Discount Accounting & Tax Services

  IRS joins leading nonprofit groups to highlight special charitable tax benefit available through Dec. 31  December 13, 2021 The Independent Sector and National Council of Nonprofits joined with the IRS to highlight this pandemic-related provision where married couples filing jointly can deduct up to $600 in cash donations and individual taxpayers can deduct up to $300 in donations. Under the temporary law, taxpayers don't need to itemize deductions on their tax returns to take advantage of this, which creates tax-favorable donation options not normally available to about 90 percent of tax filers. Ordinarily, people who choose to take the standard deduction cannot claim a deduction for their charitable contributions. But this special provision permits them to claim a limited deduction on their 2021 federal income tax returns for cash contributions made to qualifying charitable organizations by year's end, December 31, 2021. At a time when many charitable groups are struggling...

  IRS releases its 2021 Progress Update detailing challenging year January 7, 2022 Internal Revenue Service   outlines how the agency continued to work through difficulties related to the pandemic while delivering two rounds of Economic Impact Payments and millions of advance Child Tax Credit payments, all in record time. Meanwhile, IRS employees continued to make adjustments to deliver the filing season despite office closures, social distancing mandates and an extended tax filing deadline. "This has been an unprecedented period facing the IRS and the nation," said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "IRS employees worked hard during the pandemic, repeatedly delivering for taxpayers under tight timeframes and difficult circumstances. As the 2022 filing season approaches, more work remains for us to help taxpayers as well as tax professionals. We will continue to make progress on critical areas thanks to the hard work of so many people. I'm incredibly proud of what our em...

  IRS announces transition away from use of third-party verification involving facial recognition  February 7, 2022  The IRS announced it will transition away from using a third-party service for facial recognition to help authenticate people creating new online accounts. The transition will occur over the coming weeks in order to prevent larger disruptions to taxpayers during filing season. During the transition, the IRS will quickly develop and bring online an additional authentication process that does not involve facial recognition. The IRS will also continue to work with its cross-government partners to develop authentication methods that protect taxpayer data and ensure broad access to online tools. "The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised," said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "Everyone should feel comfortable with how their personal information is secured, and we are quickly pursuing short-term op...

  2022 tax filing season begins Jan. 24; IRS outlines refund timing and what to expect in advance of April 18 tax deadline  January 10, 2022 The Internal Revenue Service announced that the nation's tax season will start on Monday, January 24, 2022, when the tax agency will begin accepting and processing 2021 tax year returns. The January 24 start date for individual tax return filers allows the IRS time to perform programming and testing that is critical to ensuring IRS systems run smoothly. Updated programming helps ensure that eligible people can claim the proper amount of the Child Tax Credit after comparing their 2021 advance credits and claim any remaining stimulus money as a Recovery Rebate Credit when they file their 2021 tax return. "Planning for the nation's filing season process is a massive undertaking, and IRS teams have been working non-stop these past several months to prepare," said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "The pandemic continues to create c...