H&R Block has talked about the need for the services of its tax preparers. But it was do-it-yourselfers that gave Block the largest percentage growth in revenue for its year ended April 30. D-I-Y fees grew 12.1 percent to $228.4 million for the year just ended while overall revenue was up only 1.8 percent.

A former Waseca, Minn.-based CPA has been ordered to pay clients $1.6 million that he stole from them while preparing their taxes and handling investments. Roger Goetz, Jr., received a four-and-a-half year prison sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud. He was also ordered to undergo three years of supervised release.

Avalara has acquired EZtax, which makes tax compliance products for the telecommunications inudstry. The company's software, which bears the same name, calculates and files taxes due on such services in the United States and Canada. Terms were not disclosed.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to notify thousands of taxpayers whose accounts were recently accessed by hackers about the incidents. The IRS says intruders were able to use information such as Social Security numbers and dates of birth and street addresses, obtained from non-IRS sources, to access its Get Transcript" application.