The function of government is to serve the country's citizenry. It can only do this by having the proper tools to do so. When an administration is bent on enriching those who should be paying their fair share at the cost of eroding the country's treasury; this is purely dereliction of duty This dereliction of duty has been going on by both parties. Shame on Congress and both parties.
The GOP is the Mouthpiece for the Rich & Fortunate, they don't Like IRS, they don't want Regulation, they don't Need Government, and Most of Us R Debris on their Planet. Time 2 Take Our World Back, they don't play nice.
1
While millions rush to pay their taxes in such a hurry that the IRS website crashes, some certain public figure residing in a house on Pennsylvania Ave simply filed for an extension and didn't pay a dime. Oh we all know who that person is, right? you might want to read this article from a danish page https://www.laan-365.dk/laan-penge-og-faa-dem-med-det-samme/
Makes me wonder if IRS has been hacked by Russian (and or other state sponsored hackers... China, North Korea, Iran, Cambridge Analytica ;)
What better way to scrape data on US.
Guess that's why "smart stable genius" Trump STILL won't show US his Tax returns.
The only thing with "tax" in a sentence we get from Trump and his Republican enablers is CUTs.
VOTE Them OUT
Taxation has made us into a procrasti-nation. So many of us wait until the last minute to file, especially if we owe money. Technically, we're supposed to adjust our payroll and/or quarterly tax payments so we do not have a large payment to make on April 15. Fortunately, I have not owed taxes for at least the past 25 years. I file my taxes as soon as I get all my 1099 forms.I also set up a savings "escrow" account to budget to save for "big ticket" items like home and car insurance and local real estate taxes. I still maintained control of the money until a payment was due.
That's great. You have more control because, with your mentioning a 1099, it seems you are self-employed.
If you are an employee, despite your best efforts, W4s may not get expeditiously acted upon. You may miscalculate and self-correction is not sufficient. Or, as happened to a relative, you may receive a payout of sick leave upon retiring and the employer fails to take out taxes. Then you may be accused of purposely underwithholding and fined! (Not by the Feds, in this case, but by the state) In fairness to them, an appeal resulted in a reversal and refund of the fine, which had been paid, pending appeal. Things happen...
4
In the old days, the US Postal Service (i.e. you know, the one that Trump says is failing) kept many post offices around the country open until midnight on 4/15 to handle the inevitable crush of last-minute filers. The USPS never crashed, nor was it hacked.
Of course, the RepugniCants decided to starve the USPS to death in 2011 (requiring prepayment of the pension fund). They succeeded in making the USPS dysfunctional.
The Affordable Care Act was their next target, with death by a thousand cuts.
The IRS is now the new target.
Who cares about the services that the vast majority of average Americans need, as long as their rich donor class get their tax cuts.
3
I would have to correct you comment a bit. The USPS is not failing. They have among the best shipping rates and delivery times I used to use UPS to ship books to Denver when in grad school.online The library used cheapest book rate; the books arrived in four days on the East coast. I used UPS to ship back, paying a lot more but trying Return books quickly for other students. 4 to 5 days. Then I tried flat rate priority mail, much cheaper than UPS. 2 days. The USPS is not broken but it is starving.
Second story: I try order from Amazon only when I cannot get items elsewhere. When shipped USPS, I always receive my boxes and padded envelopes. When they use their vaunted couriers, not so much. They delivered three shipments across the street or down the road because the GPS point was wrong, they said-- when I finally spoke with a real person. Even after they corrected it in their system, it reverted to the incorrect setting. Not once did the courier read my address--and I have a huge sign with house numbers on my lawn.
As the saga was unfolding, I emailed them and requested they ship a replacement order USPS. You know what their response said? Customers cannot pick the shipper, even if the courier does not deliver accurately, but only the USPS may deliver to postal boxes and I should consider getting a postal box. This is responsive? Finally, a supervisor stated if there is one more mis-delivery, I would then be "eligible" to designate my shipper of choice.
USPS rocks!
2
To be honest... I think they have to stick to their promised outage schedule.. If someone came and they said they would not be online until Jan . 1, 10,000 then they shouldn’t expect people to return until then. In fact, I read it in the new york times which to me is a valid news source, so i don’t plan to pay taxes before then as last i heard you were supposed to pay taxes online.
1
why in the world would anyone wait until the last minute to file? silly!
1
Well, it didn't stop them from cashing my check — which thanks to Donald Trump and the republicans is bigger than ever — and next year my tax obligation is projected to be even larger. Keep listening to all of the lying stinking politicians voters — maybe some day you will wise up and start listen to experts who have been dealing with matters for 20 years rather than the bunch of idiots in Washington DC
1
New tax law goes into effect next year. Your payment was not due to it for 2017. But just wait for 2018. Those of us in blue states are going to be killed. People with high medical expenses are going to be killed. People with fixed incomes are going to be killed. I work now to pay for my health benefits:Medicare premiums and supp. I scraped and fought by doing excellent work for a full time job. After five years as a contractual with no benefits, sick time or vacation, at age 66, it happened. Full time, permanent! Yet, from 2018 on, I "might" be better off tax-wise (not personally) if I quit. Mind you, I am not making lots of money but what I net in salary compared to the increase I will pay in taxes may not be that far apart... (but I will stay because I believe in the mission of the agency for which I work)
The Republicans say this tax law is driving the economic engine and creating jobs? Very disingenuous. The lower middle and middle classes will be burned. Hopefully those with lower incomes will still benefit from the earned income tax credit.
The 1% will continue doing whatever they do and the rest of us will count our pennies.
2
Putting on my cynical cap, I'd day this was an inside move to make the system and organization seem outdated (which they are) so they can try to justify privatizing the IRS. And you thought Citizens United helped corporations go wild?
3
"Rein in" the very agency responsible for collecting the funds that run the government they are part of? The only way this makes any sense is that Rs want no government at all. Which means their jobs and health benefits go away, too. I cannot fathom such nihilism.
These things will happen far more frequently as this administrations keeps placing devastating budget cuts on the IRS. Trump and Mulvaney apparently don't think this country needs any income sources, since they're just piling up the long term debt and enlarging budget deficits every year. And this president supposedly is a good businessman????
3
"The IRS has more than 60 different IT systems for managing the cases of individual taxpayers, according to a report submitted to Congress by an internal IRS watchdog. Many of them have not been updated in decades, and two of them are nearly six decades old — the oldest anywhere in the federal government, the report said."
I've written many times about the gutting of the I.R.S. budgets by the republicans in congress and their refusal to even provide money to at least get up to date computers and software. What other proof do you need than the watchdogs report on the current status of the I.R.S. computer systems?
Billions and billions of dollars are going uncollected because the republicans don't want the tax collector to have modern systems to administer the tax laws. You more than likely have a modern computer and software on your desk, or a lap top or tablet, or all of the above. Can you honestly say you would rather not have a computer or have one that is stuck in the first years, the 1980's, of the Apple and IBM PC's?
Don't you think that every citizen and resident alien in our country should be paying his or her fair share of taxes? That is what our tax system is all about. It's too bad those republicans in congress and all of their predecessors though otherwise and didn't want to let the IRS get too efficient as if they were protecting some class of non-taxpayers. On second thought, maybe that is what the republicans are up to after all.
2
Bleeding the IRS has gone on for years and years, even with a Democratic Congress but has gotten far worse in the past ten years or so with Republucan majorities. Reducing the workforce in agencies as vital as the IRS and Social Security, can only go so far. These agencies are in crisis mode NOW.
SSA has a huge backlog of disability cases. Can they hire more disability examiners, more judges? No. The people waiting for decisions are real people. The judges and examiners are highly trained. The local office claims representatives handle all type of critical work:disability interviews, retirement claims, Medicare applications and questions (though CMS actually administers Medicare). Something's got to give.
The IRS looks to hire those trained in accounting, law, finance.The Republicans are decimating federal pensions and benefits. How will agencies attract the best and brightest when they can get much higher pay elsewhere? Benefits and pensions are the mainstay of recruiting and retaining a talented federal workforce, especially in fields like IT and accounting.
Don't even get me started on state salaries and benefits and AIT systems.
We may only recognize the weaknesses of understaffing, budgeting, and infrastructure neglect when something goes wrong. This is going nowhere good.
3
So silly to still have one mass filing deadline. We should all file in the month of our birth (pick one for joint filers) instead of this annual frenzy.
If people would put down Facebook for ten minutes and learn the simple math required to break even on their withholding, or within a couple hundred dollars of doing so, there would not be the rush to claim refunds nor the foot-dragging about paying. It's not that difficult and I say so with someone who has erratic income from a side biz as well as a regular salaried job.
1
"We get 2 million hacking attempts per day."
"This failure was not due to hacking."
Uh huh, sure. Look how forthcoming any other organization has ever been about being hacked. I have high doubts that this was merely a failing that happened with only increased use, someone must have been poking at it from the other end, too. Get ready for them to admit to the hacking in a few months... or years.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and Crunchy Granola would be impossible without the IRS. We should thank the Tax Collectors for doing an unpopular, but vital job.
3
Malfunction? High-volume technical issue? Glitch? Are we supposed to believe these non-explanations contained in convenient buzz words?
I'm not tech-savvy. The public deserves a detailed explanation from someone who IS tech-savvy of how any of these terms apply to this message displayed on the IRS website. Daily we hear about hacking; our election was hacked! Do something useful for once, Mnuchin, find someone who knows what they're talking about to expand on your buzz words with a complete explanation.
Budget cuts out of spite, loss of personnel, and a system that has to be doubly, triply safe. No wonder. You get what you pay for and Congress has the IRS on a starvation diet. Like everything thing else in Trump world, a dud.
6
Please be clear, it is the REPUBILCAN (Kochtopus) Congress that has been short sheeting the IRS.
