Inventor Gilbert P. Hyatt received a jury award of more than $388 million after suing California's Franchise Tax Board for its conduct in auditing him more than a decade ago.

H&R Block ended an eight-month search to fill its president and chief executive posts as the tax-prep giant, headquartered here, appointed former McDonald’s Corp. executive Russ Smyth to those positions.Smyth, who formerly served as president of McDonald’s Europe, succeeds Alan Bennett, who has served as interim CEO since November 2007. Smyth was scheduled to assume the Block helm August 1.

The Missouri attorney general has filed suit against tax representation chain JK Harris & Co., saying the firm did not provide the services promised to resolve its clients' state and federal tax problems.

John Gutfreund, former CEO of investment bank Salomon Brothers, is facing a lien of over $430,000 from the Internal Revenue Service on his 16-room Fifth Avenue apartment.

The Internal Revenue Service has offered more ways for employers to make voluntary corrections in their employee retirement plans to bring them into compliance with tax laws and regulations.

The Federation of Tax Administrators has named a new executive director, James R. Eads Jr., the former public affairs director for state tax consulting firm Ryan & Co.

A company may take a position on its tax return in good faith, but due to the complexities of tax law, it’s never a sure thing that it will be sustained.The now two-year-old FASB Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, or FIN 48, establishes a “more-likely-than-not” threshold for the reporting of uncertain tax positions on financial statements. Under the rule, an uncertain tax position may not be recognized on the financial statement unless it is more likely than not that it will be sustained on its technical merits, and then it is measured at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than 50 percent likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement.