The Appropriations Committee in the House of Representatives on June 24, 2022 approved the fiscal 2023 Financial Services and General Government bill, which provides funding for the Treasury Department and the IRS.

The Bill Includes $13.6 Billion For The IRS,
An Increase Of $1 Billion Above Fiscal Year 2022 "
And Continues Restoring The IRS From Draconian Cuts
This Agency Has Suffered For Over Almost A Decade,"

said Mike Quigley, an Illinois Democrat who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee on financial services and general government.

"This investment will support more effective and efficient enforcement activities that address taxpayers in all tax brackets," Quigley's statement read. "This funding will also support better customer service by reducing wait times and increasing assistance to people trying to pay their taxes."

The bill includes:

• $3.4 billion, an increase of $630 million above the FY 2022 enacted level, for taxpayer services. This includes support for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance matching grants program, clinics for low-income taxpayers, the national taxpayer advocate, tax counseling for the elderly, and increased personnel to improve IRS customer service.  

• 

  $6.1 billion, an increase of $682 million above the FY 2022
  enacted level, for enforcement. This money will support increased enforcement efforts and additional essential personnel.

• $3.8 billion to fund IRS overhead functions for operations support.

• $310 million, an increase of $35 million above the FY 2022 enacted level, for business systems modernization to upgrade IRS legacy computers and improve web applications and tax document processing.

Have an IRS Tax Problem? 

 

Contact the Tax Lawyers at 

Marini& Associates, P.A. 

 

 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact Us at:

www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com 
or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888) 882-9243 

 

 

Sources:

 

Thompson Reuters Checkpoint

Read more at: Tax Times blog

A top official on the IRS team responsible for monitoring criminal tax activity is confident the agency is well-equipped to adapt to emerging threats to taxpayers in the cryptocurrency space.

Most cases opened by the IRS' Criminal Investigation (CI) division involving the use of cryptocurrencies and their blockchain architecture to illegally move funds fall under the U.S. Criminal Code. 

However, Tax-related Matters Have Become More
Commonplace In CI Operations, According To James Robnett, The Division's Deputy Chief.

"With crypto, we're beginning to see more tax work," he said on a June 24 panel at a tax forum hosted by New York University, explaining that about half of current cases are under the tax code. Despite the relatively new emergence of cryptographic technology, Robnett believes the IRS can still follow the money. He described crypto as "just another value" that can be traced, similar to other tax evasion or fraud schemes that use electronic wires or offshore banks.

Indictments with tax cases can take longer than money laundering cases due to reviews by the Justice Department and the IRS Chief Counsel's Office, according to Robnett. An argument establishing a pattern of criminal behavior beyond a plausible mistake requires more time with tax cases.

"We really have to nail down the intent, the knowledge and the purpose of why that person did what they did," he said.

CI will soon have at its disposal more transaction information with which to monitor criminal activity. 

The new form will come in the wake of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; PL 117-58), signed by President Joe Biden in November. A $1.2 trillion package, the IIJA featured new digital asset transaction reporting requirements, including an amendment to Code Sec. 6050 providing that taxpayers who receive over $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in two or more related transactions must file a Form 8300 for applicable transactions occurring on or after January 1, 2023. Digital assets are considered cash for these transactions.

The IIJA also amended Code Sec. 6045 to include transfers of digital assets as reportable on Form 1099 and expanded the definition of a broker to include those "responsible for or regularly providing any service effectuating transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person."

According to Robnett, Form 1099-DA is currently in the drafting stage with consultation from CI so that when copies are delivered to brokers' customers, figures can be accurately reported. The digital asset reporting framework under the IIJA originally indicated that Forms 1099-B would be used.

Robnett said the new Form 1099-DA will be available in time for CI's tax case work for the 2024 filing season.

Source:

Thomson Reuters Checkpoint

Read more at: Tax Times blog

 On Febuary 11, 2022 we posted IRS CONTINUES to Criminally Prosecutes Employers For Failure To Pay Withheld Payroll Taxes - As Promised! which lists multiple recent cases where the IRS Criminally prosecutes Employers for Failure To Pay Withheld Payroll Taxes.

Now According To The DoJ, A N.Y. Man Plead Guilty To
Willful Failing To Collect And Pay Over Employment Taxes
on Behalf Of His Spa Companies.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Sung Soo Chon, 63, aka Steve Chon, was the CEO, president and majority owner of Spa Castle Queens in College Point, New York, and Spa Castle Texas, in Carrolton, Texas. 

Chon oversaw daily operations at the two spas and related businesses, and directed subordinates to pay cash wages to some employees, many of whom were not legally permitted to work in the United States.

From the first quarter of 2014 through the first quarter of 2017, Chon did not withhold all of the legally required federal payroll taxes from the wages of some of the spa employees and filed false employment tax returns with the IRS. 

Chon is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 6. He faces a maximum penalty of five (5) years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

  Thinking of Borrowing From Your Company's
Payroll Tax Withholdings?

You Better Thank Again, if You Like Your Freedom!

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact Us at:

www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com 

or Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888-882-9243) 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

On May 19, 2022 we posted IRS Audits Have Plummeted in the Last Decade - According to GAO, where we discussed that the GAO published a report on trends in IRS audit rates, audit results, and resources used for audits across individual taxpayer income levels. (GAO-22-104960) and that IRS examining or auditing a decreasing proportion of individual tax returns, concern has been raised over "the potential for declining taxpayer compliance, as well as whether IRS is equitably selecting taxpayers for audit, as audit rates for higher-income taxpayers have decreased more than audit rates for lower-income taxpayers." 

Now according to Law360, IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said on Thursday, June 23, 2022, that claims the agency audits more poor people than wealthy ones are wrong and harmful to tax administration, renewing his pushback against criticism of the agency's audit rates.

When Audit Rates Of Earned Income Tax Credit Claims
Are Compared Against Those For Taxpayers With Incomes
Over $1 Million, 

Audit Rates For The Wealthy Are In Fact Higher,

Rettig said during the New York University School of Professional Studies Tax Controversy Forum held in New York City and online. Claims to the contrary are damaging to tax administration, he said.

He also said anyone looking at data objectively and "not with a narrative trying to take down the IRS or tax administration" would see the agency historically audits about 7% to 8% of taxpayers with incomes over $10 million. 

Rettig's Comments Follow The IRS Saying In May
That It Audited 5.8% Of Returns Reporting $10 Million
Or More In Income For The 2017 Tax Year, 
Compared With 21.5% Of Such Returns For 2010. 

The agency said at the time that resource constraints hindered its ability to monitor the wealthy. 

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data research organization based at Syracuse University, also said in a report that the IRS audits low-income taxpayers five times higher than everyone else based on fiscal year 2021 data. 

The data research organization asked Rettig to retract his statement that the organization's findings were totally false, and said the organization bases its reporting on data the agency provides. 

Just as Rettig blasted criticism of the agency's audit rates Thursday, he ripped people who say the agency doesn't need more money.

"Those who say IRS doesn't need additional funding, they have a different agenda," he said. "Their agenda should be for this country."

The agency needs sustained multiyear funding, Rettig said. Although lawmakers passed legislation that provided the agency a $675 million increase through September, about $350 million of that will be used for "maintaining current status" for the agency and contracts, he said.

"So we got let's say a $375 million boost, try to take $375 million and fill the holes in a ship that have existed for more than 10 years because there was not adequate funding," he said. "Why do we have trouble providing consistent, significant multiyear flexible funding to the Internal Revenue Service?" 

Have an IRS Tax Problem?

     Contact the Tax Lawyers at

Marini & Associates, P.A. 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243)

 

Read more at: Tax Times blog