All posts tagged "Internal Revenue Service"

The Trump administration's ouster of a top Internal Revenue Service attorney might have created a "new potential whistleblower" who could reveal "what is really going on in the White House," a legal expert warned Saturday.

Legal AF analyst Michael Popok, responding the Wall Street Journal report that top Treasury Department tax policy official Kenneth Kies had been forced out of his job, noted he "used to be Donald Trump's personal tax lawyer and lobbyist."

Kies had since become an assistant Treasury secretary and acting chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, who, according to Popok, resigned "rather than allow the White House to violate a federal criminal statute."...

The IRS's website contains so many errors that one tax professional quipped, "This is feeling like the website is spoofed and your payments will go straight to Russia,” according to new reporting from Forbes.

"It would be funny if it weren’t true," wrote Kelly Phillips Erb, senior writer with the publication.

Erb wrote that the typos and errors were brought to her attention on Thursday, and she listed some of the more egregious mistakes in her article....

CNN anchor Pamela Brown fended off a "gotcha" moment from Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) on the topic of undocumented immigrants paying taxes.

Brown began by discussing the potential of the Internal Revenue Service sharing "very sensitive taxpayer data" with the Department of Homeland Security "that could aid in deportations."

"You know, the only reason the IRS has this information is because these undocumented migrants voluntarily shared it," Brown said, "So, I just wonder, you know, why should people who are following the rules, paying their taxes, even if they are here illegally, be specifically singled out for deportation?"...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expressed disgust on social media Monday after apparently receiving an IRS audit notice addressed to him and his wife.

Hegseth posted a photo of the notice that read, "Dear Peter B & Jennifer A. Hegseth: We're auditing your federal income tax return." The notice continued, "You owe a balance of $33,558.16" and advised them to "pay the balance due now to avoid additional penalties."

Hegseth wrote, "Of course the outgoing Biden IRS rushed an 'audit' of the incoming SecDef. Total sham. The party of 'norms' and 'decency' strikes again. We will never back down." ...

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

New legislation could throw a wrench in IRS plans to launch a free government-run tax filing program after millions of dollars in lobbying by for-profit tax prep service providers.

On Monday, newly-minted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) introduced a bill making $14.3 million in aid to Israel contingent on reducing funding for the IRS. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which President Joe Biden signed into law last year, set $15 million aside for the IRS to develop the free service. Leading for-profit tax prep companies oppose the program. ...

(Reuters) - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden has asked the Obama administration why the United States failed to stop a tax-avoidance strategy used by hedge funds, including John Paulson's Paulson & Co, Bloomberg reported.