trump won't care.
he doesnt pay taxes.
Most likely mcconnell and pence dont either.
Wouldnt be at all surprised if a majority of the base dont if it comes to that.
coulter and the voices of the base probably bank offshore and pay an accountant to hold onto their millions.
Taxes are only for mugs. Which is exactly what trump takes you for.
4
One thing I expect democratic candidates for President and Senate/Congress candidates in OUR United States of America governments to tell me is what they will do to fix the tax system to benefit 99.9% of us - not the 0.01% Mafia Robber Barons who have exploited it to benefit themselves.
They must concentrate on laws that will claw back the stolen/ inherited WEALTH the Robber Barons are using to try to destroy OUR governments.
To help WE THE PEOPLE they can start by making the first $35,000 of INCOME tax free. Then individuals and families can deduct child care costs before figuring taxable income instead of giving the tax breaks to corporations. Tax every stock market transaction.
They must greatly increase funding for OUR IRS system - especially for fighting BIG corruption and tax evasion - and hire thousands of knowledgeable people to enforce the laws.
That's a start and all of the above must be implemented. Let's see what other ideas they can come up with to serve 99.9% of us.
4
Anyone earning under 250K who Owes unexpected taxes this year, should be absolved This is theft by tgevrrp Party yo pay for their tax scam and we should not have to pay for it.
1
I wonder how much the shutdown affected IRS Chief Counsel issuing private letter rulings. For some deals, such as starting a new RIC (Regulated Investment Company, or mutual fund), a PLR is essentially mandatory.
2
"Poscard-sized return"? Our tax return ran to 20 pages if you count the worksheets, probably twice the heft of any previous year, and we don't have any exotic tax shelters, just a few stocks and IRAs. We've been ready to file for weeks but can't because, halfway through the tax season, form 8606 (among others) still is not available as a free-fillable-form, even though the paper form has been out for weeks. Republicans seem to be banking on the hope that taxpayers will hate government for being dysfunctional rather than hating Republicans for making it that way.
4
it may come as a surprise to many: I have often called the IRS about specific questions and usually got quick and comprehensive response. it must be frustrating fur the agents,too, to have to work overtime now only to not be able to offer the same service they expect from themselves.
2
Trump uses them as pawns, Obama used them as a weapon. It’s hard to feel bad for the IRS knowing what Lois Lerner and her crew were up to. Takes awhile to build back up the trust.
1
@Midwest Josh
Obama did not use the IRS as a weapon. A second Inspector General report concluded the IRS also scrutinized the applications for tax-exempt status for liberal groups, as well as those from conservative groups.
See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/politics/irs-targeting-tea-party-liberals-democrats.html.
I guess I missed the reports on Fox News about that.
3
Every dollar spent on the IRS provides something along the lines of a fourfold increase. That's called smart investing, something the GOP should probably look up...
5
Most federal employees I know - and I know quite a few, including many who work at the IRS - are fully justified in feeling anger and outrage at being used as pawns in President Trump's cynical border wall fight. The government shutdown was a vicious, costly, pointless and inexcusable ploy. It was waged by a weak president who - contrary to his own assertions - is probably the worst negotiator in the history of the Oval Office. He got NOTHING for the trouble he caused and ended up costing the country an extra $10 billion.
But that's only half the story. Republicans have done their level best to weaken the IRS by cutting the agency's budget five years in row. The government shutdown was just the latest insult. I personally feel outrage that IRS employees were asked to work without pay during the most recent shutdown, just so tax refunds could be processed.
Message to the American people: When the president and Republicans in Congress go to the mat on behalf of a silly, pointless border wall, don't be expecting the rest of us to come clean up their mess. If not getting a tax refund timely is one of the consequences of the GOP's recklessness, well, so be it. Too bad for the American people, but they should understand and share the pain their elected leaders are inflicting on the nation.
11
Here's an idea. Get rid of the IRS and start the fairtax.org.
Essentially a sales tax, includes a rebate up to the poverty level. You control when you pay tax based on when you buy new items. Revenue to the govt would be the same but eliminates loopholes, black market, offshore accounts... and no more IRS needed!!
2
@Allison M. I'm confused. How would a black market not expand and evolve to avoid paying a sales tax? Would all businesses self-regulate and voluntarily turn in their sales tax receipts? If I am poor, do I have to save all my receipts to show how much of a rebate I'd receive? Do I hide my income to show that I am poor so I can get a rebate? Just asking.
4
The solution is obvious. Shutdown the white house, leave everything else open.
When Trump is not playing golf or busy with "executive time", an operating white house produced poorly planned tariffs that did not achieve progress in intellectual property, a tax cut that didn't trickle down, a N Korean summit that didn't disarm N Korea, a health plan that wasn't, an air traffic control crisis that crippled the nation's largest airports, and Trump's latest madness whereby he's threatening to restart nuclear proliferation.
