Interested in Interest Rates? The IRS Has Something For You
The Fed isn’t the only one raising interest rates these days. The IRS did too—and it has now for four consecutive quarters, including the first quarter of next year. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2023, the rate for overpayments and underpayments will be 7% per year, compounded daily, for individuals, up from 6% in Q4 of […]
The Widening of the Tax Gap is the IRS’s Fault, Says the IRS
Accounting Today reported on Friday: The estimated gross U.S. tax gap increased to $496 billion annually for tax years 2014 through 2016, a rise of over $58 billion from the prior estimate — and the Internal Revenue Service estimates the gross tax gap will rise to $540 billion for 2017-2019. “The increase in the tax […]
Former and Current Alliantgroup Employees Speak Out About ‘Evil, Toxic, Emotionally Damaging Company’ (NEW UPDATE)
[Update to post originally published on May 25 with a fourth ex-Alliantgroup employee sharing their experience.] One thing I have learned since IRS Criminal Investigation and the Justice Department conducted a court-ordered raid of Alliantgroup’s Houston offices on May 20 is that there are A LOT of horror stories from ex-Ag employees about their experience working […]
The IRS Is Paying an Unwelcome Visit to Alliantgroup (NEW UPDATE) Experts Weigh In On Feds’ Raid of the ‘Blue A’
[UPDATE 13] Jonathan Curry of Tax Notes wrote an interesting article on June 16 about why federal authorities would conduct a court-ordered raid of an established company like Alliantgroup, and he talked to law professors and a tax lawyer about the legal ramifications of that particular action by the Justice Department and IRS Criminal Investigation. […]
One IRS Cafeteria Is Serving Musty Tax Documents For Lunch
When it comes to the IRS’s backlog of paper tax returns, a picture is worth a thousand words. This photo was tweeted last week by Natasha Sarin, an economist, law professor, and counselor for tax policy and implementation at the Treasury Department. At the IRS in Austin, cafeteria is overrun with paper returns awaiting processing […]
Guy Compares the IRS to Barnes & Noble
“The IRS destroying data for an estimated 30 million filers in March 2021 is appalling. This will create massive chaos for taxpayers in terms of filing time and refunds. The fact that the IRS is a business that operates in the dark ages in terms of technology further compounds the taxpayer’s burden. They act like […]
Busy Season Problems: Somebody Please Get the IRS a Damn Scanner
We usually reserve this space on Going Concern for our tax preparer friends who have to deal with mostly client-initiated and other unexpected problems on a daily (hourly?) basis during busy season. And we’ll get to them next week as they near the home stretch of the April 15 18 filing deadline. But today I […]
The IRS Wants to Hire 10,000 New Employees in the Next Year. So What Are They Paying?
Last Friday I buried a link about the IRS’ latest hiring push in Footnotes but I think it deserves its own little mention if only to discuss the pay. That’s all that matters, right? Before we get to that, my handlers have asked me to remind you that Footnotes is a weekly wrap-up of accounting […]
Hiring Watch ’21: The IRS Needs Help Taking Down Hollywood Tax Cheats
Outside of press releases about the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit busting people for money laundering and reminders that the taxpayer advocate released her latest lengthy report to Congress about how well (and not so well) the IRS is doing, we don’t get a lot of email from everyone’s favorite parody video maker. But buried in […]
The AICPA Is Starting Beef With the IRS on Behalf of Taxpayers
Did ya hear? There’s a global pandemic going on. And although we’ve had more than a year to figure things out, obviously there are still some areas where the “idk, just kick that can down the road and we’ll deal with it later” mentality is about all TPTB can muster. For example, the IRS announced […]
At Least There Is One IRS Employee Who Is Proud to Say He Works For the IRS
“The IRS remains dedicated to improving service to taxpayers, modernizing its systems and maintaining the integrity of the tax system, while also protecting the health of its workers and American taxpayers. The way the IRS has responded to the challenges we faced this year serve to highlight the significant role that the IRS plays in […]
2021 IRS Standard Mileage Rates Have Arrived
