IRS TO ASSIGN CORPORATE AUDITORS TO SWISS BANK CASES
Washington, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service plans to re-assign many of the auditors from its corporate division to a newly created office that will deal with wealthy tax evaders, including those with UBS bank accounts. The new office will be part of the Large and Mid-size Business Division and is expected to handle many of the 4,450 U.S.-based accounts that the Swiss government has agreed to hand over from UBS. The IRS is expecting a flood of 10,000 cases from former UBS account holders, including those who come forward voluntarily. A special reduced-penalty program expired on Sept. 23.
In addition to the office dedicated to high-net-worth tax evaders, the LMSB Division will also house five other special offices to deal with the IRS's stepped-up enforcement efforts, divided into various industry segments. To deal with the extra workload, the IRS is trying to hire 784 new full-time workers. Among those new employees, 109 would be assigned to investigate U.S. taxpayers with offshore holdings, and 113 would audit smaller multinational companies.
TAP RECOMMENDS IMPROVEMENTS FOR IRS
Washington, D.C. - The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, a federal advisory committee of 99 citizen volunteers, made a series of recommendations to the IRS on improving payment installment agreements, the scheduling of audits, fixing problems in 1099 forms, and other areas. In all, it developed 25 recommendations based on taxpayer issues and feedback, and completed 86 projects at the request of the IRS, including a special project to clarify the guidance for taxpayers dealing with the complex tax rules relating to cancellation of debt. The panel also completed a project to assess the performance of the IRS's 401 Taxpayer Assistance Centers and make recommendations for improving their efficiency and tax preparation services. TAP also reviewed more than 50 IRS notices, forms and publications, and recommended clarifications, including to the Schedule C and Schedule C-EZ.
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