Anthony Sykes & Company

I think a bad decision has been made by the Internal Revenue Service but I think we tax professionals may have given them the wrong signal to make it.  What I am writing about is two of the best applications in the e-services for tax professionals that IRS has. E-services which allows you to get information almost 24 hours 7 days a week online will on August 11, 2013 discontinue the Disclosure Authorization (power of attorney) and Electronic Account Resolution (transcripts).  IRS says it is due to low usage.  Fewer than 10 percent of all the power of attorney applications go through e-services and less than 3 percent for transcript applications. So what does this mean to us tax professionals and our clients the taxpayers?  Maybe nothing since we are not apparently taking advantage of the technology.  However IRS has shorten its hours of telephone operations and reduce the staff of its correspondence operations.  So that means there will be more tax profes...

This past Memorial weekend was the beginning of something different.  It is the honoring of our veterans, it is the unofficial start of summer, it is a four day weekend. What was different was the Internal Revenue Service was closed Friday May 24, 2013 the start of the weekend.  That's right the entire IRS was closed for budget cuts.  They were not paid for that Friday because it was an unpaid furlough day and it is the first of several this summer.   The Internal Revenue Service brings in 93% of the revenue for the government and they have also been given the task of overseeing the new healthcare tax law.  Enforcement is up, there are more audits this year than last and yet more money is needed so there will be more audits. If you have not started your tax planning for 2013's taxes you should start now.  No one knows if the tax laws will change however by planning you can develop options.  At the start of 2014 if you did not plan you may not ha...

    The following tax forms will be accepted by the IRS in late February or into March after updating forms and completing programming and testing of it's processing systems. A specific date will be announced in the near future. 1. Form 8820- Orphan Drug Credit 2. Form 8834- Qualified Plug-in Electric and Electric Vehicle Credit 3. Form 8839- Qualified Adoption Expenses 4. Form 8844- Empowerment Zone and Renewal Community Employment Credit 5. Form 8855- Indian Employment Credit 6. Form 8859- District of Columbia First-Time Homebuyer Credit 7. Form 8864- Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel Fuels Credit 8. Form 8874- New Markets Credit 9. Form 8900- Qualified Railroad Track Maintenance 10. Form 8903- Domestic Production Activities Deduction 11. Form 8908- Energy Efficient Home Credit 12. Form 8909- Energy Efficient Appliance Credit 13. Form 8910- Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit 14. Form 8911- Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit ...

       The IRS has just announced that some forms will not be available until late February early March. This may effect many of those who file a 1040 or those who own a business. Some of the forms that will not be available are: 1. Form 3800 General Business Credit 2. Form 4136 Credit for Federal Tax Paid on Fuels 3. Form 4562 Depreciation and Amortization (including information on Listed Property) 4. Form 5074 Allocation of Individual Income Tax to Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern     Mariana Islands 5. Form 5471 Information Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Corporations 6. Form 5695  Residential Energy Credits 7. Form 5735  American Samoa Economic Development Credit 8.  Form 5884 Work Opportunity Credit 9.  Form 6478  Credit For Alcohol Used as Fuel 10. Form 6765 Credit for Increasing Research Activities 11. Form 8396 Mortgage Interest Credit 12. For...