The Internal Revenue Service has released its annual list of tax scams.  A summary of the list, called the "Dirty Dozen" is provided in this article.

The IRS was prepared to require tax filers to indicate on line 61 whether they and their family had health coverage during 2016. If not, taxpayers are subject to a penalty. Now it appears, due to President Trump, that filing out line 61 is optional.

The purpose of the mediation is to resolve disputes in the early stages of the collection process and within 40 days after the mediation application is accepted by the IRS.  In order to be accepted into the process, taxpayers must make a good faith effort to resolve matters with the IRS collection officer followed by a conference with the officer's manager.  Acceptance into the mediation process does not mean that taxpayers can't pursue other options if mediation doesn't resolve their case.  

The increase in the earnings limit for social security represents the largest one-year increase in history.  The maximum social security tax is jumping from $7,346 in 2016 to $7,886 in 2017 for employees.  There is a larger increase for the self-employed as their social security taxes will be increased from $14,694 to $15,773 in 2017.  

The IRS along with the DOJ has been aggressively pursuing offshore account holders to disclose their overseas bank accounts before it's too late.  There are significant penalties for holding accounts in certain foreign banks.  However, in an effort to encourage account holders to disclose their accounts, the IRS started the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP)  and the streamlined procedures enable taxpayer to meet their tax obligations while limiting the potential penalties for continued non-compliance.

More and more consumers are buying all kinds of stuff online--over the internet from companies such as Amazon.  Many of these sales transactions occur without the payment of sales taxes, as the selling company likely has no physical presence in the state of the purchaser.   Many brick-and-mortar companies argued that they were at a disadvantage as they were forced to compel customers to pay more (often times 8% or more) to cover the state sales tax.  

Many couples file joint tax returns because in most cases it lowers their tax.  When filing jointly, however, both people are liable for the tax and any assessments imposed against the return.  This joint and several liability even survives the couple's divorce.  Joint and several liability means that each taxpayer is legally responsible for the entire liability. The IRS has provided for three types of relief from joint and several liability for spouses who filed joint returns.

Amendment to Alabama Child Support Computation for health insurance and reasons for deviation from guidelines.

The House of Representatives has passed its plan for changing the tax code that lowers marginal rates with incentives for domestic investment and simpler tax filings.  It is all about economic growth and simplicity.

On May 3, 2016, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed legislation that will effectively abolish common-law marriage as of Jan. 1, 2017. Those already involved in valid common-law marriages before the cutoff date will still be recognized by the state.

As someone who regularly deals with divorce, I always feel a special need to help those who are about to go through that process or who have gone through it and are in the process of rebuilding. There are a few things that someone contemplating a divorce should consider:

A recent decision by the Tax Court should serve as a warning to people that own multiple businesses but don't always "respect the corporate formalities" associated with each business entity. If you own more than one business and sometimes have Company A pay the expenses of Company B, or perhaps task an employee of Company A to do things for Company B, the IRS may deny your deductions.

For some the only hope of relief from unmanageable federal tax debts may be the statute of limitations on collection. In theory, the IRS has only 10 years from the date of assessment to collect. However, this 10-year limitation has many exceptions, waivers and overlapping extensions such that in all but the simplest of cases computing the correct “collection statute expiration date” is quite difficult.

Private collection agencies are now working for the IRS. In fact, for some hard to collect bills, the law now requires—rather than just permits—the IRS to use private collectors. Many people think that having the IRS farm out collection work to private contractors is a bad idea.  Here are 10 things you should know:

The IRS can deny and/or revoke passports. This is new ground in tax enforcement for the IRS.  It will make it harder for taxpayers with serious tax problems to flee the country. However, we think Congress was far more concerned with getting a delinquent taxpayer's attention. Here's why:

What to do when the IRS comes to collect.

Proposed changes to Retirement Plans.  The coming federal budget will include a few changes to retirement accounts, including a new retirement plan called the myRA.

It's tax filing season.  And again this year, we had some tax laws extended by Congress through 2016 or 2019, but some were actually made permanent.  I'm going to discuss those tax provisions that have been extended or made permanent for individual taxpayers. 

Criminal Investigations can be initiated from information obtained from within the IRS when a revenue agent (auditor) or revenue officer (collection) detects possible fraud.  Information is also routinely received from the public as well as from ongoing investigations underway by other law enforcement agencies or by United States Attorneys offices across the country.

Social Security benefits are eligible for levy by the IRS.