Sage says it is bringing new digital services to market. That includes Sage Accounting and Compliance as a Service which will debut in the United Kingdom this month and in North America at an undetermined date.

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Sage gave a basic outline for new digital services in announcing a rebrand in which it has redesigned the company logo. In its announcement, Sage said the new services involves, “giving SMBs access to essential accounting and bookkeeping tools directly via their bank app or web browser.”

In addition, all Sage customers will receive automatic access to Sage Membership, starting with Member Masterclass, which also rolls out this month. 

“Member Masterclass offers human insights through talks and articles from the world’s leading experts and trailblazers on the challenges that are most important for businesses today,” the company said. In the first season, the subject will be finding job talent.

The company said more details will be released about Sage Membership.

Mango Practice Management has been introduced. The product is a combination of ImagineTime with Mango Billing. 

Imagine Time acquired MangoBilling in December 2020. and changed its name to Mango Practice Management.

The cloud-based platform includes tracking, invoicing, workflow, and data analytics, along with native integrated payment processing.  

The company’s web site shows three pricing levels starting at $39 per month for one user for the Basic version. The Plus edition is $55 per month for one users and adds unlimited cloud storage, company dashboards and due date/project management. 

The Pro version includes document management, file sharing, eSignatures, Google calendar  and QuickBooks Online and desktop integration, email/marketing automation and advanced data import.

Bloomberg Tax & Accounting has added Workflow Automation to Bloomberg Tax Fixed Assets. The company calls the new capability “a streamlined process for the import of complex and high volumes of asset data in multiple formats and from different sources.”

A wizard-like automated import process is configurable for both direct connections and file-based transfers. 

This eliminates the need for manual entry and errors are exposed in the user interface and creates a traceable audit hiroy,

 AbacusNext has launched  APX Advanced Payment Processing for customers its legal and accounting practice management applications. Those include users of the OfficeTools suite for tax and accounting firms.

In its announcement, the company said, “Firms using Zola Suite, AbacusLaw, Amicus Attorney and OfficeTools can now manage the entire billing, payments and collections process within their practice management platform where they also manage clients, projects and communications.”

AbacusNext has also hired payments and fintech industry veteran, Kevin Gallagher, as GM of its payments division. 

The company says APX has an intuitive user interface and can deposit payments into firm bank accounts with two days. The platform’s integration with time and billing functions was designed to simplify reconciliation and reporting

There is also a secure merchant payment portal and client portal integration “enabling firms to post invoices in a secure location, allowing their clients to view, download and pay invoices online,” AbacusNext said.

The title of this special report "Reselling the Era of COVID" sounds even more relevant with the recent outbreak of the Omicron variant. But one thing is for sure, the move to the cloud was accelerated by the pandemic in a way no one could have anticipated.

It has not beneftied everyone in the midmarket who sells ERP software. But a large number of resellers and software publishers have benefited, even as they work around issued such as remote work. So within that framework, we are pleased to announce the 100 resellers who have been chosen as
VAR Stars for 2021 and share some of their experiences of the last year. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had changed the world of payroll. It put a premium on using cloud-based products since most employees were working remotely.

It forced accounting firms into offering human resource advice as they helped clients obtain Payroll Protection Plan loans and then pursue forgiveness of those loans, along with dealing with questions of possible furloughing employees and also bringing them back to the office. This special report, ”Payroll Moves into a New Era” examines issues involved in a new way of doing things.

Everybody is talking about Client Advisory Services and a lot of people are doing something about them. That is because businesses have never needed advice more than they have during the COVID-19 pandemic..

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.They have been confronted with decision they have not had to make before—how to transition employees to remote work; how to do deal with rapidly changing government requirements; how to keep operating in difficult conditions.

So they turn to the people that are usual at the time of their contact list at times like this: their accountants. Accountants are being called on for advice in area they usually leave to others, such as human resource and other people issues. And accountants need to be able to advise clients on what to do, not just how to reads their financial reports.

This special report looks at the evolving world of CAS, how practitioners are adapting to it and how their technology partners can help them deliver the needed services. 

The coronavirus has helped make the argument for the use of online payroll systems. With the cloud, you can still run payroll and issue checks, even if no one is in the office. But it has also put accountants on the hook for being able to answer an increasing number of client questions about human resources issues, including furloughing and recalling staff, especially with the Paycheck Protection Programs Loans, which are based on payroll.  At once, it has provided the tools for producing paychecks even when practitioners are out of the office and has also given them a new set of problems and new opportunities. In this special report, Payroll and Beyond, The Progressive Accountant looks at the impact of the response to COVID-19 on payroll and HR services.

