Compliance & Audits

  • IRS Allowing Fraudulent Credits to Go Through, Audit Finds

    The federal office tasked with overseeing the Internal Revenue Service says fraudulent claims for refundable credits are going through – in spite of the tools Congress gave the agency to stop them. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration – also known as TIGTA – did its audit as a follow-up to a prior audit…

  • IRS Says 91% of Criminal Investigation Cases Get a Conviction

    An annual report from the Internal Revenue Service credits cutting-edge data analytics and “good, old-fashioned police work” for achieving a 91% conviction rate on cases probed by the IRS Criminal Investigations division. The report, IRS’ Criminal Investigations Report for 2019, outlines the division’s successes for the year, while also marking CI’s 100-year anniversary as a…

  • No Dyed Fuel Penalty in Florida, IRS Says

    The IRS last Friday announced that it would be waiving the penalty for using red-dyed diesel in highway vehicles in Florida until September 15. The press release came while Floridians prepared for the possibility that Hurricane Dorian would make landfall. As of this afternoon, the now-Category 2 storm has yet to make landfall in the…

  • IRS Waives Estimated Tax Penalty for Eligible 2018 Filers

    For some taxpayers paying estimated taxes who have filed their 2018 tax returns there’s a little bit of bad news—and some good news. The bad news is they failed to claim the special waiver that would have spared them from the estimated tax penalty mandated when withholding and estimated tax payments fell short of their…

  • New Scams Identified by IRS

    The April filing deadline is long gone, but that doesn’t stop scammers from attempting to swindle American taxpayers out of their hard-earned money. In fact, the Internal Revenue Service is asking taxpayers to be on the alert to two new phishing and email scams. The scams are variations of previous tax-related schemes. One involves Social…

  • IRS Touts Progress Against Identity Theft

    With just days left in the TY 2018 filing season, the IRS and its Security Summit partners have announced major progress has been made in the fight against tax-related identity theft. What’s more, they say, their combined efforts have added protection for thousands of taxpayers and billions of dollars in refunds. The Security Summit, a…

  • Dirty Dozen: Frivolous Tax Arguments Mean Trouble

    The Internal Revenue Service has issued a warning to taxpayers and tax preparers not to use frivolous tax arguments as a basis for not paying taxes. Promoters of these schemes encourage taxpayers to make unreasonable and outlandish legal claims to avoid paying their taxes. The IRS reminds people that time and again, these arguments have…

  • Dirty Dozen: Avoid Improper Claims for Business Credits

    The Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers and tax professionals against improperly claiming various business tax credits, which has become a common tax scam. That’s why the topic shows up on this year’s IRS “Dirty Dozen” list of common scams that can occur anytime during the year. When it comes to bogus credits on business…

  • Dirty Dozen: Bogus Income but Very Real Refunds

    The Internal Revenue Service is reminding taxpayers just to think inside the box when it comes to completing their tax returns. In other words, steer clear of any schemes that falsify income or create fake Forms 1099. The practice is used enough to land it on the IRS’ “Dirty Dozen” list of the most common…

  • Audit Finds Business Identity Theft Controls Still Lacking

    A report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) finds that despite measures by the Internal Revenue Service to flag possibly fraudulent business returns, a significant number of bogus returns are slipping through. The agency’s first warning came three years ago, when TIGTA recommended the IRS install filters on its computer systems to…