Accounting
IRS accelerates ERC claims processsing
The Internal Revenue Service says it has processing underway on some 400,000 claims for the Employee Retention Credit, representing about $10 billion of eligible claims.
Work on the claims for small businesses and others is ongoing as the agency continues to wade through claims from the complex — and at times misused — pandemic-era credit. A significant number of the ERC claims came in during what the IRS calls “a period of aggressive marketing” by promoters, leading to a large percentage of improper, ineligible claims.
“In recent weeks, the IRS has made substantial progress in separating eligible claims from the wave of ineligible claims that have come in,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel in a statement, “and we continue working to refine our models to identify more eligible claims.”
The claims being processed include eligible and ineligible claims, with most being processed for approval. Checks are being mailed for eligible claims with refunds.
The ERC program increasingly became the target of aggressive marketing well after the pandemic ended. Some promoter groups called the credit by another name, such as a grant, business stimulus payment, government relief or other names. The IRS is continuing to work denials of improper claims, intensifying audits and investigating potential fraud and abuse.
Last month, the agency opened a
H&R Block has given the world just what it wants to see this holiday season:
Santa has a lot of itemizations to consider. Eight tiny reindeer depend on him for food and shelter, for instance, but are they dependents? How much can you give to one person before reporting it? Does Santa keep good mileage records for his 41.5 million miles? Santa isn’t an employee, so compensation (even in cookie form) over the threshold may create a 1099-NEC.
Old St. Nick, who files MFJ with Mrs. Claus, did all right on 1040 Line 34, but some of his numbers do bear examination: 6.3 million cookies and 2 million gallons of milk means a third of a gallon of milk per cookie. Will the deduction of coal, magic dust and sleighbells stand up to audit? At least Santa has plenty of time on his hands between January and April to find a good preparer.
“Even the jolly man in red takes time to report taxes,” reads the announcement from the tax prep giant. “He’s probably the world’s most famous small-business owner, running a gift-giving workshop and distribution network across the globe … Santa is giving us the first ever peek at his tax return and showing us how he used H&R Block Online and AI Tax Assist to get his maximum refund.”
The SECURE 2.0 Act contained several changes to traditional and Roth individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans that are being phased in over the coming years, with several notable changes coming in 2025. The Illinois CPA Society highlighted five changes coming to IRAs and 401(k)s in 2025:
The Internal Revenue Service plans to send automatic payments later this month to eligible taxpayers who did not claim the
The payments, totaling some $2.4 billion, will vary, but the maximum is $1,400 per individual.
The mailing follows an IRS review of data showing many eligible taxpayers who filed a return did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit, a refundable credit for individuals who did not receive EIPs.
“Looking at our internal data, we realized that 1 million taxpayers overlooked claiming this complex credit when they were actually eligible,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, in a statement.
Qualified taxpayers are those who filed a 2021 tax return but left the data field for the Recovery Rebate Credit blank or filled it out as $0 when the taxpayer was actually eligible for the credit.
Taxpayers who haven’t filed 2021 tax returns might also be eligible as well, but they face an April 15, 2025, deadline to file. Eligible taxpayers who did not file must do so to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit even if their income was minimal or nonexistent.
(For questions regarding eligibility and how the payment was calculated, see
These payments will go out automatically in December and should arrive by late January. The payments will be automatically direct deposited or sent by paper check; eligible taxpayers will also receive a separate letter notifying them of the payment.
The payment will be sent to the bank account listed on the taxpayer’s 2023 tax return or to their address of record. If the taxpayer has closed their bank account since filing their 2023 tax return, they do not need to take any action. The bank will return the payment to the IRS and the refund will be reissued to the address of record.
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