Beware of scammers posing as the IRS

They never call you !!!!! or text you !!!!!

Identity thieves may try to contact taxpayers through fraudulent calls, emails, texts and social media messages pretending to be the IRS. Here’s how taxpayers know when it’s the IRS that contacts them.

Email, text, and social media
The IRS will mail a letter or notice before calling or emailing.

The IRS does not:

Send unexpected or unsolicited text messages to taxpayers.
Initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text message, or through social media.
Send messages that ask for personal or financial information, especially when it comes to a tax refund.
Common IRS-related online scams include:

Phishing emails sent to taxpayers.
Fake IRS social media accounts that contact taxpayers about a fake bill, grant, or refund.
Text messages are sent to taxpayers for fake “tax credits” or “stimulus payments.”
Scammers’ messages often direct taxpayers to click fraudulent links they claim are IRS websites or other online tools.

Phone calls
After mailing a notice or letter to a taxpayer, IRS agents may call to confirm an appointment or discuss items for a scheduled audit. Taxpayers should know that:

The IRS doesn’t leave pre-recorded, urgent or threatening messages. Scammers will tell victims that if they do not call back, a warrant will be issued for their arrest. These calls are scams.
Private collection agencies that the IRS works with may call taxpayers to collect certain outstanding inactive tax liabilities, but only after sending written notice to the taxpayer and their representative.
The IRS and its authorized private collection agencies will never ask a taxpayer to pay using any form of pre-paid card, store, or online gift card. Taxpayers can review the IRS payments page at IRS.gov/payments for all legitimate ways to make a payment.
Letters and notices
A letter or notice is usually the first contact a taxpayer gets from the IRS contacts. If a taxpayer gets a suspicious letter or notice, they can check to see if it’s really the IRS:

Log in to their secure IRS Online Account to find a copy of the notice or letter.
Contact IRS customer service to verify it, if they weren’t able to do so in their Online Account.
Review IRS letters and notices at Understanding Your IRS Notice or Letter.
Confirm that collection notices from a private collection agency have the same Taxpayer Authentication Number as the Notice CP40 the taxpayer received from the IRS.
Visit Private Debt Collection Frequently Asked Questions to learn more about verifying a private collection agency.

Warning signs of a scam
If taxpayers get an unexpected letter, email, or text that claims to be from the IRS or another trusted source – like a bank, a credit company, or a tax software provider – here are some tell-tale signs that it’s a scam:

Spelling errors or incorrect grammar.
A link or attachment that with a slightly misspelled URL or an unusual one such as irs.com. All IRS links go to irs.gov.
A threatening or urgent request to pay now, to follow a link or to open an attachment.
Taxpayers who receive a request from the IRS in the mail or by phone can always contact IRS customer service to authenticate it.

July 29, 2024 0

Taxpayers can appeal a rejected offer in compromise

You can settle the EIDL for less if you meet certain conditions through OIC.

If the IRS rejects an offer in compromise, taxpayers have 30 days from the date on the rejection letter to request an appeal of that decision.

To request an appeal, a taxpayer must file Form 13711, Request for Appeal of Offer in Compromise, or send a letter to the IRS with certain information about their situation. Taxpayers should mail their request for an appeal to the office that sent them the rejection letter.

How to decide whether to submit an appeal
To identify areas of disagreement and decide whether to submit an appeal, taxpayers should review the Income/Expense and Asset/Equity Tables that came with the OIC rejection letter and Form 656, Offer in Compromise.

Documents to gather and review prior to submitting an appeal
Corporations, S corporations, partnerships, tax exempt organizations and limited liability companies defined as a corporation and other LLCs:

Form 433-B (OIC), Collection Information Statement for Businesses
Other supporting documentation
Individual wage earners and self-employed people:

Form 433-A (OIC), Collection Information Statement for Wage Earners and Self-Employed Individuals
Other supporting documentation
Taxpayers must be accurate and complete when addressing the reasons for disagreement
For each area of the offer in compromise rejection where the taxpayer disagrees with the IRS, they need to provide documents to support the income item, expense item and asset value they dispute.