It seems obvious which operation should be shutdown. ATC, TSA & the IRS serve a purpose, Trump's white house does not.
9
Extend to 15 May the deadline for filing
3
So the Republicans in their long held campaign to reduce taxes on the uber wealthy have also been under funding the IRS for many years, 30 or more in my estimation, with the goal of reducing audits on those very same taxpayers. Trump’s returns being under audit, it’s a joke and a fraud, the Service doesn’t have the manpower to do it. I say this as a CPA with 35+ years of experience.
3
Starving the federal government of revenue through enormous tax cuts for corporations and the uber-wealthy & creating massive logistical chaos at the IRS are two more ways Trump/Putin work to destroy American democracy, with the help of friends with no integrity, the Republicans. None of this is by accident, and I am not —or I wasn’t— into conspiracy theory.
47
I have had nothing but excellent experiences with the IRS. The demonization of government is a tired -- and destructive - trope.
Headlines like "even more frustrating" feed right into that mischaracterization. Lazy or mal-informed headline writers at NYT....sez me. (I am not and never have been a government employee.)
The Republicans long running campaign to discredit government so we can get to a no-tax no-societal-protections Valhalla palatable only to the Robber Baron Class is infuriating and so wrong.
I wait longer for commercial help-desk folk...who are dealing with much less complexity...to get maddeningly poor service regularly...at the hands of c-a-p-i-t-a-l-i-s-m.
I wait in vain for Americans to grow up politically.
20
Its a shame. I called the balance due line 3 times and waited on hold for more than 80 minutes and now one answered. What's even more shameful are the fees now being charged in order to get a payment plan. It's a mess.
2
I had no trouble filing my taxes electronically. I waited until the layoff was over. Now, I'm hoping I get my refund before they're possibly furloughed again.
3
I suspect that the IRS has no idea of how much potential tax money is out there just waiting to be collected on people who live outside the W2 system.
I’m interested in reading about what the IRS is doing about tax havens and shell companies. Make it easy, start with Nevada and Delaware and go through all their shell company accounts. Next check all the accounts in Miami just to make sure that the US isn’t an off-shore tax haven to South America. Now, the US wouldn’t be providing tax havens to citizens of other countries while screaming about US citizens parking their loot overseas, would it now?
Then I want to read a story about the IRS division that concentrates on Offshore Havens. How many employees are in that office? How was their day??!!! Where are they based?
I also want to know that taxpayers with highly complicated tax returns that need ‘special handing’ every year are paying the IRS market rate audit fees. It could be called, oh I don’t know...a Trump Charge..?
I have no faith in the IRS. But not for the reasons that the GOP claims. It’s because they only go after easy pickings little W2 tax payers and Congress does not fund them to do the really hard work.
I’d also like to know if the TRUMP Organization issues W2 forms to the family and the employees. If the company never issues the W2s in the first place, the employees don’t have to pay taxes. This would explain how Trump was able to keep his illegal employee racket undetected for so many years!
3
Only people who never pay taxes, or have legions of lawyers to help them deal with tax issues, could so blithely shut down such vital parts of the government. We were in the middle of dealing with an issue (had paid our taxes but were getting notices that our payment hadn’t been received and a lien was going to be put on our house), and the shutdown made it impossible to resolve. Even after the shutdown was over, I was unable to get anyone to answer the phone. Finally yesterday I got through (even though I waited on hold for 20 minutes, I felt like I had won the lottery just to get so far as to be on hold), and thankfully was able to resolve the issue. I am beyond furious at our so-called elected representatives, and especially Trump and Republicans. More proof that they live in a different country than the rest of us, with no sense of responsibility or accountability to anyone but other billionaires.
19
In all my dealings with the IRS, my contacts have been unfailingly polite, patient and competent. My heart goes out to them and to all our federal employees who have soldiered on in spite of the abuse and chaos manufactured by the current White House occupant and the Republican legislators.
32
Right. You literally screw people and furlough them during their busiest season. Then once back at the job expect them to hit the ground running. And now we learn that refund disgruntlement misdirects ire back at the IRS instead of where it belongs. You know where.
41
@Jake News
Jake,
I assume since you are lime green you're an alien from the Roswell New Mexico group as opposed to those from the south. I would say this administration led by Trump is an equal opportunity screwer.
In other words they are going to try to ream everyone by the time they leave. Given the rhetoric and decisive victory by Speaker Pelosi this battle may have signaled the war will soon be over.
My only concern is that Pence might be worse and be willing to give Trump a stay out of jail card. Just like Gerald Ford did for Nixon.
I consider the revolving door at the Justice Department is similar to the Saturday Night Massacre when Nixon could find no one to stop the investigations of Watergate.
