In spite of repeated instances of tax debt collection scams – some of them serious enough to warrant specific warnings from the IRS – the agency has once again chosen to outsource tax collection efforts to private debt collectors. This means that, in theory, the phone calls and letters you […]
Category: IRS Tax Collection
It appears the old “location, location, location” adage for real estate holds true in the world of taxes as well. A recent study by professors out of two prestigious universities in the great state of Texas, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, have found that the […]
We have been closely following how and when the IRS and Department of State may start to revoke or deny passports for tax debt. Facing the prospect of further budget cuts, how will overall IRS collection activities be affected? The number of people employed at the agency has plummeted 31 […]
President Donald Trump recently signed a new travel order that limits entrée to the U.S. for people coming from certain countries. This highly publicized notice has many American companies scrambling to work around travel restrictions for remote or traveling employees that could leave them stranded outside the U.S. A much […]
The 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act added a tool for the IRS to collect large tax debts. This was likely included as a measure to pay some of the cost of the bill. The IRS working in coordination with the U.S. State Department was granted the power to deny, revoke […]
Few groups within the IRS have been spared cuts as funding has failed to keep up with inflation. After losing almost 21 percent of its staff between 2012 and 2015, Appeals has needed to reorganize. Three functional offices – Collection, Examination and Specialized Examination Programs and Referrals – replace two […]
The IRS has reportedly received more than 8,000 public comments regarding proposed changes to how the agency determines valuation discounts under Section 2704 of the U.S. Tax Code. This provision, contained in Reg-163113-02 of the agency’s regulations, deal with discounts allowed for valuation of business holdings and assets for purposes of calculating […]
Like any large organization, federal government agencies often operate in silos. Communication between them is rarely seamless. New tax collections rules show a focus on inter-agency coordination. But how well will these rules really work? Back in an April post, we discussed a rule that would allow the Department of Justice […]
A San Antonio physician and surgeon is facing 41 months in federal prison after conviction on a complicated scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of quarterly payroll tax payments. The financial maneuvers employed by Dr. Anthony Sertich spanned several years, and involved, among other things, numerous personal and […]
If you owe taxes to the IRS, you may want to hold off on planning your next international trip. A new law just took effect that will revoke passports for Americans who owe $50,000 or more to the IRS. The most vocal critics of the law are American expatriates living […]