Tax

Specifics of a deal are being hammered out between federal prosecutors and KPMG LLP, and the name of former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Richard Breeden is being floated to serve as in independent monitor of the firm's future activities.

A Council On State Taxation representative told the National Conference of State Legislatures they should expect a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee this fall.

Although other states have reportedly considered the strategy, Mississippi is expected to be the first to file criminal charges against Big Four firm KPMG, in connection with benefit tax work the company performed for WorldCom.

A recent report from Government Accountability Office says that the Internal Revenue Service needs to establish a more "results-oriented approach" to reducing the tax gap -- the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid in the country.

Alvarez & Marsal Tax Advisory Services LLC has added five new managing directors to its team of senior tax professionals.

The IRS hasn't focused on S corporation audits in 21 years, and needs to update its data so that it can tweak its audit machinery to select audits more effectively. Therefore, they plan to select 5,000 S corporations for random audits under the National Research Program.

The dominant players in application service provider tax prep technology continue to consolidate their positions. But there is still room for smaller ones to enter the market.

On a professional level, tax time for me means a series of futile attempts to contact CPAs and whole firms that have basically gone into hibernation until the tulips and crocus begin to bloom. Even the simplest request, such as confirming an address or partner count, is often met with a sweeping anathema from an otherwise sunny receptionist, who sounds more like an enraged stevedore who got his hand caught in a gaffing hook.

* IRS SUSPENDS PLAN TO CLOSE ASSISTANCE CENTERS: The Internal Revenue Service will scrap its plans to close 68 Taxpayer Assistance Centers after Congress insisted the agency further study the potential impact of the closures.

The AMT Credit Fairness Act has been introduced in the House with significant bipartisan sponsorship. The bill provides relief for incentive stock option alternative minimum tax victims by accelerating the refund of stranded ISO AMT overpayment credits that, under current law, would not be returned within the taxpayer's lifetime.