News

 In the inaugural episode of Talkin' Tax, we introduce you to the co-founders of the Bryson Law Firm, Cary and Angela Bryson. With over 38 years of combined legal experience in the greater Louisiana area, Cary and Angie have built a thriving and successful law firm that aids their fellow “Loosianans” when it comes to the complicated realm of taxes.

Did you know that Bryson Law Firm, LLC and Bryson Accounting and Tax Service, LLC have several IRS Enrolled Agents on the Team here at Bryson Law Firm, LLC? We frequently get the question – “what is an Enrolled Agent?” – so here’s what you need to know.

The IRS announced last week that they will be handling a greater volume of inbound calls by automation in an effort to free up their Call Center employees for more complex requests. The call will be with an artificial intelligence bot. This bot is to be able to authenticate a taxpayer’s identity and assist taxpayers in setting up a payment plan for tax balances below $25,000 without having to speak with an IRS employee.

The IRS faced significant struggles over the last few years keeping up with return and tax correspondence processing after the backlog they returned to work to after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. The TIGTA report states that it’s this backlog and the IRS’ inability to catch up that ultimately led to the decision to destroy documents. Another explanation provided was that “antiquated technology” forced the IRS to dispose of these paper documents due to a “software limitation”. One final reason provided – to make room for new documents relevant to the 2021 return filings.

The Internal Revenue Service recently released a report which indicates that they are auditing tax returns for high-earning Taxpayers much more aggressively than they have in the past several years.

Every year, the IRS releases its “Dirty Dozen” list of the biggest potentially abusive arrangements that they recommend taxpayers avoid. This week, they released the first four of this year’s twelve transactions that taxpayers should look out for.

As part of National Small Business Week, the IRS highlighted to business owners that although we are in a tight job market, there are special tax credits that can help employers hire workers.

COVID-19 has shifted many work environments into hybrid and remote work, causing potential state withholding tax consequences. Since an employee’s home may not always be in the same state as the company that employs them, these businesses could be subject to multi-state tax obligations.

The IRS has temporarily revised their process for reviewing applications for US Residency Certification, Form 8802. The revised procedures will apply when the IRS has not yet completed processing the applicant’s most recently filed tax return.

Scams and schemes are ongoing, and you need to stay vigilant about securing your computers, phones, and other devices. Having strong cybersecurity and scam recognition is necessary to reduce the threat of identity theft.