Changes are coming in 2026 to charitable tax deductions that could affect your 2025 donation decisions. Check them out to find ways to make charitable gifts pay off now and next year.

If you don’t file or pay your taxes on time, you could end up owing the IRS more due to penalties. Some tax penalties are set; others changes every year due to inflation. Here’s a look at the 2026 amounts.

The IRS’ venture into the tax software and e-filing sphere is over. Despite positive reviews, the agency has officially ended Direct File, its proprietary, no-cost tax preparation program.

Ensure your tax cornucopia runneth over by getting your tax ducks, uh, turkeys in a row this November. Moves this month include examining if the new $40K SALT cap will make itemizing worthwhile, and looking into home energy improvements.

The Boys in Blue have taken a lead in the World Series. How big a role did the team’s use of the federal tax code’s deferred compensation options play in their success?

Millions of Americans receive Social Security benefits. But plenty also pay tax on that money, at both the federal and state levels. Nine states join Uncle Sam in taxing at least some of the federal retirement benefits.

Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing: IRS communications can be confusing. A rare bipartisan measure to make math error notices clearer was approved by Congress and awaits presidential signature.

The standoff in Washington, D.C., is about to be felt by more of us across the nation. Will furloughed workers’ lost pay and inconveniences to the rest of us be enough to force the shutdown’s end?

The IRS’ 34,000 furloughed employees are facing some financial challenges. Their situation also offers us nonfederal workers tips, including tax-related ones, on preparing for similar fiscal crises.

The supplemental money that had allowed Uncle Sam’s tax agency to operate as usual runs out today. Tomorrow, it’s full government shutdown mode. Here’s what that means for us taxpayers.

Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent today lessened his acting-IRS Commissioner load by naming Frank Bisignano, Social Security’s commissioner, to the newly created IRS CEO post. Bisignano will do both agency jobs. The Internal Revenue Service is about to go into full government shutdown mode (unless there’s an unlikely miracle on Capitol Hill), but no worries. It has a new top executive. Yeah, in case you missed the sarcasm font, I’m feeling a bit snarky. But to today’s IRS personnel news. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on his department’s website that Frank Bisignano is the IRS’ first-ever Chief Executive Officer. The holder…

Uncle Sam’s offices are closed because of a political fight over tax help for Affordable Care Act enrollees. Here’s a look at the tax break, who’s affected, and how the tax break battle might end.

Remaining Inflation Reduction Act funds will let the agency keep working, but only for a few days. Get ready now in case the closure lasts longer. If only Congress closed, we wouldn’t be so worried. It’s looking more likely that the federal government will shut down, at least for a while. The Internal Revenue Service, however, says that if the closure is short, it can make do. How short? Five days. The IRS has enough remaining Inflation Reduction Act funds to keep all stall on the job for five business days, according to the Treasury Department. So, the time frame of…

Photo by Amina Filkins …When you start your new business, you make a lot of decisions about how it will be presented to the public. Coming up with the perfect name means customers will take note of your new company and keep coming back. Your corporate moniker also will be key to your business branding and marketing. But there’s another identification component that’s just as crucial. It’s the Employer Identification Number, or EIN, that you’ll need when you comply with the various tax responsibilities you now face as boss. An EIN basically is your corporate entity’s equivalent of an individual’s Social…

IRS graphic The annual tax filing season is prime time for scammers. But of late, tax crooks are working year-round. Technology makes the expansion of their nefarious jobs easier. The Internal Revenue Service recently issued an alert about a growing number of fraudulent tax schemes circulating on social media. The popular ones right now, according to the IRS, promote the misuse of tax credits such as the Fuel Tax Credit and the Sick and Family Leave Credit. These scams have led thousands of taxpayers to file inaccurate or frivolous returns, often paying the bad tipsters posing as tax experts for…

The You Earned It, You Keep It Act is the latest legislative attempt to provide Social Security recipients with tax relief. Bills in both the House and Senate would permanently abolish federal taxes on Social Security benefits.

Football season is in full swing in the United States. College and professional games fill the television screens of fanatic American fans. The matches also are of interest to gamblers.

