Business Websites

  • IRS Employees Told to Work from Home

    The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the IRS to order its workforce to work from home. The IRS issued an email announcing the shift, and Accounting Today magazine obtained a copy of the email. “As a result of recent OPM [U.S. Office of Personnel Management] guidance, starting Monday, March 30, 2020, the IRS is directing all…

  • Economic Impact Payments: The Facts

    Distribution of the federal government’s economic impact payments, meant to counter the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., is scheduled to start in the coming weeks, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. No action is required on the part of most taxpayers. However, some seniors and others who normally don’t file a…

  • IRS Boosts Application Price for Offer in Compromise; Waivers Available

    Good news and bad news for taxpayers who have trouble paying their tax bills. The bad news is that the IRS is raising the application fee for the Offer in Compromise. The good news is that those who qualify as low-income taxpayers can get the application fee waived altogether. An Offer in Compromise is an…

  • Tennessee Tornado Victims Get Tax Relief from IRS

    Victims of the recent tornadoes that swept through Tennessee have gotten some tax relief from the Internal Revenue Service. Taxpayers in the storm-wrecked areas will have until July 15 to file various individual and business tax returns—and to make their tax payments. Who is Eligible? The IRS says the relief is available in any area…

  • 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…

  • Jay Eager Discusses Drake Accounting on Drake Hosted – E38

    Software-as-a-service is an increasingly attractive option for businesses that need the flexibility of a Cloud-based platform and the full suite of features from professional software. Drake Hosted is Drake Software’s hosting service that provides access to products like Drake Tax and—for the second year in a row—Drake Accounting. We invited Drake Accounting Development Manager Jay…

  • Standard Mileage Rates Tweaked for 2020

    Updated January 15, 2020: We incorrectly listed the standard mileage rate for business use as 5 cents per mile.  The Internal Revenue Service has set the optional standard mileage rates for 2020. These rates are used to figure the deductible costs of operating a vehicle for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Beginning Jan. 1,…

  • New Downloadable Tool Helps Small Business with Employee Withholding

    The Internal Revenue Service has come up with a new online tool that’s designed to help employers—especially those in small business—easily determine the correct amount of income tax to withhold from workers’ pay. It’s called the Income Tax Withholding Assistant for Employers, and the new spreadsheet-based tool is designed to help employers transition to the…

  • Tax Exempt Organizations Now Required to File Electronically

    The Internal Revenue Service is reminding tax-exempt organizations that recent changes in the law now require them to file information returns and other forms electronically. The new law, the Taxpayer First Act, was enacted July 1 and affects tax-exempt organizations for tax years beginning after July 1, 2019. What is Covered? The mandate for electronic…

  • 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…