State Financial Officers Urge Treasury to Terminate Internal Revenue Service’s ‘Direct File’ Program

A group of 21 state financial officers on Monday urged the Department of the Treasury to terminate the IRS’s Direct File pilot program, contending that its shortcomings were likely to lead to problems for filers, cause needless confusion, and result in lost state revenues.

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Congress Probing Whether IRS Plyng AI to Invade Americans’ Financial Privacy

Jim Jordan and Harriet Hageman

The House Judiciary Committee has opened an inquiry to whether the IRS is using artificial intelligence to invade Americans’ financial privacy after an agency employee was captured in an undercover tape suggesting there was a widespread surveillance operation underway that might not be constitutional.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., sent a letter last week to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding documents, and answers as to how the agency is currently employing artificial intelligence to comb through bank records to look for possible tax cheats. 

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Commentary: Big Labor State Politicians’ ‘Wall of Denial’ Is Starting to Crumble

California Illinois

For decades, cold, hard data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have shown that states like New Jersey, Illinois and California are paying a high price for allowing dues-hungry union bosses to continue getting workers fired for refusal to bankroll their organizations.

Year after year, far more taxpayers have been leaving forced-unionism states than moving into them.  And the average tax filer moving out of a forced-unionism state has reported having an adjusted gross income (AGI) on his or her IRS form that is substantially higher than the average for a tax filer moving into a forced-unionism state.

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New IRS Guidelines for Electric Car Tax Credit ‘Recipe for Fraud,’ Tax Watchdog Warns

EV Charging Station

New Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines for the federal electric vehicle (EV) tax credit are a “recipe for fraud,” warns the head of the Tax Foundation.

Consumers will now be able to automatically claim the tax credit at the point of sale on new or used EV purchases, rather than wait to claim it on their tax return, according to the latest Treasury Department guidance.

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Biden IRS Launches Audit Into Conservative Org That Helped Tank Nominees for Key Administration Posts

The IRS is investigating the tax-exempt status of the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) following its reporting on President Joe Biden’s nominees, several of whom withdrew their nominations, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The IRS is requesting AAF submit internal financial data as well as communications, including meeting notes, publications and newsletters, according to the letter from the IRS to AAF obtained by the DCNF. The conservative nonprofit organization, which the IRS approved for tax-exempt status in August 2021, alleges the investigation is in retaliation for the AAF reporting on several recent Biden nominees who later withdrew their nominations.

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Commentary: The Internal Revenue Service’s AI Announcement Is Really About Taxpayer Intimidation

The IRS commissioner announced last month that the agency will now deploy artificial intelligence in pursuit of “wealthy tax cheats” who are using partnership structures to pay “little to no tax.” But the announcement’s logic doesn’t pass the smell test — the real intent seems to be to intimidate successful small businesspeople away from using legal tax minimization strategies.

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New Weaponization Report Details Abuse as IRS Agent Asserts He Can Enter ‘Anyone’s House at Any Time’

An IRS agent showed up at the door of a Marion County, Ohio, woman and lied about his reason for being there.

Once inside, the Internal Revenue Service agent, purporting to be named Bill Haus, began to harass and intimidate the taxpayer, according to a congressional report released Friday.

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Commentary: Leaker of Trump Taxes Worked for Biden Beltway Donor That Just Won a Big New IRS Contract

The Internal Revenue Service recently awarded a lucrative contract to help modernize its computer databases to the same Washington firm, Booz Allen Hamilton, that employed the man who pleaded guilty last week to stealing and leaking thousands of private tax returns of wealthy Americans, including former President Trump, according to records reviewed by RealClearInvestigations. 

The massive IRS theft is the third major breach of confidential and classified government information by Booz Allen contractors over the last decade – including Edward Snowden’s 2013 leak exposing the National Security Agency’s worldwide anti-terror surveillance program.

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IRS Set to Use AI to Target Tax Cheats, Say They Will Limit to ‘High Income Earners’ and ‘Large Corporations’

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced new enforcement initiatives Friday to crack down on 1,600 millionaires and 75 large companies it said owe hundreds of millions in unpaid taxes.  

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said the agency will use Inflation Reduction Act funding to focus on high-income earners, partnerships, large corporations and promoters. He said the IRS won’t increase audit rates for those earning less than $400,000 a year.

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IRS Lost Millions of Taxpayer Records That Could be Used for Identity Theft

The Internal Revenue Service lost millions of taxpayer records and federal employees don’t know where they have gone.

Lawmakers want answers and accountability for the IRS over those documents, which could be used by nefarious actors to steal Americans’ identity.

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Founder of Major Democratic Dark Money Network Accused of Self-Enrichment

A complaint filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) alleges that the founder of the largest Democratic dark money network in the country is using its operations for his own financial benefit.

