A former agent for the Internal Revenue Service allegedly abused his position of power when he filed fraudulent tax returns, the government said. Now, the Mansfield, Texas, man will spend nearly nine years in prison for it.
A U.S. District Court judge in Dallas gave the man a 105-month prison sentence and told him to repay the government nearly $31,000 for his scheme, which is the amount the IRS couldn't recover out of the more than $1.8 million the agency mistakenly paid to the man.
Residents of the Dallas and Fort Worth area who make their income selling online merchandise better not ignore that official-looking form they got in the mail.
Tax agencies -- the Internal Revenue Service, in particular -- are watching. And with tax regulations seemingly becoming more complicated each year, it could be worthwhile to consult with a tax attorney to make sure all tax preparations are done correctly.
No one in Dallas wants to hear that their tax return is being audited by the IRS. However, in 2011, IRS audits went up by nearly 35 percent from 2010. Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to avoid an audit.
Of course, the most obvious is to completely and accurately fill out your tax return. Sometimes, however, it can be easy to make mistakes. And with so many people filling out their own tax returns in an effort to save money, room for error is larger than ever. In that vein, start by using a calculator. It may sound silly, and even obvious, but incorrect math is one of the main things IRS agents notice. A simple way to make sure your math is right is to use a calculator and double check your work.
A change in tax law now will require some 87,000 people who prepare tax returns in Texas to have a nine-digit number that will identify them as a tax preparer.
It's all in an effort to give tax agencies better control over the people taxpayers hire to prepare their returns. In the past, Texans have reported being overcharged by tax preparers who advertise one price but charge a different fee for their services. Often, those tax preparers pack up quickly after tax season and can't be located should questions arise.
Texans -- or residents of any state, for that matter -- who have chosen to keep their funds in an overseas bank can come clean about their hidden assets, then pay owed taxes, penalties and interest without worrying about the federal government prosecuting them.
The Internal Revenue Services has restarted a program that will allow taxpayers to come forward and tell the IRS of their offshore assets. An IRS official said that when the agency made the same offer in 2009 and 2011, it brought in $4.4 billion from 33,000 taxpayers.
Shrinking the Internal Revenue Service's budget could diminish the power of the IRS as a collection agency and sharply cut its ability both to discover tax cheats and to help Texas taxpayers, a tax monitor has warned.
The IRS budget for the year is $11.8 billion, or a $300 million reduction from last year. It, however, is $1.5 billion under the amount requested by President Obama. The president said his budget proposal would have bolstered collection efforts and brought in more funds, but Congress disagreed, saying that like Americans in a tough economy, the IRS would have to do the same work with fewer resources.
The Internal Revenue Service has increased the number of audits it conducts annually on the returns of taxpayers earning more than $1 million a year.
According to the IRS' own numbers, 12 percent of millionaires were audited in fiscal year 2011. That's double the 6 percent from 2009 and an increase from the 8 percent of audits in 2010. In all, the IRS reported that it audited just 1 percent of individual tax returns, or 1.6 million of the 141 million filed. That rate has almost doubled in the past 10 years.
An important tax law that took effect in Texas on Jan. 1 will allow the spouses of fully disabled veterans to continue to receive property tax breaks even after the veterans die.
Under the previous law, only veterans ruled to be completely disabled due to military-related injuries were not required to pay property taxes. But in the new year, Texas tax agencies will not collect from those veterans' widowed spouses, either.
Continue reading Tax exemption for disabled vets extended to surviving spouse
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Even though more states than ever now recognize gay marriage, the federal government and the state of Texas still do not -- and it could cost same-sex couples some serious cash.
That's because the power of the IRS, when it comes to joint tax returns, is tied to the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 federal law defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. So even if the state where the same-sex couple lives acknowledges the pair as married, a joint federal tax return is out of the question.
The power of the Internal Revenue Service could be brought to bear against the Black Police Association of Dallas, after a 40-year-old member of the organization made allegations of financial wrongdoing by the organization before he became president.
The man previously served in the Dallas Police Department and was elected president of the Black Police Association of Dallas in June of last year. The group began in the 1950s with ties to a legacy of activism. It currently represents 557 black police officers in the DPD.
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10440 N. Central Expressway
Suite 1040
Dallas, TX 75231
P: 972-591-0134
T: 866-721-8711
F: 214-706-0861
Map and Directions
10440 N. Central Expressway
Suite 1040
Dallas, TX 75231
P: 972-591-0134
T: 866-721-8711
F: 214-706-0861
Map and Directions
