David Amir Makov, one of the remaining defendants in the KPMG tax shelter case, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Manhattan to one count of conspiracy to commit tax fraud and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Congress held hearings last week on a grab-bag of tax topics, including carried interest, the effect of the Bush administration tax cuts, and the rapidly expanding reach of the alternative minimum tax, but neither of the other two issues is the ticking time bomb that the AMT presents.

The Internal Revenue Service is not doing enough to match incorrect or missing identification numbers on income and wage statements with existing tax accounts, potentially costing the U.S. Treasury billions in lost revenue, charged a Treasury Department watchdog.

The House of Representatives voted 220-175 to overhaul patent rules and place a ban on tax-planning method patents.

Of the roughly one hundred thousand cases a year that go before the Internal Revenue Service Appeals Division, more than 80 percent get resolved without going to litigation. That by itself is a good reason for tax professionals to utilize the appeals process, according to Sarah Ingram, chief at the IRS Appeals unit."We see large taxpayers, small taxpayers, individuals. We see large-dollar figures, any topic under the sun," she said. "Almost half of those cases come from the Collection Division, including either collection due process or offers-in-compromise kinds of activities."

With the Tax Code constantly in a state of flux with new tax laws, not to mention delayed effective dates on tax provisions, sunsetting provisions, and phase-ins and phase-outs, every year offers some new wrinkles for tax professionals to worry about.The 2007 tax year is no exception.

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service said it has completed its internal review of fraud allegations by the Justice Department against several of its franchisees and said its corporate employees were not involved.