Fox News reports that the complaint was filed on Tuesday by Americans for Public Trust (APT), and targets any entities that are affiliated with Arabella Advisors, a consulting firm based out of Washington D.C. which manages numerous nonprofits serving as fiscal sponsors for left-wing dark money groups.

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GOP Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Disarm Federal Bureaucrats

Several Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation which would disarm enforcement agents from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana introduced the No Funds for Armed Regulators Act of 2023 on June 30, joined by seven co-sponsors. The bill would disallow the use of taxpayer dollars to hire or retain armed regulatory enforcement agents in the EPA, DOL and IRS if it becomes law.

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Commentary: The Bidens’ Existential Threats to the American Rule of Law

President Joe Biden, the Biden grifting conglomerate, the Department of Justice, and the FBI under its fourth consecutive weaponized director, are in danger of subverting the American system of law.

They are in various ways undermining the tradition of self-reported income tax computation and voluntary compliance.

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Congress Prepares to Unseal Testimony, Evidence from IRS Whistleblower in Hunter Biden Case

The House Ways and Means Committee took final steps Tuesday to release to the public as early as this week the testimony and evidence from an IRS whistleblower who alleges the Justice Department gave favorable treatment to Hunter Biden and engaged in political interference in the criminal tax case against the first son.

Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., scheduled an executive session for 8 a.m. Thursday where lawmakers are expected to vote to free the whistleblower evidence and testimony of IRS supervisory criminal agent Gary Shapley from the 6103 privacy requirements that normally shield Americans’ tax information from public disclosure.

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Commentary: Tax Armageddon Day Is Coming

Benjamin Franklin famously wrote in 1789 that “our new Constitution is now established and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Death and taxes are fated. However, are enormous tax hikes also a fait accompli? Is it a certainty – ‘an accomplished fact’ – that the White House and Congress will repeal tax reforms that worked? Tax breaks that helped small business owners and families.

For the past several days Americans have been scrambling to make the deadline to complete their 2022 tax returns. Most taxpayers will be relieved once the ordeal is done. However, here’s an unfortunate reality: if Washington fails to act, the federal tax code is headed for major changes in just a couple of years, including massive tax hikes on families and small businesses.

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IRS to Hire 30,000 More Employees over the Next Two Years

In a statement on Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) declared that it will hire almost 30,000 new employees over the next two years, as part of an $80 billion investment plan.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the moves are part of the agency’s broader Strategic Operating Plan, aimed at increasing its workforce and implementing new technologies for the alleged purpose of increased efficiency, stricter tax enforcement, and improved customer service.

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Recent IRS Controversies Raise Doubts About Auditing Army’s Potential Bias

President Joe Biden’s call for funding for 87,000 IRS agents to audit Americans has raised questions about whether the new rash of auditing will target poorer Americans or be politically motivated.

The Inflation Reduction Act included $80 billion to beef up IRS efforts, which Biden says will more than pay for itself in new audits.

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IRS Leaked Thousands of Americans’ Tax Filings; Congress Demands Answers

The new head of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee blasted the Biden administration for giving few answers after thousands of taxpayer files were leaked to an outside group.

House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., sent a letter to Russel George, the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration, raising concerns about the leak of “confidential tax information” and the lack of accountability over that leak.

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Special Counsel Investigating Trump Was Key Figure in IRS Targeting Scandal

Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate former president Donald Trump’s possession of classified information, was a key figure in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s infamous targeting of conservative non-profits, according to a 2014 report by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee.

On Oct. 8, 2010, Smith, then-Chief of the DOJ Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section at the time, called a meeting with former IRS official Lois Lerner “to discuss how the IRS could assist in the criminal enforcement of campaign-finance laws against politically active nonprofits,” according to testimony from Richard Pilger, then director of the section’s Election Crimes Branch and subordinate of Smith’s, to the Oversight Committee. Lerner eventually resigned from the IRS in 2015 following criticism of her targeting of conservative groups when denying or delaying tax-exempt status.

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Commentary: The U.S. Senate’s ‘Spendthrift Seven’ Are the IRS’ Best Friends

August 7 was a big day for the Spendthrift Seven. In just 12 hours, these Senate Democrats — all facing re-election Tuesday — gave the middle finger to middle-class taxpayers, hugged illegal aliens, and high-fived the IRS.

Arizona’s Mark Kelly, Colorado’s Michael Bennet, Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal, Georgia’s Raphael Warnock, Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto, New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan and Washington’s Patty Murray did these things while the Senate considered President Joe Biden’s deceptively titled, 273-page Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Their votes should appall every American.

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IRS Makes Highest Deductible Hike on Record Due to Inflation

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) increased the individual tax deductible for 2023 at the highest rate in more than 35 years due to inflation.

