A Texas tax preparer has received a 36-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to preparing a false tax return. Preparer Kenny Iroegbu must also pay $323,046 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. The conviction stemmed from action Iroegbu took as a intern before 2005 and after starting his own business that year.

A CPA operating in Morgantown, West Va., has been indicted for tax fraud. CPA Gregory N. Cason, 45, was indicted this month on one count of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and in conspiring to prepare and file false tax forms. Besides the conspiracy charge, he was also indicted on two counts of preparing and filing bogus tax returns.

The Internal Revenue Service has agreed it will not provide its own direct tax return filing. That is one of the provisions of a five-year agreement between the Free File Alliance and the IRS. The parties said the agreement could lead to improvements such as the importing of prior-year information, along with additional options for free state tax returns.

H&R Block has spent about $12 million in acquisitions that primarily include independent tax preparation firms during fiscal 2015. That is in addition to the $100 million spent to acquire 351 franchised Block locations as part of a plan to pick up 650 offices sold to franchisees in the last few years. The numbers were outlined during a recent webcast for financial results for the third quarter ended January 31.