Here they are, in the event you actually resume traveling to client sites next year: Beginning on January 1, 2021, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be: 56 cents per mile driven for business use, down 1.5 cents from the rate for 2020, 16 […]
IRS Agent Lady Allegedly Tries and Fails to Scam Unwitting Taxpayer Out of Thousands
When we talk about IRS scams, we’re usually referring to chain-smoking Indian dudes packed into a dingy call center trying to scam Google Play cards out of your grandma. Although few Americans might say they trust the IRS, I think we can all agree that at the end of the day, an overwhelming number of […]
IRS Poaches a KPMG Managing Director and Issues a Press Release, Part I
The IRS has itself a new associate chief counsel, international, in the Office of the Chief Counsel, and the agency plucked him away from our favorite four-letter Big 4 firm. Peter Blessing is his name, and international tax law is his game. “We are very fortunate to attract an individual of his caliber and expertise,” […]
Bonus Watch ’19: Tax Whistleblowers
Snitching on tax cheats could be just as lucrative in 2019 as it was in 2018, according to Dean Zerbe, national managing director for alliantgroup and former tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee. In his latest column for Forbes, Zerbe noted that there was a tenfold increase in tax whistleblower awards last year: Honest, […]
2019 Tax Season Finally Gets a Start Date
After Trump administration officials said on Jan. 7 that the IRS would send out tax refunds during the partial government shutdown, the agency took to Twitter last night to announce the start date for the 2019 tax-filing season: #IRS confirms it will begin processing tax returns on Jan. 28, 2019 and issuerefunds as planned. See […]
The IRS’s First Instagram Post Was of … Flamingos
Are you guys following the IRS’s new Instagram page? Yeah, me neither. But we’re not 18 to 24 years old—the age group the agency is trying to target with its newest social media account. Since it launched on Nov. 30, the IRS currently has 2,478 Instagram followers, who will find tax tips and information in […]
Butthurt Dudes Say They’re Reporting Sexy Snapchats to the IRS
We’re not a huge fan of tax stories around here mostly because if our traffic logs are any indication, you guys aren’t either. But we’re making an exception as A) I relish any opportunity to talk about porn on this website, and B) this is probably the most interesting IRS-adjacent story we’ll publish all year. […]
The IRS Is Your Gross, Hairy Uncle Who Burps and Farts a Lot
Imagine sitting at a table with your family and closest friends enjoying the perfect Thanksgiving feast. The turkey is cooked to perfection, the ham is tender and juicy, the mashed potatoes are creamy and the gravy is smooth, the stuffing is savory, and the cranberries are tangy. Even the green bean casserole doesn’t make you […]
It’s Official, Finally: Charles Rettig Is the New Commissioner of the IRS
I’m sure the majority of you guys either probably don’t care or have already heard by now, but the Senate finally got around to confirming Charles Rettig as the new IRS commissioner on Sept. 12. The poor guy had been left hanging in the wind since July 19, when the Senate Finance Committee voted 14-13 […]
AICPA Backs Down From Its Longstanding Beef Against Tax Preparer Regulation
In what could easily be the longest-running turf war in accounting history, the AICPA has softened its view on IRS regulation of tax preparers. Back in 2014, I covered the AICPA’s melodramatic freak-out over the IRS suggesting a voluntary tax preparer registration scheme, which sent Barry Melancon straight to the fainting couch and the AICPA […]
Charles Rettig Is One Step Closer to Earning His IRS Commissioner Placard
Beverly Hills tax attorney and Academy of Magical Arts member Charles Rettig is on the cusp of becoming the next commissioner of the IRS, after the Senate Finance Committee voted 14-13 on July 19 to send his nomination to the Senate floor. The nomination vote, which fell along party lines, had to be postponed until […]
Trump’s Supreme Court Pick Wrote Majority Opinion in Loving v. IRS
As Politico tax reporter Bernie Becker pointed out today, federal appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh, who President Trump nominated to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote the majority opinion in Loving v. IRS that the tax agency does not have the legal authority to regulate tax return preparers in […]
IRS Commissioner Nominee Pledges He Will Work for All Taxpayers (Not Just Donald Trump)
