For many families, 2020 ended up being a year with fewer child-care expenses. Now parents with unspent funds in their dependent-care flexible spending accounts are trying to figure out what to do.
The new guidance amounts to a midyear open-enrollment period and applies to firms that buy health insurance to cover their workers as well as to those that self-insure — paying claims on their own.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A 72-year-old former Internal Revenue Service employee from Salt Lake City has been sentenced in Las Vegas to almost three years in federal prison for tax evasion and obstruction.
The agency's budget has been cut sharply over the past decade. That means fewer audits. The Trump administration says those cuts may have gone too far and it's seeking more money for tax enforcement.
President Trump has refused to release his tax returns. Many Democrats are using that against him, as they reveal their own personal wealth and financial interests.
Tax refunds so far have been smaller than last year's. Some taxpayers kept a bigger share of their income, but for others it reflects an overhaul that rewarded high earners the most.
Tax season is more stressful this year for filers and IRS workers alike, because of tax law changes and the partial government shutdown that has left the agency with roughly half its normal staff.
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to Jaime, a tax examiner with the Internal Revenue Service, about the toll the government shutdown is taking on her mental health.
The union for the IRS workers criticized the Trump administration for forcing them to work "in exchange only for an IOU." Employees have been promised back pay when funding is approved.
The tax collecting agency is one of those affected by the partial government shutdown, but the White House says it will issue refunds, reversing previous government policy.
The Government Accountability Office says 3 million more Americans are likely to have experienced underwithholding from their paychecks in 2018 as a direct result of the new tax law.
Because of a "high volume technical issue" that kept key services from functioning, the Internal Revenue Service will give taxpayers one more day, till midnight Wednesday, to get their paperwork in.
The IRS estimates that more than $65 million has been lost to phone tax scammers in the last five years. The calls are most common during tax season in March and April.
The new calculation reduces by $50 the amount a family can put into these HSA accounts this year. Anyone who has already funded the account at a higher level will need to adjust, or risk IRS scrutiny.
The mail will get delivered, Social Security checks will go out, and the National Park Service says it will try to keep parks accessible if there is a shutdown. But most federal agencies would close.
The agency faces a new challenge with fewer employees and possibly more budget cuts. The lack of personnel may be most apparent with the IRS help line, which confused taxpayers turn to for guidance.
Three of Caterpillar's facilities in Illinois, including its headquarters, were searched by federal agents. The warrants indicate the searches are related to a Swiss subsidiary.
The U.S. government alleges that a fraud scheme used operators at Indian call centers, impersonating IRS or immigration officials, to scam thousands of people out of more than $300 million.
There are only two must-pass items on the agenda: a short-term funding bill to keep the government running past Sept. 30, and a separate funding bill to combat the spread of the Zika virus.
Americans paid an average penalty of $200 for not having health insurance in 2014, the first year most Americans were required to have coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
Johnson, who holds dual U.S.-U.K. citizenship, had called the IRS bill "outrageous" and said he wouldn't pay it. But The Financial Times reports he has settled the approximately $44,000 bill.
