politics & government

irs: let the sun shine in … and out

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we need clear answers, not just an info dump.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

could the internal revenue service be a little more transparent?

more: survey: busy season looking good | irs has big plans for its $80 billion | can’t irs tax pro accounts do more? | hello? irs? anybody home? | taxpayer assistance centers need upgrade | at the irs, short on staff means short on service
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national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins thinks so, and her reasons go beyond mere functionality.
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irs has big plans for its $80 billion

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the cbo projects $180 billion more in revenues.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the irs has revealed its strategic operating plan for fy2023-2031, the period when the service will expend the $80 billion infusion granted by the inflation reduction act.

more: can’t irs tax pro accounts do more? | hello? irs? anybody home? | taxpayer assistance centers need upgrade | at the irs, short on staff means short on service | why the irs is still doing data entry by hand | news on irs is maybe sort of a little bit good
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the sop is big, but is it big in the right places?
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can’t irs tax pro accounts do more?

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profile of man shouting tax and other, starred-out wordsof course it can. here are five recommendations.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

in 2021, the irs rolled out its tax pro account program, a relatively quick response to the complications brought down by covid-19, not to mention the years of dwindling service brought down by congressional budget cuts.

more: hello? irs? anybody home? | taxpayer assistance centers need upgrade | tax pros offer advice for small businesses | has early tax season optimism peaked? | why the irs is still doing data entry by hand | accountants’ top problems for tax season 2023
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the purpose of tax pro accounts is to allow practitioners to perform basic services online for their clients.

unfortunately, the services enabled by the program were and still are rather limited. many of the services that individual taxpayers themselves can access online are not available to their tax accountants.
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hello? irs? anybody home?

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pulling people off the phones: not helpful.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the latest results from the 2023 cpatrendlines busy season barometer showed a significant shift in practitioners’ main concern this year. it used to be “late or unprepared clients.”

more: taxpayer assistance centers need upgrade | on business outlook, cpas are confident … and concerned | at the irs, short on staff means short on service | tax pros offer advice for small businesses | busy season barometer finds many cpas in transition | more cpas see worsening economy | has early tax season optimism peaked? | marchternity: just say ‘no’
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now “irs operations” has surged to first place, cited by 53 percent of respondents.

ouch, right? the agency charged with collecting taxes is the biggest problem for those who file tax returns for a living.
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pros handle 45% of income tax returns

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data tablerefunds down by double digits.

by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

tax season 2023 has been consistent. refunds are down, and so are self-prepared filings and irs.gov visits. by every other marker, though, business is as usual or better.

more: on business outlook, cpas are confident … and concerned | at the irs, short on staff means short on service | more cpas see worsening economy | marchternity: the solution is community |
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as of feb. 24, the latest data available, the irs had received 46 million individual income tax returns, up 1.3 percent from the same period in 2022. it had processed 45.7 million returns, up 4.3 percent.

we always like to see processing go quickly, and the agency is speeding through returns right now at a clip of 99.4 percent.

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taxpayer assistance centers need upgrade

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portrait of an angry man yelling on the phoneeven if they get an appointment, taxpayers are limited to one issue.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

taxpayer assistance centers were a great idea that have somehow managed to stumble into quasi-dysfunctionality.

more: on business outlook, cpas are confident … and concerned | at the irs, short on staff means short on service | more cpas see worsening economy | marchternity: the solution is community | why we all hate the tax code | tax season 2023: better or worse?
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ideally, taxpayers should be able to show up at a tac with their papers and count on good advice and assistance. they should even be able to have their paper returns scanned and filed electronically.

but no. inevitably, this, too, got screwed up.
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at the irs, short on staff means short on service

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guess who suffers?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

it probably won’t surprise the average tax practitioner to learn that in the american customer satisfaction index of federal agencies, the internal revenue service ranks dead last.

more: tax pros offer advice for small businesses | busy season barometer finds many cpas in transition | marchternity: just say ‘no’ | news on irs is maybe sort of a little bit good
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it accomplished the same dubious rank in forrest research’s u.s. customer experience index of 221 companies and federal agencies.

two sad things about this:
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are feds laid back on white-collar crime?

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bar chart of percentage of crimes prosecuted by typelet’s say the odds of prosecution are low … lower still for business entities.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

accountants are often the first to notice white-collar crime. they’re also the ones with access to the evidence. contrary to the cliché, numbers can lie, though not forever. when there’s something fishy in the figures, it’s an accountant who first notices.

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but then what happens? often the case gets reported to the federal department of justice. and then what?
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should congress mandate presidential tax audits?

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lack of audits on president trump triggers an investigation.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

should the president and vice president of the united states be a little above the law, a little privileged, a little exempt from audits of tax returns?

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the answer would seem obvious. and while these top-level executives aren’t explicitly exempt, they do wield power over the internal revenue service, and the president signs into law bills that could affect his or her personal financial situations. and in today’s almost even split of the senate, the vice president often casts a deciding vote on such bills.
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should the irs create a free file app of its own?

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three ways to fix the program.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

here’s something weird: the irs offers the vast majority of taxpayers the option to use the free file program to prepare returns.

more: irs audit rates are dropping, and big earners couldn’t be happier | six more ways to fix the irs | is remote the new normal? | accounting pros face challenges in turbulent times | your tax season success plan starts here, now | tax prep fintech startup: april raises $30 million | accountants agree: the top five ways to fix the irs

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it costs taxpayers nothing. yet only three percent use it. can it be fixed? should it? congress is weighing in.

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irs audit rates are dropping, and big earners couldn’t be happier

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audit rates by total positive income: although audit rates are declining more rapidly for higher-income taxpayers, the audit rate for lower-income taxpayers claiming the earned income tax credit is running higher than average. the reason: irs says it doesn’t have the highly-trained staff needed for high-income audits. eitc audits are easier. shown: 2019 tax year.

for the wealthy, the irs says it’s out-gunned.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the percentage of taxpayers audited by the irs has been in precipitous decline since 2010, with the steepest decline in – surprise, surprise! – the highest income bracket, according to a new study.

hoisted from comments: “it is not the auditors who are to blame. it is the irs processes that the auditors are following.”

the odds of a taxpayer being audited are astonishingly low, an average of just 0.25% in 2019, way down from 0.9% in 2010.

more on tax: six quick solutions for irs backlogs | accountants agree: the top five ways to fix the irs | irs tops list of busy season problems |  thinking commercial real estate? think fast.  |  new small firm cost seg opportunities  |  what gig workers want  |  accountants agree: the top five ways to fix the irs  |  tax season ’22: working harder for every dollar  |  irs tops list of busy season problems
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audit rates for brackets between $25,000 and $500,000 are well below average, just 0.17%.
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