Jeff Siegel is the owner of Siegel Solutions, an 11-person firm that provides outsourced bookkeeping solutions usingJeff Siegel is the owner of Siegel Solutions, an 11-person firm that provides outsourced bookkeeping solutions usingQuickBooks to over 300 clients. Jeff knows what it takes to grow a business: efficiency of scale, real-time insights thatbuild strong customer relationships, and a secure data environment. He gets all three from Right Networks.

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Steven Brewer, CPA is the President of Steven Brewer and Company, CPAs, located in Salem, IN. He talked to AccountantsWorld about how he’s grown his accounting practice without needing to increase his number of clients – and how those improvements have eased his tax season crunch.

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The Internal Revenue Service says the destruction of 30 million paper information returns will not impact taxpayers or preparers. The IRS has been heavily criticized this month for the destruction of the returns, mainly Form 1099s, which the agency blamed on aging technology.

“Taxpayers or payers have not been and will not be subject to penalties resulting from this action,” the IRS said in a prepared statement.

 Some Congressional reaction was harsh while the America Institute of AICPAs issued a carefully worded statement that the action “was concerning”.

AICPA VP of taxation, Edward Karl said in the statement the “IRS management’s decision to destroy information return documents due to the processing backlog raised numerous questions regarding IRS’s decision making and risk assessment process.”

A Salem, Mass.-based tax preparer, who sought multiple government loans, has drawn five years in prison this month. Roosevelt Fernandez, had pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated id entity theft.

He must also pay $198,490 in restitution and forfeiture.

Starting about 2018, Fernandez operated a tax preparation busines, Soluciones Multi Service. He concocted W-2 forms to file federal and state tax returns on behalf of individuals without their knowledge.  These included at least 40 fraudulent returns, which requested $620,000 in refunds.

Also in May 2020, an Economic Income Payment was deposited into the same account. In June 2020, he submitted a false tax filing to support the application and received $129,400 deposited into a bank account the controlled. He withdrew more than $80,000 in cash over the next two weeks.

In August that year he received $149,900 via another EDIL loan application, which used phone tax filing information.

Latin American business was the strongest source of revenue growth for Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting Professionals for the first quarter ended March 31. Thomson’s business there, Domino, saw revenue increase by 30 percent year-over-year the company said this week.

The company noted recurring revenue rose by 12 percent, reflecting strength in both Latin America and in sales of the UltraTax tax software line.

The segment had the largest growth of Thomson’s Big 3 segments. Tax & Accounting reported revenue of $253 million for the most recently ended period, an increase of 11 percent over $227 million a year ago.  That percentage was the same in constant currencies and for organic growth.

The revenue growth for the other two major segments was 8 percent for corporates and 3 percent for Legal.

Total Thomson revenue reached $1.67 billion, up 6 percent from $1.58 billion in last year’s corresponding period.

 Intuit will pay $141 million to settle questions about its advertising of free tax preparation for TurboTax. Intuit has admitted no wrongdoing in the agreement with 50 state attorneys general and the Distric of Columbia.

Intuit also agreed to what it called made certain commitments regarding its advertising practices. The software company said it already has adheres to most of those practices and the agreement will cause minimal impact on advertising.

Intuit has been accused of misleading taxpayers by its advertising for free filing. Critics say the offer confused those seeking to participate in the Free File program from the Internal Revenue Service. Intuit no longer participates in that program

More recently, the Federal Trade Commission sought a preliminary injunction halting the allegedly abusive TurboTax advertising. That request was denied last month by a federal judge who noted that most TurboTax advertising has ended with tax season and Intuit had implemented many changes.

Intuit still faces a hearing before an FTC administrative judge in September

Mazars US has named three leaders in tax practice. The firm has hired David Nigliazzo, as tax partner, and Arash Barkhordar and David Livitt as principals.

Nigliazzo, who was a tax manager with Mazars from August 2012 through May 2018, has returned to serve clients in the Real Estate and Private Client Services Practice. After his first tenure with Mazars, he was a director with PricewaterhouseCoopers from May 2018 through January 2020. Nigliazzo was next a tax director with EisnerAmper from January 2020 until returning to Mazars last month.

Barkhordar, who leads the insurance tax practice,  was previously tax director and member of the leadership team for Grant Thornton from November 2017 until accepting his new job. Prior to that, he worked at PwC for 16 years three months and was lead tax director in his last position there.

Before coming to Mazars, Livitt was managing director with the Global Tax Network from July 2018 until last month. He was previously a managing director with Deloitte from May 2016 through May 2018 and before  he worked in London, U.K., with PwC from December 2007 through March 2016.

Mazars USA has named Brad Leffler as National Audit Service leader. He is replacing Brian Clouse, who is retiring after 17 years. 

Leffler joined Mazars’ Dallas, Texas, office in 2020 and will remain the Office Managing Partner there. 