Individual tax deductibles increased by $900 to $13,850, up $1,800 to $27,700 for married couples filing jointly, a roughly 7% increase compared to tax year 2022, the IRS announced Tuesday. This increase is the largest hike since 1985, when tax brackets were first tied to inflation, The Washington Post reported.

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Number of U.S. Millionaires Increased by 41 Percent in 2022

New figures from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) show that the number of American citizens who report more than $1 million in income have jumped by a staggering 41 percent this year alone.

As reported by Politico, the IRS claims to have processed up to 387,840 returns reporting seven-figure incomes by mid-July; at the same time last year, the agency only found 274,879. The increase has been attributed to a strong performance on Wall Street last year, before the inflation crisis hit; in 2022 thus far, millionaires reported a collective total of $252.5 billion in capital gains, 80 percent higher compared to the previous year. In addition, millionaires’ salaries and wages rose by 45 percent.

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Republican Leadership Pledges to ‘Repeal’ IRS Auditor Expansion if GOP Wins Majority

President Joe Biden sparked controversy for pushing through Congress increased federal funding for 87,000 new IRS employees to audit Americans, but Republican leadership has pledged to overturn that expansion if they win the majority.

House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., pledged at a Pennsylvania event to “repeal” the IRS expansion.

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Conservative Group Asks IRS to Investigate the American Federation of Teachers

The conservative Landmark Legal Foundation (LLF) has asked the IRS to audit the second-largest teachers union in the United States for allegedly misreporting its political spending.

In a letter to the IRS, which the Washington Examiner obtained, the group alleges that the American Federation of Teachers inaccurately claimed that it did not “engage in direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office” on their Form 990s from 2016-2019.

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‘Taking Down a Landscape Business Owner’: Rep. Thomas Massie Sounds the Alarm on Viral IRS Training Video

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky posted a video showing potential IRS agents training Friday and urged Americans to notice a billionaire wasn’t the target.

“Notice the scenario in this IRS recruiting program is ‘taking down a landscape business owner who failed to properly report how he paid for his vehicles,’ not ‘taking down a billionaire who uses the corporate jet for private trips,’” Massie posted.

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Rep. Gaetz Introduces Bill to Ban IRS from Acquiring Ammunition

Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz has introduced a bill to disarm the Internal Revenue Service.

Along with fellow Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Jeff Duncan (S.C.), and Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Gaetz is pushing the “Disarm the IRS Act,” which would prohibit the IRS from acquiring (by purchase or otherwise) any ammunition.

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IRS Destroyed 30 Million Tax Filing Documents, Lawmakers Demand Answers

Outside of IRS building

The Internal Revenue Service has been under fire for delays and millions of backlogged returns, but now lawmakers are raising the alarm after the federal agency “destroyed” millions of Americans’ tax documents.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig this week asking for answers about why these records were destroyed.

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Commentary: Cost of Forced Unionism Soars by over 50 Percent

For decades, states like New York, California and Illinois have evidently been paying a high price for allowing dues-hungry labor union bosses to continue getting workers fired for refusal to bankroll their organizations.  Year after year, far more taxpayers have been leaving forced-unionism states than have been moving into them.  The cumulative loss of taxpayers has been cutting into their revenue bases.

Recently released data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) indicate the cost of forced unionism soared by more than 50% in the Tax Filing Year 2019, compared to the year before.

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Tax Filings: Black Lives Matter Has over $42 Million in Assets

New tax filings from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reveal that the official Black Lives Matter organization ended the last fiscal year with at least $42 million in assets.

According to the Associated Press, the 63-page Form 990 shows that Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. peaked with over $90 million in donations in 2020, amid race riots that destroyed cities all across the country, which were largely orchestrated and led by BLM. Of that $90 million, the organization invested at least $32 million in stocks.

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IRS Handed Out Over $64 Million in Stimulus Checks to Dead People

An inspector general’s report reveals that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) handed out as much as $64 million in stimulus funding to dead people after Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law.

Just The News reports that the massive oversight was due to a computer error that the IRS was aware of but did not fix at the time. Ultimately, nearly 45,000 total payments were sent to Americans with deceased dependents who died before January 1st, 2021.

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Pressure from Lawmakers Grows As IRS Begins New Tax Season with ‘Continued Confusion’

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pressuring the Internal Revenue Service over ongoing problems and unaddressed issues from last year’s filing season even as this year’s season is in full swing.

A bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers from the U.S. House and Senate sent a letter to the IRS raising concerns about “continued confusion” and “numerous problems” with the agency.

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IRS Will Soon Require Face-Scans to Access Certain Online Tax Features

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will soon require taxpayers to submit a scan of their face in order to access certain features and tax records.

The change, first reported on by Krebs on Security, will force users to sign into the IRS website through an account with third-party firm ID.me, and provide a government identification document with their photo alongside a selfie to verify their identity, according to the IRS website.

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