The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA)—an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) watchdog—says the IRS is ignoring delinquent taxpayers

who owe billions of dollars. According to the agency, the IRS implemented a strategy to identify taxpayers who have not filed a tax return, including taxpayers with expired extensions, on an annual basis.

If you’ve been sweating out the new overtime law changes going into effect December 1, 2016, you have a bit more time to plan. Just last week, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction blocking the U.S. Department of Labor's new rule, which would have more than doubled the minimum salary level for exempt employees from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $913 per week ($47,476 annually)

Finally, some good news when it comes to tax scams. Earlier this fall, police in India raided nine call centers that were involved in calling phone numbers in the United States pretending to be IRS agents and demanding payment for taxes. The scam netted the operation approximately $150,000 a day, according to The Wall Street Journal. Even with this large operation shut down, though, it’s important to stay vigilant. Tax scams start and evolve every single day

The new “sharing” or “gig” economy has given us all the option to earn a little extra cash on the side.  If you’re a driver for rideshares like Uber or Lyft,  rent property through a service like HomeAway or Airbnb, or participate in any other trendy “gigs”  like consulting through Upwork, the IRS has created a website to help spell out what part of your profit belongs to the government.

IRS-related scams are now entering a new territory: Obamacare. In late September, the IRS issued an alert to taxpayers and tax professionals to be on guard against fake emails purporting to contain an IRS tax bill related to the Affordable Care Act.

Now that the IRS Section 179 deduction permanently offers small businesses an immediate expense deduction of up to $500,000, some of the property you may have leased in the past could serve you better when purchased, at least from a tax deduction standpoint

In 1996, United States Senator Alfonse M. D’Amato, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, began an inquiry into Swiss banks’ involvement in hiding Holocaust victims’ assets. Specifically, the inquiry examined the procedures by which the Swiss banks conducted the initial search in 1995 that stated that only 893 accounts were found, holding $32 million. The committee conducted the new review which was being undertaken by the Committee of Eminent Persons (EP Committee), also known as the Volcker Commission

Access to the IRS e-File PIN service was removed in June following what the agency calls “additional questionable activity.”  The PIN numbers are only the latest in a history of the IRS being hacked, compromising taxpayer information.

If you work with a provider of payroll, benefits, HR, tax administration or regulatory compliance assistance, you should be aware of a significant law change made by Congress.  Companies that offer these services—often called professional employer organizations (PEOs)—can voluntarily apply to the IRS for inclusion in an IRS certification program

designed to help clarify their tax responsibilities.

Steven Bankler, CPA, was recently asked to offer his expertise in an article about Donald Trump’s tax returns for the nationally known publication Tax Notes. Why the fascination with Trump’s taxes? Do we simply want to prove that Trump’s income is much lower than he advertises? (As the article states, Trump puts his wealth in the $10 billion range, while Forbes and Fortune estimate he’s worth $200 million to $4 billion)