Charles Rettig, the Beverly Hills, Calif., tax attorney who was nominated by President Trump to head the IRS and who once wrote that Trump’s lawyers should not advise him to release his tax returns, told senators on June 28 that he would work on behalf of the average Joe taxpayer, not just the rich. The […]
Religious Groups Think New Tax On Churches Is Blasphemous
Religious groups are starting to catch wind of a new tax quietly imposed by Republicans on churches and synagogues—and they are pissed. Yes, you read that correctly: a new tax imposed on churches. Politico reports: [Republicans’] recent tax-code rewrite requires churches, hospitals, colleges, orchestras and other historically tax-exempt organizations to begin paying a 21 percent […]
Man Who Would Have Unenviable Task of Overseeing Implementation of New Tax Law Changes at IRS Will Have Confirmation Hearing This Week
That man is Beverly Hills, Calif., tax attorney and member of the Academy of Magical Arts, Charles “Chuck” Rettig. The Hill reported last Friday that the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing scheduled for June 28 to consider Rettig’s nomination to be the next IRS commissioner. Rettig was nominated by President Trump earlier this […]
The IRS Has the Mother of All Nightmare Legacy Systems
Legacy systems are awful — so awful it’s the first thing I wrote about on Going Concern. To refresh your memory, legacy systems are obsolete software/hardware with so much technological baggage that they make you want to run away screaming, but you can’t for one reason or another. The most significant reason, unfortunately, is that […]
IRS Reminds Everyone to Report Their Crypto Trading Income and If You Don’t, Hey, Maybe You’ll Go to Jail
As we’ve discussed, some cryptocurrency traders have only recently learned that taxes are a thing. To make matters worse, some traders who made a lot of money wound up fully back in the market only to find themselves holding positions that now have huge paper losses. This situation is precisely the worst possible one to […]
Tax Pros: IRS Would Appreciate It If You Didn’t Foist Your Pushy Clients On To Them
Americans are desperate for help with their tax returns. The majority of taxpayers would settle for a DeVry University dropout with precisely three credit hours of accounting courses under their belt if it meant they wouldn’t have to deal with taxes at all. Tax professionals, likewise, are overwhelmed. The clients they do have are pushy, […]
The 20% of Americans Who Would Get an ‘IRS’ Tattoo to Never Pay Taxes Are Getting Off Too Easy
Americans hate paying taxes. This is not news. Why they hate paying taxes is a bit of a mystery. I reckon it has something to do with wanting to piss the money away themselves rather than have police or schools or national parks. Anyway, a survey by WalletHub found that some Americans are so intent […]
Tax Resistance Still a Great Way to Get the IRS’s Attention
Maria Lamagna reports in MarketWatch on Ed Hedemann, a 72-year-old independent contractor who hasn’t paid federal income taxes for over 40 years. And yes, he has his reasons: Hedemann, 72, still files tax returns every year, and he doesn’t falsify any information on them, he said, but he’s still had plenty of legal problems as a […]
FYI: IRS Doesn’t Accept Payments via iTunes Gift Cards
I guess TIGTA needed to put this out there: The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued an alert Friday warning that it has received information that callers impersonating IRS employees or the Treasury Department are demanding payments on iTunes Gift Cards. TIGTA noted that the scam callers may also request payment of taxes on […]
Paying Taxes Now as Convenient as 7-11
I'm somewhat nonplussed by this: In a program aimed at individual taxpayers who lack checking accounts or credit cards, the IRS has unveiled a partnership with retail stores (currently only 7-Eleven) to allow these taxpayers to pay their federal tax bill in cash (IR-2016-56). Called PayNearMe, taxpayers can pay up to $1,000 a day at […]
Some IRS Scammers Trying the Good Cop Routine Now
Figuring they can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, a few IRS crank yankers have switched up their MO: Aggressive and threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents remain a major threat to taxpayers, but now the IRS is receiving new reports of scammers calling under the guise of verifying tax return […]
Would an Accountant Ever Fall for a Phony IRS Call?
