Much attention on federal agencies this year has been on ways to prevent fraud and save Uncle Sam money, with mixed results. But such efforts have always have been a focus of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). This week, IRS-CI and the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the judicial payoff from one case that cost the U.S. Treasury more than $3 million. Fake claims on false tax returns: Diandre Mentor of Miami pleaded guilty before a Florida magistrate to conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns for clients. According to court documents and statements... Read more →
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Every state has felt the job losses, which came via terminations or Internal Revenue Service workers who left under deferred resignation terms. Photo by Ron Lach When 2025 began, around 103,000 people worked at the Internal Revenue Service nationwide. Then the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) arrived. Now, according to a new report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the IRS ranks have been reduced by more than 11,400 workers. That’s an 11 percent cut in the tax agency’s workforce. The job losses, which TIGTA collectively refers to as separations, come from... Read more →
Any small business owner, including this self-employed mechanic, could be a tax scam target. All need to stay alert this Small Business Week and beyond. (Photo by Andrea Piacquadio) Scams are the focus of the Internal Revenue Service on this fourth day of National Small Business Week. The topic, unfortunately, is not new, and isn’t limited to special times of the year. Yes, the IRS has made progress in educating taxpayers about scams, as well as improving the agency’s ability to spot, stop, and in some cases helping prosecute criminal charges against the bad actors. But con artists and scammers... Read more →
The Small Business Administration’s annual National Small Business Week kicks off on Sunday, May 4, and runs through Saturday, May 10, 2025. As is tradition, the Internal Revenue Service participates in the annual celebration of entrepreneurs and small business owners. That’s why this weekend’s Saturday Shout Outs go to the official plans for the week dedicated to those employers who are lauded as examples of the American business spirit. SBA support for smaller firms: Let’s start with Uncle Sam’s official host, the Small Business Administration (SBA). For more than 60 years, the U.S. Small Business Administration has sponsored National Small... Read more →
A health savings account, or HSA, helps high deductible health plan, or HDHP, enrollees cover their larger out-of-pocket medical costs. HDHP plan limits and HSA contribution amounts are adjusted annually for inflation. Here are the 2026 numbers. Sometimes just searching for health insurance can send your blood pressure sky high. (Photo by Thirdman) Health care is a major concern for most Americans. Not only do they want solid coverage for themselves and families, they want it at the most affordable price. For many, the best option is a high deductible health plan, or HDHP. HDHP, HSA costs and savings: A... Read more →
North Carolina filers originally facing next month's filing deadline now have until Sept. 25 to complete their tax obligations. Hurricane Helene was responsible for extreme flooding last September in Burke County, North Carolina. Taxpayers in the Tar Heel State were among those granted more time by the Internal Revenue Service to file their 2024 tax returns and pay any due tax. (Photo by NCDOTcommunications, CC BY 2.0) Hurricane season 2025 has yet to start, but the effects from last year’s major Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico storms is still being felt by many across the southern and southeastern part of... Read more →
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán If you’ve had questions about exactly what Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) personnel have and are doing at the Internal Revenue Service, you are not alone. And now we may get some answers. Pro Publica reports that a Treasury Department inspector general is probing efforts by Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE to obtain private taxpayer data and other sensitive information. The nonprofit investigative newsroom says it reviewed internal communications that show Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) requested wide-ranging information from IRS employees in a mid-April email. “In particular, the office is seeking... Read more →
Photo by Jan Van Bizar It's been more than a week since the tax documents you gathered helped you file your federal return. Now, what to do with all that tax-related material? In most cases, you want to hang on to it, at least for a while. Just how long, however, depends. The time frame for hanging on to tax-related material generally is determined by the Internal Revenue Service’s statute of limitations. That essentially means that you need to keep some tax material for as long as the IRS has to take a deeper dive into your filing. IRS Publication... Read more →
Some IRS workers looking to take advantage of a deferred resignation offer instead were show a stop signal. (Photo by Engin Akyurt) We all want to be that employee who is important to our company’s operation. Until, that is, we want to leave and the boss says, “no, we can’t afford to lose you.” That’s what happened to some Internal Revenue Service personnel. While most attention recently has been on federal staff who were fired and upset about losing their government jobs, around 2,100 IRS workers who wanted out have been told they can’t take the latest deferred resignation offer.... Read more →
Photo by Mikhail Nilov We're a week past Tax Day. Have you started working on your 2025 return? I don't mean your actual return, of course. I do mean thinking about what went well or went off the rails this past filing season. Now is the time to consider changes you can make so that the process is smoother next year. Shameless plug alert: You can find some tax planning ideas in my earlier posts Tax Day is done. Now what? Plenty! and Create a tax strategy that utilizes different tax baskets. Income tax brackets and rates: Another good place... Read more →
