Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
IRS News
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WSJ: The Internal Revenue Leak Service
Wall Street Journal editorial, The Internal Revenue Leak Service: Democrats want to give $80 billion to the Internal Revenue Service to audit millions of Americans each year. Yet six months after the progressive website ProPublica first published the secret tax information of rich Americans, the tax agency still can’t explain what happened. Senate Republicans led…
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Treasury Department Plans First Analysis of U.S. Tax Benefits By Race
Bloomberg, Treasury Plans First Analysis of U.S. Tax Benefits by Race: The U.S. Treasury is launching an effort to examine the distribution of federal benefits and taxation by race, starting with a look at the pandemic relief payments that were due to most American households. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, along with Lily Batchelder, the…
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Soled: Congress Should Codify The IRS’s Voluntary Disclosure Program
Jay A. Soled (Rutgers; Google Scholar), The IRS’s Voluntary Disclosure Program: Need for Codification, 37 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 957 (2021): For more than a century, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has had a voluntary disclosure program in place. Its purpose is to coax into tax compliance those wayward taxpayers who have committed criminal…
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IRS: California Fire Prevention Fees Are Not Deductible Property Taxes Under § 164
Office of Chief Counsel, IRS Memorandum 2013-10-029 (Jan. 14, 2013) (released Mar. 8, 2013): Issue: May California residents deduct the Fire Prevention Fee they may pay on their federal income tax returns as a real property tax deduction under section 164 of the Internal Revenue Code and § 1.164-4 of the Income Tax Regulations? Conclusion: …
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312,000 Federal Workers Owe $3.5 Billion in Back Taxes, Up 11.5% From Prior Year
311,566 federal workers and retirees owed more than $3.5 billion in back income taxes in 2011 (up from $3.4 billion in 2010, $3.3 billion in 2009, $3.0 billion in 2008, and $2.7 billion in 2007). Accounting Today, Tax-Delinquent Federal Employees and Retirees Increased 11.5% in 2011 Bloomberg, Number of Tax-Delinquent Government Workers Up 11.5% Fox News, Federal Workers…
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IRS Releases Winter 2013 SOI Bulletin
The IRS's Statistics of Income Division yesterday released (IR-2013-26) the Winter 2013 SOI Bulletin (Vol. 32, No. 3), with these articles: Individual Income Tax Returns, Preliminary Data, 2011 (p. 4), by Jessica Holland & Michael Parisi Individual Income Tax Rates and Shares, 2010 (p. 18), by Adrian Dungan & Michael Parisi Individual Noncash Charitable Contributions,…
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IRS Tax Attorney Jobs
Attorney-Adviser, Special Counsel (Tax-International), Office of Chief Counsel (Salary: $123,758 to $155,500) Attorney-Advisor (Tax), Senior Technical Reviewer, Office of Chief Counsel (Salary: $123,758 to $155,500) General Attorney (Tax), Senior Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel (Salary: $123,758 to $155,500) General Attorney (Tax), Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International) (Salary: $105,211 to $136,771) General Attorney (Tax), Office of…
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IRS Tries to Slow Walk Whistleblower Payouts
Fortune: Incentives for Tax Fraud Tipsters May Get Even Tinier, by Lynnley Browning: The IRS wants to shrink payments to tax fraud whistleblowers, even though it's only rewarded three people under the program since 2006. Hoping to win millions of dollars from the IRS for exposing tax fraud? It's going to get even tougher —…
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IRS Releases 2012 Taxpayer Attitude Survey
The IRS Oversight Board has released the results of its 2012 Taxpayer Attitude Survey of 1,500 respondents: 95% indicated that personal integrity has the greatest influence on whether they honestly report and pay their taxes, but the influence of IRS audits and third-party information reporting appears to be growing. 93% said it is important that…
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The Impact of Sequestration on the IRS
Bloomberg-BNA, IRS Memorandum National Treasury Employees Union Press Release, IRS Employees Told of Potential Furloughs of 5 to 7 Days Accounting Today, IRS Employees May Face 5- to 7-Day Furloughs from Sequester Bloomberg, Prisoners Join Astronauts in U.S. Spending-Cut Fallout Chicago Tribune, Federal Sequestration Could Affect Speed of Tax Refunds Forbes, IRS Won't Delay Tax…
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TIGTA: IRS Wastes Millions in Internet Access Fees for Employee Laptops and Blackberrys
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration today released Inadequate Aircard and BlackBerry Assignment and Monitoring Processes Result in Millions of Dollars in Unnecessary Access Fees (2013-10-010): In Fiscal Year 2011, the IRS had approximately 35,000 active aircards and more than 4,400 BlackBerrys assigned to employees, providing them with mobile Internet and e-mail access. TIGTA found…
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GAO Removes IRS Modernization, Keeps Tax Gap, as High-Risk Area
The Government Accountability Office yesterday released High-Risk Series An Update (GAO-13-283), in which the GAO removed one tax area from its list of 30 high-risk areas: IRS Business Systems Modernization. The IRS made progress in addressing significant weaknesses in information technology and financial management capabilities. IRS delivered the initial phase of its cornerstone tax processing project…
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IRS Whistleblower Office Issues Annual Report to Congress
