Category: IRS
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IRS Security Upgrade for 2018
Beginning last month and concluding yesterday, the IRS e-services system went through a dramatic increase in security. The online security upgrade is accompanied by a telephone service security upgrade that went into effect last week. This is the system that tax professionals like me use to address client issues involving the IRS. I wrote about…
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An accountant’s telephone call to IRS
subtitle: Why IRS representation can be slow and expensive Today I called the IRS Professional Hotline, waited 25 minutes, then got disconnected by live person picking up the call. (This is a common response in peak call time). I call back to the IRS Professional hotline, wait 20 minutes, reach a live gent, confirm taxpayer…
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Legislative History as Tax Authority: an Obsolete Concept?
Early in my professional tax career I learned about the concept of legislative history as tax authority. In fact a large part of any legal education is learning to evaluate evidence based on its qualitative characteristics, statutory consideration or local rules. In tax law this hierarchy of authority becomes the logical and legally supportable basis that…
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Adjusting payroll taxes for 2018
Once all the political commotion over tax reform settles, what most people care about is “Is my paycheck going up or down?” The problem is complicated by politicians promising a big tax cut on the television news and through social media channels while accountants warn that some people will likely pay more. The end result…
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Want to pay less tax? Start with a review of your last return
Effective tax reduction strategies start with a review of you last filed tax return. There are at least three types of tax return reviews: 1) a high level review “Does it make sense given the facts?”, 2) a micro-level review “Did I miss anything or transpose any digits?”. and 3) a tax planning review (How…
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Basics of Taxpayer Representation
Tax-related stress does not need to remain a burden over the holidays and into the next year. A simple no-obligation discussion can often start the process to a resolution that everyone can handle. From time to time individual and business taxpayers run into complications with the Internal Revenue Service or another tax authority. These issues…
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Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) Update
The IRS requires that anyone who prepares or assists in preparing federal tax returns for compensation must have a valid Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) before preparing returns. This allows the government to track tax returns by preparer and, in my opinion, has resulted in the decrease of fraudulent or abusive tax returns. In prior…
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A sad but common story of tax trouble
I read a story of an ordinary middle-income wage earner who received some letters from the IRS, ignored them, wound up having her wages garnished. Then she got scared and did not file her 2016 tax return, making matters worse. We don’t know the original issue that triggered IRS concern (perhaps inadvertently omitted items on…
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Primer on Tax Transcripts
In this age we know that information is power. Tax transcripts are increasingly important for providing primary information to efficiently handle federal tax issues. As a tax adviser, I find that the level of federal tax information available to clients is poor and is often dominated by misinformation and misunderstanding. Tax transcripts give us the most…
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Tax stress?
This is the time of year when IRS and state auditors pick up the pace of sending out examination notices and this causes some people a lot of stress. I’ve heard plenty of stories about how a person lost sleep or couldn’t enjoy their weekend worrying about the IRS letter. Only one in four of these…