"US must issue new health care tax forms" by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar | Associated Press August 30, 2014
WASHINGTON — The federal agency that had trouble launching a health insurance website last fall has a massive new project. Any glitches on this one could delay tax refunds for many Americans.
That will be after the elections, but it will put this country in an uproar like no race-baiting ever has!
Because of complicated connections between the new health care law and income taxes, the Department of Health and Human Services must send out millions of new tax forms next year. They’re like W-2s for people getting health insurance tax credits under the law.
The forms are called 1095-As; they list who in each household has health coverage and how much the government paid each month to subsidize those insurance premiums.
Nearly 5 million people have gotten subsidies through HealthCare.gov.
If the forms are delayed past their Jan. 31 deadline, some people may have to wait to file tax returns — and collect their refunds.
So the GOVERNMENT gets to HOLD ON TO MONEY it should NOT EVEN HAVE, huh?
Well, if they can't tax it out of you they will keep it!
What do you mean the information was wrong?
A delay of a week or two may not sound like much, but many people depend on their tax refunds to plug holes in family finances.
What a nice government withholding what you need now.
The uncertainty is unnerving to some tax preparation companies, which try to run their filing season operations like a military drill. The Obama administration says it is on task, but won’t provide much detail.
(Blog editor shakes his head at the disingenuous of this administration)
States operating their own health insurance marketplaces will also have to send out the new forms, even if they had website problems.
Obummer broke ours.
But the biggest job belongs to the federal exchange serving 36 states.
Health and Human Services will have to manage that while in the midst of running the 2015 health insurance sign-up season, when millions more are expected to try to get coverage.
That's right during election time when voters will be reminded of this flop.
‘‘It’s very unrealistic to expect that they would be able to implement a process that distributed these forms in the middle of open enrollment, and on time,’’ said George Brandes, vice president for health care programs at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service.
The average tax refund is about $2,690, and people who count on getting money back often file early.
Liberty Tax Service vice president Chuck Lovelace said his company is giving the feds the benefit of the doubt but the possibility of delays ‘‘is not something we can turn a blind eye to.’’
‘‘It could have a dramatic impact on our customers,’’ Lovelace said. ‘‘The tax refund is the largest check many consumers get.’’
At least the elections will be over by then.
--more--"
What do you mean I OWE MONEY?
"Tax refunds may get hit due to health law credits" by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar | Associated Press August 25, 2014
WASHINGTON — Taxes? Who wants to think about taxes around Labor Day?
But if you count on your tax refund and you’re one of the millions getting tax credits to help pay health insurance premiums under President Obama’s law, it’s not too early.
Here’s why: If your income for 2014 is going to be higher than you estimated when you applied for health insurance, then complex connections between the health law and taxes can reduce or even eliminate your tax refund next year.
OMG, they are going to SEIZE all the TAX REFUNDS!
Maybe you’re collecting more commissions in an improving economy. Or your spouse got a better job. It could trigger an unwelcome surprise.
What if you are doing worse like the 99% of the rest of us?
The danger is that as your income grows, you don’t qualify for as much of a tax credit. Any difference will come out of your tax refund, unless you have promptly reported the changes.
Thanks for the heads-up.
*****************
Having to pay back even as little as 10 percent of your tax credit can reduce your refund by several hundred dollars.
Tax giant H&R Block says consumers whose incomes grew as the year progressed should act now and contact HealthCare.gov or their state insurance exchange to update their accounts.
All this hassle for something we didn't want in the first place!
They will pay higher health insurance premiums for the rest of this year, but they can avoid financial pain come spring.
That and the re-enrollment requirement this fall is really going to sour people on Democrats -- all happening during an election season.
See:
Obamacare Plans Forecast Unhealthy Fall For Democrats
Court Erases Obummercare Subsidies
Obummercare Plans Too Complex
Voting against him is not.