For details on the supporting documents and kinds of records to keep, see Section 10 of Form 433-A (OIC) and Section 7 of Form 433-B (OIC) in Form 656-B, Offer in Compromise (Booklet).

May 30, 2024 0

Summer activities that could affect people’s tax returns next year

While summer is a time for fun, it’s never the wrong time to thinking about taxes – and some of those summer activities could have an impact. Here are a few summertime activities and tips on how taxpayers should consider them for filing season.

Marriage
Wedding season is upon us, and newlyweds can make their tax filing easier by taking two simple steps now:

First, report any name change to the Social Security Administration.
Next, notify the United States Postal Service, employers and the IRS of any address change. To officially change their mailing address with the IRS, taxpayers must compete and submit Form 8822, Change of Address. See page 2 of the form for detailed instructions.
Summer camp
If a taxpayer is sending a child to summer camp, the cost may count toward the Child and Dependent Care Credit.

Business travel
Kids may have the summer off, but parents generally don’t – and business travel happens year-round. Tax deductions are available for certain people who travel away from their home or main place of work for business reasons. Whether a business traveler is away for a few nights or all summer long, it’s important for them to remember the tax rules related to business travel.

Part-time work
While summertime and part-time workers may not earn enough to owe federal income tax, they should file a tax return to get any refund they may be owed. Part-time and seasonal workers can visit IRS.gov to learn more about who should file a tax return.

Some taxpayers earn summer income with a side hustle or doing gig work. They can visit the Gig Economy Tax Center at IRS.gov to learn how participating in the gig economy can affect their taxes. If taxpayers are paid through payment apps for goods and services during the year, they may receive an IRS Form 1099-K for those transactions. For more information, go to IRS.gov/1099k.

Home improvements
The IRS has information to help taxpayers take advantage of potential tax benefits for home improvements. If taxpayers make qualified energy efficient improvements to their home after Jan. 1, 2023, they may qualify for a tax credit up to $3,200. They can claim the credit for improvements made through 2032.

These types of improvements include Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credits for things like water heaters, exterior windows and doors and heating and air conditioning installations. Residential Clean Energy Credits are available for taxpayers who install solar water heaters, fuel cells and battery storage or solar, wind and geothermal power generation. Taxpayers can visit the Home Energy Tax Credits page on IRS.gov to learn more.

May 29, 2024 0

IRS continues work on Employee Retention Credit; new IRS CI education sessions come as agency urges businesses to review VDP, withdrawal program for questionable claims

WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service renewed calls today for businesses to review their eligibility for the Employee Retention Credit as the agency’s law enforcement arm, Criminal Investigation (CI), begins a series of educational sessions for tax professionals.

As part of ongoing IRS efforts around the pandemic-era credit, the agency continues to increase compliance activity to protect against fraud. The IRS also renewed calls for businesses and employers to review their qualifications for the Employee Retention Credit, or ERC. If businesses do not meet the criteria, but claimed the credit, they should consider applying for the Voluntary Disclosure Program before the March 22 deadline. The IRS has also created a special withdrawal program for those with pending claims about which they have eligibility concerns. Both programs can help affected employers avoid penalties and interest on incorrect claims.

“Our compliance activities involving these payments continue to accelerate, and the IRS urges businesses with concerns about their claims to talk to a reputable tax professional and consider joining one of our special disclosure or withdrawal programs,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “We saw aggressive marketing around this credit, and well-intentioned businesses were misled into filing claims. There’s a limited time window available for these businesses to voluntarily come in and avoid future issues.”
In the latest effort, CI special agents will host a series of educational sessions geared specifically to tax professionals about ERC at its field offices across the country. The sessions will take place in February and are part of a nationwide initiative to ensure that tax professionals have the latest information about ERC claims and understand ERC eligibility criteria.

The IRS has been working closely with the tax community following concerns that ERC promoters were aggressively marketing and encouraging businesses to ignore the advice of tax professionals and apply for the credit anyway.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, tax credits and loans were extended to struggling businesses. We’ve seen many of these COVID-relief programs and credits misappropriated – sometimes knowingly and in other instances not,” said IRS CI Chief Jim Lee. “These educational sessions will help tax preparers navigate the complexities of ERC claims to ensure they’re in compliance with U.S. tax laws.”

