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Tag: IRS

  • Google Gets Audited by the IRS

    Government scrutiny is starting to go along with Google like grape jelly goes along with peanut butter. This time it’s not the DoJ or the FTC or the Senate, but the IRS – the United States Internal Revenue Service.

    A report from Bloomberg, citing “people with knowledge of the matter,” has come out saying that the IRS is auditing “how Google avoided federal income taxes by shifting profit into offshore subsidiaries.” The report says:

    The agency is bringing more than typical scrutiny to how the company valued software rights and other intellectual property it licensed abroad, said the person, who requested anonymity because the audit isn’t public. The IRS has requested information from Google about its offshore deals after three acquisitions, including its $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube, the person said. The transfer overseas of these kinds of rights has enabled Google to attribute earnings to foreign units that pay lower taxes, Bloomberg News reported a year ago.

    This is certainly not the first we’ve heard of companies engaging in this kind of shifting of finances.

    Google isn’t commenting beyond, “This is a routine inquiry,” and the IRS is prohibited by law to discuss specific taxpayers.

    This news comes on the day that Google is set to reveal its third quarter financial results. The call is scheduled for 4:30 EST. Check back to WebProNews for coverage of that.

  • IRS Launches Tax App For Android And iPhone Users

    The Internal Revenue Service has introduced IRS2Go, its first smartphone app that allows people to check on the status of their tax refund and receive tax information.

    "This new smart phone app reflects our commitment to modernizing the agency and engaging taxpayers where they want when they want it," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.

    "As technology evolves and younger taxpayers get their information in new ways, we will keep innovating to make it easy for all taxpayers to access helpful information."

    IRS2Go Apple users can download the free IRS2Go application by visiting the Apple App Store. Android users can visit the Android Marketplace to download app.

    “This phone app is a first step for us," Shulman said. "We will look for additional ways to expand and refine our use of smartphones and other new technologies to help meet the needs of taxpayers."

    People can check the status of their federal refund through the new phone app with a few basic pieces of information. First, they can enter a Social Security number, which is masked and encrypted for security purposes. Next, taxpayers pick the filing status they used on their tax return. Finally, taxpayers enter the amount of the refund they expect from their 2010 tax return.

    For people who e-file, the refund function of the phone app will work within about 72 hours after taxpayers receive an e-mail acknowledgment saying the IRS received their tax return.

    For people filing paper tax returns, longer processing times mean they will need to wait three to four weeks before they can check their refund status.

    About 70 percent of the 142 million individual tax returns were filed electronically last year.

     

  • Facebook Users Set Up Fan Group(s) for Suicide Pilot

    Update: Ok, make that multiple Facebook groups…(via Business Insider)

    Original Article: By now, you’ve probably heard the news that Joseph Andrew Stack intentionally flew a plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas. He appeared to have left a rant at EmbeddedArt.com before he did it, but the site has since been taken offline, and replaced with the following message:

    This website has been taken offline due to the sensitive nature of the events that transpired in Texas this morning and in compliance with a request from the FBI. To see an archived version of the original letter, please go here: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0218102stack1.html. Please visit our forum if you wish to discuss anything related to this incident: Texas crash pilot left suicide note on Web site – embeddedart.com.

    Regards,
    T35 Hosting – www.T35.com

    Stack has already had a Facebook Fan Group set up in his "honor" by people admiring what he has done. At the time of this writing, it already has over 160 fans. Some on the page are praising what he did, while others are calling him and his fans names. Social media at its finest.

    Stack Facebook Group

    On an interesting side note, Google doesn’t appear to be displaying its real-time search results for "Austin" or "Texas". I just find this slightly odd, being how it is one of the day’s biggest news stories. To be fair, the results do show up for queries like "IRS", "plane", and "crash". This shows another example of where the feature still has some room for improvement.