Whether or not you are legally obligated to report tip as income has been somewhat of a fuzzy area (especially cash tips!). Skimping on reporting your full tip (100% of your tip retained) is considered deliberately underreporting income and may be subject to severe IRS audits and penalties.
If you made more than $20 in tips in any one month, you will have to report the full amount of the tip
[Read More]

The president outlines a plan to work with overseas banks and target tax cheats. He also wants to hire 800 new IRS agents to hunt down those not complying.
By Michael Rozbruch
———————————-
Just months into office, President Barack Obama has publicly announced the targets of his administrations.
Worldwide terrorist networks?
Check.
Guantanamo Bay?
Check.
Carbon emissions?
Check.
Tax cheats?
Che— Say what?!
That’s right. Among President Obama’s high-value targets are tax cheats who hide money in overseas bank accounts. On May
[Read More]

Obama proposed nearly doubling funds to enforce tax compliance and has asked Congress for a $400 million boost for IRS enforcement activities in fiscal year 2010, to support its goal of cracking down on offshore tax dodgers.
The additional $400 million is an increase of about 8% that would bring the total IRS enforcement budget to around $5.5 billion for FY 2010. By doubling the tax law enforcement budget, the White
[Read More]

In attempts to close the tax gap, the IRS is increasing tax compliance and aggressively taking action against tax cheats and tax promoters. As the tax gap grows, more Americans than ever will be facing audits and the IRS will be re-asserting it’s position on individuals who maintain frivolous arguments for not paying their taxes.
CCH (http://tax.cchgroup.com/) reports:
Sanctions were properly imposed on an individual who advanced a frivolous argument that he was not
[Read More]

The IRS is implementing tax-related provisions of this new program as quickly as possible. I recently blogged about how this new economic stimulus law could affect your tax bill, and how heightened tax compliance efforts could impact small businesses.
The IRS has outlined key highlights of the plan as follows:

COBRA: Health Insurance Continuation Subsidy. The IRS has extensive guidance for employers, including an updated Form 941, as well as information for qualifying
[Read More]

I recently blogged about the new economic stimulus package and how it affects your IRS bill. In addition to funding deficit-reduction activities, the federal government is looking at ways to close the tax gap by taking a closer look at employment tax returns.
According to the most recent estimates, payroll tax mistakes cost the IRS $15 billion - and tax experts agree that today’s figure is much greater! For several years
[Read More]