CI special agents will walk attendees through ERC eligibility criteria, documentation requirements to receive ERC claims, and best practices for compliance and accurate reporting. These events will take place in at least 23 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and are specifically designed for tax professionals who have claimed ERCs for their clients on previous years’ tax returns. Invitations to attend will arrive by mail through the U.S. Postal Service.

The ERC is a refundable tax credit for certain eligible businesses and tax-exempt organizations that had employees and were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. The requirements vary depending on the time of claim, and it is not available to individuals.

With the end of the pandemic, the IRS announced in July it was shifting its focus to review ERC claims for compliance concerns, including intensifying audit work and criminal investigations on promoters and businesses filing dubious claims.

Following concerns about aggressive ERC marketing from tax professionals and others, the IRS announced Sept. 14 a moratorium on processing new ERC claims. During the next four months, the IRS plans to continue steps on fraud protection measures, which are necessary before the IRS anticipates resuming processing of claims submitted after the Sept. 14 moratorium. A specific resumption date has not been determined.

The IRS continues to process ERC claims submitted before the moratorium, but with additional scrutiny and at a much slower rate than before the agency’s approach changed in the summer and fall. Since the IRS announced the moratorium in September, the IRS has more than $1 billion in ERC claims in process. Enhanced compliance reviews of the claims submitted before the moratorium is critical to combat fraud and protect businesses and organizations from facing penalties or interest payments stemming from bad claims pushed by promoters. Werfel has noted the IRS continues to make progress on a variety of ERC issues.

To help businesses lured into making inappropriate claims, the IRS has several special initiatives underway to assist.

ERC Voluntary Disclosure Program open until March 22, 2024

Businesses that filed a claim in error and received a payment may be able to participate in the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program. The special program runs through March 22, 2024, and the IRS has added provisions allowing repayment of just 80% of the claim received. This reflects the share that ERC promoters took of a business’ ERC payment – frequently around 20%.

Withdrawal program still available for pending ERC claims

The IRS continues to accept and process requests to withdraw an employer’s full ERC claim under the special withdrawal process.

This withdrawal option allows certain employers that filed an ERC claim, but have not yet received a refund, to withdraw their submission and avoid future repayment, interest and penalties. Employers that submitted an ERC claim that has not yet been paid can withdraw their claim and avoid the possibility of getting a refund for which they’re ineligible. They can also withdraw their claim if they’ve received a check but have not yet deposited or cashed it.

The IRS continues to see a large number of employers interested in the withdrawal program, with more than $167 million from pending applicants withdrawn through mid-January.

ERC eligibility information for businesses with questions

For more information on ERC eligibility, the IRS has prepared special information to help businesses understand the complex guidelines about the credit, sometimes referred to as the Employee Retention Tax Credit or ERTC. The special information includes ERC frequently asked questions and the ERC Eligibility Checklist, which is available as an interactive tool or as a printable guide. The interactive tool provides an easy, interactive way for businesses to check their eligibility.

Increased IRS compliance activity: Audits, criminal investigations, special letters

Last month, the IRS started sending thousands of letters to taxpayers notifying them of disallowed ERC claims. These disallowed claims involved entities that did not exist or did not actually have employees on the payroll during the period of eligibility – meaning the businesses failed to meet basic criteria for the ERC program.

In addition, the IRS plans to send a different set of letters to thousands of ERC recipients related to claiming an erroneous or excessive credit. These notices inform recipients that the IRS will recapture the erroneously claimed ERC payment through normal tax assessment and collection procedures.

These letters are for tax year 2020 where the statute of limitations is nearing in April. As we continue to ramp up our compliance work, the IRS will send more recapture letters for tax year 2021 this spring.

