The Employee Retention Credit (ERC), a program created to help struggling small businesses during the pandemic, is just one of several IRS credits fraught with abuse, whether by criminals or well-intended taxpayers who are confused by the rules. IRS Commissioner,...
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Tax Crimes
New Tool for Taxpayer Protection Offered by the IRS – Enroll Today!
The IRS has released a new tool in the fight against felonious filing: the Identity Protection Personal Identification Number (IP PIN) system. Taxpayers can now enroll in the IP PIN program and will receive a unique number only known by themselves and the IRS....
California Tax Preparer Sentenced to Six Years – Cost the IRS at Least $28 Million in Unpaid Taxes
A California tax preparer was sentenced to six years in federal prison and to pay nearly $500,000 in restitution for costing the IRS over $28 million in taxes by filing false tax returns for his clients. Salvador Gonzalez operated Grace’s Lighthouse Resource Center,...
TIGTA Reports Prosecution of 642 IRS Employees!
Imagine how tempting it would be if you had access to the federal income tax information of your neighbors, your boss, or an old boyfriend! The IRS implemented the Unauthorized Access, Attempted Access, or Inspection of Taxpayer Records (UNAX) program to help monitor...
Know a Tax Cheat? Turn them in for a Whistleblower Reward!
There may not be a Hallmark card for National Whistleblower Day, but it has been a day celebrated by the IRS since the whistleblower reward program began in 2007. Since then, the IRS has collected $7 billion from non-compliant taxpayers and has paid over $1.2 billion...
New Scams Are Targeting Tax Professionals and Taxpayers, Alike
The IRS and Security Summit are issuing warnings to tax professionals and individuals to be wary of the various schemes scammers use to obtain business and taxpayer information. While many of these schemes have been around for a while, scammers are becoming more...
Southern California CPA Pleads Guilty to Preparing False Tax Returns
A tax return preparer in Southern California pled guilty to operating a tax return preparation business that prepared over 11,000 tax returns, demanding refunds totaling over $38 million from the IRS beginning in 2013. Salvador Gonzalez, owner of Grace’s Lighthouse...
IRS releases 2023 Data Book describing agency’s transformation through statistics
The Results Are In! The IRS issued its annual Data Book with numerical data on a variety of topics related to tax assessments, collections, audits, and criminal cases. For the 2023 fiscal year, the IRS collected about $4.7 trillion, which represents 96% of the total...
TIGTA REVIEWS THE IRS’ GHOST EMPLOYER PROJECT
Ghost Employers are those nefarious employers who withhold payroll taxes from their employees’ paychecks but fail to submit the withheld payroll taxes to the IRS as required. These employers are dubbed Ghost Employers and use the funds instead for their company or for...
Treasury Reports $159 Million Ordered in Restitution
In a report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) concerning its COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, the agency reported that $159 million has been ordered in restitution related to fraud connected to programs offered during the...
