Paychex revenue was off 1 percent for the second quarter ended November 30. While employment is still down, the company saw no further deterioration from the recent surges in Covid-19 cases and it was buoyed by small business starts.

A tax preparer who operated from Jacksonville, N.C., between 2012 and 2018, has been sentenced to three years in prison for preparing false tax returns. Gene Hersholt Williamson II was also ordered to pay $637,000 in restitution.

Two brothers who were partners in an accounting firm in Atlanta, Ga., have pled guilty in a scheme that enabled clients to claim more than $1.2 billion in fraudulent tax deductions. Stein Agee and Corey Agee pled guilty to one charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States.