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WASHINGTON—The Internal Revenue Service will be resuming issuing collections notices to taxpayers that were previously suspending during the COVID-19 pandemic, although a date on when they will begin to be sent out has not been set.


The Internal Revenue Service will use 2018 as the benchmark year for determining audit rates as it plans to increase enforcement for those individuals and businesses making more than $400,000 per year.


The Supreme Court has held that the exception to the notice requirement in Code Sec. 7609(c)(2)(D)(i) does not apply where a delinquent taxpayer has a legal interest in accounts or records summoned by the IRS under Code Sec. 7602(a). The IRS had entered official assessments against an individual for unpaid taxes and penalties, following which a revenue officer had issued summonses to three banks seeking financial records of several third parties, including the taxpayers. Subsequently, the taxpayers moved to quash the summonses. The District Court concluded that, under Code Sec. 7609(c)(2)(D)(i), no notice was required and that taxpayers, therefore, could not bring a motion to quash. 


An IRS notice provides interim guidance describing rules that the IRS intends to include in proposed regulations regarding the domestic content bonus credit requirements for:


A married couple’s petition for redetermination of an income tax deficiency was untimely where they electronically filed their petition from the central time zone but after the due date in the eastern time zone, where the Tax Court is located. Accordingly, the taxpayers’ case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.


Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel said changes are coming to address racial disparities among those who get audited annually.


The American Institute of CPAs expressed support for legislation pending in the Senate that would redefine when electronic payments to the Internal Revenue Service are considered timely.


WASHINGTON—The Inflation Reduction Act Strategic Operating Plan was designed to be a living document, an Internal Revenue Service official said.

The plan, which outlines how the IRS plans to spend the additional nearly $80 billion in supplemental funds allocated to it in the Inflation Reduction Act, was written to be a "living document. It’s not meant to be something static that stays on the shelf and never gets updated, and just becomes an historic relic," Bridget Roberts, head of the IRS Transformation and Strategy Office, said May 5, 2023, at the ABA May Tax Meeting.


The IRS Independent Office of Appeals, in coordination with the National Taxpayer Advocate, has invited public feedback on how it can improve conference options for taxpayers and representatives who are not located near an Appeals office, encourage participation of taxpayers with limited English proficiency and ensure accessibility by persons with disabilities. Taxpayers can send their comments to ap.taxpayer.experience@irs.gov by July 10, 2023.


The IRS expects to issue guidance on the Code Sec. 199A passthrough deduction in July, Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter has said. Kautter outlined the timeline of various guidance proposals at the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Taxation May Meeting in Washington, D.C.


The IRS has issued a new five-year strategic plan to guide its programs and operations and to help meet the changing needs of taxpayers and members of the tax community. "Providing service to taxpayers is a vital part of the IRS mission and the new Strategic Plan lays out a vision of ways to help improve our tax system," remarked IRS Acting Commissioner David Kautter.


The White House and Republican lawmakers are continuing discussions focused on a second round of tax reform, according to President Trump’s top economic advisor. National Economic Council Director Lawrence Kudlow said in an April 5 interview that Trump and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Tex., spoke earlier in the week again about a "phase two" of tax reform


The IRS is already working on implementing tax reform, according to IRS Acting Commissioner David Kautter. Speaking at a Tax Executives Institute event in Washington, D.C., Kautter discussed current IRS efforts toward implementing tax law changes under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) ( P.L. 115-97).


The IRS has released Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to address a taxpayer’s filing obligations and payment requirements with respect to the Code Sec. 965 transition tax, enacted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Creation Act ( P.L. 115-97). The instructions in the FAQs are for filing 2017 returns with an amount of Code Sec. 965 tax. Failure to follow the FAQs could result in difficulties in processing the returns. Taxpayers who are required to file electronically are asked to wait until April 2, 2018, to file returns so that the IRS can make system changes.