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Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a type of medical savings account that allows eligible individuals to make deductible contributions and withdraw tax-free disbursements for the payment of eligible medical expenses. Each year the IRS evaluates the limitation amounts on HSA deductions based for inflation.

Well…it’s over.  This year’s individual tax return filing deadline has come and gone.  As the dust settles and we take stock of this year’s tax season, a few trends have appeared.

The IRS recently announced a 6 year plan to update and modernize its information technology systems and infrastructure. The move will bring much needed resources to an agency beleaguered by nearly a decade of consecutive budget cuts. 

As the responsible party on employer identification number (EIN) applications, effective May 13, 2019, the IRS will only accept EIN applications from individual taxpayers who have either a Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number.

On Friday, March 22, 2019, the Treasury and IRS announced they have lowered the withholding underpayment penalty threshold to 80%. This means that taxpayers who were 80% or less under-withheld on their income tax withholding or quarterly tax payments may qualify for relief.

Every year, a group of adventurous souls decides: This is the year I’m going to prepare my own tax return! While we certainly applaud an individual’s right to establish self-reliance and try to save money on preparation fees, it’s rarely a good idea.

You check your mail and you see the return address, IRS. Your first thought? Well, that can’t be good. You open up the letter and you read that you’re being audited. Look on the bright side – less than 1% of returns get audited each year, you’re just one of the lucky ones! All jocularity aside, there’s nothing to panic about.

The IRS recently issued a warning to taxpayers who are seriously delinquent on their tax debt - you may be unable to attain a new passport or renew your existing one.

First, a joke about catch up…

“Three tomatoes are walking down the street…papa tomato, mama tomato and baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind and papa tomato gets really angry, goes back and squishes him and yells… CATCH UP!!!!”

That joke isn’t going to get a lot of laughs at the IRS (alright, I admit it won’t get laughs anywhere else either) as they try to get caught up after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The shutdown, which lasted 35 days and affected the majority of the IRS’s workforce, has had a profound impact on an agency that had already been running very lean.