Server delivering food to diners. (Getty Images for Unsplash+) Over the holiday weekend, Axios was the first to reveal the jobs that the Treasury Department has decided qualify for the new One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act tax deduction on tip income. As a pre-internet, old-school, ink-stained fingers journalist, I totally got, and was a bit jealous, of the publication’s headline announcing the tax scoop. But rather than simply refer readers of the ol’ blog to that story, I decided I’d wait for the official U.S. Treasury issuance of its no tax on tips guidance, just in case there was…

Three Florida men associated with a former tax preparation firm that had offices throughout the Sunshine State are headed to federal prison. The trio, along with other co-conspirators, fraudulently inflated client tax refunds by fabricating deductions on their returns, according to federal investigative documents. The result was false federal filings that cost the U.S. Treasury more than $15 million. Federal prosecutors said that that the three men did more than just file false tax returns. They also held periodic training sessions at which they taught other employees how to do the same, according to the Department of Justice. Jonathan Carrillo…

 Getty Images for Unsplash+ … It’s no secret that Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and other Trump administration efforts to scale back the size of the Internal Revenue Service is likely to make tax cheating easier. Reports on tax personnel terminated earlier this year show that almost a third of lost staff were revenue agents, the IRS employees who conduct audits. But some Republican members of the House tax-writing committee say artificial intelligence (AI) can help fill this tax examination gap. Ways and Means Vice Chair Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, and W&M Oversight Subcommittee Chair Rep. David Schweikert of…

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, is a major tourist destination. Owners of timeshares in the coastal resort also are the target of scams that benefit a cartel. Today I learned that timeshares are still a thing. I also learned that these vacation properties apparently are one way terrorists raise money to pay for their crimes. My real estate/international crime lesson came from today’s Treasury Department announcement that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned four Mexican individuals and 13 Mexican companies linked to timeshare fraud led by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). These individuals and companies are based…

Two Hawaiian members of Congress have introduced a bill they say will shore up Social Security’s finances and help ensure recipients of the federal benefits can keep enjoying their birthdays. (Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+) The federal retirement program’s long-term solvency recently was put under the spotlight by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The SSA’s Office of the Chief Actuary (OACT) found that when the tax breaks in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act are considered, the Social Security’s reserve fund could run out of money to make full benefit payments sooner than previously forecast. To help ease that…

There can be tax ramifications when a marriage sours. A bipartisan bill would offer abused spouses more protections, including new tax-filing options.

Former Missouri Rep. Billy Long, who finally took over as Internal Revenue Service commissioner in June, is no longer leading the federal tax agency. He was removed this afternoon by the Trump Administration. UPDATE, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025: In an exclusive report published today, The Washington Post says the IRS and White House clashed over immigrants’ data before Long was ousted. The tax agency told the Trump administration that it couldn’t release some information on taxpayers suspected of being here illegally. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier at the Internal Revenue Service during Donald Trump’s second term,…

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s tax cuts will mean less money for the trust fund that pays federal retirement benefits. And that is likely to mean benefit payments to Social Security recipients will be reduced as soon as the end of 2032. The tax provisions of the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) has sort of good news and some definite bad news for older taxpayers. As you know by now, the OBBB does not fulfil Donald Trump’s campaign promise of no tax on Social Security benefits. Rather, it provides an added tax deduction of up to $6,000…

If you get 1099 forms for income you earn as an independent contractor and/or from third-party settlement organizations, then the One Big Beautiful Bill has some good news for you. The previous higher earnings triggers are back.

Photo by cottonbro studio It’s no secret that the Internal Revenue Service is going to have a hard time doing its job given all the personnel and budget cuts. So, it’s no surprise that the tax agency is a big supporter of whistleblowers. Help from the public in discovering tax misconduct will be a way to bridge the tax agency’s operational gaps. Financial rewards for tax information: Currently, the IRS Whistleblower Office pays monetary awards to eligible individuals whose information is used by the agency. The award percentage depends on several factors, but generally falls between 15 percent and 30…

Photo by Jess Bailey Designs  Tax law changes, even when they benefit you, can be frustrating. Not only do we have to get up to speed on what’s new, we have to know when they take effect. Generally, making tax laws retroactive is, at best, sloppy tax policy. When it’s done late in a tax year, it can scramble tax moves that the new laws might necessitate. But our tax planning problems sometimes aren’t top of mind for Congress. They too often go ahead and make a tax law effective back to the start of a tax year, even at…

Donald J. Trump has been musing lately about making one of the best tax breaks for homeowners even better.

