News

The delay in accepting tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service took a big bite out of financial results for H&R Block for the third quarter ended January 31. The better news was that while revenue dipped by 29.1 percent for the most recently ended period, the number of tax returns received by tax services chain were down only 5 percent for the tax season through February 28, compared to last year. Block says those results are consistent with the rest of the industry.

Michael Lowther, who was barred from appearing before the SEC in January 2008, has been restored to practice there. The SEC found that Lowther had met the conditions imposed as a result of his actions as concurring reviewer for Arthur Andersen's audits and reviews of Enron's financial statements.

The Department of Justice has asked a federal court to prohibit Ahmed Grant and his wife, Lillian Madyun, from preparing federal tax returns for others. The government alleges the Tennessee residents have pumped up refunds claimed through a variety of means such as the unwarranted use of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

No one really needs to be told the mobile and Internet-based technologies are hot. But Intuit's report of its financial results for the second quarter ended January 31 provides measurements of how fast the switch to these platforms is occurring. And in last week's earnings webcast, CEO Intuit Brad Smith spit out a string of double-digit increases in metrics in many of the company's lines of business that reflect the trend.