Hr3996

[jimmcg]

On November 1 House passed this bill which includes among other things AMT relief, changes in refundable child credit, mortgage forgiveness debt relier, and others. Full text and good summary available at http://www.waysandmeans.house.gov. Service is scheduled to go to press on current year tax forms later this week. Final joint Sentate and House bill will probably be later this year. Sounds like fun!

[JohnH]

What about the forms

I'm guessing they will drag their feet long enough to put IRS in the position of not having the forms ready, so we will be taking some of these adjustments on the Production Credit line or some other wierd place on the return, with the appropriate marginal notations. Why doesn't IRS just create a couple of "General Adustment" lines on the 1040 and leave a box for coding them with last-minute legislative changes?

[veritas]

Here is a link to a summary of the bill

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/110/Summary%20for%20Distribution2.pdf

[Luis Mopeo]

Private debt collection agencies. Bad idea. Go figure.

"Repeal of IRS authority to enter into private debt collection contracts. The provision would repeal the IRS’s authority to enter into, renew, or extend contracts with private companies to collect Federal income taxes. The collection of Federal income taxes is an inherently governmental function that should be restricted to IRS employees. The use of private contractors violates the special and confidential relationship between taxpayers and the Federal government, and could jeopardize the privacy of taxpayers, possibly undermining long-term taxpayer compliance. The Committee on Ways and Means heard extensive testimony detailing the predatory and aggressive tactics utilized by private debt collectors. In addition, private debt collection is an extremely inefficient way to collect Federal income taxes. Since the authority to enter into private debt collection contracts was first granted in 2004, the Federal government has spent $71 million to collect a net of $20 million in tax receipts. If this money was spent hiring IRS employees, the National Taxpayer Advocate estimates the Federal government could have collected $1.4 billion."