The Internal Revenue Service should work with tax software companies to dramatically expand self-service capabilities for taxpayers. In its annual report to Congress this month, the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee recommended the IRS expand a pilot program that enabled taxpayers to determine their refund status within tax software to include an array of services.

Intuit says it has laid off 399 people. That compares to about 8,000 full-time employees it reported when its fiscal 2014 ended on July 31. The company says cuts were made across several business and functions. Affected employees will be given the opportunity to apply for jobs elsewhere in the company.

Balanced Labs, a start-up company, is developing a cloud-based tax application. Founded by two former Xero executives, Balanced Labs also plans to develop collaboration and workflow tools for accountants, according to a bare-bones website established by the company, which is based in San Francisco, Calif., and Sydney, Australia.

A 17.5-percent increase in operating expenses coupled with a write-off of its online software drove net income down by 62 percent for Liberty Tax's year ended July 30. The tax preparation chain also reserved $7.6-million in costs for potential losses from two class action law suits.