Like it or not, tax season is about to begin. The IRS announced it will begin accepting tax returns on January 19. How you feel about tax season is probably directly correlated to whether you expect a liability or a refund from the IRS. Or maybe you just really hate taxes. If that’s the case, then you wouldn’t be alone. Here’s some other people who really hate taxes:
In January this year, a Texas man was arrested while trying to pay his $600 property tax bill. Timothy Andrew Norris arrived in person at the Wichita County Courthouse to pay his tax liability with individual dollar bills. What’s so bad about that, you may ask? Well, apparently he folded each bill so tightly that it took employees six minutes to unfold each bill. So, for those doing the math at home, 600 bills would take 3,600 minutes, or 60 hours, to unfold the bills. As it turned out, the county officials were not too happy about this and asked him to leave. Things got heated and he was eventually arrested for criminal trespass. What’s interesting is that besides for clearly being the greatest dollar-folder in the history of mankind, he stated that this was his form of protest against property taxes.
It turns out that Americans aren’t the only ones who hate taxes. A man in England apparently answered one of the questions incorrectly on his tax return. In response to the question “do you have anyone dependent on you?” The man answered: “2.1 million illegal immigrants, 1.1 million crack heads, 2.2 million unemployable scroungers, 900,000 criminals in over 85 prisons, plus 650 idiots in Parliament, and the whole of the European commission.” When the taxing authority let him know that this answer was not acceptable, he responded, “Who did I miss out?”
But surprisingly, people with these feelings are in the overwhelming minority in this country. In a recent survey conducted by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s Oversight Board, 96 percent of those surveyed said they completely or mostly agreed that “it is every American’s civic duty to pay their fair share of taxes.” Only 8 percent gave the answer “as much as possible” to the question, “How much, if any, do you think is an acceptable amount to cheat on your income taxes?”
But in all honesty, the IRS couldn’t care less what your personal thoughts are on paying taxes. As long as they get their money you can have whatever opinion you want—just don’t pay with dollar bills that take six minutes to unfold.
So, as the latest tax season is about to begin, whether you want it to or not, here are some things to expect this year:
1. Slower service from the IRS: This should be no surprise to anyone. The IRS’s budget is tighter than a teenage boy’s skinny jeans. They are overworked and undermanned. So, how will this affect us? As the IRS puts it, “there will be an increase in self-service options.” That’s their way of saying if you have a problem, then good luck because we don’t have the time or resources to deal with it. It also means that if you must call the IRS about an issue then you may want to have a book handy to keep you occupied while on hold. Something along the lines of War and Peace should do.
2. More identity theft: During last tax season, the IRS identified 163,087 tax returns with more than $908.3 million claimed in fraudulent refunds. And that’s only the ones they identified. While the IRS has stepped up security measures for this year’s tax season, you shouldn’t expect this issue to go away. There’s always new scams, so keep your eye out for this and always be careful who you give your information out to. Always be on alert for phishing and phone scams. The IRS will never cold-call you or email you about a tax issue. If there’s a legitimate issue, then they will contact you through snail mail. Unfortunately, as the IRS increases its security measures, the inevitable side effect is that it’s likely we’ll see a boost in tax refund delays.
3. The Affordable Care Act: If you were not covered by health insurance all year, then expect to pay a penalty. The penalty this year will be the greater of 2 percent of the household income above the filing threshold, or a flat dollar amount of $325 per adult.
Daniel Magence, CPA, Esq. is a principal at Pristine CPA Solutions, LLC (www.pristinecpa.com). Pristine CPA Solutions offers tax and accounting services to individuals and businesses of all sizes, whether it’s tax returns, bookkeeping, payroll services or personal income budgeting. He can be reached at [email protected] or 201-326-6908 if you have any questions or comments, or are interested in using Pristine CPA’s services. Feel free to contact us for a free consultation.
By Daniel Magence, CPA, Esq.
