IRS practice & procedure

The new examination process, which will be effective May 1, 2016, includes new procedures for refund claims while an examination is underway.

The IRS released its annual list of the “dirty dozen” worst tax scams, starting with identity theft and winding up with frivolous tax arguments.

The “fly-in” was intended to highlight dissatisfaction by practitioners and taxpayers with the IRS’s admittedly unacceptable levels of service and CPAs’ potential role in improving the IRS in that and other ways.

The IRS issued inflation adjustments for the Sec. 179 expensing limits, the above-the-line deduction for eligible expenses of educators, and the deductible amount for van pool and transit expenses.

The IRS issued the 2016 inflation-adjusted amounts for the maximum vehicle values for purposes of determining the amount that is included in employees’ income for personal use of an employer-provided vehicle.

The IRS’s tax return e-filing system was back in operation Thursday afternoon, a day after a computer hardware failure knocked out it and other IRS system services.

The IRS warned that identity protection personal identification number (IP PIN) notices it has recently sent to victims of identity theft refer to the wrong tax year.

The omnibus spending bill passed by Congress on Friday, which extends a long list of expired tax provisions, also contains a large number of other tax items.

In its annual business report for 2015, the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division discussed notable criminal tax prosecutions.

The highway funding bill passed by Congress includes provisions that will allow the government to revoke the passports of seriously delinquent tax debtors and will require the IRS to use third-party debt collectors.

The IRS issued a QuickAlert to tax practitioners, warning of a phishing scam that is attempting to capture practitioners’ e-Services usernames and passwords.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the AICPA that continuing cuts to the agency’s budget mean less enforcement revenue and continued challenges in properly serving taxpayers’ and practitioners’ needs during the crush of tax season.