President Barack Obama proposed increasing the budget for the Internal Revenue Service by 9.4 percent to hire more than 5,000 new employees, most of whom would pursue tax cheats. The president’s fiscal 2012 budget released today sets funding for the tax-collection agency at $13.3 billion, an increase of $1.1 billion from 2010, the last time a full appropriation was made for the IRS. Almost half of the increase, or $460 million, would support the agency’s tax-enforcement programs. Under the plan, the IRS would focus on fighting tax evasion through the use of offshore accounts and cheating by corporate and high-wealth taxpayers. It also would seek out fraudulent tax preparers. [Bloomberg]
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If you've ever met a whistleblower, or heard one give a speech, you never get […]
The IRS Is Giving Gulf Oil Spill Victims Their Full and Undivided Attention This Saturday
- Caleb Newquist
- July 15, 2010
Attention “self-reliant nonconformists who don’t pay much heed to everyday rules and regulations”! The IRS is offering you help with your nonconformist ways this very Saturday!
If you’re not interested in conforming with, you know, the Internal Revenue Code, then the Service might be a little bit less accommodating. Sure, it’s a Saturday but this is the government offering you help for free. No physical harm intended.
The Internal Revenue Service announced the locations of Taxpayer Assistance Centers in seven Gulf Coast cities that will be open this Saturday, July 17 to provide help to taxpayers impacted by the BP oil spill.
The following locations will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Central Time:
1110 Montlimar Drive, Mobile, Ala.
651-F West 14th St., Panama City, Fla.
7180 9th Ave. North, Pensacola, Fla.
2600 Citiplace Centre, Baton Rouge, La.
423 Lafayette St., Houma, La.
1555 Poydras Street, New Orleans, La.
11309 Old Highway 49, Gulfport, Miss.
Individuals who have questions about the tax treatment of BP claims payments or who are experiencing filing or payment hardships because of the oil spill will be able to work directly with IRS personnel at any of these locations on Saturday.
Just So You’re Aware: Your Experience with IRS Can Now Be Rated on a Scale of One to Five Dog Bones
- GoingConcern
- November 29, 2010
The following post is republished from AccountingWEB, a source of accounting news, information, tips, tools, resources and insight — everything you need to help you prosper and enjoy the accounting profession.
Consumers with a bone to pick with the Internal Revenue Service have the opportunity to share their experiences. Originally designed as an IRS profile database, IRSDoghouse.com has evolved into a free and anonymous Web site where anyone can rate – negatively or positively – their personal and professional experiences with IRS employees.
The IRS certainly holds the tax-paying public to task and now is the time for practitioners and other tax-paying individuals to reward or bite back, according to the site’s creators. Ratings are based on dog bones, with a single dog bone rating as the least favorable; five dog bones is the best rating.
People share personal experiences and can post information about the IRS employee, including whether the employee was helpful, clueless, difficult to work with, or knowledgeable. Reviews allow for character descriptions and other details. In the characteristic section, one reviewer explained that this IRS employee has been a government employee too long. She was clueless, difficult to work with, and would be fired if she worked in the private sector. The IRS employee received one dog bone.
On the other hand, a positive review of five bones reported that the IRS employee was able to negotiate, was fair, helpful, intelligent, and interacted with him in a kind, courteous, and professional manner. This IRS employee demonstrated positive communication skills and a pleasant attitude. He was a pleasure to work with and gave the benefit of the doubt to the practitioner/taxpayer. He also allowed ample time to comply with requests. “This is one of the good guys in the IRS,” the rater said.
The Web site provides people with IRS complaints a safe and anonymous place to vent or to share feel-good stories. And, if people don’t wish to post any comments at all, they can still read about practitioners’ and other tax payer experiences to know what they might be up against.
The site is free to use and is monitored for extreme profanity, hateful comments, and threats, which are removed. The administrator of this site has the authority to remove any posting that is not deemed appropriate.