professionwatch
The PCAOB has been blocked from
inspections there since 2008.
Watch
FROM PAGE
6
come effective, the company said.
Tax prep giant H&R Block report-
ed a first-quarter loss of $173.4 mil-
lion versus a loss of $127.6 million
in the year-ago first quarter, which
included a $62.2 million after-
tax charge related to the pending
sale of the RSM McGladrey unit.
Meanwhile, system-wide revenues
slipped 2. 5 percent for the period
ended July 31, to $276.6 million.
GUIDANCE TO COME
The Internal Revenue Service has
issued its 2011-2012 Priority Guidance Plan, listing the areas in the
tax regulations where it plans to
provide guidance in the year ahead,
with 317 projects that are priorities
for the allocation of resources from
July 2011 to June 2012.
It also offered tax relief to victims of Hurricane Irene (see page
14), provided estate tax instructions
for 2010 decedents and gave a filing
extension and penalty relief to their
estates (see page 48), and published
guidance on the tax treatment of
mobile phones in Notice 2011-72
that clarifies the taxability of employer-provided cell phones (see
page 53). Finally, it released the
specs for its much-anticipated tax
return preparer test, and scheduled
the first exams for this month. (See
page 52.)
IN OTHER NEWS
PricewaterhouseCoopers and
Crowe Horwath were sued over
their audits of Colonial Bancgroup
by the bankrupt bank’s trustee. (See
page 19.)
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Financial news and information
giant Bloomberg and tax publisher
BNA have entered into an agreement for Bloomberg to acquire all
outstanding shares of BNA in a deal
worth roughly $990 million. Under
the terms of the agreement, Bloomberg will pay $39.50 per share in a
deal that is expected to close before
the end of the year. Upon closing,
BNA would become a stand-alone
subsidiary of Bloomberg.
The corporate parent of tax prep
chain Liberty Tax Services filed a
registration with the Securities
and Exchange Commission for a
proposed initial public offering. A
portion of the as-yet-undetermined
number of shares will be issued and
sold by Liberty Tax, and a portion
will be sold by certain stockholders
of Liberty Tax, presumably including founder John Hewitt. The registration statement has been filed
with the SEC, but has not yet be-
