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The American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights (ACTR) today released the following statement on legislation introduced by Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE), a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, to prohibit the IRS from continuing, or developing a successor to, its misguided and unnecessary Direct File pilot program: “Rep. Adrian Smith’s bill is a commonsense proposal to eliminate an unpopular, redundant program. Only a handful — 0.7% of the 19 million eligible Americans — used Direct File this year, compared to the 26.7 million free returns the tax preparation industry provided. These statistics show Americans are not interested in the federal government completing their taxes. The IRS could better use these resources to strengthen other, more popular free filing programs, such as the Free File Alliance, and improve customer service.” The American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights is a 12-member, voluntary coalition of the nation's leading tax preparation, tax software and financial services settlement companies. Each year, ACTR member companies serve approximately 110 million of the more than 150 million Americans who file federal income tax returns.

Lakeshia King volunteered for the Tax Action Line event where the public can call and speak to tax professionals about their tax related questions and receive expert advice. Click the link to read Lakeshia's thoughts and to see WSFA's coverage of the event. https://lnkd.in/eCAhVSuz #TaxActionLine #Accounting #AldridgeBorden #Tax

Philly taxpayers can file their returns for FREE through a City-partnered preparer or an IRS VITA provider. Don't forget to claim the tax credits you qualify for! This blog post explains everything you need to know: https://lnkd.in/ets5q7a9

The IRS is making its free tax-filing platform permanent and open to all 50 states and D.C., the Biden administration announced Thursday, following the successful launch of the first-of-its-kind website. This tax season, more than 140,000 taxpayers in 12 eligible states made use of Direct File — which allows users to submit simple tax returns directly to the government. Republicans have criticized it as a costly and unnecessary government alternative to private-sector offerings from Turbo Tax, H&R Block and others, while Democrats praise the effort as a cost-saver for consumers. “Meeting your tax obligations and claiming the credits and deductions for which you’re eligible should be easy,” Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said Thursday. “We will make Direct File a permanent IRS service and invite all states to participate in Direct File starting next year.” To opt in, state governments must create their own online platforms for state tax returns that can be linked to the Direct File website. IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said he would assess how many states would be willing and capable of joining the program in 2025. Some Republican-led states have signaled they are less likely to participate: The attorneys general of 12 of them alleged in February that the Direct File program wasn’t legally authorized and should be stopped. Code for America, which built the Direct File-connected software used by New York and Arizona this year, said Thursday that it would be open to providing the technology to states onboarding next year. Gabriel Zucker, who runs the organization’s tax programs — including the Get Your Refund website that lets taxpayers submit their information to volunteers who prepare their returns for free — said the nonprofit is exploring options, including support from donors to make those websites low-cost or free for state governments. “Our mission broadly is that government should work for people. And our mission specifically on the tax team is that people get the benefits they’re owed through the tax code,” Zucker said. “I truly can’t think of anything more aligned with that than Direct File.” The idea of filing taxes directly to the government, rather than through commercial software or a paid tax preparer, has been floated for decades; the practice is routine in dozens of countries, including Australia, South Korea and much of Europe. In 2022, Congress instructed the IRS to study the feasibility of a free tax-filing site, allocating $15 million for a study.

