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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
Quote of The Day: The IRS Follows the Law, When They Can
Today, IRS Commissioner Koskinen painted a clear picture of how the IRS plans on “overseeing” billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. When asked by Health Subcommittee Chairman Brady if the IRS would be following the law and collecting taxpayer dollars that went to people who were not eligible, Koskinen simply said, “Wherever we can, we […]
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 […]
It Seems the IRS Has the Most Complicated Email System Known to Man
Is the IRS using Lotus Notes? Don't Mess With Taxes has a good piece on freshly-minted IRS Commish John Koskinen's Wednesday date with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that you should go over and read if you are into that sort of thing but this part in particular stuck out to us: The […]
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 […]
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 […]