Whatever your differences with the Democrats, at least they try and govern for the interests of "The Rest of Us", not just the .01%
You get what you pay for.
9
Are you sure about that? The IRS spent $11.5 billion on "overall operations" in 2017. The advent of e-filing justifies a reduction in staff. Ditto for the upcoming decrease in filers who itemize, given itemized deductions are the greatest area of violations. Fewer deductions should lead to fewer investigations.
I think we should all take the IRS's word and wait until the year 10,000 to file our returns. But will there be a Y10K issue then?
11
If one owes money, why pay any earlier than necessary? I missed the crash by maybe 10 hours. Won't actually be filing until Oct. 15th as haven't gotten the total due for our "Danish return" (yet). Talk about taxation!!! Spouse is an expat working in Denmark...
2
You have to pay the 2017 tax due in Apri as an estimated payment. If you owe the IRS in October, penalties and interest are due if you did not not PAY taxes due in April. The extention is to file tax the return, not to pay taxes due.
These are the turkeys who complained about computer glitches for the ACA? They know we are the fools they believe us to be!
6
The wording of the message sounds suspiciously like the cut and paste phishes I receive from people trying to get into my bank account. How would a computer glitch come up with a restart date in 2016? The IRS explanation sounds implausible.
6
It is interesting to read the over the top reaction to a several hour malfunction of the IRS system.
Those affected were given an extra day to file, and probably picked up a little interest since they probably owed taxes.
The Progressive community has gone absolutely berserk by comparing this glitch to the initial Obamacare meltdown.
Makes you wonder how very uptight some still are about the 2016 election.
2
Oh, puhlease, don't give anyone a lecture about "over the top reactions," compared to all the lies and hatred the Rightwing spewed during Obama's presidency.
3
Foreseeing such situation Trump simply avoided filing his tax returns in the past saving his unaccounted wealth and sparing the IRS of undue trouble.
2
Of course it crashed! That’s the plan starve government until it can’t do its job and then sell it all to the President’s cronies for pennies. And don’t tell me my cynicism is out of control; look at the world we are living in!
8
Underfunding by the REPUBLICANS. If they can't even keep the automated systems functioning, how many of the returns of the .01% are being properly audited.
GOP Delanda Est
4
LOL! The Republicans critized the heathcare site going down; now it's their turn. Republicans have failed time and time again to provide sufficient funds for the IRS. They, not the IRS, are to blame for this.
10
“come back on Dec. 31, 9999.”
With the current administration's race to the bottom in the environment and threats to use nuclear force, I doubt that anyone will be alive in the year 9999.
Look closely at that date. It already occurred, back in what was once called the Dark Ages. We won't revisit that year, but the coming years might be pretty dark.
The parody message either is evidence of a external hack or an April Fools .jpg that accidentally went live.
3
Undoubtedly Russian hackers again, trying to destroy our faith in venerable institutions like the IRS! By preventing us from paying taxes to fund the Department of War, America's stature in the wold will decline. Canny Mr. Putin!
(sigh, \sarc)
3
Oh Man.....and some would suggest we vote electronically. Let's go back to paper for IRS, voting and banking!
6
Government competence is on full display here. They can't even efficiently steal our money. They should run our healthcare...
1
This is exactly the response the Republicans want
"It was unclear what caused the problem, which lasted from the early morning hours until a little after 5 p.m"
That's PR spin for "we were hacked."
3
Since the government is no longer trustworthy, the failure probably was due to a cyber attack, and millions of U.S. citizens will now be donating funds to Russia or North Korea.
2
Maybe the government should have Amazon collect taxes. Amazon would be efficient and reliable. We might even get helpful recommendations along the way. "Would you like 401k along with that tax payment?"
8
If the screenshot at the top of the article is really what was available on the site, they were attacked and penetrated by hackers.
It is likely a significant security breech, and not a "hardware or system malfunction". Clearly, the attack was designed to poke a finger into the IRS eye, without stealing the on-line payments, and to make a point.
By the way, is there any significance to the date September 22, 2016? All I could find was a speech in Pittsburgh by Trump talking up increasing Oil and Coal production.
4
May be foreseeing such hurdles and to avoid irritation in the past Trump thought it prudent not to file his tax returns at all, also to favour the IRS in return.
2
Paying yearly taxes is not something new. The "due" date has been the same for decades. What generation turned this yearly necessity/duty into such a disdained thing? Those I know that have the incomes that afford them to take advantage of the many loop holes are the worst complainers. These are the same people that complain about the roads, police, military and all the entities that our taxes pay for.
No surprise this site crashed with the numbers of people rushing to do what happens every year. Those are the same people that are criticizing the government for it happening. Yeah gotta blame someone/something not taking responsibility for their actions. Such an American way.
4
Remember the torrent of venomous tweets when technical glitches complicated the rollout of the Affordable Care Act? Ah, but we'll hear that this is different when trump blames yesterday's IRS computer failure on President Obama and Hillary Clinton.
I guess not only good lawyers but also good accountants won't have anything to do with trump; why else would he not be prepared to file on time? Everyone with "complicated" returns who filed on time even without an army of assistants, raise your hands...and use them to vote the out-of-touch Republicans out of office this November.
By the way, how's that eternal audit of trump's tax returns going?
1
I believe there is a very good chance this was a Russian hack but the government absolutely cannot admit this because it would completely undermine trust in the IRS-the process of filing taxes-keeping our financial info private, which would create chaos.
2
The failure of the IRS website on Tax Day is because we are cheap. The fact that we go through the motions of preparing an annual return is just user-unfriendly, if not user-vicious.
Fixing the first part is simple, refresh the technology—both hardware and software—on a regular schedule. The second just takes a look around.
Last year, T.R. Reid on the PBS NewsHour said, "I was with an executive who makes $200,000 a year, two mortgages, a lot of investments. He’d have to fill out 12 forms in America. I said, Michael, how do you pay your taxes? He pops a beer. He goes online. The government’s filled in every line. If the numbers look right, he clicks OK. It takes five minutes.”
Congress has made tax returns hard to file on purpose, so people get angry every Tax Day.
Benjamin Franklin said that the only certainties are death and taxes. Let’s make one of these simpler and skip the pain. We will save money and avoid grief, helping us live longer and happier lives.
17
Republicans have greatly simplified tax filing by eliminating so many deductions. Democrats are crying foul and denying any improvements.
Taxes are highly politicized by both sides. One only has to read the over-the-top verbiage from New York State Governor Cuomo, who likened the reduction in the SALT deduction to a "missile".
Many of us were without power for a week in New York after a recent storm. One wishes the governor would have given the same attention to restoring services -- that is, earning those tax dollars -- as he did to politicking over the tax law changes. It was impossible to not notice the disconnect and where his priorities lie.
This failure was not caused by a surge of "last day" activity, but by the massive amounts of computer power needed to get through years of Trumps incredibly complicated returns - a job still in progress.
During the Watergate investigation, a letter from the head of the IRS to Richard Nixon was discovered. It praised Nixon for his wonderfully neatly typed tax return. In fact, the investigation revealed that Nixon's return was completely dishonest.
Some things never change - odds are that almost every person reading this comment, just paid their 2017 taxes at a higher rate than Trump did.
41
Smells like hacking
11
I e-filed January 29th and my refund was deposited into checking account February 7th. Why wait so long to file unless you are missing paperwork?
12
Work doing taxes...I have no idea but it has been a zoo the last two days....but I have little sympathy for the IRS....what did Tax Day sneak up on them?
5
If you owe, there isn’t any incentive to file early.
3
Because I owe money!
2
Just like Trump and his generation of fellow bumbling boomers, obviously even the boomer-run IRS operates under that most mellow of boomer mantras: "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's ALL small stuff." Sure it is.
1
Sorry to burst your bubble, but those systems were written 30 or 40 years ago when boomers were closer to Gen Xers in age.
1
Hail the Boston Tea Party! Neve forget.
6
No high school teacher in the US would accept "network down" as an excuse. You should have planned for it in advance!! No excuses!!
9
Never knew there were so many fans of the IRS, which was only established because of the Civil War. We have been at war ever since, and haven't even conclusively won one since 1945. This agency has played no role in our victories and has done nothing to prevent our challenges.
Yet you cheer for it, simply because you hate some of your fellow Americans, who would rather be their own people than mere deductions.
2
Actually the IRS brings in money that funds all sorts of things, roads, schools, medical research, education, veterans benefits, etc. not just wars. But, with a dwindling financial support, the uncollected tax due to tax cheats and unenforced regulations - not to mention those who call the IRS for direction and give up after being on hold forever - estimated uncollected taxes are estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars. Restoring funding to levels of a decade ago would go a long way toward establishing parity in the tax system. But, yeah, chalk it up to losing wars and hating fellow Americans. That's a pretty simplistic view.
43
I know what taxes are used for, Mary, but the IRS doesn't fund these things. Politicians do. The IRS just establishes rules for collecting your money. You act like we never had roads or schools before the Civil War.
Nobody is really opposed to paying taxes. But we have a right to complain when we don't get our money's worth. And nothing on your list applies to everyone, or even most people. And some of it is funded by states. But sure, call me simplistic. Maybe it's simple for me because I understand it a little better than most.
4
Amen. From Syria to the IRS, the indefensible is defended. Not too many, however, defending the new $10,000 limitation on SALT deductions.
1
Compare the youth-driven meritocracy of Silicon Valley technology companies with government technology. In the US government there are more IT people over the age of 60 then under the age of 30. Can you imagine all those geezers maintaining ancient COBOL programs while listening to their Doors albums on their cassette players?
2
No, I can’t imagine it. But I can imagine you stereotyping people as a regular thing.
25
You make a valid point.
@Miguel, you missed the metaphor. Besides that, I have first-hand knowledge of what I'm talking about, I'm 66 years old and have worked in IT for more than four decades. But unlike IT folks who work for the government, I haven't coded in COBOL since college in the 70s.
