The National Taxpayer Advocate’s midyear report to Congress that was released on June 25 included, among other things, recommendations that the Internal Revenue Service continue its efforts to expand digital tax transactions and make them easier for taxpayers to use. Such technological tax advances are also are of keen interest to the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC). The federal advisory committee was established by Congress as part of 1998's IRS Restructuring and Reform Act. And on the same day this week that the Taxpayer Advocate’s report was issued, ETAAC released its annual report to Congress. ETAAC’s primary goal when... Read more →
Web/Tech
The National Taxpayer Advocate’s latest report to Congress urges the Internal Revenue Service to continue its technology upgrades to meet coming challenges, with the top priority being enhanced taxpayer online account options. (Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash) Despite what you may have heard from the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Internal Revenue Service has been doing a pretty good job. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions, the IRS has rebounded to provide much improved taxpayer service,” notes National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins in her introduction to her midyear report to Congress, Fiscal Year 2026 Objectives... Read more →
Facebook Real estate can be a good way to increase your personal wealth. However, some property investments aren’t as good as advertised. That was the very costly lesson learned by individuals persuaded by a popular social media financial influencer to let him use their money in what they were told was a property flipping venture that would net them returns of 30 percent or more. Instead, federal investigators and prosecutors alleged it was all a real estate Ponzi scheme concocted by Tyler Bossetti. As the scheme unraveled, investors ended up defrauded out of more than $11 million. Today, it formally... Read more →
It’s not clear what these two pigs are looking at, but cyber criminals are looking for crypto scam victims for their so-called pig butchering schemes. One company U.S. officials say facilitated such schemes has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. (Image by Herbert from Pixabay) And the U.S. Treasury sanctioned this no-so-little pig butcher all the way home. My liberty with the old nursery rhyme was prompted by the Treasury Department’s announcement on May 29 that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned a Philippines-based company that provides computer infrastructure for hundreds of... Read more →
The modern wooden replica of the Trojan Horse, created in 1975 by the Turkish architect İzzet Senemoğlu, stands today at the ruins of Troy archaeological site in Turkey. (Photo: Turkish Archaeological News) Two Nigerian men, one living in North Dakota and the other in Mexico, have been charge with in connection with a scheme to allegedly steal client information from several Massachusetts tax preparation firms’ computer networks. Federal investigators allege that once the duo got the tax data, they filed fraudulent returns and had the associated false tax refunds deposited in bank accounts the pair controlled. In total, the scheme’s... Read more →
If only online privacy was as easy as posting a sign. (Photo by Connor Danylenko) Do you look at your overflowing email box (OK, maybe that’s just me) and wonder why in the heck am I getting all this unsolicited crap? It’s probably because you checked, or didn’t check, a box when you went to some website. You either directly or implicitly consented to let that site pass along your email to “partners” who are now inundating you with unwanted email. That’s a tax issue, too, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). In a just released... Read more →
The Internal Revenue Service continues its efforts to get more taxpayers interacting with the agency electronically. The latest move is enhancing business taxpayer accounts. Upgrades for business filers: The business tax account, or BTA, was launched last fall as a way for certain business taxpayers to view and make balance-due payments online. With the latest expansion, an eligible business taxpayer can use a BTA to pay Federal Tax Deposits (FTDs), and see and make a payment on their full balance due. The account is also now accessible in Spanish with more translations planned. Entities that can open a BTA: You... Read more →
Both taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service depend on tax professionals doing their jobs in, well, a professional manner. A crucial part of the job is ensuring the security of clients’ tax information. Security measures are particularly important as everyone — tax pros, taxpayers, and the IRS — increasingly rely on electronic methods to complete tax tasks. In fact, tax professionals are legally required to secure their clients’ data. The Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act after the names of its primary Congressional sponsors, mandates that financial institution companies ensure the security and confidentiality... Read more →
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash I was not an early smartphone adopter. Now I’m addicted to mine. Ditto my tablet. But it’s not all fun and games. I now deal with most of my day-to-day life — banking, grocery shopping, paying bills — via apps that make those tasks and transactions easier. The few that don’t (yet) have mobile apps are accessible via my laptop. I may have been late, but I’m definitely not alone in living electronically. We’re why the Internal Revenue Service is working to improve its digital offerings. Moving IRS into modern mainstream: IRS Commissioner Danny... Read more →
Hackers got their hands on information from around 110 million AT&T customers when they were able to breach the company’s records. The data stolen from the telecom is only the latest security breakdown. At least 1 billion records have been stolen or accessed in data breaches this year, according to TechCrunch. All those stolen records are one reason why so many of us are getting more phishing emails and smishing texts. The illegally obtained data also helps crooks and con artists gain entry into additional networks that have high-value information, like taxpayer data. That’s why the Internal Revenue Service and... Read more →
