An official website of the U.S. Gov An official website of the U.S. GovThe IRS Nationwide Tax Forum was back in-person and in full swing this summer after three years of going virtual during the pandemic. At each of the five tax forums held across the country, I had the honor of hosting a series of town hall events where I heard directly from tax professionals about the issues that give them, and the taxpayers they represent, heartburn.
If you file jointly and your spouse has a debt (this can be a federal, state income tax, child support, or spousal support debt) the IRS can apply your refund to one of these debts, which is known as an “offset.”
Many individuals may not know they can request, receive, and review their tax records via a tax transcript from the IRS at no charge. Transcripts are often used to validate income and tax filing status for mortgage applications, student loans, social services, and small business loan applications and for responding to an IRS notice, filing an amended return, or obtaining a lien release. Transcripts can also be useful to taxpayers when preparing and filing tax returns by verifying estimated tax payments, Advance Child Tax Credits, Economic Income Payments/stimulus payments, and/or an overpayment from a prior year return.
In a March 2022 blog, I wrote about the IRS suspension of more than a dozen automated collection letters and notices associated with the filing of a tax return or payment of tax. The suspension was in response to the enormous processing backlog of paper tax returns and correspondence. At the time, I was one of the individuals advocating to stop the notices until the IRS addressed the high volume of calls and millions of pieces of unprocessed correspondence. However, a year and a half later, the suspension of those letters and notices is still in place, but is expected to come to an end sometime this calendar year.
Information you need to know if you received a notification that IRS is auditing (examining) your tax return.
I recently blogged about the IRS’s broad relief for late filing penalties for 2019 and 2020 tax returns. During the height of the pandemic, taxpayers experienced many obstacles to the timely filing of their 2019 and 2020 tax returns. Because of the scale of the problem, the National Taxpayer Advocate, members of Congress, and tax practitioner groups called upon the IRS to implement a comprehensive remedy including penalty abatements. To its credit, the IRS announced a broad late filing administrative penalty relief program on August 25, 2022, and has been automatically abating late filing penalties without the need for taxpayers to request penalty relief.
Your tax return may show you’re due a refund from the IRS. You can generally get your refund faster by filing electronically and requesting direct deposit. See our TAS Tax Tip: Tax return filing is as easy as 1-2-3 for more information, including direct deposit options if you don’t have a bank account.
Know your rights and what to do if the IRS sends you a bill after you already paid your taxes.
Taxpayers have the right to appeal an IRS decision in an independent forum. One way that taxpayers may exercise this right is by filing a petition with the United States Tax Court.
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program offers free tax help to people who generally make $56,000 or less, persons with disabilities and limited English-speaking taxpayers who need assistance in preparing their own tax returns.
