A taxpayer who blamed TurboTax for failing to pick up an error in calculation has defeated the Internal Revenue Service in tax court. Kurt Olsen, a patent attorney in the Department of Energy, won against the IRS in its attempt to assess an accuracy-related penalty for understating the amount of taxes owed by $9,297. The tax court cited unique facts in the case in ruling that Olsen and his wife were not liable for the $1,859 penalty for tax year 2007. The ruling was a summary opinion, which cannot be treated as a precedent in other cases.

The Internal Revenue Service has launched the Registered Tax Return Preparer competency test. The test is part of the IRS' effort to regulate paid tax preparers. Those required to take the test have until Dec. 31, 2013 to pass it. Test scheduling begins next week.

The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters is preparing to launch Workpaper CS next year. The application would enable firms to organize tax engagements into binders in the same way that audit engagement applications let professionals do the same with audit workpapers. Workpaper CS will be available in both on-promise and cloud form.

An Alabama tax preparer has pleaded guilty to using stolen identities to obtain federal tax refunds. Marsha Elmore of Wetumpka, Ala., pleaded guilty to one count each of filing a false claim, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. She had been indicated on 32 counts of tax-related crimes.