Tax Season Humor
A visitor from Holland was chatting with his American friend and was jokingly explaining about the red, white and blue in the Netherlands flag. "Our flag symbolizes our taxes," he said. "We get red when we talk about them, white when we get our tax bill, and blue after we pay them."

"It's the same with us," the American said, "only we see stars, too."

REPORTING OF TAX INFORMATION WITH YOUR PASSPORT APPLICATION

Passports are not under the purview of the IRS, and generally do not involve tax administration issues. However, since 1986, U.S. passport applicants have to report certain information when they make their application. Code §6039E.

Proposed Regulations on what must be reported were issued in 1992, but never finalized. Treasury has now issued new proposed Regulations. Under these, the items to be reported are:

(1) the applicant's full name and, if applicable, previous name;

(2) address of regular or principal place of residence within the country of residence and, if different, mailing address;

(3) taxpayer identifying number (TIN); and

(4) date of birth.

provides legal justification for the gathering of reams of data on taxpayers, including marital status, business and investment activities, and asset holding that might otherwise be beyond the interest of government.

Proposed Treas. Regs. §301.6039E-1

That is why very often you must produce your tax returns when applying for a green card and later a passport.

Suspicious e-Mails and Identity Theft

The Internal Revenue Service has issued several recent consumer warnings on the fraudulent use of the IRS name or logo by scamsters trying to gain access to consumers’ financial information in order to steal their identity and assets. When identity theft takes place over the Internet, it is called phishing. Suspicious e-Mail/Phishing Phishing (as in “fishing for information” and “hooking” victims) is a scam where Internet fraudsters send e-mail messages to trick unsuspecting victims into revealing personal and financial information that can be used to steal the victims’ identity. Current scams include phony e-mails which claim to come from the IRS and which lure the victims into the scam by telling them that they are due a tax refund. Phishing and Other Schemes Using the IRS Name The IRS periodically alerts taxpayers to, and maintains a list of, phishing schemes using the IRS name, logo or Web site clone. If you've received an e-mail, phone call or fax claiming to come from the IRS that seemed a little suspicious, you just may find it on this list. News Releases IR-2009-71, IRS Alerts Public to New Identity Theft Scams IR-2008-11, IRS Warns of New E-Mail and Telephone Scams Using the IRS Name; Advance Payment Scams Starting IR-2007-183, IRS Warns of E-Mail Scam Soliciting Donations to California Wildfire Victims IR-2007-148, IRS Warns of New E-mail Scam Offering Cash for Participation in “Member Satisfaction Survey” IR-2007-109, IRS Warns Taxpayers of New E-mail Scams IR-2007-75, IRS Warns of Phony e-Mails Claiming to Come from the IRS IR-2006-116, Electronic Federal Tax Payment System Cited in New E-mail Scam IR-2006-104, IRS Renews E-mail Alert Following New Scams IR-2006-49, IRS Establishes e-Mail Box for Taxpayers to Report Phony e-Mails Fact Sheets FS-2010-9, Online Scams that Impersonate the IRS FS-2009-4, The Official Internal Revenue Service Web Site Is IRS.gov FS-2008-9, Identity Theft E-mail Scams a Growing Problem Videos Phishing — Malware: English | text Publications Publication 4523, Beware of Phishing Schemes (English/Spanish) Web Articles Sample of a suspicious/phishing e-mail Is it a phishing Web site? How to Protect Yourself from Suspicious E-Mails or Phishing Schemes You Can Help Shut Down Phishing Schemes The good news is that you can help shut down these schemes and prevent others from being victimized. If you receive a suspicious e-mail that claims to come from the IRS, you can relay that e-mail to a new IRS mailbox, phishing@irs.gov. Follow instructions in the link below for sending the bogus e-mail to ensure that it retains critical elements found in the original e-mail. The IRS can use the information, URLs and links in the suspicious e-mails you send to trace the hosting Web site and alert authorities to help shut down the fraudulent sites. Unfortunately, due to the expected volume, the IRS will not be able to acknowledge receipt or respond to you. phishing@irs.gov Instructions for submitting phishing e-mails to IRS

Hello from Joan Murad EA

Proposed Regulations Expand the Use of Electronic Payment System and Discontinue Paper Coupons Next Year

WASHINGTON — Consistent with a Financial Management Service initiative announced in April of this year, the IRS today issued proposed regulations to significantly increase the number of electronic transactions between taxpayers and the federal government.

The proposed regulations (REG 153340-09) would eliminate the rules for making federal tax deposits by paper coupon because the paper coupon system will no longer be maintained by the Treasury Department after Dec. 31, 2010. The proposed regulations generally maintain existing rules for depositing federal taxes through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS).

Using EFTPS to make federal tax deposits provides substantial benefits to both taxpayers and the government. EFTPS users can make tax payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week from home or the office.

Deposits can be made online with a computer or by telephone. EFTPS also significantly reduces payment-related errors that could result in a penalty. The system helps taxpayers schedule dates to make payments even when they are out of town or on vacation when a payment is due. EFTPS business users can schedule payments up to 120 days in advance of the desired payment date.

Information on EFTPS, including how to enroll, can be found at www.eftps.gov or by calling EFTPS Customer Service at 1-800-555-4477.

Some businesses paying a minimal amount of tax may make their payments with the related tax return, instead of using EFTPS. More details regarding taxes required to be deposited using EFTPS, dollar thresholds and other specific requirements are in the proposed regulations.

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