TaxEsqBlog -by Ronald J. Cappuccio, J.D., LL.M.(Tax)

Tax season for individuals starts January 23, 2017 for the 2016 return. Unfortunately, most individuals are facing increasingly complex and confusing tax laws. It is not just businesses that are suffering. The National Taxpayer Advocate has called for Congress to simplify the Internal Revenue Code which takes individuals and businesses more than 6 billion hours a year to comply with filing. The idea espoused by the Taxpayer Advocate the Congress was to have a neutral Tax Code and cut individual tax rates as well as business tax rates. This means that many of the exclusions, exemptions, deductions and credits would be eliminated as the trade-off for simplification and rate reduction.The recommendation is that Congress start with the tax code without any reductions and then only add back deductions, such as exclusion of capital gains on home sales, if the benefits outweigh the complexity of the provision. The idea is to have a simpler compliance mechanism and use tax is for collecting ...

IRS Issues Annual Advice on Missing Form W-2's Each year, the IRS issues annual advice on actions a taxpayer should take when the taxpayer has not received his or her Form W-2. IRS Website (2/8/13). According to the IRS, if a taxpayer has not received his or her Form W-2, the taxpayer should: (1) Contact the employer. Ask the employer or former employer to send the W-2 if it has not already been sent. Double check that the employer has the correct address. (2) Contact the IRS. After February 14, a taxpayer can call the IRS at 800-829-1040 if the taxpayer has not yet received his or her W-2. The IRS will require the following information: (i) the taxpayer's name, address, social security number and phone number; (ii) the employer's name, address and phone number; (iii) the dates the taxpayer worked for the employer; and (iv) an estimate of the taxpayer's wages and federal income tax withheld in 2012, based on the taxpayer's final pay stub or leave-a...

New PIN Requirement for 2009 Filing Season Starting with the 2009 filing season, all 1040 taxpayers filing electronic returns must sign their returns using an electronic personal identification number (PIN). A taxpayer's electronic signature will include a five-digit PIN that they create and either their prior year adjusted gross income (AGI) or prior year PIN .