You can help your favorite nonprofit by donating and, thanks to the new one big tax law, get a tax break next year even if you don’t itemize.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash This summer has been marked by a surge of flooding, too often with tragic results, across the United States. The latest incident was deadly rain-induced flash flooding in New Jersey. That same system swamped parts of New York City’s subway system. Before that, we had the devastating July 4 Central Texas floods, as well as flooding in North Carolina. But it’s a monsoonal system from last month in central/south central New Mexico that’s now getting Uncle Sam’s official attention. Those storms, starting on June 23, dumped excessive rain, some of which fell along burn scars left by fires…

Before gig work because the popular way to make extra money, a lot of folks relied on their hobbies. One of my neighbors, for example, loves to spend his weekends snapping photos of the many natural areas here in Central Texas. But he soon discovered that he can pocket some extra cash by aiming his camera at weddings, anniversary celebrations, and youngsters’ birthday parties. He doesn’t consider it a second job, but maybe he should. The extra cash he’s making from his avocation is taxable income. If he operates it as a business, he might be able to deduct some…

UPDATE, Thursday, July 24, 2025: Donald Trump today signed H.R. 517, the tax Filing Relief for Natural Disaster Victims Act into law. Photo by Chandler Cruttenden on Unsplash People who endure major natural disasters generally are eligible for a variety of federal relief. That includes the filing and paying of taxes whose deadlines were during the disaster period. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has improved its turnaround in such cases. After that, the IRS then announces its tax relief, including the later due dates. A bill that would speed up that process is awaiting Donald J. Trump’s signature. When that happens,…

Sharing interests usually allows couples to spend more time together. But a septuagenarian pair that shared a criminal insurance and tax scheme will be spending their golden years apart, in separate federal prisons. If you’re like me, when you hear about fraud and older people, you wonder how much money the senior citizens lost to crooks. A septuagenarian Maryland couple turned that cliché on its head. James William Wilson, Jr., 78, and his wife, Maureen Ann Wilson, 77, this week were sentenced to federal prison for their roles in connection with an insurance fraud scheme. And yes, charges of filing…

The One Big Beautiful Bill made the 2017 tax reform law’s income tax rates permanent. It also increased the 2025 tax year standard deduction amount.

When Congress messes with the tax code, it’s good for one group: tax professionals. All the changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill mean that help from reputable tax advisers are needed more than ever.

Donald J. Trump signs the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with its many tax provisions, into law during a July 4th ceremony at the White House. (Credit: White House Facebook photo) America’s birthday party is over, but we taxpayers are still unwrapping the tax law gift that the Republican-controlled Congress and Trump administration gave us on July 3. While beauty is in the eye of the tax-advantaged beholder, there’s no disputing the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act, officially known as H.R. 1, is big. It’s almost 1,000 pages. Among them are beau coup tax provisions — old, tweaked, and…

Photo by Anna-Louise …Happy 249th Birthday, America! As we celebrate tonight — or before sunset today, or for the last week as some of my neighbors have — we can thank a Founding Father for the pyrotechnic tradition. On July 3, 1776, a day after the Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted for independence (the declaration document itself was transposed on July 4, although it took weeks for all the delegates to sign it), John Adams reflected on the historic step he and his rebellious colleagues had done. The man who would become America’s first vice president and its second president put quill to paper to let…

More than 22 million U.S. workers lost their jobs during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crooks took advantage of their misfortune to file fraudulent unemployment insurance claims. COVID-19 has to be one of the most persistent illnesses ever, from both medical and financial perspectives. While federal health agencies debate COVID vaccine recommendations and warnings, Uncle Sam’s law enforcement officers, including those with the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit, continue their efforts to prosecute those who abused coronavirus relief programs. On June 24, officials notched another win when David Godin was sentenced by a federal judge in Baltimore…

U.S. Capitol West Front/Wikimedia The National Taxpayer Advocate’s midyear report to Congress that was released on June 25 included, among other things, recommendations that the Internal Revenue Service continue its efforts to expand digital tax transactions and make them easier for taxpayers to use. Such technological tax advances are also are of keen interest to the Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC). The federal advisory committee was established by Congress as part of 1998’s IRS Restructuring and Reform Act. And on the same day this week that the Taxpayer Advocate’s report was issued, ETAAC released its annual report to Congress.…

The National Hurricane Center’s image of Tropical Storm Andrea. The first named system of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season formed in the central Atlantic Ocean, meaning it’s not a threat to make landfall.   June 1, 2026 note: This post was published almost a year ago with a slightly different headline (Resources to deal with disasters, as 2025 hurricane season gets its first named storm), but its information is still valid. You can read the most recent version of hurricane preparation, both physical and financial/tax moves to make in advance of storms, in Hurricane 2026 preparation and tax tips. And…

