politics & government

irs funding pays eye-popping 415x roi

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from a business perspective, funding the irs is an excellent investment.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the internal revenue service’s taxpayer services and business systems modernization accounts got short shrift in the big-time funding provided by the inflation reduction act. but still, the combined total of $8 billion they got has gone a long way to improve the taxpayer experience.

more: tax season 2025 begins. ready or not. | every tax reviewer should be able to answer these ten questions | art werner: corporate transparency act and fincen reporting | quick tax tip | taxpayer advocate sees big improvements at irs | ask tax clients the right questions | major changes to circular 230: implications for tax professionals | cornerstone report | art werner: due diligence and irs enforcement | make ‘done but’ tax returns a thing of the past | six methods for getting paid faster this tax season | use humor to get tax documents in early | art werner: busy season predictions
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here’s the breakdown of the original account allocations at the irs:

  • enforcement: $45.6 billion, 58 percent of the total
  • operations support (e.g., rent, phones, paper, etc.) $25.3 billion, 32 percent of the total
  • business systems modernization (including tech upgrades): $4.8 billion, 6 percent of the total
  • taxpayer services: $3.2 billion, or 4 percent of the total

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taxpayer advocate sees big improvements at irs

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data table

but still “far from perfect.”

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

for the first time ever, erin m. collins, america’s resolute national taxpayer advocate, has opened her annual report to congress with good news.

“the taxpayer experience,” she writes, “has noticeably improved.”

more: ask tax clients the right questions | major changes to circular 230: implications for tax professionals | cornerstone report | art werner: due diligence and irs enforcement | quick tax tip | make ‘done but’ tax returns a thing of the past | six methods for getting paid faster this tax season | use humor to get tax documents in early | art werner: busy season predictions | four steps could close the tax gap | art werner: how to turn tax prep into tax advisory | art werner: navigating business structure decisions amid tax law changes | tax season memo from staff to managing partner | is the irs adequately tracking corporate tax evasion? | irs still unsure how to measure audit rate
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

collins has good reason for her praise:
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battling the staffing crisis: is a little-known, but controversial, visa program the answer for 2025 hiring?

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cornerstone report: h-1b hiring and salary trends in tax, accounting and finance

  • the jobs outlook, salary trends, and election year politics.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research estimates and illustration

what it is. how it works. and what cpa firms are doing.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the h-1b visa program is vital for u.s. companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations, including tax, finance, and accounting.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research estimates that as many as 46,000 tax, accounting and finance professionals work at u.s. firms under the h-1b program. this figure has received scant attention in the profession but is critical to its infrastructure. to the extent that it has received attention, critics say the program holds down salaries for u.s. workers.

in 2024, the biden administration eased restrictions on the h-1b visa program while clamping down on abuses. by 2025, with the trump administration, it had become a lightning rod of controversy.

the nation’s tech industry has a huge stake in the outcome. despite fluctuations in the number of h-1b workers requested and approved, the demand for h-1b workers in computer-related occupations remains strong, and h-1b workers play a critical role in the workforce.

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four steps could close the tax gap

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the difference between what’s owed and what’s paid is $625 billion.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

what’s more aggravating than paying all the taxes you owe while other people cheat?

maybe this: that the biggest tax cheats are the wealthy while it’s the lower-income taxpayers who get audited more.

more: art werner: how to turn tax prep into tax advisory | quick tax tip | art werner: navigating business structure decisions amid tax law changes | quick tax tip | tax season memo from staff to managing partner | is the irs adequately tracking corporate tax evasion? | irs still unsure how to measure audit rate | art werner: estate planning strategies | quick tax tip | art werner: post-mortem estate planning | quick tax tip | pause to praise the tax pro volunteers | irs vs. fraudsters | imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the financial consequences of noncompliance are staggering. according to the annual public report issued by the internal revenue service advisory council, an estimated $688 billion in taxes went unpaid in 2021.
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is the irs adequately tracking corporate tax evasion?

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the inspector general smells something fishy.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

believe it not, there are large american corporations that establish a pseudo-presence in other countries for the sole purpose of evading taxes.

and that’s not the only trick in the corporate books.

more: irs still unsure how to measure audit rate | art werner: estate planning strategies | quick tax tip | art werner: post-mortem estate planning | quick tax tip | pause to praise the tax pro volunteers | irs vs. fraudsters | imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

granted, sometimes those tricks are legitimate tax tactics. the tax code has loopholes, and that’s what they’re for.

needless to say, corporate tax strategy can get pretty complicated. there is an entire industry of lawyers, accountants and wealth management professionals dedicated to walking the fine line between evasion and due diligence in the interest of shareholders.
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the slow, painful death of the 150-hour rule

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ending a 50-year mandate, now “competency” counts (again).

