About: Jeffrey A. Quinn

As it looks more and more like Congress will enact some sort of Internet sales tax mandate (thereby forcing Internet business to become sales tax collectors for all states), the arguments advanced by Americans for Tax Reform seem logical, and should not be dismissed:

• Slippery slope – Opens the door for further government intervention into the Internet and for states to reach across their borders for other taxes.
• Too confusing – Small businesses would be forced to accommodate over 9,000 highly variable state and local tax codes and be required to settle disputes with out-of-state revenue boards, potentially in out-of-state courts.
• Discourages tax competition – Rather than competing to lower taxes and attract businesses, states will compete to raise taxes on residents of other states.
• Expands state tax authority – State governments will be able to tax across their borders despite clear legal and judicial precedent arguing otherwise.

Calendar year exempt organizations (generally Form 990-series filers) must file their 2012 returns (or extension requests) by May 15 – and, importantly, organizations will see their federal tax exemptions automatically revoked if they have not filed their annual information returns for three consecutive years.

Small exempt orgs (average annual receipts of $50,000 or less) may file an electronic notice called a Form 990-N (e-postcard) which asks merely a few basic questions.  Organizations  whose average annual receipts exceed $50,000 must file Form 990 or Form 990-EZ (Form 990-PF in the case of private foundations).

Check out IRS Form 8868 if your organization needs a filing extension by May 15.

Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller recently informed agency employees that official “furlough” notices are forthcoming.  Five dates from May through August have been announced, with the possibility of two more days in August or September.  Agency operations will be entirely shut down on these dates, which are:

• May 24
• June 14
• July 5
• July 22
• August 30

The White House Office of Management and Budget has said that the following broad areas of IRS discretionary activity are subject to a 5% “across the board” reduction in spending through September 30:

• Enforcement ($267 million)
• Operations Support ($199 million)
• Taxpayer Service ($114 million)
• Business Systems Modernization ($17 million)

IRS has announced late-payment penalty relief to individuals and businesses which requested a tax return filing extension because of the need to attach certain forms to their returns, which forms weren’t actually published by the government until as late as March of this year, resulting from the late Congressional action on the “fiscal cliff” arguments.

The relief applies to the late-payment penalty (0.5% per month) charged on tax payments made after the regular filing deadline.

Taxpayers using forms claiming such tax benefits as depreciation deductions and a variety of business credits qualify for this relief. A complete list of eligible forms may be found in Notice 2013-24.

Taxpayers qualify for this relief if they filed a timely extension, estimating the tax they thought they would owe, and paying the tax by the extension date, following up with actual return filing by the extended due date.

As April 15 nears, and many taxpayers scramble for answers from the IRS in connection with filing their returns, more opportunities for contact with Uncle Sam exist that in the past, to include:

• IRS2Go – a free mobile app through which you can find out about your refund status, and other tax news updates.  This is available for the iPhone, iTouch or Android mobile devices.
• YouTube – IRS offers video tax tips on a variety of subjects.
• Twitter – Tweets from @IRSnews provide tax-related announcements and daily tax tips.
• Podcasts – IRS has short audio recordings that offer one tax-related topic per podcast, available on iTunes or through the IRS Multimedia Center (at www.irs.gov).
• Tumblr – A microblogging platform where users can access IRS tax tips, videos, and podcasts.  Tumblr can be accessed from your browser, smartphone, tablet or desktop.