Airfares go up after New Year's

MINNEAPOLIS » Some airlines are keeping their New Year's resolution to raise fares. FareCompare.com, a fare-tracking Web site, says United Airlines added as much as $10 round trip to U.S. fares. Most of the increases United filed were $6 round trip.

FareCompare says the other big airlines matched, except discounters Southwest, JetBlue, and AirTran.

Tax preparers to face new policies

WASHINGTON » The Internal Revenue Service plans to require tax preparers to pass a test and register with the government to better police a largely unregulated industry used by most taxpayers.

The IRS says there could be more than a million people offering tax preparation services. Most offer sound advice, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman says, but many don't and the agency knows little about them.

The new regulations, announced yesterday, won't be in effect for the current filing season—individual tax returns are due April 15. But Shulman said tax preparers will be held to higher standards in future years as the IRS steps up its oversight to help reduce fraud and errors.

Shulman said he hopes to have all paid tax preparers registered by the 2011 filing season. Preparers will be given about three years to meet competency requirements, though there is much work to be done to develop standards and tests.

Japan Air stock jumps on raised credit

TOKYO » Shares in Japan Airlines surged 31 percent yesterday after the Japanese government came up with additional financing for the troubled carrier.

Separately, Japan Airlines and alliance partner American Airlines denied local media reports that said JAL had chosen Delta as its new partner.

Japanese transport minister Seiji Maehara told reporters Sunday the state-owned Development Bank of Japan will double its credit line for Japan Airlines Corp. to 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion). That should be enough to keep the airline afloat while the government works out details of a bailout for the cash-strapped carrier, government officials said.

Apple tablet device might be coming

SEATTLE » Speculation intensified yesterday that Apple Inc. will soon unveil a tablet-style gadget for consuming music, movies, books and other media.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is planning to take the wraps off such a device this month and begin shipping it in March. That jibes with several online reports that the company has scheduled an event for Jan. 26 or 27 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, one of Apple's customary spaces for product launches.

The gadget, which online pundits have at different times christened the iTablet and the iSlate, is to have a 10-inch to 11-inch touch screen, said the Journal, citing unnamed people briefed on the matter.

ON THE MOVE

The American Indian Higher Education Consortium has named Kurt Umbhau as national editor of Tribal College Journal. He is a University of Hawaii alumnus and was selected in part because of his Hawaiian literature course, “;A Mythical Paradise.”;

U.S. Green Building Council has appointed Jason Selley to the board of directors, Hawaii chapter. He is project coordinator for WCIT Architecture.

The Hawaiian Eye Center has announced two new hires at its Wahiawa office:

» Brenda Sebresos as ophthalmic medical assistant. She was previously a patient services representative for a local hospital.
» Melissa Woo as ophthalmic medical assistant. She was previously an instructor for a nonprofit organization in Chicago.