The IRS is offering additional time at Taxpayer Assistance Centers for face-to-face help The IRS announced nearly 250 IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) around the country will extend their weekly office hours to give taxpayers additional time to get the help they need during the filing season. The extended office hours will continue through Tuesday, April 16, 2024. You can find your local TAC office here: https://lnkd.in/eBPfNvk9 You can call for an appointment after you find your nearest Taxpayer Assistance Center. To prepare for your appointment you should: 1.      Call to schedule your appointment ahead of time. 2.      Bring these items with you: A current government-issued photo ID, A taxpayer identification number, such as a Social Security number, and/or Any tax documents you’ll need. The IRS respectfully requests you don’t bring food or drinks, cameras or weapons During these additional office hours, TACs will offer all regular services, however for cash payments, taxpayers must have an appointment. If a taxpayer needs in-person identity verification services, they must bring two forms of identification, and one must be a current government-issued photo ID. They should also bring a copy or digital image of the tax return in question if one was filed. Tax return preparation is not a service provided at any IRS TAC. Tax preparation is not a service provided by the IRS TACs. However, the IRS can get help using the following free resources: 1.      Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites: https://lnkd.in/e9nJ9hkX 2.      AARP Tax-Aide site: https://lnkd.in/eksYEYYi 3.      Any individual or family earning $79,000 adjusted gross income (AGI) or less in 2023 can use IRS Free File’s Guided Tax Software at no cost: https://lnkd.in/eFmpK26g 4.      A Department of Defense program, offers free return preparation software and electronic filing for federal tax returns and up to three state income tax returns. It’s available for all military members, and some veterans, with no income limit: https://lnkd.in/epTWW9HN 5.      The IRS is piloting a new tax filing service during the upcoming filing season called Direct File that gives eligible taxpayers a new choice to file their 2023 federal tax returns online, for free, directly with the IRS. Find more information on Direct File about Direct File pilot eligibility, scope and the participating states: https://lnkd.in/eWY5RVr6

How about some good news from the IRS! IRS delivers strong 2024 tax filing season; expands services for millions of people on phones, in-person and online with expanded funding Improved phone service. Continuing a trend seen last year following the addition of 5,000 new telephone assistors, the IRS level of service on its main phone lines reached more than 88%. That’s above the 84% level seen last year and more than a five-fold increase from the phone service levels seen during the pandemic era period, when the level of service was at just 15% in 2022. More calls answered. The IRS answered more taxpayer calls on its live assistor lines this year, a 16.8% increase from 2023. IRS assistors handled 7,608,000 calls, up from 6,513,000 the year before. IRS automated lines handled another approximately 7 million calls, 280,000 more than the previous year. Faster response times. Taxpayers waited, on average, just over three minutes for help on the IRS main phone lines. This is down from four minutes in 2023 and 28 minutes in filing season 2022. More callback options. The IRS offered callback options on 97% of the phone lines this filing season. The agency offered call back for over 4 million taxpayers this tax season, more than double the 1.8 million calls in 2023. This option, offered when phone lines were busy, saved taxpayers nearly 1.4 million hours of wait time on the phones. More in-person help. The IRS helped 170,000 more taxpayers in-person this filing season than in 2023. IRS employees at Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) served 648,000 taxpayers this year, up from 474,000 in 2023, a 37% increase. Expanded in-person hours. The IRS added extended hours at 242 TAC locations across the nation, generating more than 11,000 extra service hours for taxpayers during the 2024 filing season. In addition to extended service hours, IRS also offered taxpayer assistance on Saturdays in more than 70 locations. These evening and Saturday hours made it more convenient for thousands of hard-working taxpayers to get help. Additional free help at volunteer sites. The IRS saw tax return preparation work at volunteer sites increase to more than 2.3 million returns this tax season, up 200,000 from last year following work at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) sites. More taxpayers file for free. In addition to volunteer sites, the IRS saw more taxpayers file for free this year; in all, there were over 450,000 more returns filed between volunteer sites, Direct File and Free File. The new Direct File pilot, offered on a limited basis in 12 states, generated more than 60,000 tax returns after opening widely in mid-March. At the same time, the IRS partnership with the Free File partners offering free private-sector software via IRS.gov saw growth with more than 2 million tax returns filed, an increase of 11.2% or more than 200,000 more Free File returns than 2023. #taxes, #taxdeadlin, @acipa #CPA, #EA, #CRTP, #CTECT

"Anyone can be a paid tax return preparer as long as they have an IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). However, tax return preparers have differing levels of skills, education and expertise. Learn about tax preparer credentials and qualifications. Watch Choose a Tax Preparer Wisely. Get information on the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program."

Kick off tax season by connecting with your trusted tax advisor. Don’t forget that your filing deadline is April 30th. To learn more about the 2024 #tax season read here:

Kick off tax season by connecting with your trusted tax advisor. Don’t forget that your filing deadline is April 30th. To learn more about the 2024 #tax season read here:

Kick off tax season by connecting with your trusted tax advisor. Don’t forget that your filing deadline is April 30th. To learn more about the 2024 #tax season read here: