Tag: IRS

DOJ Official Named in FBI Politicization Allegations Played Role in Lois Lerner IRS Scandal

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A senior Justice Department official recently flagged by a U.S. senator in an FBI whistleblower probe into alleged politicization of prosecutions played a key role in the Lois Lerner IRS scandal a decade ago in which conservative Tea Party groups were improperly targeted for scrutiny, government emails and congressional evidence shows.

Richard Pilger, the current chief of the DOJ Elections Crime Branch of the department’s Public Integrity Section, engaged in discussions in 2010 and 2013 with Lerner and other IRS officials about ways to pursue criminal prosecutions of conservative nonprofits, the records show.

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Democrats Propose Spending $80 Billion to Expand the IRS

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Democrats in Congress have proposed a new spending bill that would allocate $80 billion for the sole purpose of expanding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), ostensibly to fight inflation by raising government revenues.

As reported by The Daily Caller, the bill is called the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.” The bill would see the size of the IRS increase as part of a broader effort to increase “taxpayer compliance.” Under the new bill, the IRS would spend an additional $80 billion over the course of the next 10 years, up significantly from its current budget of $13.7 billion, with a primary focus on hiring thousands of new agents, and expanding operations, facilities, and services.

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IRS Under Fire over Wasted Billions of Dollars and Millions in Backlogs

The Center Square

Lawmakers continued to raise concerns about the Internal Revenue Service at a Congressional hearing this week as the agency deals with billions in misspent dollars, hefty processing backlogs, and complaints over poor customer service.

Lawmakers lobbed questions at the tax-collecting agency during the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee hearing.

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Pressure from Lawmakers Grows As IRS Begins New Tax Season with ‘Continued Confusion’

The Center Square

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pressuring the Internal Revenue Service over ongoing problems and unaddressed issues from last year’s filing season even as this year’s season is in full swing.

A bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers from the U.S. House and Senate sent a letter to the IRS raising concerns about “continued confusion” and “numerous problems” with the agency.

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Commentary: The IRS Can’t Get the Basics Right, So Don’t Add to Its Authority

RealClearWire

All taxpayers are dealing with a disastrous filing season this year, with the IRS backed up on processing millions of returns and refunds from last year and communication from the agency nonexistent at best. But some taxpayers will have an added headache in the future as a result of an unnecessary new paperwork requirement that went into effect this year. Fortunately, however, legislation introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) would address this issue by removing the burdensome new requirement.

Ever since IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig claimed last year that the “tax gap,” or the gap between what the IRS collects and what it believes it is owed, could be as large as $1 trillion, politicians and legislators have been scrambling to propose ways to collect all that missing revenue. That’s despite the fact that more sober analyses show that the $1 trillion figure is probably wildly exaggerated, that it is functionally impossible to wholly prevent tax evasion, and that a far greater concern is the IRS’s inability to handle its taxpayer service responsibilities.

But as far as proposals to collect all this supposed “extra revenue” go, most of the focus has rightly been on schemes to drastically increase the IRS’s enforcement budget and allow the IRS to snoop on taxpayers’ financial accounts. But another more targeted change has already gone into effect, and is already causing problems.

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IRS Reverses Plans for Facial Recognition Software on Its Website

Minnesota Sun Staff
man in purple sweater sitting in front of a computer

On Monday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced in a statement that it would no longer be moving forward with previous plans to implement a controversial facial recognition software on its website in order for users to access certain tax records.

According to CNN, the IRS’s reversal came after widespread backlash by elected officials, privacy groups, and others who pointed out that such technology would constitute a massive overreach and violation of individual privacy. The IRS said in its statement that it would “transition away from using a third-party verification service involving facial recognition,” and would instead add an “additional authentication process.” The agency also vowed to “protect taxpayer data and ensure broad access to online tools.”

“The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously,” IRS commissioner Chuck Rettig said, “and we understand the concerns that have been raised. Everyone should feel comfortable with how their personal information is secured, and we are quickly pursuing short-term options that do not involve facial recognition.”

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New Records Shows Zuckerberg Pumped $7.1 Million into Minnesota’s Election System

Minnesota Sun Staff
Mark Zuckerberg

Newly-released IRS filings show that a foundation funded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg injected $7.1 million into local Minnesota electoral systems in 2020.

