H&R Block underestimated its own “state effective income tax rate” in previous quarters, all the way back to 2004, and has been found to owe another $32 million in back taxes. The company has cut its full-year 2006 earnings in response to this charge.

Getting answers to the many tax questions that the Gulf hurricanes have wrought is frustrating. Questions about evacuation expenses, property losses deductions, and gains resulting from insurance settlements, are still needing answers for many taxpayers in the disaster areas.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced on Tuesday that it is holding $2 billion in unclaimed refunds owed to 1.7 million individual taxpayers who didn’t file a federal tax return in 2002. This money will become the property of the U.S.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released data last week based on random audits of 46,000 tax returns for 2001 that showed a tax gap of about $354 billion a year. IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said, according to Bloomberg.com, that most of the noncompliance occurs in businesses where there isn’t automatic reporting of information to the IRS, such as sole proprietors who report income and deductions on Schedule C.

A fledgling Internet-based tax preparation platform offering free software to tax preparers and an open source code to that software from which programmers could theoretically build other technologies key to the tax prep process, has attracted a handful of practitioner members and is discussing potential development opportunities with at least one of the tax prep industry’s top five software companies, according to the site’s founder, a CPA.“Providing an open source code format has never been done in tax preparation, but it has been done successfully in many other areas.

The holder of a single ticket, sold in Lincoln, Nebraska, is the winner of the nation’s largest lottery jackpot ($365 million), according to the Associated Press.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Thursday announced changes simplifying the process of filing for extensions for businesses, partnerships and trusts. Approval of Forms 7004, 4768 and 8892 is automatic, so the IRS will issues a response only if the request is denied. It is important to note that an extension of the time to file is NOT an extension of time to pay.

The Ohio Society of CPAs, in cooperation with the Ohio National Guard, on Tuesday launched Operation CPA, providing free tax preparation services from the Ohio Society of CPAs member volunteers to members of the Ohio Guard and reserve service members deployed outside Ohio.“The Ohio Society of CPAs and its members want to show support for the men and women in our armed services who are risking their lives for our country,” said Clarke Price, president and CEO of the Ohio Society.

The state of Washington is considering a bill that would impose a $1,000 fine on those claiming, in writing, to have an academic degree they didn’t possess. Also, failing to disclose that a listed degree came from an unaccredited institution will cause a fine. The bill passed the Washington House last week and now goes to the Senate, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. These degrees are offered to people based on their general life experiences. The bills aim to close legal loopholes concerning “diploma mills” operating within the state and in foreign countries.