News from the IRS Nationwide Tax Forum

For the past three days I have been attending the IRS Nationwide Tax Forum in San Francisco, CA. The forum featured speakers from the IRS and various professional societies. The Tax Forum will be held in four other locations, so there's plenty of time to register if you would like to attend.

With 42 presentations, it was impossible to attend everything. But here's some highlights.

The IRS is now accepting Partial Payment Installment Agreements. What this means is that you can set up a monthly payment that does not pay off your tax balance in full. There's lots more details to this program, but bottom line the partial payment option could be a convenient alternative to an offer-in-compromise. Also, this is a brand new program for the IRS, so the process is still evolving.

The IRS is focusing on audits and collections. The agency has re-organized various departments and re-assigned personnel to audit and collection positions. We can expect more audits, more tax liens, and more tax levies in the future.

Among the agency's audit priorities, the IRS is focusing on underwithholding by individuals and payroll tax evasion by corporations. The IRS will also continue to focus on "the areas of greatest non-compliance," including unreported income, high income individuals, people who don't file tax returns, and people and businesses who engage in abusive tax schemes.