Intuit plans to unify the code bases for its consumer and professional tax preparation applicatons into one common base. The general outlines of the plans were given recently at Intuit's Investor Day by EVP Dan Wernikoff, who leads the software company's consumer tax operations.

Sage has introduced the Sage Business Cloud, which it describes as a set of Internet-based products. The company said the suite, whose capabilities range from small business accounting and through advanced financial management, is available in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

Intuit, which has been top of the do-it-yourself tax preparation heap, is making a major push into assisted preparation. The software has moved beyond five tax seasons of testing its concept and is hiring credential preparers at a accelerated rate.