The IRS has announced it holds $153 million in undelivered refund checks owed to nearly 100,000 taxpayers, representing an average of $1,547 per taxpayer (IRS News Release IR-2011-113). The IRS has been unable to deliver the refunds due to mailing address errors.
Taxpayers who wish to check the status of their refund and/or resolve an incorrect or outdated mailing address may use the IRS online tool “Where’s My Refund?” Taxpayers may also contact the IRS at (800)-829-1954.
The IRS does not notify taxpayers by e-mail of pending refunds and cautioned taxpayers who receive purported emails from the agency to report these scams.
To prevent refunds from returning undelivered to taxpayers, the IRS recommended that taxpayers file their tax returns electronically, which reduces errors and also speeds the delivery of refunds. Additionally, taxpayers can reduce mailing errors by taking advantage of the direct deposit option for refunds.
The Court of Federal Claims has upheld the IRS’s determination that a taxpayer’s Son-of-BOSS transaction lacked economic substance. The court found that potential for profit does not in and of itself establish economic substance, especially where the profit potential is dwarfed by tax benefits. The new codified standard requires a two-part analysis. First, consideration is given to the objective effects [...]
This is a blog post by Ann Barnhardt dated December 12, AD 2011, and it’s well worth the read: Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Judging from my email inbox, many of you are realizing EXACTLY what that old adage means right about now. Many of you have requested to liquidate your 401k accounts, and your employers won’t let you [...]
The nonbusiness energy property credit is scheduled to expire at the end of 2011 so taxpayers only have a short time to take advantage of this credit. The 2011 credit is more limited than in past years but is still available for qualifying improvements placed in service for the taxpayer’s principal residence located in the United States before January 1, [...]
According to an AP article published November 12, 2011, the IRS is having problems securing personal taxpayer data and is not doing enough to prevent “unauthorized users” from accessing that information, according to a new report. The Government Accountability Office this past week warned that the IRS continues to suffer from a “material weakness” in information security. While the report [...]
There is a new estate tax law that affects tax years 2010 thru 2012. For 2010, the estate can elect whether to opt out of estate taxes. Depending on the circumstances, you might want to opt out of estate taxes and instead carry a cost basis over to the beneficiaries. For tax years 2011 and 2012, there is an estate [...]
From Foxnews: Lithonia, GA. — Federal officials say they’re investigating issues surrounding investment seminars hosted by a metro Atlanta megachurch after some former members say they lost their retirement savings. U.S. Secret Service spokesman Mark Ritchie said agents have seized laptops from employ-ees at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia. WSB-TV first reported details of the federal probe. Ritchie [...]
