Again, a day late, but not a dollar
short. It looks like I will be posting
only one BUZZ installment a week for a while, on Wednesdays, until the amount
of appropriate BUZZ picks up.
* Over at FORBES.COM Ryan Ellis lists the “Top Five Reasons the Death Tax's 100th Birthday Should Be Its Last”. Some good reasons, especially the top 3, of
why the “death tax” should be sentenced to death.
* Still at FORBES.COM, TaxGirl Kelly
Phillips Erb explains “Fears Over Taxpayer Confusion Mount After It's Revealed IRS Might Be Calling You After All”.
As Kelly points out –
“For
months, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been warning taxpayers to be
vigilant and not fall victim to IRS impersonation scams. Thousands of victims
have collectively paid tens of millions of dollars to scammers calling taxpayers
and posing as IRS officials while phone scams remain on the IRS’ ‘Dirty Dozen’
List of Tax Schemes and Scams for 2016.”
The IRS, and we tax pros and tax bloggers,
have been telling you that the IRS will never initiate contact by
telephone. But apparently “it ain’t
necessarily so”!
In this instance Kelly is not talking about
the incompetence of the idiots in Congress, who have stupidly forced the IRS to
use outside collection agencies, despite the fact that previous attempts
actually lost money for the government.
Here she is talking about the incompetence of current IRS management –
“According
to Tax Notes (subscription required), the IRS has been initiating some audits
by phone. The issue was raised at one of a series of Taxpayer Advocate Service
public forums, this one held in Iowa. At the forum, Robert McHugh, an Enrolled
Agent (EA) in Kimballton, Iowa, told National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson that
his client, an elderly taxpayer, was contacted by phone from an IRS auditor.
There had been no prior contact with the taxpayer, including any letter.
Another tax professional added, ‘It happens all the time.’”
And –
“ . .
.the Internal Revenue Manual did instruct revenue agents that the preferred
method for initiating taxpayer contact for audit was by phone.”
My advice – if you are contacted via
telephone by anyone claiming to be
from the IRS tell them you refuse to discuss personal matters over the phone,
and tell them you will only acknowledge and respond if they put it in writing.
* It seems that the IRS has responded to the problem discussed in
the previous item. According to “IRS Modifies Audit 'Call-First' Policy After Taxpayer Complaints” by William
Hoffman at TAX ANALYSTS -
“The
IRS will begin notifying taxpayers first by letter when they are subject to
in-person field exams, ‘in an abundance of caution and in light of pervasive
phone scams seeking to extort money from taxpayers,’ the agency said in a
statement May 6.
The IRS
announcement follows reports in Tax Notes Today that attendees of a public
forum held by the Taxpayer Advocate Service May 5 complained that they had
received phone calls from IRS employees trying to set up audits. The claims
seemed to contradict IRS Commissioner John Koskinen's repeated pledges to
taxpayers that the IRS never calls first.
The IRS's May 6
statement said the agency ‘will implement a policy to notify taxpayers in this
smaller exam category first via mail that their return has been selected for
audit and then contact them to schedule an appointment.’”
My advice at the end of the last item still
stands.
* Say what you will about the IRS and its
current mismanagement - and there is a lot that can be said - the IRS website
does have lots of good resources for individual and business taxpayers.
Here, for example, is it’s “Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center”, which provides “a variety of resources for taxpayers who file Form 1040, Schedules C,
E, F or Form 2106, as well as small businesses with assets under $10 million”.
* And while for the most part competence is
a rarity at the NJ Division of Taxation, it, too, has an excellent website full
of helpful resources.
I expect most state tax agency websites are
a good source of information and resources.
You can link to your state’s tax agency website here.
* OUR BLOG at IRS Tax Pros warns “Receiving Cash Tips? The IRS Is Watching”.
This is a good review of how to handle tip
income.
Thankfully I no longer have any 1040
clients who are among restaurant wait staff, so I do not have to worry about
this any longer.
THE FINAL WORD
What has dangerous buffoon Donald Trump
accomplished so far as a Presidential candidate? He has turned the Republican campaign into a
three-ring circus – not much more than a farce.
And he has seriously divided and damaged, if not destroyed, the
Republican Party.
Think what he could do if, God forbid, he
become President. This must never
happen.
TTFN
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