The Internal Revenue Service should consider delaying the delivery tax refunds until taxpayers' identities are verified to combat identity theft, an advisory committee has recommended. In its 2012 annual report, the IRS Advisory Council said that for filers getting refunds in January, the IRS should consider issuing 25 percent of the refund and then send the rest only after ID verification.

Thomson Reuters plans to introduce next year a centralized tax center that firms can offer their clients. That was one of the plans outlined this week as the company's Tax and Accounting business held its Synergy user conference.

The owner of a tax preparation firm that operations locations in Alabama and Georgia has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to defraud the United States and filing false tax returns. Bruce King, who owns Premier Tax, is one of nine people associated with Premier Tax to have been convicted of crimes involving phony returns. On Thursday, Vonecia Orum, a preparer who worked at the company, pleaded guilty to delivering false tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service.

Instant Tax Service, which claims to be the fourth-largest tax preparation chain, has consented to a preliminary injunction that bars it from preparing false returns or offering phony loans. A trial on the government's effort to shut down the operation is scheduled to begin on May 20 in Dayton, Ohio.