Hey, I'm filing early for once!
4
This is an obvious hack. The IRS would never schedule "planned maintenance" on such an important day. Does the "Make A Payment" link go to a scam artist?
10
It's not a hack, it's an error. If anyone bothered to hack the IRS, they'd be phishing for personal data from returns.
New York State's Department of Taxation and Finance conducted a planned shut down of its system to the public for several days in February. For upgrades.
We're witnessing the End Of Empire.
No money coming in. Basic running of the government tenuous understaffed and soon overspending and underfunded. Taxpayers dropping off during the recession. An agency that has no oversight whatsoever anymore to audit (anyone who is still afraid of the I.R.S. is a fool - they are so underfunded they'll never catch up to you). A President who isn't even paying his taxes but just pushed through massive spending and deficit and healthy tax cuts for business and the rich (and wants to build a wall).
Yeah it's all adding up, or rather not adding up, to a very bad outcome
31
If the IRS doesn't want its budge cut, perhaps it shouldn't target conservative tax payers. Just saying.
9
But those are the ones with the money.
2
Why do you rob banks?
"That's where the money is".
4
It targeted liberal groups also.
9
You have handed to you another opportunity for a Pulitzer Prize. The very core of the government was just hacked, cyberattacked.
This was not a crash, this was not a glitch, this was not benign incompetence.
This was someone showing the world they've got us.
23
I disagree. Look at how obvious the code on that page is. It' crearly putting the default max date value in the end date field and today's date in the begin date filed. It's an outage default page. Hackers would have more style or wouldn't bother.
2
One of the chief goals of the corrupt Republican agenda is to reduce the operating staff at the IRS (and other agencies) to the point where they cannot perform daily operations efficiently, and hence, perform their mission... In the case of the IRS, to collect income taxes owed...
It appears their plan is working... Now, watch these traitors use this incident, which their policies intentionally, and inevitably, caused... To further the goals of their billionaire masters...
Vote in November! Vote the Republicans out! It may be your last chance!
51
In 2017, the IRS spent $2.2 Billion on information services. One might think that so much of taxpayers’ money is enough to buy a functioning website.
16
This is utterly inexcusable. I just spent three frustrating hours trying to send in my 2018 taxes across, only to have the site freeze me out time and again. If the people at the IRS can't plan any better than this, why are we expected to adhere to their deadlines?
13
I think your deadline is the problem. Why people wait till the last moment amazes me.
5
We do not even have a permanent IRS Commissioner, even though one was appointed by Trump last year.
Trump has called for cuts of 4000 jobs. He's not very fond of the IRS.
16
Initially, it was demanding payment of taxes owed by 4/17 despite its technological problems. That pretty much sums up the power imbalance. You must follow the rules. It may have exceptions.
1
The IRS needs to focus on collecting revenue with excellent--and fair--customer service being one of the tools to perform that task efficiently and effectively. Currently due to Republican control of Congress and their ideology of "starve government so it cannot function", the IRS is underfunded, understaffed and using technology that is obsolete and a problem for national security.
Republican Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas (chair of Ways and Means) is an idiot if he thinks the primary work of the IRS is "customer service". Just one more GOP lie from one more GOP liar.
24
A nice "silver lining" outcome for the IRS IT team towards grabbing the attention of the public and lawmakers alike on the deteriorating IT budgets and infrastructure. A perfect day to experience an unexpected outage -- wink wink.
5
Huh? You really think this was deliberate? A true cynic, if I ever met one. But, since the system is presumably operated by civil servants, not Congressional and administration bigwigs and minions, my guess is that the IRS staff did their utmost to get what was ultimately not their fault remedied and the system up and running.
13
Like clockwork, democrats demand more money. Whatever makes anyone think they'd know what to do with it? This isn't only a money issue. It's a talent and competency issue. Revamping systems is a complex job. Few in government seem to have the appetite or ability.
6
AACNY,
"Like clockwork, democrats demand more money. Whatever makes anyone think they'd know what to do with it?"
You do know the party of the current administration right?
Did you miss the information on the budget? You know, the budget that the republican led house and senate passed, then the republican president approved.
Perhaps though, you are being sarcastic.
21
Collection of taxes due is one of the first responsibilities of a functioning state.
15
Americans don't pay enough taxes compared to other first world countries. That's why we are becoming a 2nd or even 3rd world country.
11
Sometimes there's a fire and no smoke.
It's not just computers being hacked. With their budget slashed, their workforce reduced, tax law confusion, the IRS is almost small enough to drown in a bathtub.
But who would want to do that?
15
Yeah but all that assembly code runs really fast.
4
Tax procrastinators? Geesh, NYT, there is also the benefit of paying the day you owe because you don't really have that much money to play with. Most people do not pay their rent early either.
18
Mailed our check today. Where's Trump's tax returns? I want to know how he's gamed the system to his favor.
29
I don't like paying taxes, in fact I loathe it. I also don't like broken bridges, planes that crash, highways with holes, and decaying cities, and desperate people in need of aide...
I guess I'll pay my taxes, because I hate the second thing more than the first.
Why do republicans hate America?
37
Republicans don't hate The U.S., they just want to privatize of all it
8
The headline about Trump asking for a filing extension made me think he had quickly said people would have extra time because of the IRS qlitch. Silly me! It was about HIS filing extension till October.
Why would anyone think he would do anything good/thoughtful/reassuring for the people?!
9
Hacked. Why don't they just tell the truth about it.
8
Whatever happened to his so-called tax audit? I assume it is still not complete.
Or more likely, was never started.
I hope his supporters had a good time today.
13
Trump actually disclosed some helpful information. Those being audited virtually always file an extension for the current year. Trump has stated that he's filing an extension until mid-October. If he does indeed file in October, the audit, if there ever was one, is over. That eliminates the excuse that Trump has used all along. Hopefully, someone will remain on top of this and insist he disclose his returns. Mid-October is a great time to raise the issue. I think something important is happening in early November.
13
All presidents taxes are audited every year....and it has been that way for a long time. Surely you know by now that Trump's excuse is totally bogus...like almost everything else he says.
8
Trump will never disclose his taxes. He doesn't even provide excuses anymore. He just doesn't want America to find out that he's no as rich as he says he is nor pays so little in tax.
Of course, I'm speculating, but it is a logical assumption.
2
Anyone who thinks this is not Russia is insane. What a coincidence that our head of cybersecurity resigned today.
11
Embarrassing Presidency.
And in case you all haven't noticed, gas prices have been rising - 50% higher in some places.
And now I hear that the border is porous and the wall isn't even started yet.
Syria: gassed kids
And we're negotiating with terrorists now ?
Mess after mess after mess.
Unbelievable.
6
Yes, Obama's legacy is a GIANT mess that somebody has to fix.
1
Remember when this happened under Obama?
Me neither.
29
I remember. The health insurance exchange.
2
True. However, that was a new system, so glitches were somewhat expected.
5
Steven Carter:
Those weren't glitches. They were full scale failures. There wasn't even a single person responsible for the end-to-end system being developed. That's a rookie mistake. A failure of Project Management 101.
It was just a front-end system a/k/a an *interface*. Even that was too taxing for the Obama Administration.
Ask Jeff Bezos for help. Unlike Trump, he knows how to handle a high volume of electronic transactions without tanking, or going bankrupt.
23
Donald will name a few of his millionaire friends to a commission to get the billion dollar contract to upgrade the IRS computers --- in return donald jr and Eric will score some nice 8 figure payouts -- book it -- they want to get paid
9
Can the obese man in the White House fix this?--sitting in his robe on the couch--tweeting with his phone and yelling at the TV?
What should the proper response be by a presidential administration to a serious federal government failure, which inconvenienced many? This is an example of what should not be done:
“ 'Sounds horrible. Sounds really bad. Hope they fix it,' Mr. Kudlow said. He later returned to the topic on a more serious note ..."
9
I guess you’ve figured out who that 400 lb. guy lying on his bed hacking our election was.
3
I really do not understand why people wait to the last second to file taxes. Procrastination is bad for every body: increases stress and lowers people ability to do anything; your memory works at a lower level, hence the need to put things off; and if you think you are saving time, you are definitely wrong. All procrastinators have to redouble efforts in a very stressful manner, without their full brain capacity, and in full panic now because they are trying to catch up before the dead line. It seems that procrastinators really love the reward for filing late: a penalty which is 5% of the additional taxes owed amount for every month (or fraction thereof) your return is late, up to a maximum of 25%. This is a great way to help the IRS to get its much-needed revenue for its operations. Bravo procrastinators for helping the IRS.
1
In fairness procrastination has many benefits too. Often by long fingering a task one finds out that it was not really necessary to do in the first place.
True, in this case filing taxes should not be done at the 11th hour. But the simple solution is to file an extension which is extremely easy to do and gives you until October.
They will have to give one or two days grace period to people who could not file today. It will all work out.
8
That's not fair, Genii. If I sprung a bill on you today that could be thousands of dollars, could you reasonably pay that on demand? Or would you need some time? Millions are in that position every year.
2
I usually submit my taxes early too. But this year had a lot going on, my taxes were much more complex than ever before, and the budget didn't allow for professional help. And while I managed to get it all done by early afternoon, I was unable to submit them because of system outages. I'm not how I am at fault here...?
1
Hire Jeff Bezos. The Amazon site is pretty reliable.
7
The Amazon site doesn't suffer from being underfunded; the IRS does.
5
After spending billions of dollars and he certainly had his fair share of glitches. It is inevitable in large systems; however, this could have probably been predicted. My guess is that the lack of adequate IRS staff is a contributing factor.
1
At least I have 7981 years before I need to ‘come back’ and file my returns for this year. Thanks IRS, I needed a break.
