Monthly News: June 2020

The Stimulus checks have been sent out.  The Government may not send you a check they may be sending you a prepaid debit card instead.  The cards will come in a plain white envelope from Money Network Cardholder Services.  If you haven’t received your stimulus payment yet you can call the IRS but the wait times are extremely long and they can only give you general information.  If you feel the amount sent you is too small they won’t be able to adjust it so you may have to reconcile it with an associated tax credit on your 2020 return.

Make sure you correctly report your foreign accounts the penalties for willful failure to report can be up to 50% of the account value.  The courts said the penalties are constitutional and as one taxpayer found out when the IRS penalized him $13 million!

Private debt collections agencies utilized by the IRS limits have been changed.  Tax debt deferred to 2021 can’t be sent to these agencies for low- income taxpayers and two years must elapse after assessment before they can turn this over to private collection agencies.  Taxpayers will be given 7 years to pay off their debt with installment agreements also instead of the 5 year currently in place.

Millions of pieces of mail have piled up at the IRS due to the pandemic.  This will cause a longer wait on any forms, paper tax returns or any correspondence you may have sent to the IRS to be answered.  They have brought back limited staff due to social distancing and most employees weren’t brought back till June 1St.  The coronavirus is compounding many of the existing IRS problems.  Outdated computers and software inadequate budget funding and a shrinking and aging workforce are exacerbating the problems.  Over 50% of the IRS employees are over the age of 50.

There may be another extension to filing your return and paying your taxes.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other advisory groups are calling for the extension to be through October 15, But nothing has been finalized.