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

after a quarter century of campaigning to get the 150-hour rule passed by all 50 states, overcoming opposition that seemed at one time as if it would rend the profession’s institutions, and after another quarter century of finding that the rule was failing by all critical measures, the aicpa and nasba are rolling out a workaround that could kill the rule.

more 150-hour rule  | download the exposure draft

the organizations are offering a “competency-based” hurdle for cpa licensure that signals abject surrender.

this is the story, 50 years in the making, of (mostly) good intentions gone bad, unintended (but not unforeseen) consequences, and how rank-and-file cpas (eventually) overcame the power plays of multinational firms. read more →

irs still unsure how to measure audit rate

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data table

differing definitions are only part of the problem.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the inflation reduction act endowed the irs with almost $80 billion to improve customer service and beef up enforcement. congress later reduced the amount to $57.8 billion, with $24 billion earmarked for enforcement.

in no time at all, there was misinformation bouncing around social media and conservative podcasts, claiming that the ira would result in more audits of middle-class taxpayers.

more: art werner: estate planning strategies | quick tax tip | art werner: post-mortem estate planning | quick tax tip | pause to praise the tax pro volunteers | irs vs. fraudsters | imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the enforcement resources had no such designation. to allay fears, in 2022 the secretary of the treasury directed the irs commissioner not to use any of the additional resources to increase the audit rate of small businesses or households earning below $400,000.
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pause to praise the tax pro volunteers

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two businesswomen meeting in an office

they prepared 9.3 percent more returns this year.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 hereby calls for a pause in the post-season doldrums to salute the 67,000 tax pro volunteers and other concerned citizens who helped the needy file their tax returns this year.

more: irs vs. fraudsters | imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | id theft a problem for irs even when it doesn’t exist | the nightmare of non-credentialed tax preparers | taxpayer assistance centers: a good idea that should be better | irs still falling short on service | must the irs be a dark hole?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

yes, 67,000. that’s really an impressive number of people. not only are they coming to the rescue of people who, despite their problems and limitations, really want to pay their taxes, but they are doing so during the tax season.
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irs vs. fraudsters

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the endless war is not going well.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the fraudsters of the world continue to see the u.s. treasury as a bountiful chest of riches just waiting to be plundered.

it doesn’t take much. a taxpayer’s name, a social security number, a bank account number, maybe an email address, a phone number and a little luck.

more: imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | tax pros file 33% of early returns | can’t irs online accounts be more useful?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the irs is used to this. it knows what to do about it.

it just doesn’t do it very well.
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imagine! the national tax advocate does

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(you may say she’s a dreamer, but she’s not the only one.)

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

one word keeps popping up in national tax advocate erin m. collins’s introduction to her annual objectives report to congress.

the word is “imagine,” and collins’s dream depicts an irs that is a only bit more feasible than john lennon’s dream of a world with no countries or religion.

more: art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

but you can still sing along …

“imagine a taxpayer or a representative receiving a text message

… or email referring the taxpayer to their online account,
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is the irs mismeasuring phone service?

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unhappy man waiting on phone in office

bad metrics are hiding problems.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

if there’s one nice thing about phoning the irs, it’s the opportunity to take a nap.

taxpayer naps were a little shorter this year, especially for those calling 35 of the 102 toll-free lines, known as enterprise lines, that taxpayers can call for assistance. those 35 lines are for accounts management (am) issues.

more: is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | audit firms nervous about new tech | what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | business model transformation: do it or die | misperceptions, corrections, accountancy and lemonade
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

thanks to a mandate from the secretary of the treasury, the irs hired 7,000 customer service representatives to handle the am lines.
read more →

irs makes big progress but …

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four people talking on phones in call center

problems remain. (shocked, we are.)

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins has plenty of good things to say about the irs in her annual objectives report to congress.

more: the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | can’t irs online accounts be more useful? | id theft a problem for irs even when it doesn’t exist | the nightmare of non-credentialed tax preparers | taxpayer assistance centers: a good idea that should be better | irs still falling short on service
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

“the irs largely succeeded in 2024,” collins writes regarding this year’s tax season. “after several years of abysmal taxpayer service during the covid-19 pandemic, the irs has now delivered two filing seasons that demonstrate the agency has restored service to pre-pandemic levels and has improved in most, but not all, areas of service. this is excellent news for most taxpayers.”
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trump trial: a case study in accounting?

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could some good accountants have spared the nation its hush money trauma?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
analysis and commentary

the donald trump case involving hush money payments indeed centered around accounting practices and the legal implications of how these transactions were recorded. the payments in question, made to silence allegations of extramarital affairs, were scrutinized for potential violations of campaign finance laws and business records.

a 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 analysis of generally accepted practices and the professional literature demonstrates the grave lapses that led to felony convictions and the essential role good accountants and honest accounting must play in the executive suite.

the lessons – and risks – for accountants are painfully clear.

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