21
Instead of updating computers, I would rather the IRS hire thousands more of our fellow citizens to keep paper records and process paper checks like when America was great. They might get destroyed in a fire, but at least it wouldn't cause a war.
1
The Republicans berated and starved the IRS under Bush and never let up under Trump. They were the evil "tax collectors" and they were excoriated for targeting "patriotic conservatives." Now we are reaping the whirlwind. The IRS Is understaffed, underfunded and unloved in Trumpland. It is bad enough that the GOP has totally given away the store to the oligarchs, the IRS won't be able to function in the future if hey have their way. No IRS, no tax revenue, no government! The Tea Party and the alt-Right then win (and we become Somalia)
21
Democrats did a bang up job with their health insurance exchange, thought, right? And that was just a front end.
3
A pretty pathetic attempt to score political points, AACNY, but I do have to give you credit for trying. Maybe stick to current events, though, rather than 8-year-old stuff. Makes you look outdated.
5
8 year old stuff, Zachary? You do know the exchanges did not go live until the Obama second term, right? Current events or math, you should not lecture on either.
1
It was probably intentional. Just like they cut police and fire if you don’t increase taxes, the IRS stops collecting tax receipts. Your government at work!
1
Sure! @theIRS no problem at all, I’ll keep that cash safe for you until 9999!
Also, now we know when Y2K 2.0 will be.
4
Will the IRS exist in 9999?
3
Better question, will the country?
8
Uh...”no”, is clearly the only answer to that question. I’d be surprised if there is another 100 years left on the clock. I’m not sure the planet will be able to host humans anyway by then, so whether the US exists at that point is moot.
1
Having spent 40 years in software development, it's comforting to know that even the IRS makes the same kind of bone head mistakes as the rest of us in the field made.
2
Part of the solution lies in putting a priority on upgrading the computer system. If that means transferring funds from doing audits, so be it. The fact is I was audited once and found the auditor to not have a ckue as to what is going on and started with the assumption I was guilty instead of the presumption of innocent so embedded in our country. The IRS auditors are arrogant people who are intent on fulfilling their quotas of getting more money out of us suckers.
That being said, there is a myth that today is the last day to file tax returns. As a matter of fact since the vast majority of taxpayers get refunds, any penalties are based not on when the return is filed but on the unpaid balances. Hence if you are due a refund, there is no balance due and even if you file late, there will be no penalties. And by filing form 4868, while you have to pay your estimated balance due, if you underestimate it the penalty is simply the failure to pay penalty, not the more onerous fail to file penalty.
Until the IRS properly allocates its priorities which is not harassing citizens with its army of incompetent auditors, basically the IRS is getting what it deserves and no I dutifully pay the taxes my reading of the tax law, which is just as good as the IRS's and do not wish to deal with some clown of an auditor who doesn't have a clue.
8
Most states that accept electronically filed returns require that the return first be accepted by IRS. (California is an exception.) What all these stories today are omitting is information on how states are going to handle returns that are not received until tomorrow.
6
States can take several days to accept electronically filed returns. Likely the IRS will be accepting them before NYS gets around to accepting returns filed days earlier.
1
Can we please see the blistering criticisms from Republicans when the brand-new Obamacare site had problems during the program's debut. The busiest tax day of the year has only been happening for a century.
14
The GOP plan at work: Reduce personnel, wait for some failure, promote the incompetence of the department, reduce funding, make the department marginal or ineffective, blame the Democrats. I'll bet a year's wages, mine or his, that Trump didn't need to send in any payment with his request for extension, because he owes no taxes.
13
What do you mean "last minute"? I still had 10 hours and 6 minutes before the deadline when I filed.
13
The I.R.S. commissioners have been warning Congress for years that a catastrophic failure was going to happen. What did they do? Cut the budget and the resources. So yes, the IRS needs modernizing. But Congress needs to be modernized and streamlined even more. It's clear that cut-and-slash ideology caused this failure, not computers or I.R.S. people.
28
We need "slash and cut" ideology at the polls next November when voting on Republican Congressmen.
2
Remember how disastrous we were told Y2K was going to be going from 1999 to 2000. Just imagine what going from 9999 to 10000 is going to be like. I can’t wait to see.
7
Since the maintenance is now apparently done, the year 10,000 should come any time now.
1
“There’s no greater example of government incompetence than the IRS e-file system and direct pay service being down on #TaxDay,” Joe Walsh, the former Republican congressman and conservative radio host, wrote in a post on Twitter.
Very funny coming from Joe Walsh, deadbeat dad.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/joe-walsh-child-support-unempl...
Quote:
During his unsuccessful campaign to be reelected to Congress, outspoken former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh could never quite live down the label of “deadbeat dad” — and on Monday, the issue of his child support payments resurfaced yet again.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported late Monday afternoon that Walsh, a Tea Party Republican favorite who represented Illinois’ 8th District, filed a request on Feb. 1 in Cook County Circuit Court to drastically reduce his child support obligation due to his employment being “terminated through no voluntary act of his own.”
End Quote
What he meant by “terminated through no voluntary act of his own” was that he lost his attempt to be re-elected.
13
I'm just waiting for Trump to trump up his now well worn excuse, "It's Obama's fault."
11
If I was Russian and wanted to strike America’s soft underbelly, I’d find out where the cash register was and hit that.
11
Maybe the IRS should update their Commodore 64 computers.
19
so...Russian Hackers?
7
nope, sorry, thx for playing.
Or some 400 pounder sitting on his couch.
Could this have been a cyberattack by the Russians?
6
Be aware that the unwise Republicans have cut the IRS budget repeatedly in recent years, and called the tax agency "partisan". They cripple yet another Federal Government service from being effective. Tax cheats have an easier time now.
This ranks right up with keeping the Federal gas tax at 18 cents/gallon for the last zillion years while car mileage has more than doubled and inflation has increased the cost of roadway building and maintenance.
What a bunch of stupid voters. You get what you deserve.
11
Only the Little People pay taxes, not trump :)
7
Thankfully, no lives were directly lost due to this instance of failure in public infrastructure. Maybe it is time for Republican politicians to reconsider what they are doing to this nation as they seek to curry favor with their oligarch bosses.
8
You been hacked, by Russians, again.
Is called sabotage.
You need to know how sabotage work.
6
No need for sabotage when the system is antiquated and they are understaffed. Unless you think of it as self sabotage.
1
September, 2016
1
Must be the fault of those millions and millions of illegal voters filing their taxes.
8
Where can we hit “like”?
2
Trumpie, What say you??
1
The IRS is one of our most crucial bureaucracies--I forget where I read this, but for every additional $1 Congress spends on the IRS, it gets about $17 dollars back in increased tax revenue. That is a ROI that is quite good, and Congress should definitely keep it going.
It is terrible that there are too many radical anti-tax zealots in the halls of Congress--to them we should pin the blame for this failure. Mostly because they seek starve the beast of government by denying it taxes, but then they don't shrink the beast at all, leading us to the worst of both worlds--more profligate government spending but done on the back of ballooning debt.
Ughhhh...to kick out irresponsible, profligate Republicans and bring back decent politicians who care for the welfare of government and the society that is underpinned by said government. That would be a radical, and desperately needed, departure indeed.
14
Yes, and the dollars have to go for not only infrastructure like IT but also for people. For every dollar in staff salary, $17 results. What agency can take a hit to the tune of losing 20,000 positions and continue to function adequately? Even the Trump Organization could not pull that off.
1
Article has been significantly re-written in the past hour to reflect 21st Century and a country’s infrastructure under attack.
1
yeah no. it's fixed. when in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
“President Trump was able to fix a broken tax system,” Mr. Mnuchin said.
Not exactly. By underfunding needed updates, Republicans broke a working tax system.
12
Why is it okay for website outage notices to say that the outage is planned, when it is quite obviously unplanned? It's not just the IRS—everyone does it. Drives me crazy.
2
But the Trumpet filed an extension. What, he doesn't have his act together? Shouldn't he have planned better for this day?
3
Do you think maybe he is having the same hard time keeping CPAs as he does keeping attorneys?
3
I paid my taxes early via the same system on April 2 and lo and behold they took the exact same amount out today...so now I am hugely overdrawn and was fined for it. Could the same system that is refusing to accept payments be double dipping for those who did?
3
Before shutting down, the IRS system was rejecting first time filers as "duplicates" and rejecting them. Somewhere in that glitch lies the cause of your double dipping.
There is NO reason to pay fees to get your taxes in on time. Fill out a check, write your SS number and "2017 1040" on the memo line and get it postmarked by the day they are due. If you want proof, send it Return Receipt and Certified. That way you have proof that it was mailed the day it was due and that's all that needs to happen. They don't have to have the check in hand, just a postmark for the day it was due.
That said, there's nothing wrong with waiting till the last day to pay your taxes and in fact there's no good reason to pay them early. All that does is take away the interest you can earn on your money and let the government earn it instead. And it's not like they pay you interest on your refund, which is just due to you because too much was taken out of your paycheck.
7
I do exactly what you outline here, but I paid last week. No lines at the post office. My time is money.
2
It is refreshingly optimistic that any federal agency believes that the grand democratic (small “d”) experiment of the United States of American will still exist on the cusp of the year 1,000,000 CE.
4
. . . Oops. . . I meant on the cusp of the year 10,000 CE . . . Still, refreshingly optimistic.
3
Lucky Mr Trump and unlucky us...the complexity of his tax return parallels that of his non-disclosure agreements... i should say alleged complexity because,we get to see neither..
3
Wow...I paid mine last night with 43 minutes to spare! What a hassle for folks!
4
Starve the IRS budget and see how their antique computer systems work!
We aren't customers, we're citizens.