The IRS's Whistleblower Office has released its FY 2012 annual report to Congress: In FY 2011, the Whistleblower Office paid the first claims under § 7623(b). Five claims have been paid under the revised law. … During FY 2012, the IRS received 332 whistleblower submissions relating to 671 taxpayers that, based on the face of…
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IRS Oversight Board Releases 2012 Annual Report to Congress
The IRS Oversight Board yesterday released its 2012 Annual Report to Congress: [T]he IRS Oversight Board praised the IRS for the progress it achieved over the past fiscal year that contributed to the effectiveness, efficiency and integrity of the nation's tax system. However, the Board also warned that the IRS is operating in a high-risk…
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Taxpayer Sues IRS, Claims Agent Coerced Him Into Having Sex to Avoid Adverse Audit
Huffington Post: Vincent Burroughs Accuses IRS Agent Dora Abrahamson of Coercing Sex by Using Threat of Tax Penalty: An Oregon man has filed a lawsuit against an IRS agent with whom he had sex, claiming he was coerced into the relationship because the woman showed up at his door "provocatively attired" and threatened him with…
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Forbes: As IRS Tax Filing Season Begins, There’s Bad News For Honest Taxpayers
Forbes: As IRS Tax Filing Season Begins, There's Bad News For Honest Taxpayers, by Janet Novack: With this year’s tax filing season set to begin in a week, there are ominous signs for honest folks who want to complete their 1040s and pay what they owe (not more or less) with a minimum of hassle.…
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IRS Suspends Regulation of Tax Return Preparers After Friday’s Court Defeat
Following up on my post, Court Says IRS Lacks Authority to Regulate Tax Preparers: IRS Statement on Court Ruling Related to Return Preparers: As of Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has enjoined the IRS from enforcing the regulatory requirements for registered tax return preparers. In accordance with…
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IRS Releases Final FATCA Regs
The Treasury Deparment and the IRS yesterday released final regulations under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The regulations: Build on intergovernmental agreements that foster international cooperation. The Treasury Department has collaborated with foreign governments to develop and sign intergovernmental agreements that facilitate the effective and efficient implementation of FATCA by eliminating legal barriers to…
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GAO: IRS Faces Challenges Providing Service to Taxpayers
The Government Accountability Office has released IRS Faces Challenges Providing Service to Taxpayers and Could Collect Balances Due More Effectively (GAO-13-156): While there have been efficiency gains and efforts to improve service, the IRS faced challenges providing telephone service and responding to correspondence, continuing trends experienced in recent years. In 2012, 82 percent of individual…
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TIGTA: Prisoner Tax Fraud Claims Continue to Skyrocket
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Further Efforts Are Needed to Ensure the Internal Revenue Service Prisoner File Is Accurate and Complete (2013-40-011): Refund fraud committed by prisoners remains a significant problem for tax administration. The number of fraudulent tax returns filed by prisoners and identified by the IRS has increased from…
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TIGTA: IRS Has 60% Error Rate in Policing Noncash Charitable Contribution Deduction
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Many Taxpayers Are Still Not Complying With Noncash Charitable Contribution Reporting Requirement (2013-40-009): TIGTA estimates more than 273,000 taxpayers claimed approximately $3.8 billion in potentially erroneous noncash charitable contributions in Tax Year 2010, which resulted in an estimated $1.1 billion reduction in tax. … IRS controls…
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IRS Announces Optional $1,500 Home Office Deduction in Lieu of Depreciation
IR-2013-5: IRS Announces Simplified Option for Claiming Home Office Deduction Starting This Year; Eligible Home-Based Businesses May Deduct up to $1,500: The IRS today announced a simplified option that many owners of home-based businesses and some home-based workers may use to figure their deductions for the business use of their homes. In tax year 2010,…
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IRS Releases 2013 Inflation-Adjusted Tax Tables
The IRS today released various inflation-adjusted 2013 tax brackets, tables, exemptions, thresholds, and other items (IR-2013-4; Rev. Proc. 2013-15, 2013-5 I.R.B. ___ (Jan. 28, 2013): Tax Tables: New 39.6% added for income in excess of $400,000 single/$450,000 joint Standard Deduction: $6,100 single/$12,200 joint (up $150/$200 from 2012) Itemized Deductions: Phase out for income in excess of…
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National Taxpayer Advocate Releases Annual Report to Congress
National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson today released (IR-2013-3) her 2012 Annual Report to Congress, identifying the need for tax reform as the overriding priority in tax administration.: The Advocate also expressed concern that the Internal Revenue Service is not adequately funded to serve taxpayers and collect tax, and identified ways in which this chronic…
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2013 Tax Season Opens on Jan. 30
Following the passage ofthe American Taxpayer Relief Act, the IRS announced today (IR-2013-12) it plans to open the 2013 filing season and begin processing individual income tax returns on Jan. 30: The IRS will begin accepting tax returns on that date after updating forms and completing programming and testing of its processing systems. This will…