Tax

The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 passed Congress on Dec. 9, 2006, and was signed by President Bush on December 20. Most of the provisions are good news for taxpayers - extending popular tax breaks, many of which had expired at the end of 2005.Still, the timing could have been better.

CPA firms continue to experience strong growth, with 76 percent reporting an increase in firm size last year, according to benchmark data in the 2006 National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey.Despite that growth, the recently-released survey also confirmed that succession planning remains a stumbling block for many firms facing the imminent retirement of the Baby Boomer generation. The survey found that only 24 percent of firms have a succession plan and only 7 percent of firms have partner-in-training programs.

A federal court in Salt Lake City has sentenced a trio of men to more than 29 months in jail in connection with the promotion and sale of a tax and investment fraud scheme to more than 300 clients.All three defendants pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to committing mail and wire fraud in connection with the promotion of the tax and investment fraud scheme.

The Texas State Board of Public Accountancy has stayed its license suspension of KPMG LLP in connection with the Big Four firm’s sales of questionable legal tax shelters.In a consent order approved by the board, KPMG’s license was suspended for five years -- although the stay order means that the firm will be placed on probation for the next three years.

A domestic focus of President Bush’s State of the Union address was a proposal aimed at expanding access to affordable health insurance that faces a tough political road to becoming reality.

Thanks to a seldom-observed holiday, the Internal Revenue Service announced that taxpayers will have until April 17, to file their 2006 returns and pay any taxes due.

Swiss finance officials are stepping up talk of raising taxes on the rich foreigners who use the country and its lax residency requirements as a tax haven.

In response to requests from Congress, the Government Accountability Office has released a new report outlining a trio of approaches that would reduce the tax gap.

Speaking at a New York State Society of CPAs conference earlier this week, Conrad Hewitt declined to speak in absolutes when it came to across-the-board implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s infamous Section 404.The Securities and Exchange Commission chief accountant avoided absolutes when speaking on the question of compliance for micro-cap companies -- the first time that I’ve heard a federal regulator hedge their bets on implementation that’s currently planned for 2008. It would be far from the first deferral for companies will market capitalizations under $75 million -- but the first ray of hope for those small companies since the SEC declined to strongly move forward on a number of recommendations outlined last year by an advisory committee.

Officials in Kansas City, Mo., told a local paper that more than two dozen computer tapes containing confidential taxpayer information are missing.