‘‘As time goes on, the ability to make adjustments diminishes,’’ warned Mark Ciaramitaro, H&R Block’s vice president of health care services. ‘‘Clients count on that refund as their biggest financial transaction of the year. When that refund goes down, it really has reverberations.’’
The Obama administration says it’s constantly urging newly insured consumers to report changes that could affect their coverage. But those messages don’t drive home the point about tax refunds.
‘‘What probably isn’t clear is that there may be consequences at tax time,’’ said Ciaramitaro.
And down goes the approval rating into unheard of territory for what will be the most hated president ever.
Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the US Health and Human Services Department, said the administration plans to ‘‘ramp up’’ its efforts.
More taxpayer dollars wasted on public relations propaganda?
Why do you guys think a pr campaign will heal everything?
Concern about the complex connection between the health law and taxes has increased recently, after the Internal Revenue Service released drafts of new forms to administer health insurance tax credits next filing season.
The forms set up a final accounting that ensures each household is getting the correct tax credit. Various factors are involved, including income, family size, where you live, and the premiums for a ‘‘benchmark’’ plan in your community.
The IRS now in the proctology bu$ine$$.
Even experts find the forms highly complicated, requiring month-by-month computations for some taxpayers.
If the "experts" find it difficult how are the addled brains of Americans going to respond?
Taxpayers accustomed to filing a simplified 1040EZ will not be able to do so if they received health tax credits this year.
Hey, calm down, buddy. You better get to a doctor.
Some highlights:
■ If your refund isn’t large enough to cover the tax credit repayment, you will have to write the IRS a check.
Thank God there is no chance of mistakes or bad software.
■ If you overestimated your income and got too small a tax credit for health care, the IRS will increase your refund.
I'll bet there will be a lot less people in that pool.
--more--"
Related: 3 ways insurers can discourage sick from enrolling
Won't that be a penalty?
I'm sure the IRS will sort it all out:
"IRS failed to background check contractors" by Stephen Ohlemacher | Associated Press August 15, 2014
WASHINGTON — The IRS failed to do background checks on some private contractors who handled confidential taxpayer information, exposing more than a million taxpayers to an increased risk of fraud and identity theft, a government investigator said Thursday.
I'm feeling so good that they now have you and your families' health information.
In one case, the IRS gave a printing contractor a computer disk with names, addresses and Social Security numbers of 1.4 million taxpayers, but did not require a background check for anyone who worked on the job, said a report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.
In another case, to transport sensitive documents the IRS used a courier who previously had spent 21 years in prison on arson and other charges. In other cases, contractors underwent background checks but were not required to sign agreements not to disclose sensitive information, the report said.
‘‘Allowing contractor employees access to taxpayer data without appropriate background investigations exposes taxpayers to increased risk of fraud and identity theft,’’ the inspector general, J. Russell George, said.
IRS policy requires contractors with access to confidential taxpayer information to undergo background checks, though the policy was not always followed, the report said.
About 10,000 private contractors have access to such information.
The report did not examine whether any of the private contractors misused taxpayer information. But the issue of identity theft has been gaining attention at the IRS and elsewhere.
In recent years the IRS has reported a big jump in thieves trying to fraudulently claim tax refunds using stolen Social Security numbers.
Related: Melancholy Monday
They can't pick up the phone?
In 2012, the IRS issued $4 billion in fraudulent tax refunds to people using stolen identities, according to an inspector general’s report released last year. That same year, the IRS blocked more than $12 billion in fraudulent refunds from going to identity thieves.
Just wondering what good all that data collection by the NSA is.
In a statement, the IRS said it takes seriously its responsibility to protect taxpayer information, ‘‘and we expect the same from our contractors.’’
The agency said it was committed to ensuring that all contractors with access to sensitive information undergo thorough background checks. Also, the IRS said it issued more explicit guidance over a year ago to ensure that contractors submit nondisclosure agreements.
