Tax scams are up 400-percent this tax season. The IRS is again warning that scammers are using email schemes to steal money. The emails are designed to look like they are coming from the IRS or others in the tax industry, such as tax software companies. These emails ask for personal information and/or details on refunds, filing statuses, ordering transcripts, and PIN information. If you click on a link in the email, you are taken to a website that is made to look official and

It’s about to get more expensive if you fail to file your taxes. On February 11th, the Senate passed the “Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015” by a vote of 75 to 20. This bill contains a number of tax provisions, including stiffer penalties for failing to file returns. It also authorizes U.S. Customs and Border Protection and makes the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which bans taxes on internet access, permanent. Under the current law, unless due to reasonable ca

You may want to wait to file your tax return. In the January 19th Tax Tip Tuesday, I indicated that the 2016 tax season was now open. That was correct for federal returns. Unfortunately, as we noted in last week’s edition, some state returns are still in limbo of when they should be filed. Because the Iowa Legislature has not passed the bill that couples the Iowa tax law with the federal tax code, it might be wise to wait to file for any return that contains any of the item

As you open this email, you are probably saying to yourself, wait a minute, it’s not Tuesday! You are correct, but the content this week is very time sensitive so we are here early. The first item today is the Iowa Caucus tonight. We have a great opportunity to influence who will be on the ballot for president this November. There are many different approaches to tax policy from the various candidates so this is going to be very important. Please be sure to participate to