A couple of years ago, Sam Antar shared a recording of his conversation with a fake IRS agent with us. The poor dope on the other end of the line didn't know what hit him. What's been quite amazing is that the calls from fake IRS agents seems to be getting worse since the agency […]
IRS Having One of Those Days
Richard Rubin reports that a "hardware failure" at the IRS has affected several systems and that Ted Cruz's favorite agency is "temporarily unable to process electronically filed tax returns." At least some of the older tax partners out there are enjoying this moment. [WSJ]
Opening Day of Tax Season Less Than a Month Away
Yesterday the IRS released some important dates for the upcoming tax season including the official start date: January 19, 2016. Also worth noting is that for 2016, the most overrated tax deadline of the year is April 18th because the District of Columbia will celebrate Emancipation Day on April 15th. This means auditors will have […]
Coca-Cola Can’t Beat the Feeling That Its Taxes Are Just Fine
Coca-Cola Co. is learning that the IRS side of life includes a challenge to its transfer pricing method: Coca-Cola Co. said it has been notified by the Internal Revenue Service that it owes $3.3 billion in federal income taxes, plus interest, after an audit found the company’s reported income from 2007 to 2009 should have […]
IRS Was Just Kidding When It Said Cyber Criminals Tried to Access Tax Return Information for 225,000 Households
It was quite a few more than that, actually: The IRS reported in May that cyber crooks used stolen Social Security numbers and other data acquired elsewhere to try to gain unauthorized access to prior-year tax return information for about 225,000 U.S. households. That included about 114,000 successful attempts and 111,000 unsuccessful ones. On Monday, […]
IRS Phone Scam Mastermind Given 175 Months to Think About His Life Choices
If you or someone you know have been thinking about getting into the IRS Crank Yanker business, you might want to be aware of the consequences should the authorities come calling: Sahil Patel was sentenced to 175 months in prison and $1 million in forfeiture for his role in organizing the U.S. side of a […]
Ironic (or Genuinely Interested) Accountants Can Learn About Working at the IRS Today
If you are interested in a job at the IRS because you can't help but live your life to its full hipster potential, there's a webinar at 2 pm ET today just for you. It's put on by AccountingFly, an online job board that specializes in accounting and stars Chris Lezovich, the Program Manager and National […]
#TBT: The First Form 1040
Yes, April 15th was yesterday and I'm sure no one wants to hear about tax returns, but after reading this Journal article on collectors of tax momentos, this seems like a worthy #TBT. 1040_1913 It seems so quaint with just a single page of instructions and nine lines for income and seven for deductions. Maybe […]
IRS to Tax Pros: You’re Not Helping
Perhaps you've heard that the IRS is a little shorthanded? You know, that the people they do have are overwhelmed and can't get to the phone as often as they would like? Your suggested work-around is not making things better: “Each filing season, the e-help desk receives phone calls from taxpayers because their […]
Do Any Millennials Want to Work at the IRS Non-ironically?
Hating the IRS is as American as baseball and capital punishment. This almost universal derision may be part of the reason the Service has such a hard time finding younger employees. Bloomberg reports that more than half of IRS employees are over 50 while only 3% are under 30, citing a recent speech by IRS […]
A Tax Shelter Board Game Is a Thing That Exists
Thanks to the Internet Jungle known as Reddit, TIL that there is a board game called Stick The IRS — The Tax Shelter Game. YES. Here's the description on Amazon: The players move around the colorful board, landing on opportunities to earn income, spend money on non-deductible expenses and to purchase a variety of tax […]
PwC’s Clever Tax Advice for Caterpillar a Little Too Clever
Caterpillar, maker of enormous sandbox toys, has received some unfun news. After poking around some old tax returns, the IRS has proposed that the company pay tax increases and penalties of $1 billion. They plan to "vigorously contest" the findings in the appeals process. This all began with some international transactions, designed by PwC, that got […]
The IRS Pimped Its Ride But Is Still Driving a Jalopy
When one senator asked how the agency could still be using such old systems when it spends over $2 billion a year on information technology operations, [IRS Commissioner John] Koskinen explained that the money has been going into upgrading its systems, which were customized for the IRS in the 1950s and 1960s. " It's like […]