Trump has the same disregard of rules and decency that Nixon had but it's amplified by his crudeness and ruthlessness. I'm sure when he becomes a private citizen again he'll wave his arms like Roger Stone and Nixon did. Perhaps instead of getting into a helicopter Trump will be ducking his head into an FBI squad car wearing handcuffs or plastic ties.
4
Everyone that has a income over one million a year should be required to be audited by the IRS. Everyone. As with everything else in the USA, the wealthy are given a pass conforming to the laws of this country. That the IRS would spend the resources to audit someone making $50,000 a year would incur a negative cost to gain. The few dollars they would reclaim would hardly cover the cost of the audit.
I like the idea of a 90% tax on any earnings over $10 million, no loopholes, no exceptions, all taxed just like the average schmuck punching a time card.
If this country continues it’s policies towards the rich as it has been, I see a future in which random billionaires are murdered by the fed up masses. Like it was said in The Godfather Two, anyone can be killed, the only difference is the difficulty of the task.
13
@Paulie, how about $1,000,000 before any deductions of other owned companies or investments?
Any one with $1,000,000 of gross income?
1
@Paulie - If they just have wages, and they take the standard deduction, what exactly is the IRS going to audit?
1
After last year's tax legislation the government wanted to give the illusion that we had received a tax cut, which we did not, by recommending that withholding be reduced so as to add to the illusion that there was a tax cut.
Now that refunds are down and the number of people who owe money to IRS is up we can see the folly of this nonsense which was imposed upon us by politicians who claim to work for us.
Particularly egregious is the unfair loss of deductions for state and local taxes. State and local taxes are TAKEN from us by state and local governments. We have no choice but to pay them. In fact, in most.ases that money is CONFISCATED from us. We have no choice as to how to spend that or to use it to enhance our lifestyles.
I want those deductions restored immediately. Retroactively!
15
@ Bud, maybe some of us would like our roads fixed and our schools funded. Why should I pay taxes on money on the same money twice?
Frankly, those of us who live in states like California and New York are subsidizing “low tax” states because the amount of money that gets paid to the Feds by NY and California doesn’t make it back here, but goes to the “low tax” states you suggest we move to.
6
@Jane K
You are being taxed by multiple government entities so you are not being taxed twice. As for Federal tax money not going back to Cali and NY, that is a lie. Only a fool believes that states should always see a 1:1 return.
As an FYI, my community suffered devastating flooding this year that destroyed our civil infrastructure to the point where it will take years to rebuild it. The average income is $12,000 a year. No federal money has reached this area so far. Yet Cali has received disaster assistance funds. So sleep better knowing your dollars are not going to help people who still do not have running water or sewer pipes 9 months later and only recently had their electricity restored.
@MIKEinNYC
Oh the horrors these poor people face. It is a national disaster. Deductions for things like state and local taxes only shift the tax burden at best or worse cuts programs needed by the lower economic classes. These deductions along with mortgage interest and child related deductions fall under lifestyle choices and should not exist.
If you want to live in a modern 1st world civilized nation it is going to cost more than what we are all currently paying. And yes, it is time for businesses to pay their fair share.
There is absolutely no reason to call the IRS. The forms are on the website and if you need help go to HR Block, or Liberty Tax or a CPA or bookkeeper. But stay away from the IRS.
8
The IRS writes the onerous tax rules, they know how the rules work, THEY should provide the software for the same reason they provide the forms. FREE. No middle man.
6
@BBB
Unfortunately, the tax code is so convoluted that it would be very difficult to write computer code to take into account all of the combinations and permutations of each tax payer's situation -- the nested questions that the taxpayer would be required to answer would be as frustrating (or more so) than trying to reach someone at the IRS on the phone. There are on-line aids on the IRS Web site for some complex issues, but my experience is that they go so far and then tell you that you're on your own.
In my own frustration at the idea that the tax code was so complicated that I needed to pay someone to help me prepare my tax return, I built my own series of spreadsheets about 20 years ago to enable me to calculate my own tax returns. Mind you, my tax situation is fairly straightforward, but I have had questions over the years, and I have had to figure them out for myself or make a trip to the local IRS office. I confess that I am not looking forward to having to revamp my spreadsheets to conform to the new code.
I do not believe, as some politicians do, that the tax code can be reduced to 3 pages, but I do believe that it could be greatly simplified if we got rid of all these loop-holes and exceptions, including some that benefit individual taxpayers as well as corporate taxpayers.
1
@BBB - Not a bad idea. Here is even a better one. I had a friend once say to me, "They should send you a bill or send you a check." After a little bit of thought I realized he was spot on...
1
“The new schedules will force some taxpayers to cross-reference and transfer data such as credits, deductions, and income, increasing the potential for errors to occur since the tax information is dispersed over many pages and needs to be tracked down and reported on different schedules and forms,”
The standard deduction was raised to $24,000 for married couples under 65, helped eliminate most filers need to itemize and file Schedule A.