‘‘The IRS is committed to clarifying policies and procedures to ensure appropriate security provisions are included in all appropriate solicitations and contracts,’’ the agency said.
George’s investigators reviewed 34 IRS contracts that were active in May 2013. They found five contracts in which no background checks were required, even though contractors had access to confidential information, which is labeled ‘‘sensitive but unclassified.’’ The contracts were for courier, printing, document recovery and sign language interpreter services.
The document recovery contract was to salvage sensitive documents and personal belongings of IRS employees after a single-engine plane crashed into an IRS office building in Austin, Texas, in 2010. An IRS employee in the building was killed in the crash.
Related: Stack Attack
George’s report said background checks were required as part of 12 contracts, but workers were allowed access to sensitive information before the checks were completed.
Investigators also identified 20 contracts in which workers did not sign agreements not to disclose sensitive information.
--more--"
Also see: Lerner's Love Letters
They couldn't recover all those "lost" e-mails, huh?
Looks like Lowell got one:
"Lowell family pleads guilty in $25m IRS tax fraud scheme" Associated Press August 30, 2014
LOWELL — Four members of a Lowell family have pleaded guilty to charges that they schemed to hide $25 million in wages from the Internal Revenue Service, federal prosecutors said.
The family ran a temporary employment agency from 2004 to 2009, during which time they reported to the IRS that their employees made about $2.2 million in wages, when in fact they had made $30 million, the US attorney’s office in Boston announced Thursday.
They also defrauded their company’s workers compensation insurer of $880,000 in premiums by hiding the true number of employees, according to The Sun of Lowell.
Margaret Mathes, 67, Boseba Prum, 47, Sam Pich, 63, and Thaworn Promket, 52, pleaded guilty Thursday. Prosecutors did not disclose the exact family relationships. They are scheduled for sentencing Nov. 24.
Each pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to defraud the IRS, mail fraud, and violation of laws against structuring money transactions to avoid reporting requirements, as well as other charges.
The defendants, who operated the International Temp Agency and JP Company, covered up unreported wages by withdrawing cash from about 20 bank accounts and paying their workers under the table.
If so, the federal government had to have known all about it. NSA would have been collecting all that, so WTF?
They structured the bank transactions, numbering more than 4,300, so they could withdraw the cash needed to pay the workers without triggering federal reporting requirements.
It might not have been reported by the bank, but the NSA data collection operation certainly scooped it up.
--more--"
Also see: Lerner's Love Letters
They couldn't recover all those "lost" e-mails, huh?
Looks like Lowell got one:
"Lowell family pleads guilty in $25m IRS tax fraud scheme" Associated Press August 30, 2014
LOWELL — Four members of a Lowell family have pleaded guilty to charges that they schemed to hide $25 million in wages from the Internal Revenue Service, federal prosecutors said.
The family ran a temporary employment agency from 2004 to 2009, during which time they reported to the IRS that their employees made about $2.2 million in wages, when in fact they had made $30 million, the US attorney’s office in Boston announced Thursday.
They also defrauded their company’s workers compensation insurer of $880,000 in premiums by hiding the true number of employees, according to The Sun of Lowell.
Margaret Mathes, 67, Boseba Prum, 47, Sam Pich, 63, and Thaworn Promket, 52, pleaded guilty Thursday. Prosecutors did not disclose the exact family relationships. They are scheduled for sentencing Nov. 24.
Each pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to defraud the IRS, mail fraud, and violation of laws against structuring money transactions to avoid reporting requirements, as well as other charges.
The defendants, who operated the International Temp Agency and JP Company, covered up unreported wages by withdrawing cash from about 20 bank accounts and paying their workers under the table.
If so, the federal government had to have known all about it. NSA would have been collecting all that, so WTF?
They structured the bank transactions, numbering more than 4,300, so they could withdraw the cash needed to pay the workers without triggering federal reporting requirements.
It might not have been reported by the bank, but the NSA data collection operation certainly scooped it up.
--more--"