Justice Department façade photo by JSquish/Wikimedia Commons It’s not a particularly good time to be a federal employee looking to ensure tax compliance. Already this year, the Internal Revenue Service has lost almost a third of its tax auditors thanks to Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, cuts. Now the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) special tax crimes unit is being eliminated. The DoJ personnel moves, however, aren’t as drastic as the IRS staff reductions. The jobs won’t be lost, just reallocated to other areas in the Justice Department. Tax division absorbed into other units: The end of the DoJ’s Tax…

The official holidays sometimes affect taxes, since the Internal Revenue Service, like all federal offices, closes on these days.  Photo by Thomas Wilson Celebrations are planned, and some already underway, across the United States to commemorate Juneteenth. This newest U.S. federal holiday marks June 19, 1865, the day when the last enslaved people in the United States finally got official notification in Galveston, Texas, that they were free, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Former President Joe Biden joined other dignitaries in Galveston to observe the day. Biden’s participation is not surprising, since…

If the White House goes through with its plan to phase out the current federal disaster relief program, states will have to cover more costs of storm damages, like those in Keaton Beach, Florida, when Hurricane Helene made landfall there on Sept. 25, 2024. (Photo: Florida National Guard) Forecasters from both the federally-funded National Hurricane Center and private weather services predicted the 2025 hurricane season would be active. That might well happen since the tropical season that started June 1 runs through Nov. 30. But so far, we’re off to a quiet start. Fewer than forecast storms always are welcome.…

Facebook Real estate can be a good way to increase your personal wealth. However, some property investments aren’t as good as advertised. That was the very costly lesson learned by individuals persuaded by a popular social media financial influencer to let him use their money in what they were told was a property flipping venture that would net them returns of 30 percent or more. Instead, federal investigators and prosecutors alleged it was all a real estate Ponzi scheme concocted by Tyler Bossetti. As the scheme unraveled, investors ended up defrauded out of more than $11 million. Today, it formally…

Elon Musk and Donald Trump in happier days. (Photo by Office of Speaker Mike Johnson – X.com, Public Domain) It’s been, let’s say interesting, watching the world’s highest-profile bromance flame out so spectacularly. But while Donald J. Trump and Elon Musk are kaput personally — for now; with Trump, you can’t ever say never — Musk’s controversial unofficial government agency created to ferret out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal agencies will continue. The persistence of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is the subject of this weekend’s Saturday Shout Outs. So as not to upset DOGE types by wasting time,…

Image by Stefan Coders from Pixabay Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling that opened states’ doors to legalized sports betting, gambling has become an accepted part of major league sports. All the United States’ professional athletic leagues have embraced partnerships with sports betting companies and casinos. This year, Major League Baseball (MLB) cleared the way for deceased players who had been permanently banned, including some who gambled on their sport’s games, to potentially get into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Even the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the governing body of student athletes and sporting events, reportedly is considering…

A new Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report found the IRS could leverage artificial intelligence to improve its audit processes.

Photo by RDNE Stock project Is the money account for growth and advancement, or MAGA, account for children, now renamed Trump Savings, necessary? I was going to use that as this post’s headline, but it’s a tad long. Plus, an editor once told me that every question headline can be answered “no.” I disagree, but this time, he’s probably right. James, a reader of the ol’ blog, also apparently agrees. In a comment on my post last week that looked at some of the tax changes in the GOP’s House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), he noted: Basically shifting the…

Hurricane damage is a constant threat to U.S. coastal communities. But as the storms move inland, landlocked areas also face threats. Get ready before one strikes, or even forms in the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico.

This long holiday weekend offers us Americans an opportunity to officially, and in as unified a way as we can nowadays, remember and honor those who fought and died for the freedoms we hold sacred. That somber acknowledgment also is why I’m a bit ticked off today. Last week, a man who was part of the private sectors that’s supposed to support our troops pleaded guilty to tax crimes. And he used the military defense firm to which he formerly belonged to commit the felonies. Douglas Edelman founded and owned half of Mina Corp. and Red Star Enterprises (Mina/Red Star),…

Pope Leo XIV during an audience with the media on May 12. (Photo by Edgar Beltrán, The Pillar/Wikipedia Commons) On May 8, history was made by the Catholic church. Chicago native Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected to succeed the late Pope Francis. Pope Leo XIV, the name Prevost chose as the new Bishop of Rome and leader of Catholics worldwide, is the first American to be pope. There’s been much pride in and curiosity about the man who now is the supreme pontiff. But I must admit that one of my favorite comments about the election of Pope Leo XIV was…

