Blog & Newsroom

Ask the Expert: I recently moved. I set up mail forwarding with the U.S. Postal Service, is there anything else I need to do?

Setting up mail forwarding is a great start, but there are a couple more steps you should take:

National Taxpayer Advocate (NAS) Nina Olson, who is scheduled to retire on July 31^st, 2019, addressed Congress for the 37^th and presumably last time in her role. Olson, who has held the role of NAS for 18 years, addressed Congress to review the 2019 tax season and the state of the IRS.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a type of medical savings account that allows eligible individuals to make deductible contributions and withdraw tax-free disbursements for the payment of eligible medical expenses. Each year the IRS evaluates the limitation amounts on HSA deductions based for inflation.

Well…it’s over.  This year’s individual tax return filing deadline has come and gone.  As the dust settles and we take stock of this year’s tax season, a few trends have appeared.

The IRS recently announced a 6 year plan to update and modernize its information technology systems and infrastructure. The move will bring much needed resources to an agency beleaguered by nearly a decade of consecutive budget cuts. 

As the responsible party on employer identification number (EIN) applications, effective May 13, 2019, the IRS will only accept EIN applications from individual taxpayers who have either a Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number.

On Friday, March 22, 2019, the Treasury and IRS announced they have lowered the withholding underpayment penalty threshold to 80%. This means that taxpayers who were 80% or less under-withheld on their income tax withholding or quarterly tax payments may qualify for relief.

Every year, a group of adventurous souls decides: This is the year I’m going to prepare my own tax return! While we certainly applaud an individual’s right to establish self-reliance and try to save money on preparation fees, it’s rarely a good idea.

You check your mail and you see the return address, IRS. Your first thought? Well, that can’t be good. You open up the letter and you read that you’re being audited. Look on the bright side – less than 1% of returns get audited each year, you’re just one of the lucky ones! All jocularity aside, there’s nothing to panic about.