17
One begins to wonder if this breakdown at the IRS is not part of the GOP/Trump's stated platform to kill government as we know it. I just don't think the sudden complete debilitation of whole parts of our system is happenstance. One then must ask why they want to tear down the system that holds this country in place, ensures democracy and strives (albeit imperfectly) towards equality and fairness. Why would Republicans want to end what makes us different and special from all other countries? The alternatives don't look good.
10
According to CNN, 65% of the wealthy have to pay up on tax day while 80% of the working poor get refunds. So wealthy procrastinators took the biggest hit. Is that a bad thing?
1
64 percentage points of the 65% you mention probably filed for extensions... They paid something with those extensions of course, but they'll file taxes Oct. 14.
Name:
Just because you file an extension doesn't mean you don't have to pay estimated tax owed on time. Many wealthy people include large checks with their extensions.
We need to support this vital national bureaucracy better. All the cutbacks to the agency in recent years are not well thought out--this is the money our government runs on. We need a nimble, efficient system to collect current and past-due taxes.
18
Once again, the Republicans set fire to the house, and then complain that the fire brigade was unable to put the fire out.
The IRS is broken on purpose, just like the postal service is broken on purpose. Republicans do not want government to work for the people, but for polluters, tax cheats, banksters, and Wall street fraudsters.
96
Is the IRS one of those government agencies still using Windows XP?
4
I feel better now as one of the old geezers who still mails in his forms and pays by check. At least I will have cancelled checks to show if audited.
9
If those mailed checks make it to their destination. Stealing checks is still easier than hacking.
"Starve the government until it is small enough to drown in the bathtub". Grover Norquist, that Paragon of Patriotism. Mission Accomplished
21
The New York Times coverage of this hack is disgraceful. Guys, this is an attack on our cyber infrastructure by a hostile foreign government, and you don’t even raise the possibility in your story. You do cover the Kudlow jokes, so there is that. You are becoming a big part of the story.
4
Trump doesn't care--he doesn't pay taxes anyway, so why not just rescind them. If the President doesn't have to pay, why should we?
12
File your taxes early so this kind of crazy stuff doesn't happen to you.
4
It was bad enough that the IRS didn't have my forms on hand. I had to keep going back and then I got Xerox copies so I had to pay extra postage to file them. The IRS is now incompetent. What is happening to this government? They want us to file and then make it impossible.
3
Larry Kudlow is a joke. He's hanging out at tax payer funded golf outing and the guidance he has to offer is "“Sounds horrible. Sounds really bad. Hope they fix it." I'm guessing Mr. Kudlow doesn't do his own taxes then. The IRS should audit Kudlow and Mar-a-Lago just out of spite. After rushing a partisan tax bill, you really shouldn't put the heat back on bean counters. An unwise decision if you ask me.
8
When will it be announced that the deadline has been extended because of the "glitch'? Or don't they care and will just penalize everyone who couldn't get through today?
Just asking...
I recall when the ACA’s website rolled out to volcanic-like criticism. President Obama was all but run out of town on a fence-rail. Can we expect similar anger from citizens (and Republicans) about this (Trump) government website failure? Or is this just a glitch?
9
Considering the volume of returns that the IRS deals with, I think they do an amazingly good job processing all of them, particularly after the Republicans have starved the agency to prove that government can't do anything. I have had better experience with the IRS than with a lot of private firms that handle far fewer accounts.
17
True! And they sure work faster than my state of residence.
2
Wait, what if I come back as instructed on January 1, 10000 and there is a Y10K bug so that I still can’t pay? Will the IRS waive the $237 million in interest charges on the $44.12 I owe for 2017?
10
For those wondering how Russia would respond to our expelling 60 dips, standing with the UK on the attack against the Russian and his daughter, and the American/British/French bombing of Syrian chemical weapons facilities, we have our answer.
1
The IRS uses a Clinton RX 2016 super computer made by IBM.
Today Trump filed for a TAX REFUND for 2017.
The RX 2016 just freaked out and blew up.
Jarad is there now trying to fix it.
4
"Note that your tax payment is due although although IRS Direct Pay may not be available.
As a liberal, I hate to admit that Reagan was right
Government is the Problem,
If any, that is ANY private collecting agency would have posted such a message it would be suit in court - and lose the case with ANY jury.
1
Unless you've seen it firsthand, whether with the IRS, Justice or any other big government agency with prosecutorial power, it's hard to imagine how imbalanced the power structure is.
They come down like a sledgehammer with little accountability for their own misbehavior. The responsibility of holding them accountable often falls on republicans. I'm glad someone is doing it.
We don't seem to be asking many questions. Cyber attack?
2
Russian response to Syria attack.
Yeah, no. Good hackers would take the money, not leave a stupid error message.
1
I cannot fathom how any government on earth would not prioritize its legal right to collect taxes. Perhaps it's because the rich GOP and their powerful supporters think they have less chance of being audited by a skeleton crew.
11
The millions of illegal aliens who voted for Hillary Clinton have simultaneously filed fraudulent tax returns crashing IRS servers according to Fox News reports.
As President Trump told the most massive inauguration crowd in world history, once Mexico pays for that border wall, stuff like this won't happen.
7
Really Fox News? Thanks for your diligence!
"The crash was reminiscent of the problems that plagued the Affordable Care Act’s online health insurance exchange under President Barack Obama."
Not a fair comparison. The ACA problems occurred when the site, which was dealing with an exceptionally complex set of regulations, went live for the first time. In contrast, tax day electronic filing has been in operation for years. Perhaps a better place to look would be the constant decreases in IRS funding.
16
Nonsense. The Obamacare exchange was terribly managed. Not even tested before being rolled out. A debacle if there ever was one.
I do wish that, with the ongoing news reports of people's identities being stolen when they simply attempt to pay their taxes, the federal and state agencies would stop stressing how supposedly "secure" e-filing is. Their ads often start with the word. Simply put, it isn't.
1
Be aware that the IRS might record your quarterly payments incorrectly. Somehow my $500 check got credited as $5.
13
I made a double payment by mistake and they caught it even before I did, and sent a refund for the overpayment.
3
Can’t Trump fix this?
11
He caused it because they've discovered income he hasn't reported
1
Didn’t he say “I alone can fix it”?
6
He broke it.
1
Maybe the IRS systems are being run by the geniuses who brought us healthcare.gov. The should move over to Amtrak where they can help kill more people.
5
ew. does not sound like a midwesterner to me. are you a transplant from Philly?
2
We always were told that nothing in life is certain except for death and taxes. Does this mean taxpayers get a life extension until at least January 1, 10000?
18
Um...this has Russia written all over it.
20
Not necessarily. It has starve-the-beast written all over it, too.
3
yes because it says "planned outage". what a great russian sense of humor!
It's either complete incompetence, which seems to be the norm now, or it's the Russians attacking again.
So, the grifters Mnuchin and Ivanka journeyed to New Hampshire to applaud the tens of thousands they will personally recoup as a result of their Plutocratic Tax Plan. Was this campaign event paid for by American taxpayers? It would be shocking if it wasn't.
23
"There's no greater example of government incompetence" then slashing an organization's budget, dumping a lot of extra work on it, and then expecting it to perform as normal.
Joe Walsh sounds like every horrible manager and stupid boss I've ever met.
68
Don't wait until the last day to write your term paper. I learned that in freshman year.
11
True, I did try to start mine early. BUT there were people who pulled all-nighters who got As. Never worked for me. I always needed my ZZZs, even if the usual eight became six the night before an exam.
1
Probably why the Big T delayed filing his. Geez, can't he afford an accountant?
8
During the government shutdowns, the EFTPS system worked just fine.
2
And the FDIC in the last bank crisis, too.
1
I don't know which is the worst option - that our government is this incompetent or that the IRS was hacked.
12
These options are not mutually exclusive.
It’s not just the IRS. The whole payments system lingers in the technology dark ages.
To explain to readers on the outside how the payments system in the US works: Paper checks are still being mailed and when you set up an electronic payment, the country’s largest bank actually snailMAILS a check to your payee.
Real electronic payments are onerous and need to be initiated on the Payee End by filling out THEIR form and waiting for them to activate the system from their side, not by the Payer with the simple facts: bank routing number and account number. They pull the funds out, you don’t push it to them.
This bank had introduced all kinds of systems “sending” money using your payee’s cell phone number, their email... then your payee has to log in and retrieve the funds...everything to avoid simple fast “my bank account to your bank account” immediate payment transfers, with the option to email a receipt. You can transfer money between your own accounts at the bank, but there is no provision to add a memo explaining why.
US debit cards have pin numbers, but credit cards without them was a dumb idea from the start.
It makes dealing with ticket machines a real challenge. Bank issued Mastercard and Visa outside the US have pin numbers, but the cards they offered in the US did not.
Giving the IRS credit, they have been depositing your refund directly into your bank account for years. Paying them is annoying in more ways than one.
6
Your description is about 10 years old. The current payment system has several inexpensive or free options for same day funds transfers. Even when mailed, checks typically get scanned and imaged within 2-3 days of mailing and then cleared same day. Large and medium billers now offer apps that offer practically instant crediting of your payment with actual funds to follow next day. These changes are a result of 9-11 and realization by Feds of our reliance on planes, trains and automobiles.
I really doubt the IRS issue was a hack. The IRS itself is not on the Web and has very limited, tightly controlled entry points, even for authorized vendors. What we think is the IRS on web is not the real thing. It is more like the National Archives. It is slow, reading parchment, but you cannot hack it. The old technology itself limits activities even if you get entry. It is just slow.
Wealthy people simply mail in the return. A postmark is all you need to make IRS delays work in your favor. No it is people that get refunds that electronically file on the last day. How much sense does that make?
3
I rather doubt it's hacking. The IRS uses ancient computer languages such as COBOL, Fortran, Assembler variants, etc. Not many hackers can use them.
On the other hand, maybe the FBI should look into suspicious activity in nursing homes.
