Tax

A district court judge has sentenced four defendants to prison terms ranging from eight to 20 years in what the Justice Department says is one of the "most far-ranging tax schemes ever prosecuted."

Complexity is eroding voluntary compliance with U.S. tax laws, a member of the American Institute of CPAs Tax Executive Committee told the House of Representatives Small Business Committee this week.

The Internal Revenue Service, in partnership with stakeholder groups, has set up a new Web-based list of frequently asked questions aimed at helping corporate taxpayers understand the requirements of the new Schedule M-3.

Tax and accounting software provider Creative Solutions Inc. has acquired the tax software line of Cincinnati-based Accountware for undisclosed terms.

SurePrep, known for its outsourcing services, has developed a tax preparation workflow system to help firms maintain greater control over tax preparation decisions while reducing review and correction time. SurePrep Express is a Web-based system that categorizes scanned source documents to ease processing and data entry.

The implementing states of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement voted to create an associate membership, keeping the agreement on track toward its Oct. 1, 2005, interstate effective date.

The Internal Revenue Service is seeking applications to fill seven vacancies on the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee, a 14-member panel that provides a public forum for discussion of electronic tax administration issues in support of the goal of paperlessly filing tax and information returns.

The president and vice president saved a combined $110,182 in taxes last year under the income tax cuts passed by their administration, according to an analysis of the 2004 tax returns released by the White House.

Tax preparation and related fees from H&R Block Inc.'s U.S. retail operations increased 6.4 percent to $1.9 billion through March 31, 2005, the tax prep giant reported.

President Bush has signed into law H.R. 1134, exempting qualified disaster mitigation payments from tax.