Practice management

Remember the theme from Cheers, the TV series about a friendly Boston pub and its memorable regulars? The opening theme refrain ran: "You want to go where everybody knows your name."Something similar is at work when it comes to building value propositions to grow revenue. To succeed, you've got to determine what makes the buyer tick.

There may be 2-D bar codes in the future of paper-filed returns, if recommendations from the Government Accountability Office are followed.In its end-of-year report on last year’s tax season, the GAO said that the Internal Revenue Service exceeded the previous year’s performance by most measures. However, it noted a number of opportunities to realize additional savings and increase tax compliance, with the barcoding of paper returns among them.

In the last few days before Congress adjourned for 2007, a number of tax law changes finally made it through the two chambers and on to President Bush. The president has either already signed or indicated his willingness to sign each piece of legislation. Several of the provisions enacted will have an impact on 2007 tax returns.Even with this flurry of activity, a number of pieces of legislation, including most of the energy-related tax proposals, an agriculture bill with tax provisions, military tax relief, and the extension of expiring provisions, as well as a fairly extensive list of offsetting revenue raisers, got left off the table and will be addressed again in 2008. The following is a summary of each of the tax laws enacted, the principal provisions, and the impact, if any, on 2007 tax returns.

Congressional leaders have struck a $150 billion deal on an economic stimulus plan that would give most taxpayers rebate checks of $600 to $1,200.

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's proposed budget contains a provision that would tax marijuana at a rate of $3.50 per gram and controlled substances like cocaine at $200 per gram.

The Internal Revenue Service is running out of storage space for the copies of documents it stores on cases closed by its Office of Appeals, according to a report by the Treasury Department's Inspector General.

President Bush encouraged Congress to pass the economic stimulus package he agreed to with House leaders without adding extra provisions.

Experts discussed how to share strategies on driving firm profitability and growth at this month's New York Metro Roundtable at the Friars Club in Manhattan.

Michael Oxley, the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee who co-sponsored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, has joined the International Advisory Council of APCO Worldwide, a consultancy that specializes in corporate communications.

The Senate Finance Committee held hearings to discuss an economic stimulus package and hear testimony from the Congressional Budget Office about the available options.

S corporations are the nation's most common corporate tax designations.

The stimulus package that President Bush and Congress are hammering out could be enough to jumpstart the economy, but don't count on it.

Section 7803(c)(2)(B)(ii)(III) requires the National Taxpayer Advocate to identify at least 20 of the most serious problems encountered by taxpayers. This year’s report to Congress describes 26 problem areas and provides status updates on three other issues.

President Bush called for an economic stimulus plan that includes tax breaks for individuals and businesses.

Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., proposed cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent, matching Rudolph Giuliani's plan.

A watchdog group, Americans United for Church and State, has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a Nevada church whose pastor called for the election of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

S corporations are the nation's most common corporate tax designations.

Diane Siriani, a CPA and principal of Siriani and Associates, has formed a joint venture with Don Burniac of Associated Tax and Accounting to introduce an online tax-filing service.

The Congressional Budget Office has released a report on various options for stimulating the economy, including cutting personal and corporate taxes.

Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation has released a list of tax provisions that expired at the end of last year, as well as several scheduled to end this year and in subsequent years.