As part of the kickoff of this year's annual National Small Businesses Week (NSBW), the Internal Revenue Service highlighted its current resources to help these business owners meet their tax responsibilities.
Now, the agency has announced that more small business tax assistance options are on the way.
The IRS' overall customer service, hiring, enforcement, and other priorities are spelled out in the agency's recently released Strategic Operating Plan. The IRS document details how it will spend the nearly $80 billion over 10 years provided it as part of last year's Inflation Reduction Act to implement these programs.
In addition, the IRS says that some of the money will go toward a variety of small business-friend programs that will be available "in the near future."
Expanded online service tools: Before the next filing season, the IRS will launch Business Online Accounts.
Throughout 2024, the IRS says additional small business online account tools will be added. They include the ability of business owners to —
- Use their account to see their tax information, track refunds, and schedule and track payments.
- Access business tax transcripts online in an easy-to-read format.
More online document options: Small business owners also will able to digitally respond to notices and file more documents.
In January, the IRS launched an online portal that businesses can use to electronically file Form 1099 series information returns. Previously, businesses used to have to submit these forms by mail.
The IRS says that later this summer, small business owners will be able to respond to certain notices online, such as the missing signature letter LTR0143C.
By 2024, small business owners will be able to respond to the correction of self-employment income, employment-related identity theft notifications, and "dozens of other online notices."
The IRS also says it will simplify the notice's language, making it clearer as to what taxpayers need to do to resolve the notification.
Simplified, mobile-friendly forms: Small businesses owners also will benefit from the IRS' continued modification of tax forms.
The agency says it is working on simplified tax forms for small business owners who file their own taxes. These changes should save business taxpayers time.
The IRS says it will modernize tax forms that small businesses most frequently use, including Forms 940, 941 and 944. The updated forms will be streamlined, mobile-friendly and available in multiple languages.
Digitization to eliminate paper-based processes: As part of its overall systems upgrades, the IRS plans to automate paper-based processes and make more forms available online. This will improve processing times, getting refunds to taxpayers more quickly.
The IRS is expanding its scanning of paper forms to include the most popular forms, Forms 1040 and 941.
In March, the IRS announced that this expansion already has put it on to it scan millions of returns in 2023. Small businesses are among the beneficiaries of this speeded-up processing and refund delivery.
As the IRS works on implementing these changes, take advantage of the tax help it already provides small businesses. You can find links in IRS highlights small business tax resources during NSBW.
You also might find these items of interest:
- Family business tax considerations
- Tax implications of business entity choices
- Small business tax attitudes and filing tips
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