[ad_1]
WASHINGTON – Taxpayers to whom repayments will be due will be paid on time, despite the closure of the government that has resulted in the closure of many federal agencies, said Monday a Trump administration official, who feared a delay payments.
Russell Vought, Acting Director of the White House Budget Office, said the customary rules would be changed to allow payments. He told reporters that an "indefinite credit" was available for repayments, which would be done normally.
As the partial closure of the government lasted only three weeks, it could not have been worse for the Internal Revenue Service. . The tax reporting period officially begins on January 28 and, even if those owing to Uncle Sam will still have to pay before April 15, those who have to recover money worried about whether the closure could delay their payments.
About three-quarters of taxpayers receive an annual refund, which encourages them to file their return earlier. Many low-income people rely on repayments as their primary source of year-round funding.
The IRS announced Monday that it will call back to a large number of dismissed employees the processing of returns. They will probably work without pay. Under the previous rules, repayments of hundreds of billions of dollars could be delayed for lack of funds available.
Some experts wonder if the Trump administration is legally entitled to cancel these earlier policies to allow the government to issue refunds close. Vought explained that this decision was part of President Donald Trump's goal of making closure "as simple as possible."
The announcement of the administration came as Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced her intention to begin passing bills to reopen federal agencies in the next few years. days, starting with the Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, to make sure that Americans receive their refunds.
Some Senate Republicans worried more and more about the prolonged closure and could support such legislation emanating from the Democrats-led House.
The White House's announcement on repayments: "They are overturning a longstanding legal position," said Howard Gleckman, senior researcher and tax expert at the Urban Institute. But, he added, "Who will continue? It would be difficult to show damage. […] So, they might be able to draw some from it.
In 2011, the chief attorney of the IRS concluded that such payments were legally allowed during a closure. At the time, the White House's Office of Management and Budget, led by President Barack Obama, had rejected this position and ordered the IRS not to make any refunds during the period. ;a closure. But the IRS said Monday in a press release that the OMB had considered the issue at the request of the Treasury and was now in agreement with the position of the IRS attorney.
The IRS said it would remember a "significant portion" of its some 52,000 employees transferred to work on tax returns. The agency also announced the date of January 28 to begin the processing of returns.
"We are determined to ensure that taxpayers receive their repayments despite the government's closure," Commissioner Charles I, Tax Commissioner Charles Rettig, said in a statement. "I appreciate the hard work of the employees and their commitment to the taxpayers during this period."
If closure was not enough, the taxpayer and the IRS had to deal with the most redesigned radical of American taxation. code in three decades. Adopted by the Republicans in December 2017, the amendments included $ 1.5 trillion in tax cuts financed mainly by government deficits. Trump signed the package as a leading legislative achievement.
The new law, which came into effect on January 1, 2018, provided generous tax cuts to wealthier corporations and Americans, as well as smaller reductions in average and low spending. income households.
Non-partisan tax experts projected that the law would result in lower taxes for the vast majority of Americans, but not all. According to the Tax Policy Center, a middle-income household should enjoy an average tax break of $ 930 for 2018, which would increase its after-tax income by 1.6%.
The problems of the IRS arise while the agency is hampered by what is widely considered a lean budget. Republicans controlling for years the chains of Congress accused the IRS of having a liberal bias and unfairly targeting tax-exempt conservative groups. Last year, with the advent of the new tax law, Congress was more willing to open its portfolio to the IRS and to some extent rejected the cuts proposed by the Trump government. But he eventually cut into other areas, with the result that the agency's budget is about the same – $ 11.4 billion – as in recent years.
Source link