However the "postcard" 1040 form has six new Schedules:
1 - Additional Income and Adjustments to income
2 - Tax
3 - Nonrefundable Credits
4 - Other Taxes
5 - Other Payments and Refundable Credits
6 - Foreign Address and Third Party Designee
So basically 2018 Form 1040 is 2 half pages, with 3 quarter page, 2 half page, and 1 full page schedule that were included on 2 full pages of the 2017 Form 1040.
Beautiful.
20
The only thing that Conservatives hate more than a wasteful and inefficient government agency is a well-run cost effective government agency. They've been trying to ruin the IRS for generations.
40
Why isn’t the IRS providing the software directly? Why do we have to log into a 3rd party suspicious ‘free’ site or PAY a 3rd party... be it Intuit, H&R Block or a Tax Accountant? This is the real problem.
As the American public has continued to elect do-nothing dumbed down politicians, the politicians have been dumbing down and doing nothing about the ease of operation of the tax system for taxpayers. Time to elect people to overhaul the way the IRS tax reporting system actually works.
In Australia, the easy software is ON the tax office website.
No third party barrier to filing a tax form would be the starting point.
25
@BBB
The answer is implied in the article. You have to read between the lines.
In order to get the third party providers to agree to program ALL the tax forms, including the ones that are less used and wouldn't make sense to produce for a for-profit company, the IRS had to promise not to compete with them. The IRS didn't have anything like the funds to program all the forms by itself, but if they did the most important one(s), there would be no incentive to get the others available electronically at all.
In addition, it is much cheaper to accept the information electronically rather than processing paper returns. So getting as many people as possible to file electronically, helps reserve IRS resources for enforcement.
How do I know? No comment.
3
@Polly
Greed and lobbyists are why the US does not have IRS tax software. There is a lot of money in tax preparation and much of that would go away with an IRS built and maintained software package.
Other reasons are the Congressional love affair with contracting and the notions that we need to shrink government and government is the problem.
2
@BBB
There was a push in Congress for the IRS to offer its own software to taxpayers. Congress blocked it when commercial software companies such as Intuit, maker of Turbo Tax, objected.
The compromise is Free File.
1
I am doing taxes right now and the postcard form is a joke.Form 1040 consists of two half pages but there are still worksheets and schedules which take time and calculations.Even electronic filing means entering numbers into schedules.Since the IRS cannot possibly process 5 million pieces of mail and they are already short staffed, how about extending the filing deadline so everyone can be accommodated with this new form.People can guess, cheat or get answers from the IRS- the latter is preferable.The new tax forms plus an IRS on furlough has made tax preparation untenable this year!
8
"The longest government shutdown in United States history resulted in a “shocking” number of taxpayers’ calls to the Internal Revenue Service going unreturned..."
How could that possibly be shocking to anyone?
16
Although Trump has indicated on several occasions that he has total disdain for the bureaucracy, the department he probably hates the most is the IRS. However, it would be poetic justice if his base finally discovers that the tax breaks they were told about did not include them.
15
Right now the average tax return is down 8-10% and this is supposed to be the good times for Mr Average
The graphic goes downhill next year. Hope you didn’t spend it already.
10
To claim that it is shocking that the IRS couldn't answer the phone is sadly hyperbole. You obviously haven't ever tried to get in touch with them on the phone. I waited more than 40 minutes on hold last fall before giving up...I've dealt with the IRS for many years and the it just keeps getting worse. I assume that is on purpose.
4
@Aaron
This is what the Republican Party hoped would happen when it cut funding for IRS positions, The cuts make it harder for the IRS to audit rich peoples' taxes.
8
Congress makes EVERYONE with US Citizenship file US tax returns. It doesn’t matter if you already file with the government where you live. Try reaching your local IRS office when you live in Sydney. Mine is in Manilla. It is not a toll free call. The 2020 Congress needs to...
END CITIZENSHIP BASED TAXATION NOW.
It comes as such a shock when people born overseas who have never lived in the US don’t realize that they are US citizens if they have an American parent.... or when the US home office sends you overseas to work. You still need to file.
The irony of someone like Manafort not filing and unable to prove that he paid taxes anywhere on those earnings... something he darn well knew about and is now going to jail for tax evasion... is delicious. Thanks to Trump!
It was a fluke that he got caught, why didn’t the IRS catch him first? Ask your Congressman!
The cost of forcing overseas Americans to file US tax returns must be higher than the amount of money they collect. The REAL COST is our loss of precious time because the first $104,100 you earned overseas in 2018 is not even taxed. Google FATCA just for fun!
The only way to fight back is to file on time 15 April ( not the foreign filing date 15 June) and make sure you print it all out and send it in ON PAPER. A small sliver of revenge. Your US hometown congressional representaives are doing NOTHING to fix this situation.