Much attention on federal agencies this year has been on ways to prevent fraud and save Uncle Sam money, with mixed results. But such efforts have always have been a focus of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). This week, IRS-CI and the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the judicial payoff from one case that cost the U.S. Treasury more than $3 million. Fake claims on false tax returns: Diandre Mentor of Miami pleaded guilty before a Florida magistrate to conspiring to defraud the United States by filing false tax returns for clients. According to court documents and statements…

Every state has felt the job losses, which came via terminations or by Internal Revenue Service workers who left under deferred resignation terms. Photo by Ron Lach When 2025 began, around 103,000 people worked at the Internal Revenue Service nationwide. Then the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) arrived. Now, according to a new report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the IRS ranks have been reduced by more than 11,400 workers. That’s an 11 percent cut in the tax agency’s workforce. The job losses, which TIGTA collectively refers to as separations, come…

The IRS continues to deal with chaos at its top ranks, as interim commissioners come and go in rapid succession.

You live in a state with a high personal income tax rate. Would you benefit by moving to a low- or no-tax state? Maybe. Maybe not.

As you’re finishing up your tax return, take another look to see if any of the 10 situations items show up on your Form 1040. They are red flags that trigger trained Internal Revenue Service examiners.

Some victims report losing more than $10,000 to more sophisticated tax cons. Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich …With Tax Day less than a month away, taxpayers are getting busy. So are the scammers who are hoping that they can intercept some of the money or personal data that filers meant to send to the Internal Revenue Service. Such deceptive activity isn’t anything new. What is different this tax season is that tax crooks are taking advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) to create even more convincing schemes. AI upping tax scammers’ games: Sure, some tax crooks on a budget still send out error-ridden…

DOGE and Congressional efforts appear to be putting up a stop signal for many of the IRS’ goals. (Photo by Kari Bluff Nesler via Flickr) …The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the quasi-governmental group created by billionaire Elon Musk, contends it has so far found $100 billion in fraud and waste across multiple federal agencies. Even if that’s true, which scrutiny from other organizations questions, the way DOGE, with the White House’s approval, is slashing Uncle Sam’s operations could end up costing more than the purported savings. “Just one move — the plan to shrink the Internal Revenue Service’s staff…

  When we file our tax returns, we’re assured that the information is private. Access to our filing data is limited, and the Internal Revenue Service employees who do get to see our personal information are prevented by law from sharing it. It is a felony for IRS personnel to gain unauthorized access to taxpayer data. That same legal restrictions apply to IRS contractors. Just ask Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS consultant who last year was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing and sharing Donald Trump’s (and others’) tax data. The billionaire Elon Musk was one of those…

While we wait for a new Internal Revenue Service commissioner to be confirmed, the personnel carousel keeps spinning at the tax agency.

Retirement can be more enjoyable when you don’t have to worry about money. That could happen if some lawmakers get their way and end taxes on Social Security benefits.

Agents with Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), the tax agency's law enforcement arm, regularly work with other officers to bring financial and tax criminals to justice. IRS-CI agents are responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft, and more. While we wait to see how things shake out at the Internal Revenue Service under the second Donald J. Trump term, I thought it worth taking a look back at some recent tax agency activity. Notably, the IRS’ law enforcement arm, the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, has over the years…

Tax crooks cost all of us. Keep up with the alleged, confessed, and convicted tax felons in this special feature.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel, who is resigning his position, frequently touted the tax agency’s digital transformation plan.

No place in the world is disaster proof. Mother Nature unleashes her horrors globally and year-round via hurricanes, tornadoes, wild fires, floods, blizzards and more. This special Natural Disasters Additional Resources Page, part of the overall Storm Warnings collection of Don’t Mess With Taxes blog posts about disasters and the associated tax implications, provides information beyond my posts (for example, from official government sources/resources) on the previous pages on how to cope with Mother Nature when she turns into Mommy Dearest. So, since time is of the essence when you’re looking for natural disaster data, here goes with some added links to…

No place in the world is disaster proof. Mother Nature unleashes her horrors globally and year-round via hurricanes, tornadoes, wild fires, floods, blizzards and more. This special Natural General Storm Warnings Page, part of the overall Storm Warnings collection of Don’t Mess With Taxes blog posts about disasters and the associated tax implications, offers some general posts on weather alerts and potential trouble when it looks like Mother Nature is about to turn into Mommy Dearest. So, since time is of the essence when a bad wind or rain or overflowing river or winter blizzard or whatever is approaching, here are some…

