ID Theft Up 644%
Did you know that we US taxpayers have a national advocate? Well, we do. And recently National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson reported to Congress that
her office dealt with 644% more cases of identity theft in 2007 than in 2004. Olson’s office fields these calls because these cases are related to stolen social security numbers.
And it seems that the IRS’s “remedies” tend to make things worse. They have resulted in freezing or delaying legit accounts and even collections, liens and levies being applied where they shouldn’t.
Basically it’s a mess.
Olson concludes that the IRS should do a better job educating taxpayers about ID theft. And that’s the right thing to tell Congress.
But taxpayers need to learn to protect themselves and not rely on the IRS. I’ve written about this before so check out
Internet Scammers Imitate IRS.
Labels: identity theft
Americans Holding Unreported Funds in Overseas Accounts? NO! Say It Ain’t So!
OK, so it’s not really that shocking to learn that the wealthier of US citizens might be squirreling money away in Swiss bank accounts in order to avoid the pesky tax man. It’s one of those wink-and-a-nod secrets about which everyone knows.
But the news here is that the IRS is actually going after them. It started on July 1 with
a US judge granting the tax collection agency the power to issues a summons to UBS for information about these secret accounts. This one summons reveled $20 billion in unreported funds.
I gotta say I like where this is going!
Labels: federal taxes, irs, swiss bank account, ubs
E-Filing on the Rise
I suppose it’s really no surprise but efiling increased again this year. The IRS is reporting that 86.3 million US taxpayers did so electronically; that’s a 12 % increase over last year.
Why? Well, it’s impossible to definitively answer that question but there are a lot of contributing factors. The public’s increasing ease and comfort with using the Internet must have helped this trend along. Whether or not this comfort is founded in fact taxpayers and the public in general become more at ease with carrying out private or sensitive transitions online all the time.
Another factor was most certainly the stimulus check. It was made clear that on time, accurate filing of 2007 taxes was key to receiving the stimulus check. No doubt many taxpayers logged on to make sure that their taxes went through properly.
Availability is another factor. Sure, electronic filing has been available for years now but the availability of options and their ease of use must also be considered.
Some companies require a bank account of those that work for them in order to pay them electronically or via direct deposit. I wonder if the day is coming when the IRS will require e-filing and will no longer accept paper taxes.
Labels: e-filing, efile, efiling, taxes online
Section 1031 and Vacation Homes
Whether you call it another tax benefit for the wealthy or help for strapped real-estate investors, it’s worth taking note that
the IRS has recently clarified their position on swapping vacation homes – you can do it now tax free.
There are the usual rules that specific times, percentages and percentages of time are required to qualify but what it boils down to is that chances are owners of multiple homes now have other way of transferring assets without having to get the tax man involved.
Labels: 1031, irs, rental property, tax, vacation homes