If they fix the problem, IRS employees would be freed up to answer your calls.
2
Congressman Ted Budd (R-NC) is a hard-core Trump supporter whose Facebook page has frequently featured promotion of the "Wonderful Tax Cuts" and "Families Keep Their Money" propaganda.
Now it has suddenly gone quiet............. (crickets...)
31
@Thomas Payne Do they call it "bait and switch in NC too?
4
As a professional tax preparer for thirty-six years I know that the withholding system has been deliberately set up to take too much out for most wage earners. Taxpayers have no understanding of this and have been conditioned to rejoice in having the government hang on to their money, then return it during the filing season. This whole phony edifice is the basis of our nation's impressively high voluntary compliance despite widespread and conditioned hatred of taxes. All of this is now threatened strongly. I have spent a lot of time in countries like India with ineffective tax-collecting mechanisms (working less than three months a year has its perks). Though I love traveling around that beautiful and fascinating land with a backpack, its infrastructure and public services are a continuing disaster. The Republican Party and anti-tax ethic are easily capable of reducing us to the same if we leave them in power.
18
It sounds like what we need is bipartisan legislation to increase funding for the IRS so they can update their systems and hire more staff. In private industry it's called "capacity building", and it works!
10
The governmental shutdown was a disgrace for the country...except for Trump, who always finds benefits for himself, however negative, just witness what happened each time he filed for his multiple bankruptcies: he emerges richer...at our expense.
10
Yes, IRS operations now mirror a tale of a dystopian writer.
This tale's major theme is crafted for the plutocrats.
Just as the wealthiest filed amended 2017 returns on October 15, 2018, there was no one in the shutdown IRS offices at audit time.
So it goes.
Income equality gapes ever wider.
4
This Fall I received a terse audit letter demanding documentation. A lot. No explanation given. I sent it all right away. Never had a response. Over four months later, I still haven't.
When I tried to call them to get an update I found it sadly ironic that my (friendly) audit agent was in Puerto Rico. The current administration seems to be trying its hardest to reduce its own income - cutting taxes on the .1% and hobbling the agency that collects it from the remaining 99.9% - and the funds it does have it seems unwilling to allocate to the disaster-stricken US citizens in Puerto Rico - a bunch of whom seem to be working hard to try and keep things afloat at the IRS.
7
To help low-income workers, save taxpayer $ and virtually eliminate bureaucratic "red tape" and fraud, Congress should "convert and consolidate" ALL welfare programs to a single monthly cash stipend paid through the current EBT card. To qualify, each person who asks for government assistance---including recipients of food stamps/SNAP, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), public housing/Section 8, WIC, Medicaid, and all other welfare programs, must file an annual income tax return with valid photo ID. Tax $ saved through elimination of current administrative overhead costs will go DIRECTLY to the recipients, cutting out the "middle man." The photo ID must include social security #, residence address, and date of birth, and any false claims will be punished under federal law.
@Gary James Minter. W.hat will he politicians do in there quest to identify the "welfare queens". You are making sense. Republicans don;t want things to work.
Fully funding the IRS and declaring that all individuals that make over $1,000,000 a year will be automatically audited at least once every three to five years would be an outstanding item to include in the 2020 Democratic platform.
Talking about taxes is one thing, collecting them quite another. Making the 1% pay the full amount owed under the current system would add billions to the treasury and demonstrate just how much they've avoided paying due to Republican efforts to defund and destroy the IRS.
The Trump and Kushner families would be a great place to start.
30
Will the filing deadline be extended? What are our legal options to protest the lack of technical support (am not blaming the employees here)? Should we mark our 1040's with red zeroes and send them to the White House?
I've tried free e-filing and wasn't impressed with the results. With a new tax code, I'm even more wary of e-filing.
1
What does how you file the return have anything to do with the numbers on the return? If staff capacity at the factory is an issue, does sending more paper into the factory sound like a smart idea? That idea about putting zeroes on your return and sending it to the WH: Yes! That’s the ticket. Tells us how that one worked out. We could use a good chuckle.
2
@Michael Blazin I guess the joke about the tax forms with zeroes fell short for you.
Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying that “In life, there are only two things that are certain - death and taxes.” However, between the gigantic tax cuts for the rich and the ongoing attempts by the Republican administration to bring the IRS to its knees through underfunding, thus making it next to impossible to carry out expensive investigations of high level fiscal fraud, maybe many of the uber-wealthy no longer have to worry about at least one of those things.
Taxes (and tax returns!) are only for the little people- just ask Trump.
4
Who could have foreseen consequences such as this?
Right, anyone.
We need to demand new laws restricting this absurd ability to "shut the government down" over political issues. This is no way to run a country.
