While life can get in the way and cause you to miss filing timely tax returns, the IRS is notoriously unsympathetic when it comes to money they allege you owe. While filing late or having a backlog of unfiled returns can seem overwhelming, following these steps can protect you and your assets. If the filing […]

IRS Fresh Start Program Helps Taxpayers Who Owe the IRS The IRS Fresh Start program makes it easier for taxpayers to pay back taxes and avoid tax liens. Even small business taxpayers may benefit from Fresh Start. Here are three important features of the Fresh Start program: Tax Liens.The Fresh Start program increased the amount […]

Mystic Pizza Owner Gets Prison Sentence for Tax Evasion (From Accounting Today) The owner of Mystic Pizza, the Connecticut pizzeria made famous by the 1988 Julia Roberts movie of the same name, has been sentenced to over a year in prison on charges of tax evasion and structuring cash transactions. John Zelepos, 49, of North […]

IRS Warns of Latest Tax Scams (From Accounting Today) The Internal Revenue Service is cautioning taxpayers and tax practitioners against the newest scams as losses top $20 million in money stolen from victims by fraudsters claiming to work for the IRS and other government agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles. The IRS said Thursday […]

IRS Adopts Taxpayer Bill of Rights (From Accounting Today) The Internal Revenue Service has adopted a “Taxpayer Bill of Rights” that it said would become a cornerstone document to provide the nation’s taxpayers with a better understanding of their rights. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights takes multiple existing rights that have already been included in […]

IRS to Step up Penalties for Delinquent Payroll Taxes (Accounting Today) Employers owed the Internal Revenue Service approximately $14.1 billion in delinquent Social Security, Medicare and individual federal income taxes that they had withheld from employee paychecks as of June 30, 2012, and the Internal Revenue Service is being urged to do more to assess […]

More than a few Americans will eventually have trouble paying their taxes and wonder, “what happens now?” Taxpayers can be unfamiliar with their options and IRS collection process. It’s possible for you or your tax attorney to negotiate with the IRS. You may be able to postpone the deadline or set up a payment plan, […]

Tax Preparer Fraud Cases (From Accounting Today) New York: Preparer Celamour Berus, of the Springfield Gardens section of the Borough of Queens, has been arrested for multiple tax crimes following his indictment on April 3. According to the indictment, Berus, owner and operator of the tax prep business Celamour Enterprises, prepared false individual income tax […]

IRS Streamlines Innocent Spouse Relief (From Accounting Today) The Internal Revenue Service has issued new guidance and streamlined procedures for spouses who are seeking equitable relief from joint income tax liability. Revenue Procedure 2013-34 supersedes the earlier Revenue Procedure 2003-61. It provides the threshold requirements for any request for equitable relief and sets forth conditions […]

The Internal Revenue Service needs to strengthen its correspondence audit selection process by auditing more of the prior- and subsequent-year tax returns of noncompliant income tax filers, according to a new government report. The report, by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, noted that the IRS relies heavily on the correspondence audit process to […]