CCH has enhanced its Partner Program for VARs that handle the company's CorpSystem sales-and-use tax software, adding a new designation of preferred VARs.These value-added resellers get different benefits than resellers at the basic level. The company says there are "more options from the entire portfolio of CCH indirect tax solutions".

Thomson Reuters has acquired San Francisco-based Emochila, which designs websites for tax and accounting firms. Terms were not disclosed. Thomson said that Emochila's technology and expertise would be used to enhance its web services products, particuarly Web Builder CS and would be integrated into the CS Professional Suite.

Seven individuals have been charged for their alleged role in a scheme that resulted in the request for more than $120 million in fraudulent returns. The Justice Department took the action against individuals who operated nationally in getting returns filed for at least 180 clients from 30 states. More than 380 returns were filed, primarily for tax year 2008, the department alleges.

Intuit has spent two years of promoting a practice management system for accountants that hasn't hit the market as a final product. And this week, it was announced that BigTime Software is going to embed its core time, billing and practice management functionality into Intuit's yet-to-be-fulfilled development for in that arena. The Intuit product was supposed to hit the market in May, but instead it moved into a second phase and the product's name went away with Intuit's decision to drop the ProLine brand.