11
Just yesterday my husband and I called the IRS. We were so relieved after an hour hold when a person came on the line. The IRS employee then said that he could only speak to one person. Before we could finishing saying okay to accommodate him, he hung up. We didn't know if he was mad because of the shut down. We decided that if this is their attitude we weren't going to get any help anyway and didn't call back (to wait on another one hour hold).
2
He was probably ordering a pizza and accidentally hit the extension with a blinking light. From his years of government training, he reflexively delivered an official sounding excuse and got back to the task at hand, sausage or pepperoni.
2
I filed 2/2, got refund 2/10. I made 73k, with deduction of 24k, 49k AGI. i got +$100/mo w/ new w/holding AND saw an extra $400 in return this year. Std deduction was greater than itemizing.
Middle class, less taxes, more refund. Moved to no tax state, saved $6500.
2
@Joe Commentor Good luck out there in the wilderness with no health care, no education and no culture.
No taxes. No civilization.
5
@bud Nothing there except Austin. LOL
3
@bud
Your property taxes are some of the highest in the US—to make up for the lack of personal income tax. Revenues have to come from somewhere. It is cheaper for me to live in DC where I can walk or take public transportation to free world class museums, fantastic restaurants, and myriad cultural activities than to live in car dependent hurricane, flood and tornado prone Texas. I know: I used to live in Houston, land of no zoning and even worse humidity than DC.
Why would anybody call the IRS? They over and over state that they ONLY use the paper mail system. They ask and you better provide. Nobody that talks on the phone can give you a definite answer on anything but the simplest query. Just use the Internet. You can get good advice on even the most complicated situation an individual would have. As for the free software, has any American with a pulse not seen those “Free, free, free, free, ...” ads? I expect VITA in the local United Way will be cranking up its services. Those people are much better than anyone you’d reach at the IRS, are free and sitting right across from you and your spouse. They also can e-file your return including set up for direct deposit of your refund.
The bottom line: do not waste time trying to reach the IRS unless you have big legal problems. If so, then your lawyer needs to do the talking for you.
4
I just spoke to my accountant - he said another shutdown would cripple the tax season - he shudders to think about the delays and issues it could create with the IRS.....
...fingers crossed...
2
Did he say how it would cripple the tax season? 90% of returns get e-filed. I got confirmation, not just acknowledgement, on mine 2 hours after delivery last year. No human looks at those returns. They get processed and over the summer and fall, the inquiries start getting mailed. Your CPA needs to take a chill pill.
1
Q. What are the sources of revenue for the federal government?
A. About 48 percent of federal revenue comes from individual income taxes, 9 percent from corporate income taxes, and another 35 percent from payroll taxes that fund social insurance programs (figure 1). The rest comes from a mix of sources.
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-are-sources-revenue-federal-government
---------
With nearly 60% of the USA government revenue coming from taxes, it is a logical non sequitur as to why the Congress wouldn't fund the agency with all the money they need to manage and improve their operations.
Where does Congress expect to obtain revenue from if the IRS can't deliver it via tax collection due to inefficient operations? The money tree in the back of the Federal Reserve?
9
The IRS is not processing any payments and are not fully informed of the changes from last year so talking to them now would not be very helpful. The agency is very depleted from being underfunded. It is not that any of us are fans of the IRS but we do need them to be at work and helping the public right now. And we need more agents to audit people like Trump. Trump has proven that audits should be completed timely and that will require staff.
3
" the creation of a “postcard size” 1040 form — has made filing more difficult because the new form does not include much of the information many taxpayers need to complete their returns."
Typical of the Trump administration of clowns not to have real factual information that people actually need to file their taxes.
Maybe Ivanka worked on the postcard 1040.
3
@Jacquie. What do mean "maybe." The U.S is just a "family business" now. Sadly it is the Romanoffs.
2
Plus the new fractured 1040 is so complicated and poorly designed. Just as many forms but its like a 3 card Monty shuffle.
11
Trump's administration has created more chaos and misery. It will be a relief when he's gone. Of course I will have to find something else to watch on television besides Lawrence O Donnell but I will survive..
9
When the masses begin to cheat on their taxes at the rate the wealthy do, the IRS will be fully staffed and funded. Until then, it will be deprived of funding necessary to serve Americans and catch the cheaters.
1
The only hope is that the "shocking number" translates into votes against the Republicans and their savior, Traitor Trump.
Of course, given Americans' notorious long term memory loss, we'll have to do more than just hope.
My vision-challenged elderly father asked me to order some various IRS forms and booklets for him, which I did for him on-line, after which the site assured me that he would receive the materials within ten days.
Over a month later he got a postcard from IRS apologizing for the delay, and it's now approaching two months and still no forms/booklets have arrived.
He is now resigned to having a CPA process his moderately complex return--an extra expense for him to accomplish something he's always done for himself.
