British firm Bentley Jennison has joined the RSM International network of audit, tax and consulting firms, expanding RSM’s reach abroad.

The Justice Department sued the founder of an “asset protection” business that allegedly helped clients evade income taxes and hired actor Robert Wagner to plug its services.

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.

The Houston Business & Tax Law Journal plans to hold a symposium in October on the patenting of tax strategies, an idea that has already generated some controversy among patent defenders and critics.

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.

Pope Benedict XVI plans to issue an encyclical denouncing tax evasion and the use of offshore tax shelters as Italy embarks upon a campaign to crack down on tax avoidance.