25
Don't dis FORTRAN
1
FORTRAN was the best engr computer language in the early 80's. Assembler, also. God I miss those days.
2
Oh my goodness. I’m going to have to print out my return, write a check. and mail them. Nobody’s done that since the Stone Age.
5
You write a check and mail it if you are paying a sizable amount. If you're expecting a refund, you file electronically.
1
Yeah, yeah, the usual Trump suspect, Obama. Coming soon. Sigh.
6
So it's unavailable from now until September 22, 2016. They've obviously caught on to my trick of traveling back in time to postmark my return by the due date. Darn.
10
Interesting...
"IRS - Direct Pay" and "Predict - Syria" are anagrams...
Close enough for me - let's bomb something really relevant this time around, like the MySpace building in Damascus...
Beyond that, only one thing to do...
Party like it's 9999...
9
I don't know how this applies to electronic payments, but I have in the past mailed my tax returns (am probably one of last people on earth doing paper returns) a day late because I either wasn't ready on the deadline or, more likely, I couldn't stand the lines at post office on deadline day. So went a day later when lines shorter. Never got any complaints, fines, penalties, etc. from feds or state.
So if these people want to just mail a check tomorrow I doubt they will have any problems. Alternatively, could just wait and do epayment when system is working, but I have no idea what consequences of that might be if the system is down for a long time.
5
Me too. I used to mail my returns at the nearest local mailbox on tax day. I also never got a complaint or penalized in any way.
I also never put in the 00's you're supposed to put in cents column for every entry. WHY?! Everything goes smoothly without them.
Does anyone know if the general post office on 8th Ave. backdates the postmark after midnight at the end of tax day for "late" returns?
This doesn't look like a glitch, but more like a hack. Note the crazy time and dates. Another reason not to procrastinate, I guess.
16
O fer. It's not a hack. If I were the Russians or some fat guy in mom's basement hacking this, I'd make it look normal, but have the money paid to me. This is just stupid stuff. A plain old error. Never ascribe to malice that which is easily explained by low paid, harried, poorly educated software geeks.
It's obviously a hack. We'll be told the truth as soon as Trump yields to more blackmail from Putin. Bingo!
Maybe Trump should declare a special day to mourn the US becoming a third-world nation: Its tax system doesn't work; its civil servants are under-strength, under-paid and harassed by politicians; its military measures are a laughing-stock after the recent strikes on Syria; its cabinet officials are corrupt; and the head of state is a pathological liar and con man fixated on a military parade.
104
The body of the announcement also says it goes until September 2016.
9
That is a hoot and a half!!! Maintenance is either done before it's started or it will be done when the sun burns out! Too funny (if you've already paid your taxes)!!!
13
If you head towards the Sun at maximum warp and then slingshot around it you can travel back in time to Sept. 2016.
4
thx for the tip!
Only in this administration would senior people like Larry Kudlow be able to joke with out consequences about the IRS glitch. Hopefully it's not going to be too tough to get it straightened out. It's probably going to be a nightmare for IRS employees and the taxpayer's whose returns were not processed correctly.
19
I hope no one is really thinking this is a "planned outage". For one the header indicates a maintenance window of almost 8000 years ... And the body of the text states a negative window - starting today they would complete the outage in September 2016.
Maybe the Russian hackers travel back and forth in time.
15
I hate time travelers!
8
As a law abiding citizen, I will follow the instructions and try to pay taxes again on December 31, 9999.
Assuming I am available, which I should be, as I am a Chilean citizen and the last time I asked for an ID card, they specified January 1st, 1800 as my DOB.
22
Apparently the singularity in life expectancy occurs in the next 20 years. Re:Ray Kurzweil. If you can endure until then, by 2050 we should live forever.
Just don't die!
4
Good American! Keep up the struggle!
Pay taxes and stay out of American Prisons!
1
They don’t mention it, but the $15 convenience fee to pay by credit card is a nice twist of the knife.
12
In Utah, state tax will cost approx 25% to pay by Credit Card. Luckily I had electronic cash units in my Credit Union account.
2
Why on earth are Americans paying charges to pay taxes? It’s bad enough to pay Intuit to use their Turbo Tax 1040 software, but whenthey demanded an extra $26 something to e-file a State Return,
I balked, printed it out, and snailmailed it. Filing a tax return on line should be easy, free, fast... and straight into where it is supposed to go.
Message to Turbo Tax: Your consistent year after year acceptance of my foreign address,
but not my foreign phone number in your little boxes, is really getting on my nerves.
Another message to Turbotax. If US citizens have to file US tax returns from every corner on the planet, what was behind your unwillingness to accept foreign credit cards?
Message to Congress: Why are US Corporations who are “People” now enjoying Residence Based Taxation, but not US People who are “People”? GOP tax “Reform” was a joke for every US Citizen living outside the US... and we Vote.
4
Going to Canada.
16
Okay see ya!
1
Obviously, IRS should extend filing period for a day if it is able.
5
Yup. Tax day and can't get access IRS website until a date a year and a half ago (Sept 2016?).
5
Russia, if you're listening, we think you hacked the IRS systems. You now have access to Trump's taxes - all of it. We got to see 30 years of taxes paid from Hillary. Please do share Trump's taxes with us, the US electorate. Maybe release them through WikiLeaks or better still maybe on Facebook. We never ever got to see them like Trump had initially promised. But you already know that. So maybe we can now. Russia please do step up!!
LOL
59
why would you want a russia hack? and for what? to see his taxes? donald j trump has paid more in taxes than several of the most richest people combined. thats what you get when you're one of the worlds most successful businessmen.
let is go. im sure crooked hilarys taxes are hiding a lot. how many many times did she speak for bankers or at graduation ceremonies ? and yet they're poor. makes no sense
1
What business is President Trumps' tax returns to you? You can barely understand your business.
1
From one Joe Walsh to another:
https://www.google.com/search?q=joe+walsh+life%27s+been+good&oq=Joe+...
Actually I think Joe Walsh only ran for Vice-President. He didn't want to actually do any work. maybe only collect guitars.
If the return is accepted, e-filers can print out the1040-V voucher that the program generates and mail it with a check.
As I understand it, a payment with tomorrow's postmark would be a late payment under the IRS's "mailbox rule." So the trick at this point might be finding a post-office that is still open and can provide today's date as the postmark.
2
I have mailed my returns a day late and never had any complaints.I didn't really care whether I got fined, but I didn't have fines, penalties or interest imposed.
5
The IRS is happy to take your donations to the war machine! A day late, okay no problem!
2
elliennyc EXACTLY! I have always thought for the "little people" this has always been a sham. A sort of "honor system" built on ffear of the bog bad boogeyman I.R.S. - gotta reach that deadline lemming style.
It means nothing . I've paid late and owed them and was never fined.
They probably just don't have the resources to review things.
1
If you could post a check to the USPS by midnight to night there would be no problem. Perhaps Amazon could workout a deal with the IRS too provide the service.
7
Well, that's one way to make up for some of the new deficit.....late fees!
12
Thanks O-Trump. The US post office is just the IRS delivery boy.
1
I just went there and it seems to be up.
2
what fun is that?
2
Simply write a check and put it in the mail for a postmark by midnight tonight.
Problem solved. No extension necessary.
This is a non-problem, being blown all out of proportion by the media.
Relax.
6
mmm. I think it's funny, not blown out of proportion....
1
Sorry that the IRS site has crashed. But I have to say, I can't help feeling just a teeny bit smug, having filed my taxes EARLY this year (for a change) -- filed them electronically, without a hitch, late Saturday evening.
5
Wait, what, Saturday not very early and not that long ago!
1
Put my stamp on the envelope, stuck it in the mail - no problem!
5
Well since the Obamacare website was definitely all Obama's fault according to the histrionic media with Michael Shear of this paper infamously calling it "Obama's Katrina", surely the media is primed to blame the crashing of the IRS website that has never happened before on Trump? Somehow, that is not what I am reading...just a computer glitch hey when GOP is in charge? Sickened by our polluted tilted media that overreacts to every conservative concocted horror when Democrats are in charge but never blames a GOP president no matter what happens.
32
Looks like a cyber attack to me
3
A glitch? Or perhaps hacking from abroad? Doesn't bode well for our elections.
3
You didn't vote in the the 2016 Presidential elections, my Soviet contacts tell me! Don't worry, we voted for you!
1
The IRS should just extend the deadline by 2 days. They have this mechanism in place for victims of natural disasters and such already. Why not give procrastinators a break as well?
18
Frankly, I don't think they bother looking at postmarks until quite a bit of time has passed -- and I think that's even more likely now with the pressure they are under with budget cuts,new tax laws, etc.
2
So the Russians succeeded in hacking the IRS now? I hope you don't think that alert message is actually from the IRS. Though the header says December 31, 1999, the maintenance window called out in the body of the text goes backwards. So folks, it's positively a hack.
9
It says December 31, 9999 not 1999.
5
Not to worry, mail the check directly to Mar a Lago- those golf vacations don't pay for themselves. Or better still, mail them directly to the boss in the Kremlin. Save the bank fees.
101
Let's party till it's 9999!!
24
Well, this year has been taxing enough with Trump (a paradox considering he doesn't pay his taxes), so might as well party like it's 9999.
12
Cue the Trump rants to have the IRS privatized by some of his fellow grifters in the spirit of "public-private partnership". I shirk when I hear this description; however, expect Sean Hannity on Fox "News" to schedule ( from payola ?) the next several days to criticize the IRS outage as a diversion for his legal "problems" which likely fall into the same category as Trump and Broidie with their fixer Cohen.
8
The requirement to spend hours filling in forms and calculating is a travesty. The government already has all the data it needs to calculate what you owe ... they should just send me a bill together with a statement. Only then if I don't agree would I have to appeal. That's the way it goes for my friends in England.