These efforts are in addition to other IRS compliance work:

Audits. The IRS has thousands of audits in the pipeline.
Civil investigations. Promoters are not off the hook. Promoter investigations are ongoing. The IRS has nine open investigations and another 123 under review. Plus, participants in the Voluntary Disclosure Program must share the promoter names with the IRS to assist the agency in its ongoing compliance work.
Criminal Investigation. As of Dec. 31, CI has initiated 352 investigations involving more than $2.9 billion in potentially fraudulent ERCs in tax years 2020-2023. Eighteen of the 352 investigations have resulted in federal charges, with 11 convictions and four sentencings with an average sentence of 21 months.
CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a nearly 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.

January 25, 2024 0

IRS helps taxpayers by providing penalty relief on nearly 5 million 2020 and 2021 tax returns; restart of collection notices in 2024 marks end of pandemic-related pause

From IRS News 12/19/2023

WASHINGTON – In a major step to help people who owe back taxes, the Internal Revenue Service today announced new penalty relief for approximately 4.7 million individuals, businesses and tax-exempt organizations that were not sent automated collection reminder notices during the pandemic.

The IRS will be providing about $1 billion in penalty relief. Most of those receiving the penalty relief make under $400,000 a year.

Due to the unprecedented effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS temporarily suspended the mailing of automated reminders to pay overdue tax bills starting in February 2022. These reminders would have normally been issued as a follow up after the initial notice. Although these reminder notices were suspended, the failure-to-pay penalty continues to accrue for taxpayers who did not fully pay their bills in response to the initial balance due notice.

Given this unusual situation, the IRS is taking several steps in advance of resuming normal collection notices for tax years 2020 and 2021 to help taxpayers with unpaid tax bills, including some people who have not received a notice from the IRS in more than a year.

To help taxpayers as the normal processes resume, the IRS will be issuing a special reminder letter starting next month. The letter will alert the taxpayer of their liability, easy ways to pay and the amount of penalty relief, if applied. The IRS urges taxpayers who are unable to pay their full balance due to visit IRS.gov/payments to make arrangements to resolve their bill.

The IRS is also taking steps to waive the failure-to-pay penalties for eligible taxpayers affected by this situation for tax years 2020 and 2021. The IRS estimates 5 million tax returns — filed by 4.7 million individuals, businesses, trusts, estates and tax-exempt organizations — are eligible for the penalty relief. This represents $1 billion in savings to taxpayers, or about $206 per return.

As a first step, the IRS has adjusted eligible individual accounts and will follow with adjustments to business accounts in late December to early January, and then trusts, estates and tax-exempt organizations in late February to early March 2024. Nearly 70 percent of the individual taxpayers receiving penalty relief have income under $100,000 per year.

The IRS is releasing Notice 2024-7, which explains how the agency is providing failure-to-pay penalty relief to eligible taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to help them meet their federal tax obligations.

“As the IRS has been preparing to return to normal collection mailings, we have been concerned about taxpayers who haven’t heard from us in a while suddenly getting a larger tax bill. The IRS should be looking out for taxpayers, and this penalty relief is a common-sense approach to help people in this situation,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “We are taking other steps to help taxpayers with past-due bills, and we have options to help people struggling to pay.”

This penalty relief is automatic. Eligible taxpayers don’t need to take any action to get it. Eligible taxpayers who already paid their full balance will benefit from the relief, too; if a taxpayer already paid failure-to-pay penalties related to their 2020 and 2021 tax years, the IRS will issue a refund or credit the payment toward another outstanding tax liability.

The penalty relief only applies to eligible taxpayers with assessed tax under $100,000. Eligible taxpayers include individuals, businesses, trusts, estates and tax-exempt organizations that filed certain Forms 1040, 1120, 1041 and 990-T income tax returns for tax years 2020 or 2021, with an assessed tax of less than $100,000, and that were in the IRS collection notice process — or were issued an initial balance due notice between Feb. 5, 2022, and Dec. 7, 2023. The IRS notes the $100,000 limit applies separately to each return and each entity. The failure-to-pay penalty will resume on April 1, 2024, for taxpayers eligible for relief.

Taxpayers who are not eligible for this automatic relief also have options. They may use existing penalty relief procedures, such as applying for relief under the reasonable cause criteria or the First-Time Abate program. Visit IRS.gov/penaltyrelief for details.

