Coverage of the IRS, Treasury, and other federal agencies — policy shifts, leadership changes, and how they affect taxpayers.
Just days after the news surfaced that the Internal Revenue Service improperly targeted certain applications for tax-exempt status based on keywords and politically charged language, Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that he has ordered an FBI investigation into the matter. Specifically, the criminal inquiry will focus on “potential violations” of the federal tax code…
A number of taxpayers will be taking next Friday off by choice. It is, after all, the day before the Memorial Day weekend begins – the perfect time to grab an extra day. But what if you were forced to take the day off as an unpaid furlough day? That is the plan for the…
“IRS Issues Apology for Targeting Tea Party Group” I’ll admit that headline caught my attention – but probably not for the reasons you think. The targeting bit didn’t give me pause at all – but the apology did. The Internal Revenue Service rarely apologizes. On the other hand, the IRS has always given a second…
Just one day after the Internal Revenue Service additional Proposed Regulations to clarify governance issues related to the Health Care Act, a group of taxpayers filed a lawsuit in federal court, hoping to put the brakes on the IRS’ right to enforce the Act. The case, Halbig et al v. Sebelius et al, (downloads as…
One week. That’s all it took. One week after Tax Day came and went, the Internal Revenue Service will send out furlough notices to its entire workforce. According to a press release from the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), those notices will identify five days when the IRS will be shut down entirely – with…
Dust off those stamps: the U.S. Postal Service isn’t ending Saturday mail delivery this summer after all. What’s the reason for the apparent change of heart? A bill passed by Congress this spring. As it turns out, the language in the bill bars such a change in plans. This, according to the U.S. Postal Service…
My kids are minutes away from their annual Easter Egg Hunt. Set among the backdrop of rural North Carolina, it’s miles away – both literally and figuratively – from the White House Easter Egg Roll. Both are scheduled to go on this year, despite fears to the contrary. While there was no scandal at my…
The delay in processing forms 8863, Education Credits, at the IRS is causing more trouble than just slowing down refunds. The delay, which was formally addressed this week by the Department of Education, is the result of “a technical error with a limited number of tax filing software products” and has affected hundreds of thousands…
Practically every year, I get a query or two about how to make a donation to the federal government to pay down the debt. Apparently, it’s keeping some of you up at night. It’s a complicated issue because most of us can’t explain, at any given time, what the debt is and how it’s calculated….
What do Republicans and Democrats have in common? Neither party can seem to muster a bill to head off the sequester looming on Friday. Two proposals were raised in the Senate today to address the sequester. Both failed. The Republican proposal would have let the cuts stand and allowed the President to decide on the…