It's one thing if IRS hold times on phone are now longer, but couldn't they at least get the needed forms/booklets to people so that they can properly file? Not everyone can use a computer for that purpose.
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@kathleen - Er, you can download PDF files from irs.gov and print them off yourself. Yes, you have to pay for the paper and the ink, but you get them right away.
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@Jonathan
Thanks, but the real issue is he can't read the booklets on the screen. I find them handy for the "search" function, but he wants the whole books in-hand.
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@kathleen
Ask Republicans to fund and staff the IRS adequately (they don't/won't)...oh...and don't shut down the government.
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Our tax guy told us they didnt even have the information from Trump's tax overhaul to give to taxpayers for a long time. Deductions have evaporated.
Lots of people are going to have a nasty surprise at being conned by Trump this go around. Consider yourself enrolled in Trump U until we get rid of him.
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The filing deadline should be extended a month.
Last year, my long-time tax advisor passed away suddenly. I also had a lot of health problems (which, thanks to the ACA, were covered!). A series of hospitalizations in October and November meant that I missed the deadline for filing 2017 taxes with an extension. Once I was able to gather my records and find a new tax advisor -- just days before the December 15 deadline for a 2019 marketplace policy -- the IRS wasn't accepting e-filed returns until January 10... which, including the government shutdown, then stretched to January 28. A few days after the IRS accepted my return, I got a threatening letter from the Health Insurance Marketplace saying that, because the IRS hadn't received my return (it had!), I was likely not to get my ACA insurance subsidy.
Thank you, President Trump. Whether you get your border wall/barrier/whatever or not, and whether or not you and your Republican colleagues bleed the IRS of funds, at least you haven't managed to completely take away my health insurance yet.
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Well some parts are functioning at high speed. My electronic forms were submitted on Jan 28 and an electronic deposit was made to my checking account on Feb 8th.
What business people look for is a return on investment. And each auditor added found way more underreported income than they cost the government. So a true capitalist would make that investment. A Democrat would add them, because that would run the business better. But a rich and influential republican will not because it would cost their benefactors - and so they reduce them.
If you knew the likelihood of being caught went way down, would you be more likely to fudge the figures of your return?
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Impossible. The only way it could be more difficult is if they closed entirely.
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The audit found that a policy change made by the Trump administration intended to simplify the tax-filing process — the creation of a “postcard size” 1040 form — has made filing more difficult because the new form does not include much of the information many taxpayers need to complete their returns."
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"Never before in history," to borrow a Trumpian trope, has there been such a boondoggle as the Republican tax "cut." We already know it was a give-away to the rich. Now people are finding out what the new "post-card size" 1040 really is. Yes, they shrank the 1040 to the size of a postcard so they could brag about tax "simplification." But guess what: the new mini-1040 became mini by spawning an extra six--count 'em, six--new "Schedules" that people have to fill out to enter information that used to be all together on the single form 1040, thereby multiplying by six the potential for errors and for general cursing and hair-pulling as people try to juggle seven forms where there used to be just one: the "post-card" plus six new Schedules that the postcard refers to and that refer back to it.
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"...they followed significant changes to the tax code that left many people with questions about filing their returns."
Which is WHY Trump forced the shutdown to begin with.
When chaos ensues, business cannot be correctly accomplished and errors fall through the cracks.
It's his MO. Create chaos. Hide things. Move on.
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A political and I believe deceitful trick that Trump used was instructing the IRS to get employers to take a smaller portion of money out of the paycheck. I know that my federal deductions went from about 12% in 2017 to about 10% in 2018 without any changes in my personal circumstances. I would suspect that the reason for this Trump IRS related policy change was to lull middle class people into the myth that their taxes were going to be lower in order to help the Republicans during the 2018 midterm elections. With so many taxpayers not monitoring their deductions, many are in for a big surprise in that they will not get as big refund or will have to end up paying much more. This hitting them after the midterm election.
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he Advocate's report is unsurprising but the story needs to be told. I've done tax work for 43 years; for the IRS, a Big 4 firm, and now my own practice.
While the wait times should be expected and are predictably worse now because of the law changes, the biggest issue will be the errors that will be made because of the need to switch from form to form as the Advocate reported.
The disaster of this filing season, completely bungled by the congress, will still be felt when IRS starts sending correction notices and bills to taxpayers, perhaps a year or more from now.
This is also on top of the withholding tax fiasco taxpayers will see when they complete their returns and find they have a balance due to the government. Taxpayers will be should be asking themselves whether the $20-$40 extra in their paychecks during the year were worth it, when the balance they owe this year is a reversal from last year's refund
It will most notably be felt in high tax states like NJ, NY, CT, etc. All I can advise people to do is take another look at their withholding for 2019 now while asking whether they want another balance due or a refund when they file this time next year.
