a limited liability company.