If the automatic relief results in a refund or credit, individual and business taxpayers will be able to see it by viewing their tax transcript. The IRS will send the first round of refunds starting now through January 2024. If a taxpayer does not receive a refund, a special reminder notice may be sent with their updated balance beginning in early 2024. Taxpayers with questions on penalty relief can contact the IRS after March 31, 2024.

Help for taxpayers needing assistance
The IRS reminds taxpayers that there are a number of payment options and online tools that can help taxpayers with unpaid tax debts, whether it’s a new tax bill or a long-standing tax debt for an unfiled return.

“The IRS wants to help taxpayers and provide them easy options to deal with unpaid tax bills and avoid additional interest and penalties,” said Werfel. “People receiving these notices should remember that there are frequently overlooked options that can help them set up an automatic payment plan or catch up with their tax filings. Making additional improvements in the collection area will be an important focus for the IRS going forward as we continue and accelerate our transformation work.”

Following funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, it’s now easier for taxpayers to get assistance with tax bills with new self-help tools, like the IRS Document Upload Tool, improved phone service with callback features and the addition of bots that can answer simple questions, set up or modify a payment plan and request a transcript. The IRS also encourages taxpayers to get an IRS Online Account, where they can see information about an unpaid tax bill or apply for an online payment plan.

Resumption of collection notices begins in 2024
In January, the IRS will begin sending automated collection notices and letters to individuals with tax debts prior to tax year 2022, and businesses, tax exempt organizations, trusts and estates with tax debts prior to 2023, with exceptions for those with existing debt in multiple years. These notices and letters were previously paused due to the pandemic and high inventories at the IRS but will gradually resume during the next several months. Current tax year 2022 individual and third quarter 2023 business taxpayers began receiving automated collection notices this fall as the IRS took steps to return to business as usual.

The pause in collection mailings affected only follow-up reminder mailings. The IRS did not suspend the mailing of the first, or initial, balance due notices for taxpayers such as the CP14 and CP161 notices.

The pause meant that some taxpayers who have long-standing tax debt have not received a formal letter or notice from the IRS in more than a year while some of this older collection work has been paused. To help the taxpayers in this category as the normal processes resume, the IRS will be issuing a special reminder letter to them starting next month.

This reminder letter will alert the taxpayer of the liability and will direct them to contact the IRS or make alternative arrangements to resolve the bill. Tax professionals and taxpayers will see these reminder letters in the form of letter LT38, Reminder, Notice Resumption.

This letter will remind taxpayers about their tax liability, giving them an opportunity to address the tax issue before the next round of letters are issued. After receiving the reminder mailing, these taxpayers with long-standing unresolved tax issues will receive the next notice, informing them of a more serious step in the tax collection process.

The IRS urges taxpayers to carefully read any letter or notice they receive before calling the IRS. There are also important resources available to get help for tax debt on IRS.gov.

The IRS will issue these balance due notices and letters in gradual stages next year to ensure taxpayers who have questions or need help are able to reach an IRS assistor. This will also provide additional time for tax professionals assisting taxpayers.

Here’s what taxpayers should know about possible penalties and interest
Taxpayers who owe tax and don’t file on time may be charged a failure-to-file penalty. This penalty is usually 5 percent of the tax owed for each month or part of a month that the tax return is late, up to 25 percent.

The failure-to-pay penalty applies if a taxpayer doesn’t pay the taxes they report on their tax return by the due date or if the taxpayer doesn’t pay the amount required to be shown on their return within 21 calendar days of receiving a notice demanding payment (or 10 business days if the amount is greater than $100,000).

The IRS is required by law to charge interest when a tax balance is not paid on time. Interest cannot be reduced due to reasonable cause. Interest is based on the amount of tax owed for each day it’s not paid in full. The interest is compounded daily, so it is assessed on the previous day’s balance plus the interest. Interest rates are determined every three months and can vary based on type of tax; for example, individual or business tax liabilities. More information is available on the interest page of IRS.gov.

December 19, 2023 0