Report To Congress: IRS Is Increasingly Unable To Meet Taxpayer Needs [Forbes]
Probably because they're so busy trying to prevent conservatives from exercise their freedom of speech! "In 2013, nearly four in ten taxpayer calls went unanswered. The IRS only answered 61% of calls from taxpayers. That’s down sharply from a decade ago, when 87% of calls were answered. [Taxpayer Advocate Nina] Olson noted that half the decline had occurred since 2010. Those taxpayers who did get through were forced to wait. And wait. And wait. The average wait time for taxpayers hoping to speak to a customer service representative at IRS was 17.6 minutes. That’s more than six times the wait from ten years ago when taxpayers had to hold just 2.6 minutes. More than half of all written correspondences sit unanswered after 45 days."
David Cay Johnston: 'Professional skeptic' [D&C]
We've poked fun at DCJ in the past for various reasons but this is a great profile of him. He's one of the good guys.
My hunch is that they're actually new associates who are escaping before busy season starts in earnest.
Window washers at Austin office today. Grateful my @lifeatdeloitte doesn't include rappelling pic.twitter.com/pMP0R2E63M
— Becky Kapes Osmon (@bosmon) January 10, 2014
Tax Preparer Convicted of IRS Fraud [NBC]
3,000 client and $3 million amounts to "[T]he largest return preparer scheme that I've seen in Chicago," according to IRS agent in charge of the case.
Someone hire this guy: "Abu Bakarr Saccoh has two bachelor’s and a master’s degree and is seeking a job as an accountant. But, for the moment , he is making ends meet by driving a cab instead. […] The 43-year-old cab driver has been at his off-the-beaten-path self-promotion for a year-and-a-half."
Well, this is something: "Cormac McCarthy's former wife pulled weapon from her vagina."