News & Events

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel is looking to build on the successes the agency has experienced with the first year of supplemental funding provided to the agency by the Inflation Reduction Act."I look at yeartwo through the lens of what do we need to do with the next filing season to build on the successes of the previous filing season," Werfel said during an August 15 teleconference with press as he highlighted a couple of key objectives he has for the second year of supplemental funding. "First of all, we had a really strong filing season," he said. "It could be stronger. We want to achieve the highest level of service we can achieve." Among the improvements he wants to see are a further reduction in wait times on calls to the IRS; an expansion of the number of self-service options that taxpayers can engage in when they call so they don't have to wait to be connected to an agency representatives; and getting more people to sign up for an online account with the agency, as well as improving the online account functionality.

The American Institute of CPAs is calling on Congress to fund the Internal Revenue Service at the level requested by the White House in its fiscal year 2023 budget request. Separately, the group offered its suggestions on the IRS Guidance Priority List. "In advance of the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations cycle, we request that you fund the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at necessary levels to allow it to handle all the duties required of it by Congress, including properly administering and enforcing our nation's tax laws as well as providing needed assistance to taxpayers and their advisers in a timely and professional manner," AICPA said in a May 25, 2022, letter to Democratic and Republican leadership in both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

Department of the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is continuing to promote the agreement on international taxes reached by most members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on a global corporate minimum tax, but acknowledged that its overall impact will be determined by the final details.

Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee are the latest group to call on the Internal Revenue Service to implement 2-D barcoding technology on individual tax forms.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig is pushing back on assertions that the agency is spending less time targeting wealthy taxpayers for audit in favor of lower income taxpayers.

The IRS announced that is completing the processing on a key group of individual tax returns filed during 2021. Business paper returns filed in 2021 will follow shortly after. The Service began 2022 with a larger than usual inventory of paper tax returns and correspondence filed during 2021 due to the pandemic. The IRS will continue to work on the few remaining 2021 individual tax returns that have processing issues or require additional information from the taxpayer. As of June 10, the IRS had processed over 4.5 million individual paper tax returns received in 2021.

The IRS began its "Dirty Dozen" list for 2022, which includes potentially abusive arrangements that taxpayers should avoid. The tax scams in this series focus on four transactions that are wrongfully promoted and will likely attract additional agency compliance efforts in the future. Those four abusive transactions involve charitable remainder annuity trusts, Maltese individual retirement arrangements, foreign captive insurance and monetized installment sales. These are the first four entries in this year's Dirty Dozen series.

The National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), Erin M. Collins, has released her 2021 Annual Report to Congress. The NTA called the calendar year 2021 the most challenging year taxpayers and tax professionals have ever experienced. The report states that tens of millions of taxpayers experienced delays in the processing of their returns, and with 77 percent of individual taxpayers receiving refunds.

The IRS has reminded taxpayers of reporting and potential tax obligations from working in the gig economy, making virtual currency transactions, earning foreign-source income, or holding certain foreign assets. The information available on IRS.gov and instructions on Form 1040 can help taxpayers in understanding and meeting these requirements. Generally, income earned from the gig economy is taxable and must be reported to the IRS. The gig economy is the activity where people earn income providing on-demand work, services or goods.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued the final rule implementing the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) Program. The program, created as part of the American Rescue Plan, provides $350 billion to state, local, and tribal governments to support their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring they have resources to provide for health and vaccine services, funding to support families and business who might be struggling with the economic impacts of the pandemic, and maintaining vital public services.