Reminder: Worst Tax Season Ever Starts Today
For months, we've been hearing how bad tax season will be this year. Not just for you poor tax people, but for — gasp — taxpayers, even. See our post in November of last year: The Internal Revenue Service is gearing up to be hated even more than usual due to a “miserable” tax filing […]
IRS Commish Is Still Bitching About Budget Cuts, Threatening a Terrible Filing Season Ahead
Budget cuts at the IRS could delay tax refunds, reduce taxpayer services and hurt enforcement efforts, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Thursday. About half the people who call the IRS for assistance this filing season won't be able to get through to a person, Koskinen said. Once tax returns are filed, there will be fewer […]
Kids These Days Trust the IRS More Than Olds Do
There are plenty of comparisons between flighty, mysterious Millennials and their generational predecessors, but this is a new one: Milennials (18-24) trust the IRS (73%) to enforce the law fairly more than people over 50 do (54-56%), says new IRS oversight board survey. — Richard Rubin (@RichardRubinDC) December 8, 2014 What do we make of […]
Here’s Your Chance to Own a Yellow Corvette Thanks to the IRS
One taxpayer's loss is your gain! The IRS is offering up for auction a 2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and a 2005 Chevrolet SSR Pickup, both painted in clean drug test piss yellow. They've also got a 2006 Mercedes Benz CLS 55 AMG, a 27 foot boat, and a snazzy 2007 Chevrolet Silverado with nearly 200,000 […]
This Upcoming Tax Filing Season Promises To Be More Miserable Than Ever
These are not words you want to hear from the guy in charge at the IRS. Maybe your clients think it's miserable, or maybe you think it's miserable around March 30th when you still don't have the damn receipts you asked for two months ago, but the IRS is not supposed to think it's miserable. […]
Judge: AICPA Was a Little Melodramatic About IRS’s Voluntary Registration Program
Earlier this year, the AICPA warned that they would go on a jihad against the IRS if our favorite sovereign tax authority went ahead with a plan to offer voluntary tax preparer registration. Getting really dramatic about things, the AICPA basically complained that the IRS plan conflicted with everything the CPA designation stands for and […]
Someone Made a Documentary About Lois Lerner And You Can Watch It Tomorrow*
The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on the movie event of the year: Perhaps unbeknownst to her, former IRS official Lois Lerner will be making her film debut on Oct. 14 in a documentary where she’s one of the villains. The film is called Unfair: Exposing the IRS, and it will screen in 674 theaters […]
Adam Steele is Going to Pry Your $63 PTIN Fee Out Of the IRS’s Cold Dead Hands
Thank God for people like Adam Steele, CPA. Not only has his free-range facial hair been the non-ironic inspiration for the irony of hipsters everywhere, he’s also the frontman for the PTIN class action lawsuit against the IRS because Adam Steele is the kind of guy who isn’t going to put up with the IRS’s […]
The Transition From IRS Agent to Little Person Sexologist Is a No Brainer
When you think about career transitions, you would correctly assume most folks stick within the same type of industry. For one former IRS agent, however, working for the IRS and working on helping people get fucked really isn't all that different: Dr. Marylou Naccarato was an agent for the Internal Revenue Service for decades before […]
The AICPA Just Sued the IRS Over “Purported” Voluntary Tax Preparer Program
Calling it "an illegitimate exercise of government power," the AICPA has now taken their dislike of the IRS' voluntary tax preparer program to court: The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) today issued the statement below by AICPA President and CEO Barry C. Melancon, CPA, CGMA, regarding the filing of a federal lawsuit in the U.S. […]
IRS To Crack Down on Idiots Who Misuse Refund Direct Deposit
The Journal of Accountancy's unnecessarily dramatic headline — Limit on direct deposit of refunds will go into effect in 2015 — doesn't quite capture what's really going on here. What's really going on here is that the IRS wants to limit those who have lots of refunds put in their account. Presumably, a taxpayer should […]
IRS Goes Ahead With Voluntary Tax Preparer Program Despite AICPA Objection
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Melancon: WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announced today that guidance will soon be issued outlining a new voluntary program designed to encourage education and filing season readiness for paid tax return preparers. The program will be in place to help taxpayers during the 2015 filing season. […]
