Glazer Financial Network

What's Going On In 2016?

• Average case resolution in ID Theft cases is 278 days…
  
  
  
• In cases of phishing and phone scams, the IRS wants taxpayers to contact the IRS and provide them with a copy of the email or any information they have on an attempted phone scam.
  
  
• Start buying office and other equipment. Section 179 is currently $25,000 but lawmakers may soon reinstate the $500,000 expensing limit and bonus depreciation. Last year the depreciation rules changed on December 14, 2014.
  
  
• BEWARE: Scammers are now sending out FALSE LETTERS BY MAIL! Examine “IRS Letters” carefully because it may look legit (IRS seal, for example). Attempts to collect via a specific payment method or letters offering settlement when no other IRS letters have been received by the tax payer before are red flags. DO NOT CALL the number listed on the letter. Call the practitioner line instead.
  
  
• DUE DILIGENCE forms in your file MAY NOT be enough… in cases now they are forcing preparers to get ACTUAL proof, not just a statement from the client. For example, for earned income credit, they want proof a kid lived with the client, like school records that show it. This is very cumbersome as a preparer.
  
  
• ODVP and Streamlined Program are LIKELY to end soon, as in within months.
  
  
• There is an IRS task force that examines so-called “quiet disclosures” and determines if a case needs to be referred to the Criminal Investigation.



• IRS has not previously made a habit of contacting people when they go into the Streamlined Program. But now they are starting to regularly contact the taxpayer and even examine the returns.

Do you know how much tax you will owe by the end of the year? Our clients do and you should too. Regardless, here are some tips that can potentially reduce your tax liability. Call or email if you would like help with tax planning and to get a projected tax cost for 2016.