Cancelled Debts Leading to Tax Shock
Acknowledging the hardships that come with massive debt loads far larger than what the debtor would make in one, or even several years, programs that forgive or cancel debt have been on the rise, but...
View ArticleIRS Lists Frivolous Tax Arguments
This year's list of frivolous tax arguments was just released by the IRS. Believe it or not, the list, which is so long that it actually had to be divided into two different links, are all things that...
View ArticleSupermodel Blames Forbes for Audit
Supermodel Gisele was listed as one of the world's highest paid supermodels by Forbes magazine, a revelation that caused the IRS to dig into her finances for a tax audit, according to the Orlando...
View ArticleNew 501c3 Rules Expected End of Year
New rules governing nonprofit organizations and their levels of acceptable political activity is expected by the end of this year, according to USA Today. The new rule would take the criticism it...
View ArticleSex, Lies and Tax Audits
A man who claimed in a lawsuit that an IRS agent seduced him and then failed to help him on his audit is appealing the dismissal of his case, as he felt the court made an error, according to ABC News....
View ArticleLarge Partnerships Rarely Audited
A government study has revealed that, if you want to avoid an IRSaudit, you should be a large partnership, according to Reuters. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that while the number...
View ArticleTIGTA: IRS Bonus Program Flawed
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) critiqued the IRS for a program that has awarded bonuses to employees with conduct quite unbecoming of a federal worker.read more
View ArticleSenator Demands IRS Bonus Clawback
Senator Joe Manchin (D - West Virginia), in reaction to recent news that the IRS has give millions in bonuses to employees with serious disciplinary violations, including tax evasion, is demanding that...
View ArticleU.S. to Sic IRS on Russia
In response to the growing tension over the fate of Ukraine, the U.S. plans to deploy one of its most feared agencies on the increasingly belligerent Russia: the IRS. The Associated Press says that the...
View ArticleIRS: 100K Fewer Audits This Year
Facing budget cuts forcing the agency to cut back on its activities, IRS Commissioner John Koskien said that the service will audit 100,000 fewer people this year, according to Reuters. This will...
View ArticlePast IRS Official Lerner Held in Contempt
Lois Lerner, the IRS's Director of Exempt Organizations, was held in contempt of congress yesterday after repeatedly failing to provide information on the 2013 nonprofit organization scandal, where it...
View ArticleIRS Might Return to Private Debt Collection
The IRS, which had dropped its use of private firms to collect taxdebt in 2009, may be returning to the practice due to a measure proposed by NY Senator Chuck Schumer, according to the Washington...
View ArticleFed. Workers Owe $3.3B in Taxes
310,000 workers employed by the federal government, have been found to collectively owe about $3.3 billion in unpaid taxes, according to CNBC. This is 3.3 percent of all 9.8 million federal workers;...
View ArticleIRS Loses Yet More Emails
The IRS had to admit to Congress yesterday that it has lost more emails relating to the investigation into possible suppression of Tea Party-related groups, according to the Washington Post. The loss...
View ArticleIRS Softens Offshore Account Penalties
While the IRS is resolute in going after people who use international accounts to commit tax evasion, it has pledged to soften the blow for those who ran afoul of the rules by accident, said the Wall...
View ArticleIRS: Stop Using Circular 230 Disclaimers
If you work in tax, you're well familiar with the Circular 230 disclaimer: Any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot...
View ArticleJohnnie Walters, IRS Chief Under Nixon, Dead at 94
Johnnie M. Walters, the head of the IRS under the Nixon administration, died Tuesday at the age of 94, according to the New York Times. During his tenure he resisted strong pressure from the...
View ArticleAICPA Decries IRS Program as "Unlawful" and "Improper"
The AICPA has come out strongly against a voluntary tax preparer registration program run through the IRS, saying that the service has no statutory authority to run the program and that it will only...
View ArticleGAO: IRS Needs More Realistic Time Frames on Correspondence Audits
The Government Accountability Office faulted the IRS for giving unrealistic timeframes for responses in a correspondence audit in a report released yesterday. The GAO noted that IRS notices that were...
View ArticleIRS to Ease Up on Nonprofit Scrutiny
In the wake of a massive scandal that showed IRS overreach on political groups seeking tax exempt status, the IRS has announced that it will stop screening about 80 percent of all organizations...
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