The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) is funded by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. The CTCL is a left-wing organization that spent a total of $350 million during the last presidential election on “grants to various jurisdictions throughout the United States to help them hire more staff, buy mail-in ballot processing machinery, and other measures they deemed necessary to properly handle the election amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” per Influence Watch.

The efforts of the CTCL have been honored by Time Magazine in its infamous article on how activists “fortified” the 2020 election and drawn the ire of Republican legislators who are calling for more transparency about the group’s activities and intentions.

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Analysis: Five Controversial Policies Tucked Inside $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Passed by Congress

Minnesota Sun Staff

The final $1.2 trillion INVEST in America Act passed the Democrat-led House in a late night vote on Friday. Tucked away inside the infrastructure bill are some controversial policies, including these five:

1. The cryptocurrency tax provision in the Senate version of the bill was the subject of scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans. The language was not amended in the final bill that passed the House. The legislation includes an IRS reporting requirement for brokers of cryptocurrency transactions.

2. Under the “national motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot” section of the bill, there is a pilot program to create a vehicle miles traveled system for taxing drivers based on their annual vehicle mileage. During his confirmation process, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg floated the idea of taxing motorists based on the number of miles they travel each year as a way to partly fund the legislation. The Biden administration backed off of full-scale development of the controversial proposal, settling instead for a pilot program.

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Commentary: A $10K Bank-Snooping Threshold Would Intrude on Many Millions

RealClearWire
Man standing at an ATM

Bowing to pressure from banks and taxpayers concerned about a proposal to require financial institutions to report to the IRS gross inflows and outflows for just about every account in the country, Democrats have attempted to quell concerns by raising the threshold. Unfortunately, even the raised threshold is still laughably low to accomplish Democrats’ stated purpose of cracking down on wealthy tax cheats.

The original proposal would have required financial institutions to report on any account (be it a checking account, savings account, stock portfolio, etc.) which handled more than $600 in inflows and outflows in a given year. Obviously, that’s just about every account.

But the new proposal isn’t much better. This time, the threshold would be set at $10,000, and exempt payroll deposits. In other words, if a given taxpayer received $20,000 in payroll deposits, they would only exceed the threshold were other deposits and spending, taken together, to exceed $30,000.

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Commentary: $28 Per Day Triggers IRS Surveillance Program

Minnesota Sun Staff

The entire Democrat multi-trillion dollar socialist spending scam is bad for Americans, and bad for our economy. One particular provision that is especially terrible is their “IRS Surveillance” program, which would grant the government access to spy on nearly every Americans’ bank accounts. Their bill wants to use $80 billion of taxpayer funds to hire 85,000 more bureaucrats, nearly doubling the size of the IRS, to go through individuals’ personal banking information.

President Biden, and his colleagues in Congress, must have realized how unpopular this policy was with the American people, so they decided to make some “changes.” They created the impression they were raising the threshold in transactions individuals would need to hit before triggering the IRS to spy on their personal banking accounts.

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School Boards Group That Equated Parental Activism with ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Owes IRS $20 Million

Minnesota Sun Staff

A national education group that implied some parental activism is tantamount to “domestic terrorism” owes nearly $20 million to the IRS, according to tax forms reviewed by Just the News.

Most of that comes from “accrued pension liability,” as disclosed by the National School Boards Association’s 2017 and 2018 Form 990 filings. Unlike those two, the 2019 form — the most recently filed — does not include an itemized list under the federal income taxes subheading for “other liabilities.”

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Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: Democratic Proposal Will Let the IRS Snoop on Your Bank Account

Minnesota Sun Staff
Woman holding credit card, laptop open in front of her

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board said that a Democratic effort to crack down on tax cheating would give the Treasury Department access to almost every American’s bank account.

The Thursday op-ed focused on a proposal that would require financial institutions to report individual accounts containing at least $10,000 to the IRS. That effort, the board wrote, would affect the vast majority of Americans who did not exclusively use cash to make purchases and pay bills.

“The details are murky, but most Americans could still get ensnared in this dragnet unless they pay bills and buy goods in cash,” the editorial board wrote. “Democrats say banks will only have to report total annual inflows and outflows, not discrete transactions. But nearly all Americans spend more than $10,000 a year.”

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Some Credit Unions Already Losing Accounts over Democrats’ Plan to Expand IRS Tracking

Minnesota Sun Staff
Outside of IRS building

Organizations representing community banks and credit unions are blasting the Democrats’ commitment to expanding IRS reporting requirements, calling the proposal a government overreach that would require financial institutions to spend more money on compliance costs at the expense of products and services for their members.

