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Forbes, Treasury Secretary’s IRS Praise Sparks Backlash From Those Who Must Deal With The Tax Agency:
Is the IRS broken? It depends on whom you ask. Yesterday Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tweeted “It’s a stunning achievement. In the midst of a crisis, the IRS has put on a masterclass in implementation and how the machinery of government should work.” The pushback from tax industry professionals was immediate and vehement.
Brian Streig, CPA and Tax Director at Calhoun, Thomson & Matza, LLP in Austin, Texas, responded “Yes, the IRS did a great job at implementing CARES Act and other Covid tax law changes. But, the IRS has completely failed American taxpayers in their primary function of processing tax returns, issuing refunds, and handling notices.” ...
[D]espite Secretary Yellen’s and Commissioner Rettig’s recent assertions to the contrary, the IRS has simply been treading water since well before the pandemic started and the 2021 filing season is not going smoothly.
Is the IRS really broken? Probably not. At least not irreparably so. But the cracks in the dam will continue to widen unless Congress recognizes and addresses their continuing role in the problem by not consistently providing adequate funding to the IRS for long-term infrastructure projects, by continuing to use the IRS as a benefits administrator rather than as the country’s accounts receivable department, and by repeatedly failing to reckon with how their decisions actually affect the IRS, taxpayers, and the tax professionals caught trying to hold back the deluge.
“So, that funding brings with it additional resources for the ATO, to be able to conduct the kind of engagement that is resource-intensive, which will ultimately, in the ATO’s eyes, lead to increased transparency for these private groups.”
The Top 500 represent just 0.2 of a percentage point of private groups in Australia, but are responsible for paying 10 per cent of tax. Mr Ortner in March suggested that the ATO’s interest in these groups comes as a result of recent tax gap reports, which highlighted a 7.7 per cent tax gap in the sector worth $772 million.
From a soft hug to a tight squeeze: ATO tightens its grip on private and wealthy groups
As part of the federal budget, the government has tasked the Board of Taxation with examining the dual-agency administration model for the R&D tax incentive (R&DTI), with a view to “reduce duplication between the two administrators, simplify administrative processes, or otherwise reduce the compliance costs for applicants”.
The R&DTI is jointly administered by the ATO and AusIndustry on behalf of Industry, Innovation and Science Australia.
Board of Tax probes ATO, AusIndustry administration of R&D tax incentive
From 1 July 2023, non-charitable not-for-profits (NFPs) with an active Australian Business Number will be required to provide information to the ATO on how they have self-assessed their eligibility for income tax exemptions.