Red Gear Technologies is offering a two-for-one pricing deal  for TaxWorks customers professionals who renew by September 15. Those who purchase its ArkWorks document manage application  program are also eligible for the special pricing. If a customer’s friend makes a purchase, they both get the application for the price of one software package. 

NEW YORK – A task force of the American Institute of CPAs has told legislators that the system of civil tax penalties needs reform with better administration and oversight of penalty administration, a curb on the automated assessment of penalties, more training for Internal Revenue Service personnel and greater education of taxpayers and professional tax preparers.

The AICPA’s Penalty Reform Task Force, chaired by Rochelle Hodges, issued the report on Friday and cited the increase in automated assessment of penalties as a problem that leads to taxpayer dissatisfaction with the system. With more than 6 million taxpayers subject to automated penalties in 2008, many pay the levies rather than go to the expense of fighting them. Read more...

Virginia Beach, Va. – With the economy taking a toll on franchise sales, JTH Tax, which operates the Liberty Tax Service, saw a 28.4 percent decline in earnings on a 6.4 decrease in revenue for the year ended April 30.

Franchise fee revenue comes from the sale of franchisee territories and last year was a bad one for selling franchises, said Martha O’Gorman, the company’s chief marketing officer. “No one could borrow any money,” she explained. But she continued that “The good news is that we are seeing a significant recovery this year and our franchise sales are sky rocketing.  You should see that number return to normal or increase for FY 2010.”

Washington – The Internal Revenue Service has reported that about 23.1 million individual income tax returns reported nonfarm sole proprietorship activity, a 4.7 percent increase since tax year 2006 and that these sole proprietorships reported profits of $280.6 billion in 2007 as it released the summer issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin, which features sole proprietorship data for tax year 2007.

Issues are published quarterly with this issue also featuring articles about Individual Noncash Contributions, S Corporations, Foreign-Controlled Domestic Corporations, Corporate Foreign Tax Credit and Sales of Capital Assets.