A federal court in Ohio has ordered ITS Financial, parent of Instant Tax Service, the nation's fourth largest tax franchise chain to cease operating. An injunction also bars Fesum Ogbazion, owner and CEO of ITS Financial, from operating or being involved with any business relating to tax-return preparation because of a widespread pattern of fraud by the chain.

An unexpectedly large number of Preparer Tax Identification Number renewals attempted last week swamped computer systems at the Internal Revenue Service. The result was slow performance, timeouts and an inability of those trying to renew their numbers to do so.

CCH Small Firm Services, which had major problems with its ATX tax software during this year's tax season, is taking the 2013 version of the application on the road. The company this week announced a seven-city road show at which tax professionals can give the last edition a hands-on test.