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Total Drag: Medical Pot Isn't Tax Deductible

(Newser) - After a little bit of confusion—thanks to a vaguely worded letter from the IRS on the use of an "herb"—it was re-confirmed marijuana is not eligible for deduction on citizens' personal tax returns. Even in states where it can be legally prescribed by a doctor. Read...

Wyclef Jean Owes IRS $2.1M
 Wyclef Jean Owes IRS $2.1M 
hang on, haiti

Wyclef Jean Owes IRS $2.1M

Singer the subject of 3 federal tax liens

(Newser) - Wyclef Jean may be gearing up for a run for Haiti's presidency, but he has to square some matters with the IRS first—the singer owes $2.1 million in federal taxes, the Smoking Gun reports. The IRS has filed 3 liens against him since 2006, and they're not Jean's...

Wesley Snipes Heading to Prison

Appeals panel upholds 3-year sentence on tax charges

(Newser) - A federal appeals panel has upheld a three-year prison sentence on federal tax charges for film star Wesley Snipes. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta concluded that the judge properly sentenced Snipes, who was convicted in 2008 of three counts of willful failure to file his returns. His...

Inmates Got $9.1M in 'Homebuyer' Tax Credits

IRS working to recoup money

(Newser) - Almost 1,300 prisoners, including 241 serving life sentences, filed for the Obama administration’s First Time Homebuyer Credit on their taxes, claiming they’d bought homes while incarcerated, according to a Treasury Department report released today. The IRS paid out $9.1 million on those claims, money it now...

Tea Partier's Trippy Ad Calls for Revolution

'Gather your armies,' Washington declares

(Newser) - Think the Tea Party rhetoric is getting a little overwrought? Then get a load of this video from Alabama House candidate Rick Barber, in which he has a kind of war council with various founding fathers. Barber calls for President Obama’s impeachment, then launches a mostly nonsensical rant about...

Anti-IRS Diatribes Are Stupid and Dangerous

Let's cool the hatred before someone else gets killed

(Newser) - Watch coverage of the Tax Day rallies and you'll no doubt hear all about the evil IRS and the "jack-booted thugs" who work there. It's way past time to stop the demagoguery, writes EJ Dionne. Anyone remember the nut who flew his plane into IRS offices in Austin in...

Joe Stack's Daughter Retracts 'Hero' Remark
Joe Stack's Daughter Retracts 'Hero' Remark
UPDATED

Joe Stack's Daughter Retracts 'Hero' Remark

Though man killed by Texas suicide pilot was

(Newser) - The woman whose father crashed his plane into a Texas IRS office in a suicide statement about big government backed away this afternoon from her characterization earlier in the day of Joe Stack as a “hero.” Samantha Bell, 38, called ABC to say that, in fact, Stack is...

'Easygoing' Austin Pilot Presumed Dead

One office worker remains unaccounted for

(Newser) - The man accused of flying his small plane into IRS offices in Austin today is described as "easygoing" by a friend. “He talked politics like everyone but didn’t show any obsession,” says Pam Parker, who managed a band that Andrew Joseph Stack played in as recently...

IRS Cracking Down on Tax Preparers

Preparers to be required to register, pass exam

(Newser) - The IRS has unveiled plans to regulate America's tax-preparation industry for the first time. Independent tax preparers and employees of tax-preparation firms will be required to register, pass a competency exam, and take 15 hours of classes a year. The move follows an IRS study that found many of the...

Citi Wins Massive Tax Break
 Citi Wins Massive Tax Break 
UPDATED

Citi Wins Massive Tax Break

Firm will use dodged fed taxes to repay fed bailout bucks

(Newser) - The government will be collecting billions of dollars less in taxes from Citigroup as part of Citigroup's deal to pay back federal bailout money. The IRS has granted an exemption from tax rules relating to Citigroup and other companies partially owned by the government. The future taxes being forfeited will...

15K Yanks Turn Selves in for Offshore Tax Cheating

Asia joins Switzerland as hotspot for hidden assets

(Newser) - Prodded by the stick of a looming crackdown on offshore tax cheats and the carrot of an IRS amnesty program, some 14,700 rich Americans have turned themselves in, disclosing billions in hidden foreign assets. The "unprecedented" participation in the amnesty program surprised the IRS and advisers to the...

Millions Must Repay Part of Stimulus Tax Credit

Withholding errors mean 15.4M will get smaller refund or owe money

(Newser) - An IRS tax credit designed to lighten the load on recession-addled taxpayers won't work out as well as hoped for about 15.4 million Americans. Because certain minutiae of the new Making Work Pay credit weren’t factored in to withholding tables, more than 10% of taxpayers who file individual...

Tax Collectors Use MySpace, Google to Find Deadbeats

Public profiles can provide valuable income information for revenue agents

(Newser) - Internet-savvy state tax collectors are using a new tool in tracking down evaders: social networking websites. Tax collectors are taking advantage of the fact that an individual’s MySpace or Facebook profile often contains quite a bit of professional information, the Wall Street Journal reports. Agents in Nebraska, for example,...

IRS May Cut 401(k) Contribution Limit

(Newser) - Low inflation could force the IRS to decrease the amount workers can contribute to their 401(k) plans to $16,000, USA Today reports. It would mark the first time the government has ever lowered contribution limits. Though a spokesperson says it’s too early for speculation, the IRS may not...

Tax-Evader Crackdown Spreads to Hong Kong

(Newser) - The IRS and Justice Department crackdown on UBS is widening, reports the Wall Street Journal, as new documents reveal the efforts the bank took to keep its clients' wealth away from the taxman. Two recent cases have relied on channeling millions to a Swiss account owned by a Hong Kong-based...

Tax Revenue Takes Biggest Dive Since Great Depression

(Newser) - US tax revenue is set to shrink 18% from last fiscal year to the current one, ending in October—the largest falloff since 1932, the AP reports. Individual income-tax receipts are off 22%, and corporate revenues have sunk an astounding 57%. “Our tax system is already inadequate to support...

Tax Cheats Flood IRS, Looking to Come Clean

Inquiry into Swiss banks leads hundreds of evaders to come clean

(Newser) - A crackdown on tax evasion has led to a flood of wealthy Americans lining up to reveal their offshore accounts to the IRS, reports the Wall Street Journal. A limited-time offer of lower fines, coupled with the ongoing probe of Swiss bank accounts held by UBS, has produced a stampede...

Feds, Swiss Call Timeout in US Tax Evasion Case

(Newser) - Aiming to avoid an ugly international dispute, the US government, Switzerland, and a Swiss bank are seeking to delay a hearing over private bank accounts, the Wall Street Journal reports. The respite would give government officials and UBS until August to strike a deal over data on some 52,000...

Inspector Finds IRS Lax in Disposing of Sensitive Docs

Agency vows oversight of waste contractors

(Newser) - Sensitive documents that could be used to steal taxpayers’ identities were found in trash bins outside several Internal Revenue Service bureaus visited during a months-long government inspection, Reuters reports. Because of the findings, the IRS has increased oversight of the contractors responsible for its waste. Identity theft is an increasing...

UBS Refuses to Hand Over Names of US Tax Cheats

Bank charges IRS is trying to trample on Swiss laws

(Newser) - Swiss bank UBS has rejected a demand from the IRS that it cough up the names of 52,000 suspected American tax evaders, the Times of London reports. The bank—which paid out $780 million to avoid prosecution for helping rich Americans dodge their taxes—said the lawsuit by the...

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