The number of returns efiled via TaxAct outpaced major competitors for the recent tax season. The number of returns filed via the software, which is owned by Blucora, is still small compared to Intuit's 26.5 million returns filed via TurboTax and 22 million prepared by H&R Block. But TaxAct's numbers were up 8 percent while Intuit returns rose only 4 percent and Block's total was flat when compared to the 2012 tax season.

CCH is going to the web with a broad-based suite of tax and accounting applications under the name, Axcess. The company's desktop products will continue to be marketed under the ProSystem fx name. But Axcess covers the full line of cloud-based applications. And while CCH had a SaaS line on the market, this introduction appears to mark a much more aggressive move onto that platform.

Xero has released Workpapers, based on the product of a cloud-based company it purchased last year, into the New Zealand and Australian markets. But the New Zealand-based organization isn't keeping the online workpaper product in the Southern Hemisphere. It will bring the product to the United States, although an exact date has not been announced.