Tech news: Luca IQ launches with e-file approved tax engine for CPA firms

Payroll and HR platform Deel announced the availability of its services in the Microsoft Marketplace. Organizations that run their operations on Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 can now find and deploy Deel’s Employee of Record, Managed Payroll and contractor hiring solutions directly through Microsoft Marketplace. They can further optimize cloud spend by applying Deel toward existing Azure Consumption Commitments. … Intuit has established multiyear partnerships with Anthropic and OpenAI to bring new sales invoicing, payroll and lending intelligence in Claude and ChatGPT, moving beyond read-only access to user data. The features enable small business users to perform tasks such as creating invoices, looking up payroll details and accessing loan benchmarking through conversation. …  Value-added reseller and managed services provider Net at Work announced the acquisition of Kinzit Technologies, a managed services provider and cybersecurity firm. Kinzit’s employees will join Net at Work and continue to serve their existing clients while gaining expanded career growth opportunities. Kinzit clients will get access to a broader suite of applications that optimize workflows and support business growth. … LexisNexis Legal & Professional and Neil Jesani Tax Advisors, a national full-service tax advisory firm, announced plans to collaborate on Tolley+ with Protégé to advance tax advisory services for CPA firms. LexisNexis will support Neil Jesani Tax Advisors with access to authoritative tax content and AI-powered research tools. … Big Four firm E&Y announced an expanded alliance with SymphonyAI in manufacturing and supply chain services, allowing more organizations to build AI operations from the ground up rather than bolting AI onto legacy structures. SymphonyAI’s industrial AI platform will be embedded into EY’s Order-to-Cash Master Value Blueprint, which helps EY clients scale AI across manufacturing and business operations. This expansion builds on EY and SymphonyAI’s original alliance, which focused on bringing GenAI applications to retail and financial services. The expanded alliance will bring services to EY clients in manufacturing-intensive industries including industrial products, consumer goods, life sciences and energy. … FreshBooks, a business management solutions provider, and Grasshopper, a full-service digital bank, announced a strategic partnership. FreshBooks will bring Grasshopper transactions into one place, turn transactions into clear reports, pair Grasshopper’s with FreshBooks’ invoices, online payments and payment reminders, and help users scan receipts. …  Vena Solutions, a provider of financial and operational planning solutions, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Morpheo AI, subject to closing conditions. Vena is acquiring Morpheo AI’s technology and the team behind it to advance Vena AI through Vena Omega, a cumulative context engine designed to deepen organizational intelligence and enable company-specific AI capabilities. The acquisition also brings new capabilities to Acterys, transforming fragmented enterprise data into a structured context that AI can understand and act on.