A federal court this week granted the Internal Revenue Service a John Doe summons to get information on individuals who answered client questions via a digital platform. (Photo by Olha Ruskykh) Some individuals who worked for an online site providing answers as experts in various fields soon could be hearing from the Internal Revenue Service. On Monday, Dec. 23, a federal court in California authorized the IRS to serve a John Doe summons on JustAnswer LLC. The federal tax agency is seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who were paid for answering questions during the years 2017-2020 on the Covina, California-based…

Photo by Pixabay We’re heading into the home stretch, and playoff push, of the National Football League (NFL) season. It’s the most popular sport in the United States. Since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 okayed state-authorized sports betting, the NFL has gained new fans who are more interested in how the games can make them a few, or more, bucks. Currently, 38 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have legalized some form of sports betting, though not all have implemented it. Now the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) wants to help states…

Photo by cottonbro studio Last week, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit released its fiscal year 2024 annual report that touted the success the agency’s law enforcement branch had in taking down tax criminals. Yes, Al Capone’s name was mentioned. This week it’s the overall IRS’ turn to brag. In its quarterly update on Dec. 12 to its Strategic Operating Plan, the IRS detailed accomplishments that have, among other things, allowed the IRS to recovered $4.7 billion in taxpayer dollars. More than $1.3 billion of that total comes from wealthy, high-income individuals who have not filed taxes or paid…

The holiday most associated with Al Capone is Valentine’s Day, but the Internal Revenue Service’s top law enforcement officer has invoked the legendary gangster in this most festive of seasons. “FY24 was one for the history books. For years, IRS-CI has been known as the agency that took down Al Capone, but this year, our cases hold their own place in U.S. history,” said IRS-CI Chief Guy Ficco in announcing the release of IRS Criminal Investigation’s (IRS CI’s) latest fiscal year (FY) report on Thursday, Dec. 5. “As with Al Capone, financial trails eventually lead to criminals’ downfall,” said Ficco.…

Donald J. Trump has fulfilled one presidential campaign promise. He has named billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

You don't get the World's Best Boss title if you don't understand, and comply with, employment tax requirements. (Photo: Steve Carell as Michael Scott in The Office; NBC Universal Television Studios)   Every worker is aware of payroll taxes. These amounts are taken out of paychecks and then sent by your boss to the various appropriate state and federal tax agencies. At the federal level, the primary payroll reductions cover income taxes, as well as Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) amounts that are paid by both employees and employers to fund Social Security and Medicare. While it’s our earnings that…

iStock Texas’ unofficial motto has always been go big or go home. Or, in the case of one former tax professional, go out of business. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Nov. 1 entered permanent injunctions against Charles Dombek and The Optimal Financial Group LLC barring both from promoting any tax plan that involves creating or using sham management companies, deducting personal non-deductible expenses as business expenses, or assisting in the creation of “captive” insurance companies. The injunctions also prohibit Dombek from preparing any federal tax returns for anyone other than himself and Optimal from preparing…

Since the Supreme Court in 2018 let states allow betting on college sports, sportsbook activity, like this in a Las Vegas casino, has pick up substantially.

The Internal Revenue Service does more that issue red cards for tax penalties. Filing mistakes, unintentional or otherwise, could mean costly penalties, some of which increase due to inflation. (Photo by BOOM 💥) The United States' tax system depends on voluntary compliance by taxpayers. But Uncle Sam is no fool. He and his tax collectors are believers of the adage "trust, but verify." The Internal Revenue Service also follows up on that verification with penalties when it finds taxpayers — and the professionals we pay to take care of our taxes — aren't fulfilling our tax responsibilities on our own.…

The IRS faces an annual Tax Gap. This is the amount of tax legally owed, but which the agency is unable to collect. The Tax Gap for 2022 is projected to hit $696 billion.

Water & Land Solutions A conservation easement is a way for landowners to retain ownership and use of their property, while also ensuring that the property’s resources are protected for future generations. In many cases, the easements are donated to nonprofit organizations, providing a nice tax break. Conservation easements also are sometimes used to evade taxes. In fact, bogus arrangements are regularly included in the Internal Revenue Service’s annual Dirty Dozen list of tax scams. In addition to warning taxpayers about abusive conservation easements, the IRS also is intent on stopping, and bringing to justice, those who promote these tax…

The Tax Glossary debuted on the ol’ blog in 2007. Since then, it’s gone through numerous updates and formatting changes, resulting in this version, which wraps up with tax and financial terms for U through Z.

The Tax Glossary debuted on the ol’ blog in 2007. Since then, it’s gone through numerous updates and formatting changes, resulting in this version, which covers tax and financial terms form P through T.

