Daily News

TAS Tax Tips for Tax Pros: Earned Income Credit Tools and Information

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) rules are complex and helping clients claim this and other refundable credits is sometimes a challenge. That is especially true while performing the Due Diligence steps needed for returns you prepare and advising clients under audit circumstances. Here are a few EITC quick reference tips, along with information on a new tool for assistance during EITC audit situa...

TAS Tax Tip: Payment and Penalty Relief Options

Tax time can be especially tough if taxes are owed with your tax return and even harder if penalties and interest are charged. Our website’s Get Help pages have a wealth of information about various payment options and will guide you through why penalties are charged and, when appropriate, how to request a reversal of those charges, along with steps you can take to avoid the same issues n...

NTA Blog: Expanding Pay-As-You-Earn Tax Collection Could Bring Significant Benefits

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog Imagine it’s tax filing season. You’re dreading figuring out your tax liability this year, because in the last few years you’ve been earning sporadi...

NTA Blog: The Adoption of a Withholding Code and the Improvement of Free File Fillable Forms Would Streamline Tax Withholding and Reporting

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog In last week’s blog, I discussed the potential benefits arising from an expansion of the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tax system to incorporate additional income item...

TAS Tax Tip: Correcting tax returns, if you made a mistake or forgot to file

If you make a mistake on your taxes, do you know what to do and how to correct the mistake? There are many options on how to fix a mistake on your tax return, depending on whether you received a notice and the kind of mistake you made. If you simply forgot to file, and have a filing requirement, you should file right away as there are consequences. No IRS Notice Received Yet If you need to make...

NTA Blog: The IRS Should Redesign Its Notices Using Psychological, Cognitive, and Behavioral Science Insights to Protect Taxpayer Rights, Enhance Taxpayer Understanding, and Reduce Taxpayer Burden

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog With the filing season in full operation, many taxpayers are receiving correspondence from the IRS that convey significant taxpayer rights and require taxpayers to ta...

TAS Tax Tip: Filing, Requesting an Extension of Time to File and Payment Options

The tax return filing deadline is almost here. Have you filed yet? The filing deadline to submit 2018 tax returns is Monday, April 15, 2019 for most taxpayers. Because of the Patriots’ Day holiday on April 15 in Maine and Massachusetts and the Emancipation Day holiday on April 16 in the District of Columbia, taxpayers who live in Maine or Massachusetts have until April 17, 2019 to file th...

NTA Blog: IRS Efforts to Improve the EITC Improper Payment Rate Harm Taxpayers While Overlooking the Roles of Taxpayer Education and Paid Tax Preparers

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the primary forms of public assistance for low income working taxpayers.  However, the EITC is associated with a hi...

TAS Tax Tip: It’s Always a Good time to Check Your Tax Withholding

Finished with your 2018 tax return? If you are, and even if you are not, now might be a good time to check your tax withholding amount for this year, 2019, by doing a paycheck check-up now so you have the right amount of taxes withheld in your paycheck each week. No one likes surprises come tax time and this will hopefully eliminate the chance of any surprise. Why check it at all? The...

NTA Blog: Fraud Detection Filters: Recent Changes in the IRS Fraud Detection Program May Reduce Taxpayer Burden While Continuing to Stop Fraudulent Refunds

Subscribe to the NTA’s Blog and receive updates on the latest blog posts from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson. Additional blogs from the National Taxpayer Advocate can be found at www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/blog. Over the years I have repeatedly raised concerns regarding the IRS’s Identity Theft (IDT) and non-IDT refund fraud programs. Most recently I expressed these co...

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U.S. arrests former Marine connected to North Korea embassy raid in Spain

U.S. authorities on Thursday arrested a former U.S. Marine who is a member of a group that allegedly raided the North Korean embassy in Madrid in February and stole electronics, according to two sources familiar with the arrest. ...

California couple sentenced to life in prison in severe child abuse case

A Southern California couple was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Friday after the pair pleaded guilty to charges stemming from grim, headline-making accusations they beat, starved and shackled their 13 children in the family's home, prosecutors said. ...

Trump approval drops 3 points to 2019 low after release of Mueller report: Reuters/Ipsos poll

The number of Americans who approve of President Donald Trump dropped by 3 percentage points to the lowest level of the year following the release of a special counsel report detailing Russian interference in the last U.S. presidential election, according to an exclusive Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll. ...

Mueller report strengthens resolves on both sides of political spectrum

After months as volunteer activists demanding that U.S. President Donald Trump be impeached, Eileen and Michael O'Brien sat on their couch on Thursday, cracked open a laptop and began to read the 448-page special counsel report that liberals have dreamed would make impeachment a reality. ...

Peru ex-president leaves cadaver as sign of 'contempt' for his enemies: suicide note

Peruvian ex-president Alan Garcia wrote in an alleged suicide note read by family members at a wake on Friday that he had killed himself in order to avoid humiliation at the hands of his political enemies. ...

Boeing 737 MAX joint governmental review will begin April 29: FAA

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that a joint governmental review of the now grounded Boeing 737 MAX will begin on April 29 and will include 9 other aviation regulators from around the world. ...

Top Democrats in Congress reject Barr's proposal to limit Mueller report access

Top Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on Friday rejected Attorney General William Barr's proposal to allow them access to a less-redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation report. ...

Democrats make legal bid for all Russia probe evidence, Trump poll numbers drop

Congressional Democrats on Friday took legal action to get hold of all of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's evidence from his inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, as the probe's findings hit President Donald Trump's poll ratings. ...

On Good Friday, pope hears harrowing stories of human trafficking

Pope Francis led Good Friday services dedicated to the victims of human trafficking and the plight of migrants, denouncing leaders with "armored hearts" who exploit their plight for political gain. ...

Northern Ireland journalist killed by gunman during riot

A 29-year-old Northern Irish journalist was shot dead during rioting in Londonderry overnight, an attack that shocked the region and police said was likely the work of Irish nationalist militants opposed to the 1998 Good Friday peace deal. ...

Retirement contribution limits will rise in 2019

Good news retirement savers: The Internal Revenue Service announced cost of living increases to the contribution limits for retirement-related plans in 2019....