His more than 25 years of experience include auditing a large variety of companies and working  with clients in the energy, retail and consumer products, technology and manufacturing distribution industries. 

Before that , Leffler was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers for the last 11 years nine months of his tenure with that firm from August 1996 until  joining Mazars in 2020.

PKF O’Connor Davies has created the position of chief digital officer. The New York, N.Y.-based CPA firm has promoted Steve Antico, director of client relations, the first person to fill the job. 

Antico joined the firm in 2014. In his prior role, he designed and implemented processes to manage AR  and collection activities, launched a CRM-generated alert system identifying at-risk engagements and accounts and  Antico also an outsourced AR and collection management service offering for the firm

 Prior to joining PKF, he was director of operations for The Stagg Group|Five Stars Management from 2012 through 2014 and was president and COO of Coastal Recovery Corp., where he worked from 1990 through 2012

 BDO USA has hired Bernadette Pieters as its first chief diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) officer. Her hiring came as the firm also announced its first DEI Transparency Report this month.

Pieters job is to head the firm’s DEI strategy and lead programs and “to create impact, foster change and continue to build a sustainably inclusive and equitable culture.”
 

She joined BDO in 1992 and became a partner and human resources principal in 2017. Pieters has more than 25 years of HR experience and leads the firm’s  people and culture talent acquisition and field teams.

Sales tax vendor Avalara has laid out its plans for Crush Global, its annual conference. The free virtual conference, the company's sixth annaul event, will be held May 17 and 18, the company said this week as it opened registration

Besides offering breakout sessions about industry topics, the conference will again feature Crush City, described as “an experiential activity center with access to a variety of on-demand resources, including videos, podcasts, downloadable guides and reports, and more, specific to the needs of different industries and business sizes.” Attendees will have experiences based on their country or region.

Major sessions include “Managing Growth in the Global Economy”. Moderated by global economist, Todd Buchholz, ecommerce experts on the panel are Craig Cohen, CRO at WooCommerce, and  Miriam González Durántez, international trade lawyer with Cohen & Gresser, and founder and chair of Inspiring Girls International,

Siri Bulusu, former tax reporter with Bloomberg Industry Group, will moderate “Staying Ahead of Shifting Government Regulations” with panelists Daniel Bunn, VP, global projects at the Tax Foundation, Gino Dossche, principal, U.S. VAT practice at EY, and  Dr. Lindsey Piegza, chief economist for Stifel Financial,

The moderator, Mickey North Rizza, program VP, Enterprise Applications and Digital Commerce at IDC, is hosting “Discover the Value of Embedding Tax Within Finance” Panelists fopr this session are  Catherine Barba, a digital revolution pioneer and expert in omnichannel retail and digital retail, Dara Meath, Ddvisional CIO, Digital/Ecommerce at Conair Corporation and Avalara customer, and Paul Farrell, VP, product management at Oracle NetSuite.

 Thomson Reuters has introduced Indirect Tax Determination Anywhere. The company this week said the platform sits on top of private and public cloud or on-premise applications to provide tax calculations.

The company said the application, gives tax professionals “the power of a tax determination engine at any point of transaction, within any channel.”

Determination was launched in conjunction with the Thomson Reuters Institute’s new2021 Tax Technology Report, Indirect Taxes – Much More than Just a Process, The inaugural product “shows how the growth and complexity of indirect taxes continues to impact compliance and operational efficiency across the global business landscape.”

The company said “Determination Anywhere's proprietary cloud-based technology ensures that tax rates and jurisdictional regulations are current and accurate, enabling reliable tax compliance, a frictionless customer experience and increased revenues for businesses. “

Wolters Kluwer has acquired BusinessLogix, which markets business licensing services. Terms were not disclosed.

Business licensing appears to be one of the areas in which companies offering indirect tax services are increasing competing. Avalara acquired a similar business, Business Licenses, to enter market in September.

LicenseLogix provides license filing, research, verification, compliance and assessment services. Its operations will be combined with WK’s sales tax services.

Based in White Plains, N.Y. was founded in 2011 by lawyers, technology professionals and legal service industry veterans.

 Avalara has acquired Track1099, which markets the filing tax forms such as 1099s, W-2s and W-9s. Terms were not disclosed.

It’s the second acquisition of a 1099 software company by an indirect tax this year. In July, Sovos purchased 1099 Pro.

Track1099 is reported to have more than 40,000 customers. The company has provided 1099 filing on a tiered, per-form pricing basis and an annual subscription for W-9s.

“By integrating Track1099’s capabilities into our compliance document management suite, Avalara can support and automate additional annual requirements for our customers,” Jayme Fishman, Avalara’s EVP of corporate development, said in a prepared statement.