Photo by Alan Cleaver/flickrCC …As noted in the first section (tax terms A through E) of the ol’ blog’s Tax Glossary, trying to decipher the Internal Revenue Service forms and instructions is one of the hardest parts of filing your annual return. You practically have to learn a new, tax-specific language. But Don’t Mess With Taxes is here to help. I’ve gathered some common tax terms and phrases and their plain English meanings in this Tax Glossary. Since the tax code is huge — and keeps growing, thanks (no thanks!) to Congress’ continual fiddling — the amount of tax terms…

The Tax Glossary debuted on the ol’ blog in 2007. Since then, it’s gone through numerous updates and formatting changes, resulting in this version, which covers tax and financial terms form F through J.

The Tax Glossary debuted on the ol’ blog in 2007. Since then, it’s gone through numerous updates and formatting changes, resulting in this version. Check it and your tax term knowledge. And let me know if there’s a term you think should be here and isn’t, or you can add to or clarify a definition that is here.

The Internal Revenue Service continues its efforts to get more taxpayers interacting with the agency electronically. The latest move is enhancing business taxpayer accounts. Upgrades for business filers: The business tax account, or BTA, was launched last fall as a way for certain business taxpayers to view and make balance-due payments online. With the latest expansion, an eligible business taxpayer can use a BTA to pay Federal Tax Deposits (FTDs), and see and make a payment on their full balance due. The account is also now accessible in Spanish with more translations planned. Entities that can open a BTA: You…

The tax community’s focus this year initially was on what the U.S. Supreme Court would decide in Moore v. United States. That case dealt with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s Mandatory Repatriation Tax on corporations’ foreign earnings. There was concern that if the justices invalidated the tax, which attributes the realized and undistributed income of an American-controlled foreign corporation to the entity’s American shareholders, the entire U.S. tax code could unravel. Those fears were alleviated on June 20 when the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) upheld the repatriation tax. But a new tax worry popped up in…

Photo by Rene Bernal on Unsplash …Happy Independence Day, America! Or as we call it at our house, the July 3 Until Whenever Our Neighbors’ Fireworks Stash Is Fully Exploded holiday. Yep, residents of our suburban enclave started celebrating last night. It’s an annual dress rehearsal for the full array of pyrotechnics today. And it continues for days. I’m sure the hubby and I are not alone. In 49 states and the District of Columbia, private display of certain types of fireworks are legal. Which jurisdiction is the outlier? Massachusetts is the only U.S. state where it is illegal to sell,…

Photo by cottonbro studio The Internal Revenue Service's whistleblower program helped the agency collect $338 million in fiscal year 2023. The IRS Whistleblower Office also noted in its 2023 report, issued on June 24, that it paid whistleblowers 121 awards, totaling $88.8 million, for the revenue-increasing information. That awards total was more than double the $37.8 million the office paid in fiscal 2022. But the total number of whistleblower awards for FY23 dropped, going from 132 in 2022 to 121 the following fiscal year. And to keep the Whistleblower Office on pace to help with tax compliance, the latest report…

Update, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024: Following the devastation of Hurricane Milton across central Florida on Oct. 9, the Internal Revenue Service today granted tax relief to those affected taxpayers, giving them until May 1, 2025, to meet a variety of tax filing and payment obligations. In addition, it granted this relief and new May due date to all Florida taxpayers. You can find details in my post on the IRS move. Update, Thursday, June 27, 2024: The Internal Revenue Service today granted tax relief to Mississippi taxpayers in major disaster areas from early-April severe weather in that state. You can…

Paul Baxendale-Walker, a former tax advisor and attorney, or solicitor as the profession is known in the United Kingdom, has had his share of run-ins with British officials. Most recently, Baxendale-Walker was facing a £14 million penalty ($17.7 million U.S.) sought by His Majesty's Revenue & Customs, or HMRC, the British version of our Internal Revenue Service. HMRC filings against the Baxendale-Walker estimate his schemes have cost the exchequer some £1 billion ($1.27 billion U.S.) in lost taxes. Now, however, Baxendale-Walker is off the hook for the fine. But what's probably more frustrating for U.K. tax officials that losing out…

Unsplash+ in collaboration with Leire Cavia Juneteenth commemorates a key stage in the end of slavery, June, 19, 1865. That’s the day when official word arrived in Galveston, Texas, that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation 2½ years earlier. But even as we celebrate the newest U.S. federal holiday, we are aware that work remains to ensure fairness throughout the country. The latest challenge involves Fearless Funds, an Atlanta-based venture capital (VC) firm's nonprofit grant program. Grant issuance was halted this month by a federal appeals court panel ruling. Grants program, lawsuit background: Fearless Funds was sued last August…

