Practice management

Internal Revenue Service officials announced an initiative aimed at providing relief for rank-and-file employees affected by their companies’ issuance of backdated stock options.The program is designed for employees who may be unaware that they held backdated options -- not for corporate executives or other insiders who exercised backdated options.

A provision in the president's budget proposals could shelter 529 college-savings plans from being counted in determining federal student financial aid.

The woman with the long blonde hair had a radiance as she floated over the ice, a radiance that middle-age has not dimmed.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, has taken National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson to task over her recent annual report to Congress.

Grant Thornton LLP announced it will take a new approach in serving private equity firms and their portfolio companies.

President Bush’s 2008 budget has tabbed $11.4 billion for the Internal Revenue Service, a direct appropriation increase of 6.3 percent from the agency’s 2007 budget.

Everyone in Washington seems to be in agreement that there needs to be a better way of closing the tax gap, but like the other problems facing the Internal Revenue Service, there’s seems to be little Beltway consensus over how to meaningfully tackle the problem.It wasn’t lost on me that the same week that the IRS released its 2008 budget proposal --complete with a number of legislative proposals, a Congressman and the National Taxpayer Advocate continued to spar over the future of one of the agency’s newer attempts to combat the tax gap -- the outsourcing of simple collection cases to private companies as part of a pilot program.

As part of the White House’s proposed $2.9 trillion budget plan for the 2008 fiscal year, President Bush announced an effort aimed at significantly tightening the tax gap.

Popping, crackling Golden Bertolli, fresh dough, tomatoes from Salerno, buffalo mozzarella from Caserta, Fior di Latte, and Parmigiano Reggiano are the ingredients of a slice of pizza I had at a local Brooklyn pizza place last week.Let me tell you a little bit more. Only one individual makes the pie, an older man. He also serves the pies and slices to the customers. His daughter sometimes helps to serve and makes the entrées, pasta, and heroes. The customers clean off the tables (and not just their own).

Besides rising pay for directors, a recent study found that the proportion of S&P 500 companies with classified boards dropped by 8 percent last year, leading to the majority of those companies holding annual elections for all of their directors.

With all the talk about curbing exorbitant executive compensation packages and increased disclosure, I was reminded of an incident nearly 25 years ago, when I was accidentally sent a paycheck intended for Lenny, my supervisor.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Whistleblower Office opened for business this month. The congressionally mandated program is designed to receive information that helps uncover tax cheating and provide appropriate rewards to whistleblowers.

It might not have generated quite the media hoopla of say, Groundhog Day, but yesterday marked the launch of the Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day.

In 2006, the U.S. personal savings rate hit its lowest level since the Great Depression, according to the Commerce Department.The agency said that the country’s savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent -- meaning that not only did people spend all the money they earned throughout the year, but that they also dipped into savings, or increased borrowing to finance purchases.

In an effort to explain by example, or at least by handpicked scenario, the Treasury Department has released more details outlining the possible application of President Bush’s plan for a standard health insurance deduction.

The odds are looking better for Senate approval of legislation to increase the minimum wage. But reconciling that bill with a House version -- containing no tax breaks for businesses -- figures to take some negotiating.Senate debate on the bill ended Tuesday with an 87-10 vote, and final Senate passage of the bill is expected this week.

To each his own. And all’s fair in love, war and “Behind Closed Doors Wednesdays.”Robert Flach, a Jersey City, N.J., accountant who holds a masters in taxation, has been in the business for 36 years since inheriting the tax prep business of his mentor. He already had a couple of returns completed when I talked to him earlier in the week, and expects to complete around 400 by the time the season is over.

Fannie Mae’s chief executive received a compensation bump of about 25 percent in 2006 -- including salary, stock and bonuses.

There are only two conferences for accountants that my colleague, Jeff Stimpson, and I never miss attending. Winning Is Everything, presented by the Advisory Board, is one of them.The Advisory Board’s members are four of the leading consultants to accounting firms -- Jay Nisberg, president, Jay Nisberg & Associates; Allan Koltin, president and CEO, PDI Global.; Gary Boomer, CEO of Boomer Consulting; and Gary Shamis, managing director of SS&G Financial Services and co-founder of the Leading Edge Alliance.

The Internal Revenue Service has updated both its Form 940, “Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return,” as well as online tools to help taxpayers determine whether they should deduct their state and local general sales taxes, or whether they might owe the alternative minimum tax.The IRS has redesigned Form 940 to be more user-friendly for the more than 1 million payroll professionals and business owners who file the form.