Among publicly held companies in the tax business, everyone had a so-so-tax season, except for Intuit. The last companies to report results for the 2015 tax season were Liberty Tax Service, which said the number of returns prepared by its offices were up .6 percent, over the prior year, and Blucora's Tax Act, whose total returns were flat. That came as the Affordable Care Act failed to drive customers to paid preparers in any numbers.

Two Miami, Fla.-area preparers have been indicted on charges they used first-time homebuyer credits to swindle the government. The separate indictments charge Noe Mompoint of Southwest Ranches, Florida, was charged with 14 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false federal income tax returns. Lucvens Francois, of Aventura, Fla., faces 19 counts on the same charge.

The Tax and Accounting business led all Thomson Reuters segments in growth of revenue, EDBITDA and operating profit for the first quarter ended March 31. The unit saw a 17-percent increase in operating profit and a 10-percent rise in revenue before currency. And currency was a major issue as the strength of the U.S. dollar pushed corporate results down.

The number of individual tax returns prepared by H&R Block during the recent tax season was down by .9 percent from the 2014 tax return. The tax services company said this week that the number of assisted returns through April 16 fell by 4.6 percent from the prior year. However, Block said the number prepared through its software products—including online, desktop and mobile—rose by 8.2 percent.