AICPA Ready to Go On a Jihad Against the IRS If This Voluntary Tax Preparer Nonsense Continues
The IRS has heard from the AICPA before on its plan for voluntary tax preparer registration, and that first note wasn't very nice. That first warning was basically a fish head left on the IRS' doorstep, but apparently they didn't get the message. The AICPA is back with an even more strongly-worded letter, this time […]
IRS Can’t Afford to Upgrade to Windows 7 But Can Afford to Pay Microsoft to Use XP
So, this happened on the Hill today: Koskinen said IRS hasn't been able to upgrade yet to Windows 7 because of funding. — Accounting Today (@AccountingToday) June 20, 2014 According to Engadget, over half of IRS computers are still running Windows XP, and the plan is to upgrade to Windows 7 (which, as we all […]
The IRS Reminds You To Kindly Remove That Annoying Circular 230 Disclaimer From Your Emails
The word from NJSCPA: According to a story published on TaxAnalysts.com, the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility will send letters asking practitioners to stop using Circular 230 disclaimers saying the disclaimer is required. Many practitioners continue to use the Circular 230 disclaimer in their emails even though the IRS finalized regulations that remove the covered […]
The IRS Quietly Tweaked Your Rights as a Taxpayer
You may have noticed some buzz about the recently released Taxpayer Bill of Rights, a list so basic it's a wonder it has to exist at all. But this is the IRS we're talking about so probably better we have it. The most recent version is pretty cut and dry: 1. The Right to Be […]
IRS Throws Hissy Fit About Not Being Able to Regulate Preparers, Gives Up On Everything
The IRS has decided that, as a result of the recent decision preventing it from regulating unenrolled tax return preparers, disbarment or suspension from practice before the IRS cannot include a ban on tax return preparation or blocking an individual’s preparer tax identification number (PTIN). Therefore, the Service announced that certain tax return preparers who […]
The AICPA Voiced “Deep Concerns” About the IRS’ Voluntary Tax Preparer Proposal
It isn't often the AICPA throws out serious words like "deep concerns," yet they just did in regards to the IRS' proposed voluntary tax preparer program. Those deep concerns are the program itself, how quick the IRS is trying to get it in place and the confusion that might result from stupid taxpayers thinking "regulated" […]
The IRS Has Given Up Its Fight to Regulate Tax Preparers
The IRS decided against continuing a court battle on whether it has the legal authority to mandate testing and continuing education for paid tax return preparers. The agency had until May 12 to file a petition with the US Supreme Court to appeal two lower courts' rulings that it could not regulate the 600,000 to […]
IRS Commish Reminds Senator That Hill Staffers Have Worse Tax Compliance Than IRS Employees
U.S. Senators are the type of narcissistic windbags who revel in the opportunity to scold bureaucrats. It gives them the opportunity to fabricate the appearance of being "tough" or "no-nonsense" or whatever on big government waste that irks their constituents. This is especially true when those bureaucrats work for a punching bag like the IRS. For whatever […]
The IRS Is Ready For Five Million and One Amended Returns
Amended returns happen. The IRS is preparing for it: As of April 18, almost 46 million returns were e-filed from home computers, more than the total from home computers for all of 2013. The IRS has received more than 131 million returns, of which 88 percent were e-filed. The IRS also projects that almost five […]
GAO Went Undercover to Discover Tax Preparers Are Terrible at Tax Preparing
Mind you, it was a small sample of 19 but of those, 17 were wrong: GAO found significant preparer errors during undercover site visits to 19 randomly selected preparers — a sample which cannot be generalized. Refund errors in the site visits varied from giving the taxpayer $52 less to $3,718 more than the correct […]
The IRS Has 99 Problems But Obamacare Ain’t One
We no longer run a daily "quote of the day" over here at GC, but if we did, these thoughts from former acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel would certainly be in the running. POLITICO got to pick his brain recently and while he refused to answer any questions about that Lois Lerner chick and how […]
Someone at the IRS Accidentally Brought Home Unsecured Data on 20,000 Fellow Employees
I mean it happens, right? I mix up my "work" and "totally not work and NSFW for that matter" thumb drives all the time. From BBW: The IRS is contacting the current and former employees involved, almost all of whom worked in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. The information dates to 2007, before the IRS […]
