Irs

I find it hard to believe that the IRS is not collecting over $100 billion in taxes (Part A, Jan. 9). They certainly collect all of mine! GARY A. ROBB Los Angeles

WASHINGTON -- People who still haven't filed their income taxes probably shouldn't get distracted watching YouTube videos. But the Internal Revenue Service is pointing last-minute filers to the site for tips on how to avoid busting Tuesday night's filing deadline. The IRS said it has several videos on its YouTube channel to help people scrambling to file their taxes. One titled "Last-minute tax tips -- 2012," narrated by an IRS employee named Eric, calmly tells procrastinators, "Please, don't worry, you still have options.

Last year, as the Karl Rove-backed group Crossroads GPS dumped more than $17 million into helping elect Republicans in congressional districts across the country, a duo of campaign finance reform advocates asked the IRS to investigate the special tax status claimed by Rove's group. As a self-styled “social welfare” group, Crossroads was able to accept unlimited anonymous donations and used the money to air advertisements supporting or opposing candidates.  Today, those same reform advocates have gone back to the IRS with a new complaint aimed not just at Rove's group, but at three others, including one group that was started last spring by former Obama aides.  In a letter sent to the IRS on Wednesday, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center challenged the social welfare tax status claimed by Crossroads GPS, American Action Network, Priorities USA and Americans Elect.  “The idea that these organizations are social welfare groups is nonsense,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21. “The overriding purpose of these groups is to participate in and influence elections, which makes them ineligible for tax exempt status.” Jim Landry, a spokesman for American Action Network - a group that spent $26 million on election advertising in 2010 -- called the IRS petition “a baseless complaint.” “The American Action Network takes its legal responsibilities seriously and complies with all of them,” Landry...

Editorial cartoonist Jeff Danziger re-envisions IRS Form 1040, just in time for the April 17 filing deadline. Click on the image below to see it at full size. ALSO: Photo gallery: Ted Rall cartoons Daum: The radical message of 'Girls' Reading between the lines of Obama's tax return

Millionaires beware: The IRS is becoming more interested in you. If you're pulling in less than $200,000, there's not much to worry about. The Internal Revenue Service said this week in an enforcement report that it audited 12.5% of wealthy taxpayers in fiscal 2011, up from 8% in 2010 and 6% in 2009. About 4% of those earning $200,000 and up were audited, up from 3% the year before. But for the last five years, the agency has mostly left returns showing less than $200,000 in income alone, with around 1% facing audits.

Attention multimillionaires, the watchful eye of the Internal Revenue Service is trained on you. During last year's tax season, 30% of taxpayers making an adjusted gross annual income of $10 million or more were audited, the agency said, up from 18% in 2010. Overall, just 1.1% of individual income tax returns were checked. Nearly 21% of Americans making between $5 million and $10 million annually had their returns inspected, the IRS said; 12% of millionaires making less underwent the same process.

Lawyers for nonprofit groups that played heavily in last year's congressional elections have been poring over recent Internal Revenue Service actions that they think may be a sign the agency intends to hit big donors with bills for back taxes. The IRS recently sent letters to five individuals who had not filed gift tax forms for donations they’d made to so-called “social welfare” groups organized under Section 501(c)4 of the tax code – a classification that allows the groups to keep secret the names of donors who fund campaign advertisements.  The move caught the attention of campaign finance lawyers, who interpreted it as a potentially game-changing blow to the controversial groups. Some warned their clients that they may face scrutiny in the future.

Congress is just finding out that the IRS has engaged in illegal and unjust practices. Maybe it's time to reform two federal organizations. MARK TEMPLE Huntington Beach

Attention, millionaires, the watchful eye of the Internal Revenue Service is trained on you. During last year's tax season, 30% of multimillionaires were audited, the agency said. Overall, just 1.1% of individual income tax returns were checked. Taxpayers making an adjusted gross annual income of $10 million or more are increasingly on the IRS' radar -- in 2010, just 18% of them faced audits, according to a report from the agency . Nearly 21% of Americans making between $5 and $10 million had their returns inspected, the IRS said; 12% of millionaires making less underwent the same process.

You may want to sit down for this one: Americans aren't happy with the U.S. tax system (though 12% of them think it's actually the best one in the world). More than six in 10 Americans say the way the country levies taxes is less than perfect, according to a survey from Rasmussen Reports . More than a quarter aren't sure how they feel. Nearly half think that the average American currently pays out at least 30% of their income in taxes, when most believe the ceiling should be more like 20%. California Gov. Jerry Brown hopes to land a measure on the November ballot that would increase the sales tax and raise the rate for higher earners, with revenue going to schools and to balance the state's budget.

OAKLAND — Federal agents struck at the heart of California's medical marijuana movement, raiding the nation's first pot trade school and a popular dispensary, both run by one of the state's most prominent and provocative activists, Richard Lee. The raids in Oakland by the Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administration sent a shudder through the medical cannabis trade and angered the plant's devotees, who believe the federal government...

Attention multimillionaires, the watchful eye of the Internal Revenue Service is trained on you. During last year's tax season, 30% of taxpayers making an adjusted gross annual income of $10 million or more were audited, the agency said, up from 18% in 2010. Overall, just 1.1% of individual income tax returns were checked. Nearly 21% of Americans making between $5 million and $10 million annually had their returns inspected, the IRS said; 12% of millionaires making less underwent the same process.

Attention, millionaires, the watchful eye of the Internal Revenue Service is trained on you. During last year's tax season, 30% of multimillionaires were audited, the agency said. Overall, just 1.1% of individual income tax returns were checked. Taxpayers making an adjusted gross annual income of $10 million or more are increasingly on the IRS' radar -- in 2010, just 18% of them faced audits, according to a report from the agency . Nearly 21% of Americans making between $5 and $10 million had their returns inspected, the IRS said; 12% of millionaires making less underwent the same process.

Reporting from Washington, N.C. For a while, Tim Pigford had money and a small measure of fame. He was a struggling black tenant farmer when he sued the federal government in 1997 and won the largest civil rights settlement in history. He testified before Congress and chatted with President Clinton in the White House. His name was enshrined in legal history: Pigford vs. Glickman, the landmark class-action discrimination lawsuit. The government has paid $1.01 billion to 15,600 black farmers denied farm loans or other benefits because of their race.

A former Internal Revenue Service agent was sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges related to an investment scheme that caused victims to lose more than $8 million. George Tannous pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of conspiracy and filing a false tax return for his role in a scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors in Bidbay.com, which was developing an online auction website. Tannous was Bidbay's president. U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson sentenced Tannous on Monday to 33 months in prison and ordered him to repay $8.8 million to 218 investors.

Identity theft, hiding income offshore and inflating expenses are among the frauds that commonly pop out during tax preparation season, the Internal Revenue Service warns. The federal agency, which administers tax collection, has released its annual list of the so-called dirty dozen tax scams. Such scams often become more prevalent as the tax season comes to a head; this year's tax deadline is April 17. The ranking is designed to protect taxpayers from the unscrupulous as well as ensure the government gets the funds it needs to operate.

As most folks start preparing to file their income tax returns, the IRS and the Justice Department began unveiling their annual reminders of what happens to those who don't.  The Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday that federal authorities in an extensive sweep across 23 states last week charged 105 people of fraud and identity theft in connection with filing false returns to try to obtain refunds. “ID theft is a growing problem all across the country, and we've come to find out that the tax system isn't immune,” said IRS spokeswoman Anabel Marquez.