Fighting the IRS -Audits, Refunds, Collections


Navigating the IRS bureaucracy can be challenging for many taxpayers. The agency processes more than 141 million individual income tax returns annually and deals with a constantly changing Internal Revenue Code. There were approximately 4,430 changes to the tax code from 2001 through 2010 -- an average of more than one a day, including an estimated 579 changes in 2010 alone.

Here are Q&As that explain some of the workings of the IRS.

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European and State Governments Squeezing Businesses for tax Dollars!

European governments are attacking American businesses trying to get as much tax money as possible. The latest leader in this witchhunt is France. They are not only going after companies for large civil taxes but they are at going after the businesses and the employees of the business for criminal penalties and possibly jail. Leading the list are Google, McDonald's and Bookings.com. All these companies have some relationship to France by having services sold through subsidiaries, but the French do not care about legal structures of business. They just want their tax! This sounds a lot like many State governments. New Jersey is always trying to find "nexus" to pull in out-of-state businesses as being subject to New Jersey taxes. Also any business located in New Jersey is subject to grueling sales and use tax audits and lengthy appeals and court hearings. It is a real problem particularly when the company tries to handle it themselves or have an accountant represent them ...
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Business Expenses unde Tax Reform

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Now’s the time to review your business expenses As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good idea to review your business’s expenses for deductibility. At the same time, consider whether your business would benefit from accelerating certain expenses into this year. Be sure to evaluate the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which reduces or eliminates many deductions. In some cases, it may be necessary or desirable to change your expense and reimbursement policies. What’s deductible, anyway? There’s no master list of deductible business expenses in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). Although some deductions are expressly authorized or excluded, most are governed by the general rule of IRC Sec. 162, which permits businesses to deduct their “ordinary and necessary” expenses. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your industry. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your business. (It need not be indispensable.) Even if an...
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Business Identity Theft

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Businesses aren’t immune to tax identity theft Tax identity theft may seem like a problem only for individual taxpayers. But, according to the IRS, increasingly businesses are also becoming victims. And identity thieves have become more sophisticated, knowing filing practices, the tax code and the best ways to get valuable data. How it works In tax identity theft, a taxpayer’s identifying information (such as Social Security number) is used to fraudulently obtain a refund or commit other crimes.  Business  tax identity theft occurs when a criminal uses the identifying information of a business to obtain tax benefits or to enable individual tax identity theft schemes. For example, a thief could use an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to file a fraudulent business tax return and claim a refund. Or a fraudster may report income and withholding for fake employees on false W-2 forms. Then, he or she can file fraudulent individual tax returns for these “employees...
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