Category Archives: IRS Updates on Operations

Congressional and IRS Practices Impact Fraud

IRS WATCHDOG PROVIDES CONGRESS WITH MID-YEAR REPORT AMID ALLEGATIONS OF BAD IRS PRACTICES

Author’s Note:  This post explains why we advocate that taxpayers select a professional tax practitioner who is either a CPA, attorney or Enrolled Agent.  If you don’t,  you may end up the victim of fraud and the problems attached to it.

CAUTION ExclamationTiming is everything, and the National Taxpayer Advocate Service (an independent *watchdog* group within the IRS ) just presented its mid-year report to Congress revisiting its 2002 Congressional recommendation to authorize the IRS to establish *minimum standards* for tax return preparers. Continue reading

As the Tax Season ends, IRS answers: Where’s My Refund?

Larger IRSIR-2014-54, April 17, 2014

WASHINGTON — With the close of the tax filing season, the vast majority have filed their income tax returns and received their income tax refunds. As of last Friday, the IRS had received almost 113 million tax returns and issued more than 85 million refunds, about 78 percent of all the refunds the agency will issue this year.

However, taxpayers who have not yet received their refunds can use the “Where’s My Refund?” on IRS.gov or on the smartphone application IRS2Go 4.0 to find out about the status of their income tax refunds. As of April 11, 2014, Where’s My Refund? has been accessed almost 160 million times.

The Where’s My Refund?tool enables taxpayers to track the status of their refund. Initial information will normally be available within 24 hours after the IRS receives the taxpayer’s e-filed return or four weeks after the taxpayer mails a paper return to the IRS. The system updates only once every 24 hours, usually overnight, so there’s no need to check more often.

Taxpayers should have their Social Security number, filing status and exact refund amount when accessing Where’s My Refund?

Taxpayers can find more information about refunds and other tax topics at IRS.gov.

2014 FILING SEASON STATISTICS
Cumulative statistics comparing 4/12/13 and 4/11/14
Individual Income Tax Returns: 2013 2014 % Change
Total Receipts 112,403,000 112,741,000 0.3
Total Processed 103,880,000 110,266,000 6.1
E-filing Receipts:
TOTAL 99,787,000 101,289,000 1.5
Tax Professionals 62,163,000 61,956,000 -0.3
Self-prepared 37,624,000 39,332,000 4.5
Web Usage:
Visits to IRS.gov 278,307,884 251,540,768 -9.6
Total Refunds:
Number 84,581,000 85,262,000 0.8
Amount    $229.607   Billion   $234.547   Billion 2.2
Average refund $2,715 $2,751 1.3
Direct Deposit Refunds:
Number 69,680,000 69,924,000 0.3
Amount    $202.188   Billion   $202.167   Billion -0.01
Average refund $2,902 $2,891 -0.4

Source: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/As-the-Tax-Season-ends-IRS-answers:-Where’s-My-Refund

 

 

IRS Combats Identity Theft and Refund Fraud on Many Fronts

Larger IRSIDENTITY THEFT MAJOR CONCERN FOR IRS

Stopping identity theft and refund fraud is a top priority for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The agency’s work on identity theft and refund fraud continues to grow, touching nearly every part of the organization. For the 2014 filing season, the IRS has expanded these efforts to better protect taxpayers and help victims.

The IRS assigned more than 3,000 IRS employees to work on identity theft-related issues. IRS employees are working to prevent refund fraud, investigate identity theft-related crimes and help taxpayers who have been victimized by identity thieves. In addition, the IRS provides training to more than 35,000 employees who work with taxpayers to recognize identity theft indicators and help people victimized by identity theft.

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