Tax Strategies

The president's panel studying tax overhaul options isn't expected to recommend major changes to the estate tax, according to published reports.

Legislators and the public should be aware that carry-over basis problems of estate tax repeal could be a nightmare, according to the American Association of Attorney-CPAs.

While the Internal Revenue Service has made progress in improving taxpayer service, tax law enforcement and Business Systems Modernization areas, serious ongoing issues have kept the latter two areas on the Government Accountability Office's high-risk list, the watchdog agency said.

Accounting software maker Intuit has put its Information Technology Solutions business, which sells Track-It! software, on the sale block.

Avalara, a Web-service based sales tax software provider, revealed their latest sales tax software - AvaTax On-Demand.

In response to requests from tax practitioners and professional organizations for clarification, the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department issued revisions to the new Circular 230 standards -- rules related to written tax advice issued last December.

Tax and legal publisher BNA Inc. has appointed long-time executive Darren McKewen as group publisher of tax and accounting at Tax Management Inc.

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service said that its network of offices prepared 3.3 million tax returns for fiscal 2005, up 5.9 percent over last year.

The perception that Web-based tax research is a mature market hasn't slowed the furious pace at which publishers have added to their Internet products.For Heather Depe, CPA, of Minneapolis-based Simma Flottemesch & Orenstein Ltd., Internet tax research presents tremendous advantages. "I use it almost exclusively in my research," she said.

TAX CUTS SAVED BUSH, CHENEY $110K: President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney 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.President and Mrs. Bush reported total income of $784,219 on their tax return and paid $207,307 in income tax - $28,846 (12 percent) less than they would have under the pre-Bush tax law, according to a report by Citizens for Tax Justice, a Washington-based research and advocacy organization.