Actually, the IRS Wants You to Pay Taxes on Any Bodily Fluids or Future Children You Sell
This one has the potential to be a real gamechanger for college students, homeless alcoholics, and non-smoking 21 – 30 year old intelligent Jewish women everywhere: To Nichelle Perez, the $20,000 she received for donating her eggs for fertility treatments was a tax-exempt payment for pain and suffering. Not so, said the U.S. Internal Revenue […]
A Friendly Notice for Celebrities: Your Accountant Is Not Your Mother
Fresh off Rihanna's massive settlement from her former accountant Peter Gounis and his firm Berdon LLP, we have another story of a poor celebrity led wrong by his trust financial advisor. Colin buried it in ANR but here you go: McKnight has filed a lawsuit against Vernon Brown and Company, claiming Brown ruined his life […]
The House Ways and Means Committee Is Still Mad at the IRS
GEEZ you guys, let it go already: [T]he Ways & Means Committee went ahead today and approved H.R. 3865, the STOP Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act. As its title suggests, this legislation will stop the IRS in its rush to implement these rules. This allows Congress to continue its investigations, which have […]
Leave It to Americans for Tax Reform to Ruin the Thrill of the Winter Olympics
It was only a matter of time. Cry cry cry, the IRS taxes income Americans earn in foreign countries, including Olympic prizes: As 230 U.S. Olympic athletes gear up to compete in the 2014 Winter Games, the only thing colder than the slopes at Sochi is the fact that any prizes awarded by the U.S. […]
Here Is a Short List of People Less Deserving of Bonuses Than IRS Employees
Not sure if you heard the news but the IRS has made friendly with its employee union and will distribute $43 million in bonuses, $32 million short of what the union says employees were owed. Well, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah heard, and he felt this way about it: "It’s hard to think of a […]
QOTD: Just How Deep Is That Hole, Exactly, Sir?
It's been a looooong time since we've done a Quote of the Day but this one is too good to ignore yet not interesting enough to warrant an entire missive on its true meaning. This is new IRS commissioner John Koskinen to reporters in Washington after his swearing-in this afternoon: “It took a little while […]
Senate Finance Committee Approves Guy for Thankless Job
NEWS: Finance Committee Approves Nominees for IRS Commissioner, Deputy Treasury Secretary, ITC http://t.co/j2UTWpHof2 — Senate Finance Cmte (@SenateFinance) December 13, 2013
Obama’s Pick For Top IRS Guy May Have Saved the World From Disaster Once
TIL: John Koskinen can take credit for the world being exactly the same on January 1, 2000 as it was on December 31, 1999: Twelve years later, the Year 2000 date change panic that riveted the public and government leaders seems like something out of a disaster movie. But in the late 1990s, there were […]
IRS’ Improved e-File System Is a Total Success Except For Two Jerks Who Foiled It
It's a project ten years in the making and in case you didn't get the memo, the Modernized e-File system officially replaced the Legacy e-File system this filing season. What does this mean? Hell if I know. I do know that every single electronic return went through the MeF this filing season, which means they […]
Former GB Packer LeRoy Butler’s Charity May Have Kind of Forgotten To File With the IRS
And just wait until you see the part where he bitches on Twitter about it. First, the story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The IRS is looking into the charity run by former Green Bay Packers player LeRoy Butler. The agency is probing why Butler has been raising money in Wisconsin over the last decade […]
Baucus Proposal Would Give ‘Legal Authority’ to Regulate Tax Preparers
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) released Part Deux of his tax reform proposal today and it mostly addresses penalties for identity theft as well as securing the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File. As enthralling as all this sounds, Baucus's plan also would give "legal authority" for the IRS to regulate tax preparers. A judge brought […]
CREW Goes After Grover Norquist, Compares His ATR Works to Those of Al Capone
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington — or CREW, as they are lovingly and lazily known for those of us who love acronyms and hate organizations with long complicated names — has filed a complaint with the IRS and DoJ in the hopes they will investigate Americans for Tax Reform and, more specifically, its […]
GOP Congressman: Sprawling, Despised Government Agency with a History of Inefficiency That Just So Happens to Be a Convienent Political Target Is Misprioritizing Things Because ObamaCare
