Linda Beale reports that the IRS is making the Offer in Compromise process easier for taxpayers: The IRS has announced more flexible offer in compromise terms, in an effort to make it easier for financially distressed taxpayers to get a “fresh start” by erasing their tax liabilities, and may also result in less time taken [...]
Tags: IRS procedure · Offers in Compromise
26 USC § 6103 – Confidentiality and disclosure of returns and return information – provides that a taxpayer’s tax return information shall be confidential: a) General rule Returns and return information shall be confidential, and except as authorized by this title — (1) no officer or employee of the United States, (2) no officer or [...]
Tags: IRS Audits · IRS procedure
By way (once again) of Paul Caron (emphasis is mine): Smith: The APA’s Reasoned-Explanation Rule and IRS Deficiency Notices Patrick J. Smith (Ivins, Phillips & Barker, Washington, D.C.), The APA’s Reasoned-Explanation Rule and IRS Deficiency Notices, 134 Tax Notes 331 (Jan. 16, 2012): The D.C. Circuit’s confirmation in Cohen that the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) applies to [...]
Tags: IRS Audits · IRS procedure · tax court
Two years ago we addressed the IRS’s flawed refund procedure in False Refund Schemes and Backwards IRS Return Processing Rules. Today, Jay Weaver of the Miami Herald gives a distressing update in Scammers Steal IRS Refunds with Ease: “We are seeing defendants once involved in other types of crimes [such as drug trafficking] getting involved in identity-theft schemes, [...]
Tags: Individual Taxation · IRS procedure · News · Tax Crimes
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
Again, from Paul Caron: IRS to Wage ‘Full Court Press’ Against Homes, Retirement Accounts for Back Taxes Washington Examiner, Obama’s IRS to Initiate Full Court Press, Warn Tax Law Experts: As 2012 approaches, tax attorneys are sounding the alarm: The IRS will squeeze every cent it can and “it will be nastier than ever.” The [...]
Tags: IRS Installment Agreements · IRS Liens and Levies · IRS procedure · Tax Collections
WebCPA reports that the IRS increased the number of fraudulent tax refund claims it detected and stopped during the 2011 tax-filing season by 171 percent over the previous year: As of April 30, 2011, the IRS had identified 775,723 tax returns with $4.6 billion claimed in fraudulent refunds and prevented the issuance of $4.4 billion, [...]
Tags: IRS Audits · IRS procedure · Regulation of Tax Preparers · Tax Crimes