According to the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, customers at some credit unions have already decided to close their accounts over “government intrusion” concerns fueled by the prospect of such new rules taking effect.

The Democrats’ proposal would require financial institutions to report account activity above $600 to the IRS.

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Pelosi: ‘Yes,’ IRS ‘Tracking’ of Bank Accounts over $600 Still on Table as Opposition Grows

The Center Square
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., doubled down on the inclusion in a spending bill of a Democratic provision that would require banks to report to the IRS transactions for accounts holding over $600.

When asked Tuesday if the IRS monitoring would remain in Democrats’ proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation legislation, Pelosi emphatically said “yes.”

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Businesses Push Back Against Biden Plan to Track All Bank Transactions over $600 Through the IRS

The Center Square
Joe Biden outside

A major component of President Joe Biden’s plan to raise revenue to pay for his trillions of dollars in new federal spending is now under fire from trade associations across the country.

The Biden administration has made clear its plan to beef up IRS auditing by expanding the agency’s funding and power. Biden’s latest proposal would require banks to turn over to the Internal Revenue Service bank account information for all accounts holding more than $600.

In a sharp pushback against the proposal, more than 40 trade associations, some of which represent entire industries or economic sectors, signed a letter to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., raising the alarm about the plan.

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Commentary: IRS Guidance Would Punish Small Business Owners with Families

RealClearWire
Outside of IRS building

Most IRS guidance documents make for poor pleasure reading. Then again, most IRS guidance doesn’t effectively impose a retroactive tax on small business owners merely for having a family. IRS Notice 2021-49, issued on August 4, includes a bizarre interpretation of the law that will effectively raise taxes for business owners with close relatives, even if their family members have no involvement in the company.

A core goal of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed early on in the pandemic was to assist businesses in keeping employees on their payroll even as they dealt with the economic effects of lockdowns. Part of the plan was the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), which provides a tax credit against employer payroll tax liabilities.

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IRS Denies Tax Exemption to Christian Group, Associates Bible with GOP

Minnesota Sun Staff
Woman's hands with Holy Bible and taking notes

A top Internal Revenue Service official told a Christian group that “Bible teachings are typically affiliated” with the Republican Party as a rationale for denying its application for tax-exempt status. 

The Texas-based Christians Engaged filed an appeal on Wednesday to the IRS’ denial, objecting to the tax agency’s assertion that it is partisan. 

In a May 18 denial letter, IRS Exempt Organizations Director Stephen A. Martin said Christians Engaged is involved in “prohibited political campaign intervention” and “operate[s] for a substantial non-exempt private purpose and for the private interests of the [Republican Party].”

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IRS: California Shrank by 165K Taxpayers, $8.8 Billion in Gross Income

The Center Square
Aerial shot of a California suburb

California residents of all ages and incomes are leaving for more tax friendly climates, and they’re taking billions of dollars in annual income with them.

The Internal Revenue Service recently released its latest taxpayer migration figures from tax years 2018 and 2019. They reflect migratory taxpayers who had filed in a different state or county between 2017 and 2018, of which 8 million did in that timespan.

California, the nation’s most-populous state, lost more tax filers and dependents on net than any other state.

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Commentary: Be Very Skeptical About Sen. Warren Throwing More Money at the IRS

Minnesota Sun Staff
Elizabeth Warren

Closing the “tax gap,” or revenue owed to the federal government that goes uncollected, has long been a favorite deus ex machina for lawmakers who want more revenue without having to raise rates. But Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Chuck Rettig really put dollar signs in lawmakers’ eyes when he claimed the tax gap could be as large as $1 trillion. Always eager to appear knowledgeable on policy issues, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is putting forward a plan to collect extra revenue that only gets worse the deeper you dig into it.

First and foremost, it’s important to understand how far off on an island Rettig is with his estimate. The IRS’s last official estimate of the size of the tax gap placed it at a far, far lower $381 billion. Even considering that this estimate may not have factored in underpayment from cryptocurrencies, offshore holdings, and pass-through businesses, the tax gap still remains far closer to $500 billion than to $1 trillion.

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Most Americans with Children to Receive Monthly Federal Payments Starting in July

The Center Square
Man with two children

Millions of American families will receive hundreds of dollars in regular federal payments beginning next month, the Internal Revenue Service said Monday.