And finally, the mess of getting a timely and correct answer to a question from IRS, is another example of how people don't need government until they do, and shutting government functions down has a real impact on ordinary Americans. The month-long shutdown should have been used preparing employees.
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Probably true for every Federal department. Why only call out the IRS? This is kind of irresponsible.
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Trump and other white collar criminals have long viewed the I.R.S. as the enemy so it's no surprise Trump crippled it with his shutdown. He's likely a serial tax evader, and has bragged of that.
Also, I'd like to see NYT look into other changes Trump has made which results in the 1% elites being audited and otherwise held accountable less, while the middle class sees more audits and enforcement action.
I've read elsewhere that there are billions in uncollected taxes from the wealthiest individuals and corporations.
It's all part of the GOP playbook to get rid of government and turn our country back to the robber baron era.
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So, when the government is shut down, government agencies don’t function well? How very expected.
I guess this impacted the IRS’ ability to complete their audit of Trump’s taxes.
On a side note: Greece’s problems occurred in large part because their tax agency lacked enough resources to audit rich folks’ tax returns. Every dollar we spend on the IRS yields more tax income than it costs. Yet, Republicans refuse to give the IRS enough funding to do their job.... then complain about deficits ( if a Democrat is President).
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@John M
The Republican code: take everything you can, give nothing back, and let the next person worry about the consequences.
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To my annoyance this year, when I didn't make a decent sum of money last year, I have to use an accountant to file my taxes. I don't know what the Greedy Obnoxious Patriarchs were thinking in 2017 when they put the tax overhaul through but it wasn't about how to make filing easier.
Considering that our federal representatives are paid with our tax dollars it would be considerate of them to make it easier for us to file rather than harder. And it would be even smarter if they would fund the IRS so that when the little people have questions or can't use a computer to file, there are forms mailed to us and the libraries that we can use.
I don't mind paying taxes. I mind having to play guessing games about withholding, deductions, etc. because our elected federal representatives are too cheap to improve the IRS.
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I recommend Free Fillable Forms. Anyone can use this online program to file electronically, regardless of income, and it will move the numbers and do the addition for you.
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I just started my return for the year using Free Fillable Forms. It is surprisingly easy to use; as you go through the lines on the 1040, you can just click on a button and add the additional schedules you need.
After I did my Form 1116, I needed to add a Schedule 3. When I clicked to add it, it appeared already filled in with the number from my Form 1116, which in turn was added to my 1040. This automation may be simple, but it makes it much easier to avoid mistakes.
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@Jonathan
Yes. It is beyond absurd that for most people to do their taxes using 21st century technology they have to pay a third party company like Turbo Tax for the privilege.
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@Pat - Well, just in case I didn't make myself clear, Free Fillable Forms is free! Anyone can use it without paying anyone anything.
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I STILL have questions about the changes to my tax returns. I have an appointment with an accountant in March. I guess I have to wait until then. I hope she has figured out all the complicated aspects of the changes. I feel sorry for the accountants who may have also been left hanging by the shutdown...
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"Inadequate financing is a primary cause of the agency’s failings, the audit found. In general, Congress loves to hate the I.R.S., routinely condemning its performance while cutting its budget."
This is precisely how the radical right Republican party destroys American civilization.
First, collapse income tax rates on the rich and the corporate...so even if audits, reviews and professional were properly funded and executed, federal revenues would be too low for American civilization....unless the right-wing government borrowed like drunken Republican sailors to fund their Reverse Robin Hoodism.
Second, collapse and systematically underfund the IRS so they lack the modern systems, staff and basic resources to do the very important work of the IRS.
Put both elements together, and what the America's right-wing has done is greater than any attack on American civilization by any foreign country or terrorist organization.
Progressive taxes and a well-funded IRS are the bases of a modern civilization, and America's radical right-wing can't stand either.
We have met the enemy.....and it is very Republican....the Grand Old Phonies have not an ounce of patriotism in their perfidious $oul$.
Don't let your children grow up to Republican nation-destroyers.
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Thank you - you expressed what I wanted to say - underfund the IRS ensuring any interactions will be frustrating and making anti government sentiment easier to promote.
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@Socrates And the hardcore GOP voters will be the first to complain the moment that the government, which they so live to hate, stops paying for or suspends the programs which they heavily utilize all in the name of smaller gov’t.
They don’t realize they are voting to their own detriment. They’ve met the enemy and it is them.
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@Socrates
Perhaps your best post ever. The wealthy with large capital gains that they realized last year, are laughing as the chance of audit is slim. Just think of the "creative accounting" someone can do when they know the chance of audit is slim. Stocks purchased prior to 2011 are not tracked for cost basis. This is how the wealthy game the system. Leave off that 1099 for the $100 in interest you got and a computer will catch you. Fudge the cost basis in that Apple stock you bought in 1995 and unless you are audited you have won.
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