IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman has come out for tax simplification: Most taxpayers want simplicity. They want to pay what they owe, understand what tax benefits they are entitled to, and not get tripped up by the system. However, today’s Tax Code is anything but simple. It is so complex that it makes it hard for [...]
Tags: IRS Penalties · IRS procedure · News · Regulation of Tax Preparers
The IRS is apparently so happy with the results of it’s offshore voluntary disclosure program that it has established a similar program in the area of worker classification. Michael Cohn of AccountingToday writes that the IRS has introduced a new voluntary compliance program Wednesday to convince employers to resolve their past issues with classifying employees as independent [...]
Tags: Announcements · IRS Audits · IRS Penalties · News · Payroll Taxes · voluntary disclosure
The IRS has just announced that is extending the deadline for taxpayers to participate in the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative. The original deadline was August 31, 2011. This means there is still plenty of time for taxpayers with offshore bank accounts and unreported income to file for pre-clearance into the program and begin the process [...]
Tags: Announcements · International Taxation · IRS Penalties · News · Tax Crimes
IRS penalties are supposed to be assessed against a taxpayer only when his non-compliance is due to willful neglect rather than reasonable cause. Serious, debilitating health problems are almost always considered to be reasonable cause. Joe Kristan found a recent Tax Court decision overruling the IRS’s finding that a taxpayer’s brain injury was not sufficient to excuse the late filing of her tax returns: [...]
Tags: Court Cases · IRS Penalties
It’s a crime not to report your foreign earnings on your federal income tax returns. It is likewise illegal not to report your foreign bank account holdings to the Treasury Deparment. But there is good news: If you amend your tax returns and file your past due Foreign Bank Account Returns (FBARs) by August 31, 2011, the IRS will: [...]
Tags: International Taxation · IRS Penalties · Tax Crimes
Russ Fox over at Taxable Talk says that the Tax Court upheld an accuracy related penalty against a taxpayer even though the deficiency arose because his tax preparer failed to report a 1099 on his tax return: Everyone is human. Sometimes we forget that 1099 on the tax return. Today, the Tax Court looked at a case where a [...]
Tags: Court Cases · IRS Penalties
The IRS has the legal right to audit any tax return it so chooses for any reason it chooses. The threat of an audit is what makes most taxpayers take seriously their obligation to comply with the letter of the law. The odds of being audited are generally very low, therefore, if you get an [...]
Tags: IRS Audits · IRS Penalties · IRS procedure
