Drake Software blog for tax pros, covering tax, IRS news, and more
In a year where income taxes have been a big headline-grabber, a new survey shows a couple of other directions our money goes. WalletHub, a financial information and education site for consumers, puts together a list of the best and worst states for real-estate property taxes every year.…
The first of many refunds claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) should make their way to their respective taxpayers very soon. The Internal Revenue Service says some returns have cleared the verification process and could appear in bank accounts this week.…
Read more about Coming to Bank Accounts Soon: EITC and ACTC Refunds
The $400 billion Bipartisan Budget Act that President Trump signed on February 9 retroactively renews several 2017 tax benefits, including three the IRS believes taxpayers are most likely to claim early in tax season.…
The Internal Revenue Service’s e-Help Desk was set up to handle questions from income tax professionals. But the agency says the desk is getting flooded with calls from taxpayers who were told to call by their tax preparers.…
Read more about IRS Fielding Flood of "Inappropriate" Calls to e-Help Desk
CPA Practice Advisor released the results of their 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards, an annual survey of readers’ opinions on tax preparation software and hardware that began in 2004.…
Read more about CPA Practice Advisor 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards Results
Since its formation in 2015, the Security Summit's efforts to thwart cybercriminals have successfully driven down the number of tax-related identity theft incidents. Unfortunately, that success has forced identity thieves to adapt their methods, resulting in a new tax scam that might seem unorthodox at first.…
Identity theft has gotten a lot of attention over the past couple of years. We’ve written a lot about the subject during that time. One of the varieties of identity theft is employment identity theft, but the agency that oversees the IRS says legitimate taxpayers aren’t being notified they’re a victim of this crime.…
Read more about Audit Finds Employment Identity Theft Going Unnoticed
If you have to call the IRS help line on behalf of a client, you’ll need more than the client’s name and SSN. By law, IRS operators will speak only with the taxpayer or their legally designated representative. This is all part of the industry-wide push for higher levels of security.…
Everybody loves an income tax refund. But when a check for a tax refund shows up in your mailbox unexpectedly, it could be a signal of something very wrong: a tax scam.…
After a brief shutdown overnight, the House voted to reopen the government by passing a $400 billion budget that increases spending caps, raises the debt ceiling, and provides disaster relief for Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. President Trump signed it into law this morning.…