The IRS announced July 15 as the start date for monthly child tax credit payments that would affect the vast majority of Americans with children.

“Eligible families will receive a payment of up to $300 per month for each child under age 6 and up to $250 per month for each child age 6 and above,” the IRS said in a statement.

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Puerto Rico: Tax Haven for the Super-Rich

Minnesota Sun Staff

Puerto Rico has become a popular tax haven for super rich Americans who take advantage of local laws, which allow them to avoid paying U.S. federal income taxes.

Over the last decade, thousands of wealthy Americans have built homes, started businesses and spent a significant amount of time in Puerto Rico, all in order to take advantage of the island’s tax code that exempts them from U.S. taxes. While just a few thousand have taken advantage of the law, the U.S. federal government has potentially lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

“It’s being done, in a sense, in plain sight,” Peter Palsen, an international tax expert at the Washington D.C-area law firm Frost Law, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The IRS has the knowledge of who’s doing it.”

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Tax, Legal Experts Agree Leaker of Trump’s Tax Returns Could Face Prison Time

Minnesota Sun Staff

Tax and legal experts say the leaker or leakers who took President Trump’s personal tax returns and gave them to The New York Times, committed a felony punishable by prison.

Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia who has advised Trump on some legal matters, told Just the News that the leaking was “definitely” a crime that could be liable for both criminal and civil legal actions.

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Minnesota Republicans Submit Request for IRS Investigation Into Omar’s Fraudulent Tax Returns

Anthony Gockowski

State Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) announced Tuesday that he is submitting formal requests to the IRS and the Minnesota Department of Revenue for a full investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN-05) fraudulent 2014 and 2015 tax returns.

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Trump Signs Law Making It Harder for IRS to Seize Money From Americans

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Fred Lucas   The Internal Revenue Service seized $446,000 from the bank accounts of brothers Jeffrey, Richard, and Mitch Hirsch in 2012, claiming a “structuring” violation against the owners of Bi-County Distributors Inc. for making multiple bank deposits of less than $10,000. The government never charged them with a…

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Trumps Sue Banks to Keep Them from Complying with Congressional Subpoenas

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Chuck Ross   President Donald Trump, his three oldest children, and their companies sued Monday to prevent their two banks from complying with congressional subpoenas for personal and business financial records. The Trump lawyers argued in the lawsuit that the subpoenas, which were issued to Deutsche Bank and Capital…

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Grassley Explains Why He Doesn’t Want To See Trump’s Tax Returns

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Nick Givas   Sen. Chuck Grassley explained why he wasn’t interested in seeing President Donald Trump’s personal tax returns, on “Fox & Friends” Monday. “Listen, you’re asking me as chairman of the Finance Committee, we would have an opportunity to see [Trump’s tax returns] too. I don’t want to…

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Mick Mulvaney: Democrats Will ‘Never’ See President Trump’s Tax Returns

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Henry Rogers   Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Democrats in Congress will “never” succeed in obtaining President Donald Trump’s tax returns. Mulvaney mentioned in an interview with “Fox News Sunday” how Democrats are demanding the IRS to hand over Trump’s tax returns. “Democrats are demanding that the…

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Sen. Cotton Seeks IRS Inquiry Into Southern Poverty Law Center’s Tax Status

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Fred Lucas   Sen. Tom Cotton has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the Southern Poverty Law Center, a liberal activist organization that regularly brands organizations it opposes as “hate groups.” Cotton, R-Ark., said the probe is needed for “protecting taxpayer dollars from a racist and sexist slush…

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Commentary: An Epidemic of Erasures, Redactions, Omissions, and Perjuries

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Victor Davis Hanson   Imagine the following: The IRS sends you, John Q. Citizen, a letter alleging you have not complied with U.S. tax law. In the next paragraph, the tax agency then informs you that it needs a series of personal and business documents. Indeed, it will be…

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Women’s March, Other Left-Wing Groups Violated IRS Rules and Their Nonprofit Status Could Be In Jeopardy

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by Andrew Kerr, Peter Hasson and Joe Simonson   Left-wing nonprofit groups that orchestrated disruptions during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings likely violated IRS rules, which can result in their loss of tax-exempt status, according to an investigation by The Daily Caller News Foundation. TheDCNF listened in on a conference…

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