WASHINGTON — Nearly 99 million individuals efiled their federal income tax returns electronically during 2010, a 3-percent increase from the prior year. That's out of a total of 141.5 returns filed to date this year, according to the Internal Revenue Service. With mandates for efiling kicking in next year, that rate seems likely to increase.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. - Sales-and-use-tax vendor Avalara has named Kevin Riegelsberger, best known in the accounting profession from his years at Epicor, as its president and chief operating officer. Riegelsberger was most recently CEO of Estorian, which provides applications for mainframe storage applications.

Anyone not yet enrolled to offer refund anticipation loans for the 2011 season will find this year's options very limited. With Chase having dropped out earlier this year and Republic Bank reporting it will have only a third of the funds it offered last year, another avenue has disappeared as River City Bank has closed its enrollment.