Six years ago, Congress passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA), which set in motion a wave of new reporting and disclosure requirements by individuals, foreign financial institutions, and others. In response, the IRS created a host of new rules and regulations; and new forms for these reporting requirements. One key FACTA form – Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets – has seen usage steadily increase since passage of FATCA, the IRS recently reported. At the same time, more individuals are filing a related form – FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (known as the FBAR), which reached a record high in 2015.

The IRS always urges taxpayers to pay their current tax liabilities when due, to avoid interest and penalties. Taxpayers who can't pay the full amount are urged to pay as much as they can, for the same reason. But some taxpayers cannot pay their full tax liability by the normal April 15 deadline (April 18^th in 2016 because of the intersection of a weekend and a District of Columbia holiday).

Both Congress and the White House want to increase access, coverage and participation in retirement savings plans. A recent study indicates that a majority of American households may not be able to maintain their standard of living after retirement and that the current private pension system is not working well enough to avoid the problem.

In recent years, identity theft has mushroomed and as the filing season starts, tax-related identity theft is especially prevalent. Identity thieves typically file fraudulent returns early in the filing season, before unsuspecting taxpayers file their legitimate returns. Criminals gamble that the IRS will not detect the false return and will issue a fraudulent refund.

The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act) extended and enhanced many popular tax breaks for individuals and businesses. Included in the large number of extended incentives is transit benefits parity. Moreover, Congress made transit benefits parity permanent. Many individuals may benefit from this tax break, depending on their employers.

As the 2016 filing season gets underway, many individuals will be receiving new information returns from their employers and/or health insurance providers. The information returns reflect new reporting requirements put in place by the Affordable Care Act. Some taxpayers will need to wait to file their returns until they receive their information returns, but most taxpayers will not.