Hey, it beats having heavily armed tax police bursting into your downtown Moscow office demanding that you pay your pound of flesh to Uncle Vanya.
Moscow tax collectors, known in the past for their user-unfriendly methods, said Wednesday they'll go online to let taxpayers fill out their forms on the Internet.
Gennady Bukayev, head of the Tax Ministry's Moscow city office, said Net users can now go to the ministry's Web site and fill out forms "at home, in electronic form."
This is no trifling matter in Russia, where tax evasion is one of the perennial problems facing the troubled economy and where, as a result, the government has occasionally resorted to strong-arm tactics to collect its rubles.
While most Russians have their taxes automatically deducted from their paychecks, business owners are required to go through a complicated declaration process. Obviously, many don't bother.
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Bell ... and Howell: Bell & Howell Co., the information services provider, said Wednesday that it plans to split into two companies as part of a restructuring aimed at sharpening its focus.
The plan is to spin off its education and publishing businesses to shareholders, then float a minority stake in the yet-to-be-named company through an IPO.
The remaining units -- mail and messaging technologies and the imaging business -- would continue operating under the Bell & Howell name and keep the same ticker symbol.
Bell & Howell expects to record a US$30 million after-tax restructuring charge as part of the spinoff.
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World's cleanest car?: Maybe, at least as far as gas-powered vehicles go.
Nissan Motor Co. is making the claim on behalf its new Sentra sedan, which it says meets emission standards previously attained only by electric cars.
"The Sentra CA, driven 10 miles to work and back, emits less harmful vapors than an ordinary car sitting on a driveway all day with its engine turned off," said Jun Teranuma, general manager of Nissan's powertrain planning department.
It should be noted that cars can still emit vapors after the engine is shut off when left outside in the sun.
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Sticking together: Fifty networking companies have formed a coalition to support the deployment of fast-growing optical networking technology.
The Optical Domain Service Interconnect initiative, which includes companies like Ciena, Enron Communications, Redback Networks, and Unisphere, will focus on recommending industrywide standards for optical technology.
Demand for optical technology, which significantly increases the capacity and speed at which information is delivered along telecommunication networks, has been growing rapidly in recent months. But for service providers to get the full benefits of emerging technology, coalition members say they need to find way for optical applications to work smoothly with existing networks.
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Ready to rumble: MCI WorldCom plans to compete with Bell Atlantic to provide both local and long-distance telephone service in New York, the CEO Bernie Ebbers said Wedensday.
Ebbers said he expects things to begin heating up just as soon as MCI completes its merger with Sprint Corp. The merged company will sell minutes to New York customers, who can use them for either local or long-distance service.
Bell Atlantic was recently cleared by the FCC to begin offering long-distance service in New York.
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Red Hat's new CTO: Michael Tiemann, cofounder of Cygnus Solutions, has been named Red Hat's chief technical officer.
Tiemann's appointment follows on the heels of Red Hat's $939 million acquisition of Cygnus, which closed Monday. Tiemann replaces Marc Ewing, Red Hat's cofounder, who will be taking charge of the Red Hat Center for Open Source, a nonprofit devoted to taking the open source model to other industries.
Cygnus was a supplier of Linux software programming tools.
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Give 'em the business: IBM and Cisco Systems said Wednesday that they'll collaborate on developing products and services for so-called "e-business" applications.
The effort will combine IBM servers and software with Cisco networking technology.
Products will focus on stuff like improving speed and reliability of technology for doing transactions over the Internet.
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Stop, or else: Poland's largest mobile phone company is breaking the law by offering Internet-relayed international calls and should discontinue the practice immediately, the country's telecom minister said Wednesday.
Maciej Srebro said that PTC risked the consequences -- which could include fines or even withdrawing the telecom's license -- because it violates Poland's monopoly laws.
PTC said it will appeal.
Reuters contributed to this report.