There’s good news for the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to get rid of as much paper as possible. The agency’s Document Upload Tool, or DUT, recently received its 1 millionth taxpayer submission. The online option lets taxpayers and tax professionals respond digitally to a wide range of tax issues. One of those issues is potentially underreported income, which prompts the IRS to issue Notice CP2000. With the DUT, taxpayers or their preparers can easily scan the material that answers the notice’s questions and electronically submit it to the agency, said the IRS. DUT growth: The upload tool was launched in... Read more →
The Internal Revenue Service is holding refunds sought by thousands of filers it suspects inflated those amounts by improperly claiming some tax credits. While the IRS sorts through these questionable claims, those taxpayers aren’t going to see any refund money. Not even that amount unconnected to the questionable credit claims. The dubious claims delaying the refunds involve the Fuel Tax Credit, Sick and Family Leave Credit, and household employment taxes. “Scam artists and social media posts have perpetuated a number of false and misleading claims that have tricked well-meaning taxpayers into believing they’re entitled to big, windfall tax refunds. These... Read more →
The Internal Revenue Service, like almost every other entity in our lives, continues to expand its digital reach. Taxpayers have for decades been encouraged to electronically file and pay taxes. This year, the IRS tested Direct File that let a limited number of taxpayers prepare online and then e-file directly with the agency instead of using a commercial tax software program. We also can access our taxpayer accounts online. In certain situations, we can contact the IRS via email. And the IRS looking to expand paperless operations in the near future. Uncle Sam’s digital tax collector got another boost in... Read more →
Yelena Blinovskaya and Alexei Blinovsky in happier times shared on her Instagram account. I'm confident that the hubby loves me. But does he love me enough to head off to war? I don't ever want to find out that answer for many reasons, including the "what the what?" follow-up questions it would raise. But that startling scenario just played out in Russia. And yes, it involves taxes. Influencer tax evasion charges: Yelena Blinovskaya, a self-help coach and Instagram influencer, was arrested at the Russian-Belarus border in April 2023 for allegedly trying to flee her native country to avoid paying a... Read more →
Today's post on the second half of the 2024 Internal Revenue Service's Dirty Dozen tax scams looks at a wide range of schemes and potential victims. Tax pros are targets, as are high income earners in schemes 7 through 12. Together with the Dirty Dozen's first six scams posted last week, there's a scam for almost all of us taxpayers. Take notice and don't become a Dirty Dozen victim. Last Friday, I shared the first six of the Internal Revenue Service's annual Dirty Dozen list. As promised, this post wraps up schemes, cons, and scams 7 through 12. This compilation... Read more →
Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel recently spoke to a group of students, faculty, and IRS guests at the Kogod Tax Center at American University in Washington, D.C., revealing what has been dubbed the IRS' generational digital transformation plan. That plan is part of what the Biden Administration said it expects from the federal tax agency when it offered Werfel the commissioner job in the fall of 2022. "They told me, the next commissioner could lead the IRS through the most important tech-enabled transformation of a government agency in U.S. history," said Werfel. "So again, my jaw dropped to the... Read more →
The Internal Revenue Service has held two special walk-in Saturdays this year at its Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) across the United States. Two more are scheduled for April and May. The no-appointment-needed sessions are welcomed by taxpayers who need help (note, however, that the TAC reps aren't offering tax return filing assistance), as long as you can find them. A recent report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that's not always easy, especially if you search online for a TAC office. Issue reported by the IRS: To the IRS' credit, the agency brought this concern to... Read more →
Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich A new tax season also brings the resurgences of tax scams. The Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit partners earlier this month alerted tax professionals to watch out for a new round of filing season-related email schemes where cybercriminals pose as potential clients. Now FinCEN, the Treasury Department bureau that focuses on financial crimes, notably money laundering and terrorism, reports that there have been fraudulent attempts to obtain information from individuals and entities who may have to comply with new Corporate Transparency Act reporting requirements. Here's a look at these two schemes popping up as... Read more →
People are increasingly falling for a new scam known as pig butchering. The scheme involves cryptocurrency purchases, and the promised outcome is as reliable as flying pigs. (Photo by Daniel Novykov on Unsplash) The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (CI) unit has some advice as the holiday season nears. Don't be a pig. No, the warning has nothing to do with over-eating, starting with next week's Thanksgiving spreads. Rather, IRS CI says crooks are reaching out on social media, typically seeking those looking for romantic partners, to get the targeted victims' help in cryptocurrency schemes. These targets, whom the fraudsters... Read more →
This summer, the Internal Revenue Service warned us of a surge of tax scams. Identity thieves were sending a barrage of email and text messages promising tax refunds or offers to help fix tax problems. Apparently, the scammers are continuing into the fall. Fake IRS text: I got the fake IRS text at left this week. This crook apparently was trying to convince me to click on the StatementClaim.pdf document. I was curious, but not that curious. However, I did like how the crook tried to pique my interest by annotating the fake text as an internal tax agency message.... Read more →