Maybe let TurboTax run the IRS ...
9
Understand but maybe the Gov't doesn't know everything about you. They give you an opportunity to chime in and reduce your representative tax bill. Happy?
1
December 31, 9999.
That is the day Trump will pay his taxes.
It is also the day when hell freezes over.
31
Given the widespread reporting on this week's Russian efforts at cyber attack -- said to include homes -- can anyone say this isn't because of that?
9
I e-filed my taxes in this last Sunday. Received confirmation within a couple of hours. No problem at all. Of course, now we have Donald Trump in the White House and the Republicans in charge of Congress. There is a lot of messiness in the new tax bill. No surprise we're having difficulties. Expect more.
1
We have a representative republic government. President Trump is not the problem. The representatives we elected are. Are they doing the job we expect?
1
Oh,the last-minute tax rush!
Felt good back in the day, but in Trump's America,I wouldn't risk it or anything else at all.
In fact,this year I 'procrastinated' and did my taxes at end of March and still that had me nervous, because without fail for a decade, I have completed my taxes and received my refund by Mid-Feb, but something about this year,I just couldn't quite catch up.
2
Uhmm, if you did your taxes near the end of March, yet received a refund in mid Feb??? Time Traveler?
1
Okay my bad, you did them in previous years early, but not this year. You cool, love you!
I looked at your first response quizzically and had no response because I figured you perhaps were too hasty in your reply. But it made me chuckle, so you aight!
*still chortling*
I did it the old fashioned way, I mailed them a check. It's never failed me. Even the good old USPS has never lost it.
5 years ago, it would often take them a month to cash the check. Now it takes less than a week.
4
That's cause Trump needs every one of our dimes--for himself!
Wasn't this in Mr. Kushner's portfolio? Fix all the outdated stuff???
19
IRS has been hacked. Don't send any money to the IRS - it will go to Russian hackers.
1
Maybe the employees of the underfunded IRS will stage a prolonged walk-out, like the teachers in our underfunded school system. That's the only recourse when elected officials don't represent the public.
8
Federal employees are fired if they try a walkout. Remember the air traffic controlers strike under Reagan?
But they are true professionals. Did you listen to the audio of that Southwest flight coming into Philadelphia after the engine blew and shrapnel penetrated the plane. The (female) pilot was unflappable--a veteran, former Navy F18 fighter pilot. And the air traffic controller was equably unflappable, despite all the other flights he was controlling.
We really do not appreciate our civil servants. Agencies are being bled dry. We often find out how valuable and high quality their services have been after they deteriorate or disappear.
3
Maybe them Russian hackers are not so bad after all
2
President Trump filed for Extension, why? He could have easily wait till new date 12/31/9999 & pay nothing as usual.
8
Is this another example of Russian hackers' humor?
9
Despite the frustration of what is likely a heavily overloaded system as a result of last minute filers, the Trump Republican Tax Bill is a highly regressive bill serving mostly giant once American companies (now called "multi-nationals"), and moves about $1.4 trillion, mostly from the dwindeling middle class to the super rich. Google the recent article entitled "The Republican tax bill got worse: now the top 1% gets 83% of the gains". To make matters worse, this bill meets the agenda of the like's of the Koch Brothers and their megalithic propaganda machine and fake "representatives" who use their money to get elected and push their self serving greed. The Trump Republican Tax Bill literally steals from the rich to give to the poor, who now more than ever, don't need a tax break. The same people who pushed this like Ryan, McConnell and mostly the Goldman Alumni in the White House and Trump don't care that this bill creates massive debt, something Ryan and so many of the Koch Republicans promised they were against. Hypocrisy? Yes, but the corruption has run deep for a long time. If we end up with a fascist, authoritarian neo-nazi police state, it is because good people didn't get into action, vote, drive voters to polling stations, volunteer at phone banks, protest, post truth on social media and challenge the so called "news" networks that report anything other than what real journalism calls for, unbiased, ethics based, TRUTH!
23
Obviously a plot, to get Red State Americans in Huuuuuge Trouble. The prime suspect being Hillary Clinton. Lock her UP !!!
8
Work of Russian hackers?
9
Peter-That went through my head too....
3
No. Probably the result of farming out software work to India, where they don't know much, get paid much or care much.
2
It's a tossup. Will he claim executive privilege or just pardon himself for not filing?
3
It's all due to Trumps extension. The computer system had a total meltdown. " Taxpayer Identification Number Invalid". As in, never paid before. Just saying.
9
I have a novel idea. Maybe it will catch on. Send in a check. OMG! What a great idea.
4
Can I write it on a dead fish, and address it to the White House?
2
I was wondering who hired that guy in Hawaii after he was let go due to the false missle alarm.
52
Sorry, this is not funny. He was also dealing with a system with no safeguards and fail safe and no expeditious method to reverse the mistake. He took the fall for others' incompetence and failure to adequately plan.
2
I'm sure I can simply read Thoreau and everything will be A-ok.
2
'Nobody knew collecting taxes could be so complicated.' But still, it's so great. The best in history, folks, the best ever. Trust me, best ever. They're doing a fantastic job, fantastic. It's because I only hire the very best people.
https://www.salon.com/2017/11/13/while-you-werent-looking-trump-just-app...
9
Should include the salon article title---
"While you weren’t looking, Trump just appointed a tax evasion expert to head the IRS
As “interim director” of IRS, former Ernst and Young partner David Kautter, won’t have to face a Senate vote."
All Trump courtiers will undermine the purpose of their office.
4
"Planned Outage" indeed. This whole country is on a planned outage, for a long time. Gas prices soaring back up, internet hacked and crashing, and Trump is headed for another golf outing.
21
If this glitch were happening under Obama, the Republican members of Congress would be blaming it on him.
I don't know of any Democrats in office blaming this on Trump.
Why? Because Democrats have more integrity.
8
I guess you haven't read the comments. See directly below.
2
In Reply to Somebody:
In my comment I was careful to say that I don't know of any Democrats in office blaming this on Trump. I don't think that any of the comments below, which I had read before posting my own comment, were from elected officials, Please read my posts, and those of others, carefully. Thank you.
1
I had a double hit - my previously-scheduled 2017 payment was withdrawn twice by the IRS, with different legends, from my bank account. Wonder if there's a connection...
4
Hey Jim From Colorado
I was also double hit!!
Now this...money being withdrawn twice might suggest some kind of nefarious activity or an issue greater than a temporary system shutdown.
1
No problem for Trump. He never pays taxes.
4
Is anyone surprised that the criminally incompetent Trump administration crashed their IRS direct pay website on Tax Day? This is the kind of service that we've come to expect from such a criminally corrupt administration.
There's no money in the Trump administration for government services and the people. There's only a transfer of stolen riches from the Treasury in the form of welfare payments from the middle-class and poor to the bloated billionaires and corporations.
8
I doubt humanity is going to make it until 9999. If Trump has his way we won't make it to 2019.
9
Guess I won't have to wait for a new MasterCard then.
1
The real story about the IRS will be next year, when anyone who took deductions totaling more than $12,000, along with half the populations of NY, NJ, MA, CA and a few other (mostly) blue states, will pay higher taxes. (If your state and property taxes total more than $10,000, you are in this bill’s crosshairs)
I went to my tax guy this spring as I’ve been doing for the past 9 years, and he told me not to bother next year, the tax bill is putting him out of business and my taxes will go up.
Of course the counter-argument is, why don’t blue states just cut taxes? Well, in the case of the great State of New York, we can’t. We send $42,000,000,000 more to Washington every year than we get back in federal spending. So in addition to paying for our own schools, roads, healthcare, etc., we are paying for those things in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and every other state that hate liberals, hates the government, but will gladly take my money!
Thanks, GOP!
209
That's great Thanks! Dems are all about those being able to pay doing so. New York should send even more money to the feds. Good to see liberals putting their money where their mouths are.
1
The Tea Party's rise will further impoverish red states by cutting social spending, while blue states will be busy trying to protect themselves from attacks like the new tax bill.
If the GOP thinks this will all be fine, they are whistling past the graveyard.
1
States like NY and MD have a 50/50 state /federal match for Medicaid. States like those mentioned have an 80 federal/20 state match. I don't mind helping my poorer country-persons. I do resent the disingenuous residents and leaders in those states who bash the Feds, the blue states and anything wreaking of the Affordable Care Act, while some of the same states take advantage of expanded Medicaid under ACA and others refuse to do so on "principle."
4
The text of the message indicates the site would be available on Sep 22, 2018. Someone goofed when creating the subject (banner) text. Nonetheless, taking such a site offline for “maintenance” just before a critical filing date does not make sense.
Was the site hacked?
1
Prey tell, Why would anyone wait until the very last second to pay their taxes? Even more to the point, they've had two extra days to do it!
That tells me more about too many Americans than it does about our over-worked and hugely underfunded IRS.
9
RLC.....I always wait until the last day for a variety of reasons, mostly because I've dedicated my life to the art and joy of procrastination...I'm also a CPA.
But TurboTax and the USPS were both working fine today.
Different strokes for different folks, my friend.
9
I love turbotax / macintax.
1
Everyone should be able to file taxes on a post card. 10% tax on all income. No credits, deductions, etc.... The 70K employee agency could be reduced to 10K employees.
6
But then how could various third parties make money off of the system? This is America, where everything is a profiteering opportunity, even our tax system.
6
This is hilarious. People are complaining and getting upset because the IRS won't take their money? Lordy. I always mail mine so that I can hold onto my cash as long as possible.
8
Keep in mind this is basically Trump's fault. He's head of the executive branch, the IRS is a federal agency, he paid no attention to the fact that it was tax time because, for all we know, he doesn't pay taxes.
At any rate, I feel for the millions of stranded, desperate procrastinators, and I'm really glad I mailed my checks in this morning.
