The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a federal court in Fresno, Calif., to bar the former manager of a Jackson Hewitt franchise from preparing federal income tax returns.

Like most everyone else, Congress will return from its summer vacation in the coming week.

When I was child and invited to a birthday party, I almost always left with a bag of goodies, usually candy, maybe a lollipop, some chocolate bars, sour balls, and probably a piece of licorice.

In consideration of the continuing impact of Hurricane Katrina, the Internal Revenue Service has further postponed filing and payment requirements for businesses until Oct. 16, 2006, which is the same deadline established earlier for certain individual income tax return filers.The postponement now applies to individual, corporation, partnership, estate, trust, S corporation, generation-skipping, employment and certain excise tax returns with original or extended due dates that fall on or after Aug. 29, 2005, but before Oct. 16, 2006.

Tax and accounting software provider CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, said it now offers Sales Tax Load Utilities for Sage Software, integrating CCH-supplied sales and use tax rates with such Sage accounting lines as MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500 and Accpac.CCH said that its Sales Tax Load Utilities eliminate tax managers having to track and manually update tax rates within their Sage accounting systems. Users can download monthly rate change information and load it directly into their accounting system tax tables.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that a draft of Form 8888, "Direct Deposit of Refund," a new form for taxpayers who opt to split their refunds among accounts, is now available for public comment.

After nine years, a federal report says that college tuition tax credits aren't necessarily providing the boon originally intended for poorer families.