With the 2024 filing season in the rearview mirror, the IRS provided an update Friday on how well its Direct File pilot program fared this year but said little about what the future holds for its prized tax-filing service. “From the very beginning of the Direct File pilot, we wanted to test new ways to give taxpayers an easy, accurate, and free way to file their taxes online directly with the IRS,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said on April 26. “We saw a strong response from the pilot, and Direct File’s users generally found it fast and easy to use. This is an important part of our effort to ..read more

The Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service have issued final regulations describing rules and definitions for the transfer of eligible credits in a taxable year, including specific rules for partnerships and S corporations. The Inflation Reduction Act and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors act (CHIPs) enable taxpayers to take advantage of certain manufacturing investment, clean energy investment and production tax credits through elective pay or transfer provisions. For tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2022, eligible taxpayers can choose to transfer all o ..read more

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s Office of Investigations has helped the Internal Revenue Service prevent $3.5 billion of potentially improper Employee Retention Credits and Sick and Family Leave Credits. TIGTA investigators identified a scheme where individuals obtained Employer Identification Numbers, a unique nine-digit identifier required for tax purposes, and then used them to file business tax returns that improperly claimed ERC and Sick and Family Leave Credits. These tax returns frequently showed no signs that a business was active or operating. TIGTA notified I ..read more

By Laura Davison, Bloomberg News (TNS) Swing-state voters are open to several ideas to keep Social Security benefits flowing for decades—as long as it’s the wealthy footing the bill, according to the latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll. An overwhelming 77% of registered voters in the seven states that will decide the 2024 presidential election like the idea of a billionaires tax to bolster Social Security shortfalls, the poll found. More than half say they approve of trimming benefits for high-earners, and for taxing wages for Social Security beyond the first $168,600 in earnings as do ..read more

By Michael Bernard. The domestic sales tax landscape in the United States has been in a constant state of flux over the last decade. Myriad circumstances including a lagging economy, restrictions around COVID-19, shrinking sales tax bases and reductions in federal aid for state and local governments have all led to 2023 seeing a 10-year high for sales tax rate changes. In fact, the 2023 Vertex End-of-Year Sales Tax Rates and Rules report shows that a total of 444 sales tax rate changes took place across all U.S. state and local jurisdictions. Beyond that, the total number of rate changes as w ..read more

The newly formed Alternative Dispute Resolution Program Management Office, an arm of the IRS Independent Office of Appeals, will work with the agency’s business operating divisions—Wage & Investment, Large Business & International, Small Business/Self-Employed, and Tax Exempt and Government Entities—to help taxpayers resolve tax disputes earlier and more efficiently, the IRS said on April 24. “This new office will revitalize existing programs and pilot new initiatives as part of IRS transformation efforts in alignment with the IRS Strategic Operating Plan,” IRS Commissioner Danie ..read more

Sovos has aligned with the Digital Business Networks Alliance (DBNAlliance) as an early member, marking a significant milestone in the initiative’s development. Processing more than 11 billion transactions each year, Sovos’ membership is a substantial show of support for the DBNAlliance’s mission to rapidly deploy a framework of standards and supporting services for seamless electronic data exchange in the U.S., across the Atlantic and globally.   The DBNAlliance Exchange Framework, rooted in the open standards first launched in Europe and now embraced by governments and industries world ..read more

A new bill recently introduced by lawmakers in both the House of Representatives and the Senate would improve the IRS’s math error procedures—a power used by the agency to quickly adjust a taxpayer’s federal income tax return if it contains a simple mistake or clerical error. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Health (IRS MATH) Act on April 18, with Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Randy Feenstra (R-IA) introducing the same bill in the House. According to the office of the Taxpayer Advocate Service, the IRS issue ..read more

By Melissa Angell, Inc. (TNS) The IRS is cautioning taxpayers to be aware of its so-called “Dirty Dozen” list. Each year, the IRS puts out a list that compiles prevalent schemes against taxpayers. The list serves as a reminder to remain vigilant about tax scams not only during tax season, but all year long. Taxpayers should take note, given the uptick in problems seen in recent years: The IRS received 294,138 cases of tax-related identity theft during fiscal year 2023, up from the 92,631 cases seen in FY 2019. “Scammers are relentless in their attempts to obtain sensitive fin ..read more

By Michael Bernard. The domestic sales tax landscape in the United States has been in a constant state of flux over the last decade. Myriad circumstances including a lagging economy, restrictions around COVID-19, shrinking sales tax bases and reductions in federal aid for state and local governments have all led to 2023 seeing a 10-year high for sales tax rate changes. In fact, the 2023 Vertex End-of-Year Sales Tax Rates and Rules report shows that a total of 444 sales tax rate changes took place across all U.S. state and local jurisdictions. Beyond that, the total number of rate changes as w ..read more