Practice management

Amper, Politziner & Mattia: Continued integration of 2008 merger with Goldenberg Rosenthal. Created a Clean Tech Group.

It's been another lagging year for growth in specialty services at the Top 100 Firms, which should come as no surprise given the gloomy economic climate. Nevertheless, a number of this year's class of T100 Firms still managed to post gains in select niche areas.

The poor economic conditions for most of 2009 were reflected in the first-ever decline in the revenue of the Top 100 Firms, primarily as a result of the size of the losses experienced by the Big Four. Local and regional firms as a group, however, for the most part showed modest growth. With the exception of the Mountain region, all of the regions posted modest gains for the year.

The first piece of tax legislation likely to emerge from Congress in 2010 is expected to be focused on job creation. The House passed a bill at the end of 2009, and the Senate is crafting a response as we go to press. It appears unlikely at this point that the Senate will adopt the House bill.

When it comes to social media, it's all about domination - at least it is for Andrew Rose of Naden/Lean in Timonium, Md.

It's all about blogging these days ... who's writing, what's being said, and what to do with the information.

OBAMA PROPOSES SMALL-BIZ TAX CUT

Despite its significant tax increases, President Obama's 2011 $3.8 trillion budget plan contains a number of revenue provisions calculated to encourage business expansion and move the economy upward.

A group of senators has asked executives overseeing the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to account for the high salaries, perks, executive retirement plans and lobbying expenses at the nonprofit group.

The Internal Revenue Service is collecting information on approximately 20 Swiss banks, according a letter from UBS, one of the main banks it has been investigating.

Two IRS Service Center employees in Covington, Ky., were charged in a 29-count indictment with stealing thousands of dollars in money orders.

An IRS employee in the U.S. Virgin Islands and her husband have been charged with filing 32 false federal tax returns using the names of friends and family members.

Phil Liberatore, a CPA and the founder of a business called IRS Problem Solvers, has launched a congressional campaign challenging a Republican incumbent from the right.

The Treasury and Energy Departments, along with the IRS, said billions of dollars in government investment grants for smart grid technology would be non-taxable, paving the way for the technology to move forward.

An $18.7 million system that the Internal Revenue Service has developed to keep better track of the caseload in its Tax Exempt/Government Entities Division has failed to live up to its promises, according to a new report.

Approximately 51.6 million tax filers paid no federal income taxes in 2008, including some families making more than $50,000.

house, chile, earthquake, donations

The Senate has passed a bill to extend unemployment benefits through the end of the year as well as a number of tax cuts that expired at the end of last year.

Amazon.com has cut off its affiliates in Colorado in response to a new law that requires Web retailers to send a statement to their customers every year of how much tax they should be paying on their purchases.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., and ranking member Dave Camp, R-Mich., have introduced legislation to allow taxpayers to claim charitable deductions in 2009 for Chilean earthquake relief.