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NewsFlash Feb. 14, 2013Did you miss an issue of NewsFlash? View our archives here.
IRS Intensifies National Crackdown on Identity Theft Continuing a year-long enforcement push against refund fraud and identity theft, the IRS recently announced the results of a massive national sweep targeting identity theft suspects in 32 states and Puerto Rico. The effort involved 215 cities and surrounding areas. The coast-to-coast effort against 389 identity theft suspects led to 734 enforcement actions in January, including indictments, information, complaints and arrests. The effort comes on top of a growing identity-theft effort that led to 2,400 other enforcement actions against identity thieves during fiscal year 2012. The January crackdown, a joint effort with the Department of Justice and local U.S. attorneys’ offices, unfolded as the IRS opened the 2013 tax season. IRS Criminal Investigation expanded its efforts in January, pushing the total of identity theft investigations to more than 1,460 since the start of the federal 2012 fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2011. “As tax season begins this year, we want to be clear that there is a heavy price to pay for perpetrators of refund fraud and identity theft,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller. “We have aggressively stepped up our efforts to pursue and prevent refund fraud and identity theft, and we will continue to intensely focus on this area. This is part of a much wider effort under way for the 2013 tax season to stop fraud.” Read the full article here. Additional reading Senate Bill 328 Passes First Committee Stop Senate Bill 328 sponsored by Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, recently passed its first committee of reference. The bill provides an increase in the minority-scholarships threshold and institutes peer review. The changes would increase the number of students who benefit from the scholarship program and bring Florida up to the national standard requiring firms that do attest functions to undergo a peer review. The Senate Regulated Industries Committee passed the bill with a 9-0 vote. The bill now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Click here for more information about Senate Bill 328. More information about legislative issues: Rivers Buford, FICPA Director of Governmental Affairs | (800) 342-3197, Ext. 203 (in Florida) | (850) 224-2727, Ext. 203 | govaffairs@ficpa.org FICPA Board of Governors Plans for Upcoming Fiscal Year The FICPA Board of Governors (BOG) met in St. Petersburg Jan. 31-Feb. 2 for its annual strategy-planning session. The BOG reviewed a Membership Program Matrix, which identified the programs and services provided, and ranked them in order of priority based on member benefit, resource requirements and relevancy to the FICPA mission statement. The FICPA will be realigning its resources and focusing on the high-priority items. The retreat also included a panel made up of FICPA members from the small firm, large firm, young CPA and industry segments. Panelists gave the Board feedback about the services the FICPA provides these groups, and how we can better serve them. The BOG also reviewed the 2012-13 Strategic Plan and began identifying 2013-14 Strategic Initiatives. AICPA Rescinds Staff Position on Oil Spill Fee Arrangements Because many FIPCA members have participated in one or more of the FICPA’s CPE programs on the BP Oil Spill, we want to share information from the AICPA regarding fee arrangements for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Claims. In September 2012, the AICPA released a staff position on fee arrangements for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. On Oct. 30, 2012, the AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee rescinded the staff position on fee arrangements. For more information, contact the AICPA. Read the September and October 2012 documents regarding the AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee’s position on fee arrangements. 
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If you have a problem with that path, navigate to C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch Former AICPA President Passes Away Past AICPA President Phil Chenok, who retired in 1995 after 15 years of service to the AICPA, passed away on Feb. 12, 2013. He was an important part of the accounting profession’s history. Here is information about Chenok’s upcoming memorial service, as well as contact information for expressions of condolence and memorial contributions. Memorial Service Expressions of Condolence to Chenok’s Spouse Contributions in Chenok’s Memory Look for the next issue of FICPA NewsFlash Feb. 28, 2013. Comments or Suggestions? We are interested in your comments or suggestions. Please email communications@ficpa.org. LAST UPDATED 2/13/2013
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