Backup Withholding

Businesses take note: You may be required to withhold 24% of certain payments to individuals if they don’t provide you with their legal names and taxpayer identification numbers (TINs) or the IRS notifies you that a payee’s TIN doesn’t match its records. Types of payments subject to backup withholding include interest, dividends, rents, profits, commissions, […]

Tax avoidance

Not all tax avoidance is intentional, according to a new interdepartmental Joint Strategic Emerging Issues Team (JSEIT) at the IRS. JSEIT’s objective is to use compliance-risk assessments to pinpoint possible promoters of abusive tax schemes. It also will decide how to deploy resources. Some issues may require education, while others may warrant investigations. Analytics will […]

Secure Act 2.0 update

The SECURE Act 2.0 bill has taken another step closer to becoming law. On June 22, the Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved its version of the bill, now dubbed the Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act. That bill must be merged with another Senate bill, the Rise and Shine Act. Once that’s been completed, the […]

IRS backlog update

As of May 31, the IRS was still plagued by delays in processing paper returns and issuing refunds, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate, Erin Collins. In her midyear report to Congress (https://bit.ly/3tV0Pig), Collins reported that the IRS had a backlog of 21.3 million unprocessed tax returns, an increase of 1.3 million, or nearly 7%, […]

Can You Have a Health Savings Account and Medicare?

Can You Have a Health Savings Account and Medicare? – AARP https://bit.ly/3betXur

Missouri’s gas tax rises again July 1, but you can get some money back. Here’s how

Missouri’s gas tax rises again July 1, but you can get some money back. Here’s how – Kansas City Star https://bit.ly/3NnjoTc

Tax Issues of a Divorce

Taxpayers going through a divorce or legal separation will see changes to their tax situations. But filing status won’t change until there’s a final decree of divorce or separate maintenance. Once a decree is issued, each party should file a new Form W-4 (Withholding Certificate) to ensure proper withholding. If there are dependent children, generally […]

FBAR penalty before the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will take up a controversial issue affecting owners of certain foreign financial accounts. A holder of a foreign account worth more than $10,000 in the preceding year must file a “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts” (FBAR). For a non-willful failure to file, the penalty is […]

IRS warns on scams

“Taxpayers should not kid themselves into believing they can hide income from the IRS,” warns IRS commissioner Chuck Rettig. That doesn’t seem to stop some people from trying, often with assistance from unethical tax preparers. So the IRS is fighting back. It plans to hire up to 200 attorneys to help combat abusive tax scams. […]

IRS uses voice bots to cut wait time

One of the ways the IRS is addressing complaints about phone call wait times is with voice bots. The agency has been using voice-activated software to help taxpayers navigate service menus and get answers to relatively simple questions since January 2022. Now, it’s expanding bot use to help callers set up and modify payment plans. […]