Tax season

The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it would begin a limited test at 10 of its Taxpayer Assistance Centers to determine whether an appointment-based service approach at its walk-in centers might help reduce taxpayer wait times during a time of severe budget cuts at the agency.

Tonya Keith typically spends four to eight hours doing her taxes each year. This year, she says, “I’ve got about 30 hours in, and I’m not done.” The reason: She and her wife got married last year in Seattle, but they live in Georgia, which doesn’t recognize their marriage.

Last Friday, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2015-20, which lessens the requirements for certain companies to file a Form 3115 while adopting the new repair regulations.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Congressman Charles Boustany, R-La., have re-introduced a bill in Congress aimed at enabling Enrolled Agents to advertise their credential in more states.

7 things can learn during tax prep to build a stronger client relationship

Intuit Inc. Chief Executive Officer Brad Smith is facing one of the biggest challenges in his seven-year tenure: how to restore trust in his company after fraudulent tax returns were filed through its TurboTax program.

The Internal Revenue Service delivered a progress report Thursday on tax season so far, noting that it has issued 19.7 million refunds worth more than $66 billion, up slightly from last year’s totals.

Intuit Inc. Chief Executive Officer Brad Smith wrote to the Internal Revenue Service calling for the government to share information to help combat fraud, after states saw a rise in fraudulent returns being submitted via his company’s TurboTax tax software.

The IRS has warned that the coming three-day weekend typically kicks off one of the busiest weeks of the tax filing season for the service’s phone lines.

The Internal Revenue Service is facing not only a budget crunch this tax season, but also rampant identity theft.

The 2014 tax season is going to be a stressful one for many people.

Smaller percentages of American taxpayers plan to spend their tax refunds on savings, investment or debt reduction than in years past, according to a new survey.

The IRS’s annual pick of the worst of the worst

The Internal Revenue Service reported Friday that tax season is off to a strong start this year, with the tax-filing volume running ahead of last year so far.

Picture this scene in households across the country: the daily fat stack of mail arrives. Among the magazine subscriptions and car insurance junk mail is an odd-sized, but strangely familiar envelope. The W2 has landed—the annual scorecard of the year that was.

Three Republican lawmakers are calling on the Social Security Administration to work with the Internal Revenue Service to do more to stop fraudulent claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit, particularly by the self-employed.

The Affordable Care Act requires that in 2014 all Americans must have qualified health insurance or face a Shared Responsibility Payment.

The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new, online public directory of tax return preparers as part of its effort to promote its Annual Filing Season Program for testing and continuing education of tax preparers on a voluntary basis.

The U.S. Treasury Department and the Department of Education are working with H&R Block and Intuit this tax season to raise awareness of the income-based repayment options for federal student loan borrowers.

Former Internal Revenue Service commissioner Mark W. Everson is worried about the impact of continuing budget cuts on his old agency’s ability to help taxpayers and tax practitioners this tax season as the IRS is encouraging taxpayers to check the IRS.gov Web site for answers to questions before picking up the phone.