Most years, once we’re past Tax Day, the Internal Revenue Service’s work continues quietly, behind the scenes. Not now. Last week the IRS got yet another interim commissioner. Michael Faulkender, who had been serving as deputy to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is the agency’s latest acting leader. Faulkender is the fifth person to take the IRS reins after former commissioner Danny Werfel resigned in January. Faulkender became the third acting leader of the agency in just a week. The latest quick personnel rotation at the IRS — equivalent to 0.36 Scaramuccis — and that it happened during the week that... Read more →
Spoiler: Tax cheating is not going away, and likely will increase thanks to recent Trump administration/DOGE actions. Roman portraiture fresco of a young man with a papyrus scroll, from Herculaneum, 1st century AD (Image by Olivierw/own work, Public Domain/Wikimedia) Tax cheating is a big topic every filing season. This year it got added attention. Many in the tax world are worried that cuts to the Internal Revenue Service by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), championed by the Trump administration, will hamper the agency’s ability to effectively enforce tax laws. But tax cheating is not new. It’s been around as... Read more →
Two proposals by Sen. Joni Ernst focus on Internal Revenue Service employees who haven't paid their taxes. A third looks to remove the tax agency's weapons. Iowa’s junior senator, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, speaking to her Senate colleagues last month in defense of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) actions. (Photo: Office of Joni Ernst) While millions of taxpayers were finishing up their tax returns on April 15, Sen. Joni Ernst was introducing legislation she says is necessary to find millions of Internal Revenue Service employees who don’t pay their taxes. The Iowa Republican’s Audit the IRS Act would require the... Read more →
Emergency workers doing flood salvage. (Photo: FEMA) Millions of taxpayers across the United States on this Tax Day 2025 are finishing up their returns or filing for an extension. But some, including U.S. taxpayers abroad and who live or have businesses in major disaster areas, get more time. That list of delayed filings for disaster victims grew this week. The Internal Revenue Service announced that all taxpayers in Arkansas and Tennessee who were affected by severe storms and accompanying winds, tornadoes, and flooding that began on April 2, and who have not yet filed now can wait until Nov. 3... Read more →
The April 15 federal income tax filing deadline is Tuesday. For most folks, that’s the only thing they have to worry about on that day. But there are some of us for whom Tax Day means more tax tasks. Here are nine instances — yes, that includes the regular annual filing of tax returns — where some people might need to take additional tax action on April 15. Most of these tax-related moves will ensure you fulfill your tax duties and avoid any additional contact with the Internal Revenue Service. But some also could save you some tax dollars. File... Read more →
Photo by Andrey Grushnikov The tax deadline countdown clock is ticking away (literally, there over in the ol’ blog’s right column). With just days to file your Form 1040 slipping away, many of us will determine the best move is to file for an extension. You can do that by Tax Day, April 15, too. Just send the Internal Revenue Service Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. But some taxpayers get a bit more time to ask for more filing time. Already extended disaster area taxpayers: As noted in my Tax... Read more →
April 15 is double Tax Day for those of us who must pay estimated taxes. It’s the end of the prior tax year, with returns (and payment) due for those earnings. It’s also the start of tax filing (and paying) for this year. The payment for money made, but not subject to withholding, in the first quarter of 2026 is due on April 15. Extra payments for certain income: The U.S. tax system is pay as earn. For the most part, that's taken care via tax withholding from employees’ paychecks. But even if you have a job where income (federal... Read more →
Updated Monday, April 14, 2025: All taxpayers in Tennessee and Arkansas now now have until Nov. 3, 2025, to file their tax returns. The Internal Revenue Service announced this latest major disaster related tax relief in connection with disastrous weather in those states that began on April 2, 2025. The Volunteer State was hit by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding. The Natural State was struck by severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding. U.S. service members posted abroad, as well as civilian taxpayers living and working overseas, don't have to file their tax returns in April. Neither do taxpayers in... Read more →
Hanging on for more time to file your taxes? Get more by filing Form 4868. (Harold Lloyd in 1923 film Safety Last!) Tax returns are due in just over a week. A lot of taxpayers, however, don’t seem in that big of a hurry. Last year, more than 163 million taxpayers filed returns. With the 2025 filing deadline looming, the Internal Revenue Service reports that has received just more than 89.5 million returns. Sure, millions will get their 1040 forms filled out and to the IRS by Tuesday, April 15. But based on past filing numbers, a sizeable group won't.... Read more →
Has your tax filing frustration got you thinking about getting, shall we say, creative when you fill in your return? Don't. Even with the current chaos, the Internal Revenue Service still has ways to track down tax cheats. (Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich) Tax Day is almost here, and millions of Americans are working on their 1040s. Generally, late filers tend to owe taxes. They want to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. Some of these still-to-file owing taxpayers are still searching for ways to trim this year’s tax bill. There are a few options available, such as... Read more →