Acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller recently sat before a congressional panel and hinted that the best way to combat the explosion of tax fraud may be to either delay the tax filing season, or wait to release all refunds until after the filing season concludes on April 15th.
As many taxpayers now know, this tax season has been anything but a walk in the park. The irresponsible last minute negotiations of our elected officials saved us from going over the fiscal cliff, but it also delayed the filing season by two weeks–the latest start to the tax season in history. Even with the late start of the tax season, many forms were not ready to be accepted by the IRS. Only last week did the IRS finally announce that all tax forms were...
H&R Block (HRB)–the largest public retail tax preparation company in the United States–has confirmed that they have filed many tax returns containing certain delayed credits too early, causing their clients refunds to be delayed. The primary issue is the Education Tax Credit which was not accepted for electronic filing until recently (February 22nd). This has prompted the IRS to send letters to HRB clients instead of their expected refunds....
Please read the following brief from the IRS. Form 8863 (education credits) will not be accepted by the IRS until Mid-February. An exact date has not yet been offered. Any return that is Electronically filed with Form 8863 before the acceptance date will be rejected. Any return that is mailed to the IRS will not be processed until education credits have been approved. If you would like more information, please contact an R&G Brenner professional toll free (888) APRIL-15, or by clicking here.
Nearly 1.1 Million taxpayers did not file a federal tax return for 2007. New York taxpayers account for 62,600 of the tax returns that have not been filed. These returns have an average refund amount of $706 and account for approximately $78,405,000. These individuals who did not file, must submit their income tax returns by April 18th 2011 or forfeit their refunds to the IRS.
If a return is filed with the wrong address or a taxpayer moves after filing for their refund, the check is returned to the IRS and held there until someone claims it. This year 9,662 New Yorkers checks have been sent back to the IRS as undeliverable. Of these checks there are over 1,000 owed to Long Islanders.
