The Blog

Tax Penalties Set to Increase in 2017 According to the annual Bloomberg BNA report of projected tax rates, tax penalties are set to increase in 2017. The projected tax penalty increases will be applied pretty much across the board. They include penalties such as the Failure to File Penalty and the Failure to Pay Penalty imposed on individual and business taxpayers as well as significant increases in penalty assessments for tax preparers. Although the adjustments represent the expected annual increases due to inflation, they are also a result of the heightened focus by the IRS on collecting back taxes as well as tightening up the regulations governing tax preparation. The Failure to File Penalty is one of those sharply affected by the 2017 tax penalty … Continue reading →

  Two Candidates – Two Different Tax Plans Although both Donald Trump and HillaryClinton seem to agree on certain points such as making the country’s tax structure more attractive to business, ending the carried interest tax break and expanding the tax deduction for childcare, they differ on how to best accomplish these tasks. Their tax plans deviate from one another on other important issues as well. These include individual income tax brackets, capital gains tax rates and the estate tax, among other things. Clinton’s tax plan includes many of president Obama’s current tax proposals while Trump’s strategy has adopted many of the line items suggested in the tax reform agenda set forth by congressional Republicans. The following is a comparison of some of the important … Continue reading →

IRS Targets International Businesses Over the last few years, the IRS has faced many dramatic cutbacks which have caused them to decrease their services and drastically reduce the actual number of IRS employees. However, in spite of the downsizing, the agency is determined to collect the money they are owed, especially that owed by larger taxpayers. They have responded to slashes in the number of staff members by focusing most of their efforts and resources on going after the big guns while sweeping up any other delinquent IRS taxpayers they can find along the way. Using this creative approach, they hope to recover a large portion of the millions and billions of dollars that are dishonestly and fraudulently withheld from the IRS. One of the changes recently announced by the IRS … Continue reading →

What Happens If You Can’t Pay Your Taxes? What happens if you owe tax money to the IRS and you cannot afford to pay it? Most importantly, do not ignore the IRS. They have a lot of information on you and are not going to forget about the money that is owed. To prevent the IRS from initiating aggressive collection techniques such as freezing your bank accounts and garnishing your wages, it best to contact them promptly. A tax problem will not go away. On the contrary, it will only compound and increase over time until it is resolved. There are several options available for resolving a tax debt. Some of these options can be initiated directly with the IRS. However, if your tax problem is complicated, it may be in … Continue reading →

Tax Day 2016!!!! April 18, 2016 is the deadline for filing taxes and is the income tax due date. If you have tax questions or a tax debt you are unable to pay, our tax settlement professionals are happy to discuss your tax resolution options free of charge. For more information about our services, visit us today at www.professionaltaxresolution.com or call us at 877.889.6527. With over 16 years in the business of resolving tax debt, we have a thorough understanding of tax law together with the experience to know which settlement option will be the best fit for your specific set of circumstances

Tax Debt May Result in Loss of Passport One of the numerous bills passed by Congress toward the end of last year was the Fast Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act). Executed on December 5, 2015, the main focal points of the bill are improving the county’s transportation infrastructure, strengthening public transportation and improving highway safety.  However, in addition to the Fast Act’s focus on these transportation related issues, it contains an important line item which allows the State Department to go after United States citizens who owe back taxes by interrupting their use of a passport. The bill allows the government to refuse to issue a passport, fail to renew a passport or revoke a current passport if a taxpayer owes back taxes in … Continue reading →

Tax Fraud Back in the Limelight The subject of tax fraud often makes the news headlines somewhere around the opening of tax season and it appears that Tax Season 2106 is no exception. Numerous state tax agencies, including Illinois, Hawaii, Utah and, most recently, South Carolina, have already announced tax refund delays due the threat of identity theft and tax refund fraud. Although the Internal Revenue Service has not issued any similar notices of delay, they have nonetheless issued bulletins warning taxpayers of potential fraudulent activity and suggesting precautions to take to combat it. The refund delays announced by certain states are the result of increased security measures that have been put in place to prevent identity theft and other types of tax fraud. A … Continue reading →

Where Is My Tax Refund? The IRS has announced that the recently opened 2016 tax season started off on a good note. In fact, they reported the receipt of thousands of tax returns on opening day with no major filing issues. It has also been reported that the average wait time for a tax professional to speak to an IRS representative is ten minutes in comparison to wait times of over an hour last year. Although it is still very early in the game, expectations are high for a smooth and easy tax season. This includes the issuing of tax refunds which is the aspect of tax filing that is usually of highest interest to taxpayers. If you have filed your tax return and are anxiously awaiting your refund, you are … Continue reading →

Some Critical Year-End Tax Considerations Very few important tax decisions have been passed down in 2015 and, with only a few weeks to go, it appears that we may move into the New Year with some important tax matters still unresolved. Some of the critical tax issues hanging in the balance as we move into 2016 are the tax extenders legislation, internet taxation and the licensing of tax preparers. All of these topics are in one stage or another of being discussed and considered by Congress but have not made it through the legislative system to be signed into law. With less than a month to go, it will be interesting to see if any of these measures are enacted before the end of the … Continue reading →

Security Summit Focuses on Identity Theft In March of this year, all of the major players in the tax industry came together to focus on the problems of identity theft and tax refund fraud. Their aim was to have safeguards in place before the beginning of the 2016 filing season. This convocation, identified as the Security Summit, includes the IRS, state tax authorities, and representatives from the tax software and financial services industries. Tax Commissioner John Koskinen, who has called the Security Summit an “unprecedented effort,” maintains that income tax fraud “is not a battle the IRS can fight alone.” He went on to say that identity theft has “become a serious threat to the nation’s tax system” and one that must be dealt with … Continue reading →