23
Trump : This is your fault. If you're going to grab the glory, you also MUST take the blame. That's how it works, Big Boy. Seriously.
139
Trump is acting out just as he did as a teenager, that when is parents decided they needed to send him to military school because Trump was unmanageable at home.
When are the American people, and most all of the congressman and the senators of both parties, going to send Trump out of our Whitehouse back into the role of private citizen ?
Trump filed for an extension. C'mon!
37
Maybe he couldn't find someone to do them for him, the same way he can't find a lawyer.
1
I don't have to pay any more taxes until 12/31/9999, i.e. the rest of my life?
This Trump tax plan is great.
Thank you, Mr. President.
75
If the temporary director of the IRS ever goes before a Congressional committee, he should answer every question with the same words: "When you provide us with the funds for systems, personnel, and infrastructure." The funding of the IRS has been consistently cut back.
60
Yes, people forget how much the current and past governments starved their own agencies and departments of needed IT spending.
3
For Republicans eager to call the IRS incompetent, remember that the IRS budget has been starved for years. Why? So all the grifters will avoid paying taxes.
77
Come back on December 31, 9999? I'll gladly take that extension.
17
Sadly, this outage exemplifies this Administration, Ideology, and GOP. In "normal" times we would have written this off but the first though that occurred to me on see this was that traffic was being redirected to the Kremlin.
15
Trump requests extension- one of the headlines. You cant make this stuff up.
25
Well that's got to be fake news though. Trump doesn't pay taxes.
7
Say what? They were not ready for the 'roll-out'?
Will we hear the same screams of incompetence directed at the Obama administration? Don't hold your breath...
9
What a conundrum for the GOP -- you want so badly to cut the budgets of those nasty government agencies, but you need to be able to collect taxes so you can transfer that money to your patrons.
144
Not too surprising given that the GOP has been cutting the IRS's budget to the bone.
Makes it easier for all Trump's cronies and corporate honchos to avoid audits and get away with tax evasion....
76
There's no excuse to file this late, even if you owe money. My return was filed electronically weeks ago - but what I owed was only deducted from my bank account this morning. Maybe if we funded our Government agencies properly they would be working better. We cut their budgets, then holler when nothing works. Just like Kansas.
50
No excuse, other than, you know, that that's the deadline… If they wanted an earlier deadline, they should have set one.
3
Filing taxes on April 17 is not filing late.
I thought Jared was going to fix the IRS and government technology? I guess he's been too busy meeting with his lawyers and landing bank loans for the family business to look into all of that.
101
On top of bringing peace to the Middle East.
5
Russians? Everything else The Times talks about includes Russians, why no suggestion they are behind this?
4
Could be hacked. Or could be because Congress has starved this agency for years. While you try to pay your taxes (and you know they'll extend the deadline to make up for this glitch), think about the billions in uncollected taxes that result from the failure to invest properly in this essential agency.
26
I suspect if they go to one hard-to-find part of the sql code, and put in an end date < 9999, then go change the error message to 2018, it will be fixed.
You are welcome.
The other possibility is that they left themselves open to a sql injection and someone put in 9999. Maybe some guy in his mom's basement? in Uzbekistan?
Maybe Vladimir Putin can use help the IRS by using his hackers for good instead of evil.
12
"Technical" problem or hacking by Russia?
52
I bet Amazon or Google can run the IRS much more efficiently and for half the cost. They already know everything about us. As for me, I'm happy about the glitch. Hopefully my money will stay in my bank account for another day or two.
8
Half the cost; twice the personal data.
4
And what evidence do you have for that?
1
Amazon would let you direct part of your tax payment to an Amazon Prime membership.
Google would fill out your return, file it, collect the tax, then show you websites that people with a similar tax return found interesting.
4
Hint: Don't wait 'till the last minute.
7
And use USPS.
3
Evidently the author stopped reading the error message after reading its headline (that the “planned outage” would last until the year 9999). The small print below is even stranger (if such is possible). It says that the outage started today but will end in the past (September 2016). It then asks the user to return after that September 2016 date.
Leaving aside the obvious: that the users who tried and failed to use the system actually did use it after September 2016 — who knew that outages can go backwards in time? If only we all could. The election would then have gone the other way.
109
I am pretty sure time travel by one day is sufficient to avoid the "outage". No need to travel by whopping two years back to 2016 (and out of the filing season).
1
The impossible date range is what probably caused the Dec. 31, 9999 message. The program didn't check to make sure the end data was past the start date, which created a negative duration. That in turn triggered an overflow that set the variable to the largest date value that it can store: Dec. 31, 1999
3
On December 31, 1999, Americans were worried about the Y2K bug. It looks like the IRS, by invoking December 31, 9999, is trying to prepare America for the Y10K crisis.
16
A Cobol programmer made so much money doing Y2K remediation that he was able to have himself cryogenically frozen when he died. One day in the future, he was unexpectedly resurrected.
When he asked why he was unfrozen, he was told:
"It's the year 9999 - and you know Cobol
4
Everyone should be given a one week extension.
27
I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?
139
Nah, I don't think it was Trump.
3
There are beds that weigh 400 pounds?
1
Ha!
I wonder if this is a cyber attack as mentioned on the front page of NYT today?
17
Yes, cyber attack. All the hallmarks. There is absolutely nobody at the IRS who would write such a message. Also there is no US citizen who would say ET rather than EDT or EST.
Putin outlawed daylight savings in 2014. Russians don't have to deal with it there, so might miss it here, despite good English skills.
I e-filed early, back in late February. Anticipating at least 2-3 weeks for my refund to be processed, I was stunned when the refund was processed and electronically transferred to my account within 4 days. That seemed highly competent and efficient to me. Perhaps the flood of last-minute filers overtaxed a system that the GOP has starved to the bone and wants to destroy?
165
Yep, and I bet you could have lied through your teeth and maybe even owed them (not saying you did) and they wouldn't have the resources to know otherwise or do anything about it. What you call efficiency I have a suspicion is just rubber stamping the paperwork on through without batting an eyelash.
Since we are talking about processing God knows how many returns by means of computer systems, I seriously doubt there's any actual "rubber stamping the paperwork. . .without batting an eyelash". I would imagine the programming is designed to red flag outright errors and, um, obvious irregularities. I really don't know.
Yes, Ignatius, there are less resources to audit and find cheaters, like Trump, who pays no taxes because he's "smart," because Republicans keep cutting the IRS budget. And every dollar they cut from IRS costs the governed $7 increasing the debt you pretend to care about whenever you don't control the purse strings.
The IRS received $11.2 billion in funding in 2017, which was a decrease of more than $900 million since 2010.
The agency has lost the equivalent of around 18,000 full-time positions in that time, including some 3,000 in the taxpayer services division and 4,000 in the enforcement division.
The Republican Congress has worked hard for decades to ensure that that the IRS cannot do its job, that people don't pay their fair share, that government is NOT properly funded and that there are not enough revenues to support basic government functions.
Government nihilism, collapse and bankruptcy: GOP 2018
Nice GOPeople.
407
Fewer IRS specialists to review Suspicious Activity Reports submitted by banks to catch money laundering and tax evasion. By design?
24
Or, perhaps, the IRS should be able to leverage technology to do more with less, you know, like the entire private sector? $900 million sounds like a lot until you realize it is an 8% decrease in funding.
2
Did you think that maybe 18,000 full time positions was too much.
Maybe the goal-post was too wide?
1
The website glitch is not so much an example of governmental incompetence, as Joe Walsh says, but of Congressional incompetence. It's like Walsh and his ilk are playing a game of cutting and cutting our government to see how long it takes to bleed. The IRS outage is one part of the answer.
252
It's all part of "Starve the Beast." Cut taxes, slash budgets, then blame the resulting problems on government inefficiency. Rinse and repeat. It's a shameful game the GOP plays with our democracy.
13
Actually, you are incorrect. The outage is only the tip of the iceberg - the IRS is incompetent to the core. There are few that have a clue, administration is bloated beyond belief, and the agents work about about 6 hours.
And Democrats let them play this game without calling them out on it, and without trying to do the right thing, because the Republicans might call them socialists, which they always do anyway.
Maybe they should borrow some I.T. staffers from LL Bean or Amazon. :-)
13
Or borrow some I.T. staffers from Moscow/St Pete, which is likely why there is a so-called glitch to begin with, lol.
14
Nope. Can't afford 'em.
Nobody likes to pay taxes, but let's acknowledge that the IRS is underfunded and you can't expect them to run a first class data processing system on a shoestring.
The way to fix the IRS is to give it the resources to have the best systems and the best people so that all tax issues can be addressed efficiently and intelligently. It's not going away, so we may as well make it the best it can be.
You wouldn't go to a dentist who was underpaid, overworked, derided and insulted on a daily basis and used the oldest equipment, would you?
Think about it.
299
All of our government agencies are underfunded. There's an $11 or $12 Billion maintenance backlog in the National Park Service alone. The Forest Service is underfunded, as is the Bureau of Land Management. And that's just in the Interior Department ...
13
I should clarify: The Forest Service is in the Agriculture Department, but its budget is actually set by the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.
5
But hey! Defense is doing quite well, thank you.
11
Trump spends his time in office ranting and raving. Congress spends their time obstructing and double-talking. Basic functions of the government are failing. It reflects on the party in power which has failed the American people every way they can.
235
This is what the aptly named 'neocons' (with an emphasis on 'the con') call 'deconstructing the administrative state.'
What normal people call chaos, anarchy, mayhem.
15
If the IRS has been hacked, can someone please release Trump's taxes? He still hasn't come through on his own promise to do so.
342
I find it someone amazing that the Don's taxes haven't been leaked! So much else has.
4
@Vanessa: Well, since becoming "president" (in the loosest sense), let's FOIA them. He's public, baby. Part of his library and what not.
3