Category: Taxes Made Simple
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An IRS long-term payment plan costs $29 to set up online with direct debit but $178 by phone or mail
A long-term IRS payment plan costs $29 to set up online with direct debit, and $178 to set up by phone, by mail or in person, a gap of about $149 for choosing one channel over the other. The IRS lists both figures on its payment plans page, along with a lower fee for applicants…
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Americans with more than $10,000 in foreign accounts have until October 15 to file an FBAR, with non-willful penalties up to $16,536
More than $10,000 sitting at any point in the year across a person’s foreign bank, brokerage or mutual fund accounts triggers a federal reporting duty separate from an income tax return, and the deadline for it lands on October 15 this year. The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network jointly administer…
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Washington, D.C., postponed its sales tax increase to 7% until October 2027
The District of Columbia’s Office of Tax and Revenue has pushed back a scheduled increase in the general sales and use tax rate to 7%, moving the effective date from October 2026 to October 1, 2027. The agency’s own rate page confirms the one-year delay, giving district shoppers and businesses another twelve months at the…
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The IRS extended drought tax relief for farmers and ranchers who sold livestock in 49 states
Farmers and ranchers who sold cattle or other breeding, dairy or draft livestock because of drought conditions now have extra time before they have to pay federal tax on that sale. The Internal Revenue Service announced on September 15 that its drought-related livestock tax relief now covers 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico…
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The IRS replaced its IRS2Go app with one that shows refund status, balances and identity-protection PINs
IRS2Go, the Internal Revenue Service’s mobile app for more than a decade, no longer exists as a standalone product. The agency retired it this week and replaced it with a new app that gives taxpayers a mobile window into their refund and amended-return status, their account balance, recent payments, digital notices, tax transcripts and their…
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Only 4 of 114 identity-theft cases auditors sampled met the IRS’s 120-day target, and the average took 655 days
Auditors at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration pulled 114 identity-theft case files from the IRS and found that only 4 of them closed within the agency’s own 120-day target, with the sample as a whole averaging 655 days from start to finish. The finding, published September 21, offers one of the clearest looks…
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The IRS paid about $124.2 million in refund interest on identity-theft cases closed over three fiscal years
The Internal Revenue Service paid about $124.2 million in interest to identity-theft victims whose refunds sat frozen while their cases worked through the agency’s system, according to a federal audit covering three fiscal years. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration published the figure on September 21, drawing it directly from cases the IRS itself…
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Identity-theft victims waited 20 months on average for the IRS to process their tax cases, a watchdog found
A taxpayer whose identity was stolen and used to file a fraudulent tax return waited 20 months, on average, for the Internal Revenue Service to resolve the case and release a refund, a new federal audit found. The finding comes from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the independent office that audits IRS operations,…
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Utah drivers are paying a state gas tax cut by 15% through December 31
Utah’s state gas tax has been running 15 percent lower than usual since this summer, and the discount is set to continue through December 31. The cut is one of the more straightforward pieces of gas-tax relief among the states that have acted this year, applying a flat percentage reduction rather than a full suspension…
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Indiana drivers could pay up to 60 cents more a gallon after October 5, when the state’s gas tax suspension ends unless it is extended
Indiana’s monthslong break from its state gas tax is scheduled to end October 5, and drivers there could see prices jump by as much as 60 cents a gallon once it does. The state has gone without collecting either of its two fuel taxes since spring, under a suspension Governor Mike Braun renewed more than…