That is, Dave Camp doesn't believe the IRS's story that the shutdown is the cause of the delayed tax filing season: “The IRS claims that it will be unable to process tax returns on time, despite being able to do so multiple times in the past when it has been responsible for adopting major changes […]
2014 Tax Season Is Off to a Great Start
IRS delays opening of 2014 tax filing season for 1-2 weeks, citing shutdown…. — Richard Rubin (@RichardRubinDC) October 22, 2013
Furloughed IRS Employee Goes on “Hunger Strike” To Protest Government Shutdown
How admirable of Donna Smith to forgo every single meal since October 7th to protest the government shutdown that is keeping her out of the office. Smith, who has worked for the IRS for 12 years (in what function, we do not know), wants to send a strong message to our nation's lawmakers, to show […]
GOP Senator: Lois Lerner’s Retirement Is Only the Beginning of Us Dragging This Thing Out
Last week, Lois Lerner was "technically still employed," but Bloomberg's Richard Rubin reports that the former director of exempt organizations is out of there effective today. HOWEVAH! If you thought this was the end of political gamesmanship, then you would be sorely mistaken: “Just because Lois Lerner is retiring from the IRS does not mean […]
The IRS Apprentice Video Is Still Better Than Anything Donald Trump Has Ever Done
Yes, it's campy. Yes, it's poor production quality. Yes, it's the IRS. But you CANNOT deny that, compared to Donald Trump's track record, the video is not that bad. [via @WaysandMeansGOP]
IRS to Recognize All Same-sex Marriages, Regardless of Resident State
Married filing jointly is married filing jointly! The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today ruled that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, will be treated as married for federal tax purposes. The ruling applies regardless of whether the couple lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes […]
Apparently, Referring to a Taxpayer as ‘Constitutionally Challenged’ Is Frowned Upon
I gotta plead on ignorance on this one; it sounds perfectly PC to me. Some Internal Revenue Service employees continue to use the term “tax protester” to refer to taxpayers despite a 1998 law prohibiting the use of the designation, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. TIGTA found that […]
The IRS Is Being Difficult
Whether you believe the IRS's targeting of various tax-exempt organizations was some poorly executed enforcement by overwhelmed Service employees or a deliberate plan hatched by political operatives to harass their opponents, is of little consequence. No one — with exception of maybe Darrell Issa — cares. Scandal or no scandal, what's NOT up […]
Let’s Give Courtney Love Credit for Being Tax Compliant in 2008 and 2010, You Guys
In point of fact, I do not know if Ms. Love is in compliance in the tax years of 2008 and 2010, however it stands to reason that if she were not, the lien filed on July 11th by the IRS would have included amounts due in those years. The IRS filed a tax lien against the […]
The Olds Don’t Get the Internet and All Tax Collectors Are Evil, Say Younger, More Paranoid Republicans That Oppose Online Sales Tax
The Marketplace Fairness Act is back in the news again, as The Hill reports that some Republicans — Texas Senator Ted Cruz to be precise — are saying that a generational gap is largely the reason that younger GOP Senators opposed the bill. Never mind that four out of the five oldest GOP Senators voted […]
Georgia Man Discovers IRS Wasn’t Joking About the Possibility of His Fake Treasury Bond, Fraudulent Tax Return, Bogus Refund Landing Him in Jail
If you are currently thinking about engaging in any tax fraud, you should know that if the IRS is gracious enough to inform you that your actions — like, say, claiming ownership of a treasury bond that it is most likely fake and requesting a large, bogus refund — could result in prison time, calling […]
Oddly, Dem and GOP Leaders Don’t Agree on Next Act in IRS Investigation Circus
Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) shared some new info yesterday about some of the employees in the IRS's Cincinnati office — including a self-described "conservative Republican" — who were all, "Yeah, we kinda sorta used terms like 'Tea Party' to try to determine who was engaging in too much political activity to qualify as a 501(c)(4)": According […]
People are Getting a Little Worked Up Over Proposed IRS Non-Profit Guidance
YOU SHALL NOT STIFLE MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BE A PARTISAN GROUP PRETENDING TO BE A SOCIAL WELFARE GROUP! Richard Rubin points out this morning that the topic at hand — Guidance for Tax-Exempt Social Welfare Organizations on Candidate-Related Political Activities (REG-134417-13) — is generating quite the vocal buzz. This should come as no surprise […]