Internal Revenue Service news stories on Newser

Identity Theft Probe Halted $1.4B in False IRS Refunds

Rob Quinn — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 01:14:22 CST

The Internal Revenue Service is cracking down on fraudsters as tax return seasons begins. The agency has stepped up efforts to prevent identity theft, and caught 260,000 bad returns last year, up from 50,000 in 2010, and prevented a total of $1.4 billion in bad refunds being...

IRS Eyes Google As Profits Jump

Rob Quinn — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 01:38:59 CDT

Hard times elsewhere haven't done any damage to Google's bottom line. The company has announced a whopping 26% year-on-year jump in profits for the third quarter of this year, with net income of $2.73 billion on nearly $10 billion revenue, most of it from advertising, the BBC reports. "The...

Married Gays Grapple With IRS

Rob Quinn — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 02:14:31 CDT

The Internal Revenue Service is refusing to recognize gay marriages, causing headaches for couples who have won the right to wed in their home states, BusinessWeek finds. The Obama administration has urged federal agencies to extend benefits as far as they can to same-sex couples under existing law, but analysts...

IRS Boss: Sorry About My Rude Employees

Kevin Spak — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:40:05 CDT

Ever had a run-in with a rude IRS agent? Well, Douglas Shulman’s sorry about that. The IRS commissioner offered a rare apology today to three identity theft victims who said they’d been mistreated by his employees, the AP reports. “We need to walk in each taxpayer’s shoes,” Shulman told the...

Enron Whistleblower Finally Gets His Sweet Reward

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 07:30:29 CDT

Two years before Enron’s 2001 implosion, a whistleblower tipped off the IRS to the company’s abusive tax shelters and fictitious income. Now that whistleblower is finally getting his reward, to the tune of $1.1 million from the IRS, the Washington Post reports. He remains anonymous, but his lawyers acknowledge...

Capitol Hill Workers Owed $9.3M in Back Taxes in 2009

Emily Rauhala — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:24:00 CDT

The IRS doesn't have to go far to track down tax scofflaws: Capital Hill employees owed $9.3 million in overdue taxes at the end of last year, reports the Washington Post . And while their debt is only a sliver of the $1 billion owed by all federal workers, according...

IRS to Broke Spanish Hipster: You Owe $172M

Kevin Spak — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:10:41 CDT

The IRS says Marcos Esparza Bofill owes them $172 million in back taxes—which is pretty hard to believe, given that Esparza is a broke Spanish musician who recently had to borrow money from his relatives to pay his bills. The tax lien, which you can see on The Smoking...

Inmates Got $9.1M in 'Homebuyer' Tax Credits

Kevin Spak — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:23:34 CDT

Almost 1,300 prisoners, including 241 serving life sentences, filed for the Obama administration’s First Time Homebuyer Credit on their taxes, claiming they’d bought homes while incarcerated, according to a Treasury Department report released today. The IRS paid out $9.1 million on those claims, money it now says it’s...

Wealthy Americans Migrating South: IRS Data

M. Morris — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:32:00 CDT

Wealthy Americans are on the move, largely to the low-income-tax havens of the Sunbelt. A new Forbes analysis of IRS data from 2008 shows Collier County, Fla., at the head of the pack, picking up 15,150 new residents with an average income of $76,161—compared to $26,128...