New Rule: IRS No Longer Hires Tax Cheats
Comforting, isn’t it? To learn that IRS has adopted policies that prohibit its employees who cheat on their own taxes to work for Uncle Sam!
“I have no indication that anyone working for the IRS has not followed the updated procedures,” quoth Commish Koskinen in recent testimony before the Senate Finance Committee.
Recall that a report last year by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that 1,580 IRS employees had willfully failed to pay their taxes. Of those, TIGTA found 61 percent retained their jobs.
Nice.
Meanwhile, Koskinen blames cybersecurity (or lack thereof) and customer service failures on Obamacare! In remarks before another Congressional Committee regarding the fact that, indeed, Congress had increased funding in 2014 and in 2016 for taxpayer services, Koskinen said it didn’t matter where Congress intended the money to go, noting that his agency had diverted expenditures from the customer service and cybersecurity realms in order to ensure compliance with the Affordable Care Act.
So there.
“As I said two years ago, at the continued level of underfunding, the things that were going to suffer were going to be enforcement, taxpayer service, and ultimately information technology.”
Meanwhile, Koskinen continues to dodge threats from some Congresspersons for his impeachment.
But in yet another example of its overall magnanimity, the IRS recently ruled privately that it would waive the 60 day rollover requirement for a taxpayer whose failure to timely roll over funds from her husband’s IRA to her own, was due to her emotional distress following the death of her husband and the stress of administering his estate.
Recall that there is no immediate tax if distributions from an IRA are rolled over to another eligible retirement plan within 60 days after the date the taxpayer received the withdrawal in the first instance. IRS may waive the 60 day rule if an individual suffers a casualty, disaster, or other event beyond his reasonable control, and not waiving the 60 day rule would be against equity or good conscience.
IRS has been pretty lenient on this issue, and folks facing such a problem should take careful note.
CONSULT YOUR TAX ADVISOR – This article contains general information about various tax matters. You should consult your CPA regarding the implications to your own particular situation.
Jeff Quinn, the author of this article, is a CPA recently retired from Ashley Quinn, CPAs and Consultants, Ltd., with offices in Incline Village and Reno. He welcomes comments at [email protected].