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash Remember the Paradise Papers? They are part of the alliterative financial revelations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Per the ICIJ’s blurb, the Paradise Papers reveal in 2017 exposed the “secrets of the global elite” hidden in the files of “prestigious offshore law firms, a specialized trust company and 19 company registries in secrecy jurisdictions.” That ICIJ financial scoop was preceded in 2013 by the Panama Papers, and followed in 2021 by the Pandora Papers. Now, best-selling Swedish author Håkan Nesser, whose name appeared in the Paradise Papers, has been sentenced to…

Alcatraz Island's federal penitentiary once housed the most infamous tax evader, Al Capone. This particular Big House is no longer used to house felons, but the U.S. legal system has plenty more facilities where it can send those convicted of tax crimes. (Photo by Chris6d – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0) Being a Big Law attorney has its benefits. Working for one of the most prestigious law firms in the United States, usually in one of the country’s major metropolises, means prestige and money. But one such attorney apparently didn’t properly report his income to the Internal Revenue Service. And…

Unsplash+ in collaboration with George Dagerotip President Joe Biden last week endorsed the Department of Justice's (DoJ) move to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug. Biden said in social media posts — X (aka Twitter) and YouTube — that the move would reverse “long-standing inequities” under the current criminalization of cannabis. "Look folks, no one should be in jail merely for using or possessing marijuana," the president said in his video statement. Not legalization, but lowering federal interest: The Justice Department move would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use, which currently is the law…

Those who enter the New York Criminal Courts building are greeted by Thomas Jefferson's words engraved on the façade. The third U.S. president cited "equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion" as one of the essential principles of American democracy. (Photo by Carl Mikoy, Flickr Creative Commons) In September 2019, Donald J. Trump changed his official residence from New York to Florida. The then-president gave no official reason for the paperwork move. However, one reason likely was the Sunshine State’s lack of a personal income tax. Though Trump refused to release his federal or state…

You don’t like the taxes being withheld from your paychecks, but at least you know your tax money is going to fund government services. Most of the time. In some cases, those responsible for getting income and other payroll taxes to Uncle Sam don’t comply with their legal responsibility to collect and deliver the funds to the Internal Revenue Service. Nearly $2.7M unremitted tax: It’s that delivery portion that’s usually the bigger issue. And that’s what a Maryland woman pleaded guilty to today. The woman, whose name is in the official Department of Justice complaint filed back in January, but…

With the expansion of the white-collar crime of money laundering into financial adviser sectors, federal officials are looking to extend regulations to those areas. (Photo via Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images) The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, typically referred to as FinCEN, has in recent months amped up efforts to stop money laundering. FinCEN’s latest proposals are designed to close loopholes that officials say foreign and domestic criminals use to launder money through U.S. financial sectors. This week, the changes got support from Capitol Hill and beyond. Seven U.S. Senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen…

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel speaks to students, faculty, and IRS guests at the Kogod Tax Center at American University in Washington, D.C., about the tax agency’s digital transformation plan.

Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images The smartest tax move often if hiring a good tax professional. Unfortunately, the tax community is not immune to bad actors. Every year, the Internal Revenue Service warns taxpayers to thoroughly vet the person they want to hire to handle their taxes. Every year, the IRS also issues warning about unscrupulous tax preparers who take advantage of trusting taxpayers and take their money. These alerts also are routinely part of the IRS annual Dirty Dozen scam list; dishonest tax pros is #6 on the 2023 list. (Preview: the 2024 list is on its way…

The Internal Revenue Service IRS is expected to process more than 160 million individual and business tax returns this filing season. Through March 15, the IRS had received nearly 71.6 million individual returns. Some taxpayers probably put off filing in the hopes that the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act would be enacted by Tax Day. Several of its provisions could help both personal and business filers. Whether that will happen is still unclear, as the tax bill that cleared the House has hit a lot of speed bumps in the Senate. Other taxpayers, however, aren’t that concerned about tax…

Ill-gotten gains used to fund a lavish lifestyle. For 10 years, a Rhode Island man ran a Ponzi scheme that ultimately left conned investors empty handed, while he used the funds to pay for his own lavish lifestyle. At the same time, Thomas Huling, 58, of West Warwick, also was ripping off the U.S. Treasury. On March 19, Huling was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for those crimes. The jail term comes 18 months after he pleaded guilty, back in September 2022, to wire fraud and tax evasion. Under the plea deal, the government agreed to the dismissal…