Issue Number:  2017-29

Inside This Issue

1.     Don’t Take the Bait, Step 2: Be Alert to Account Takeover Tactics

2.     Now Available: Public List of Certified Professional Employer Organizations

3.     Increase to Special Enrollment Exam Fee Effective Next Year

4.     IRS introduces email option for Direct Pay and the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System

5.     YouTube: Your Taxes in the Sharing Economy

6.     Reminder: W-2 and W-3 Filing Requirements

7.     Technical Guidance

 

1.  Don’t Take the Bait, Step 2: Be Alert to Account Takeover Tactics

Account takeovers by cybercriminals are on the rise and increasingly practitioners are the targets. Heed the advice of the IRS, state tax agencies and industry partners: Don’t Take the Bait.

For more information, visit Protect Your Clients, Protect Yourself.

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2.  Now Available: Public List of Certified Professional Employer Organizations

The IRS has published a list of all certified professional employer organizations (CPEOs). The CPEO Public Listings Page is posted to IRS.gov.

Under the Internal Revenue Code, a “certified professional employer organization” is an organization that applies to be certified as a CPEO and that the IRS has certified as meeting the applicable requirements, including timely filing a properly completed and executed Form 14751, Certified Professional Employer Organization Surety Bond.

An organization is a CPEO as of the effective date of its certification and remains a CPEO until the IRS revokes its certification or, if earlier, until the CPEO voluntarily terminates its certification.

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3.  Increase to Special Enrollment Exam Fee Effective Next Year

The IRS has issued final regulations which increase to $81 the IRS user fee for taking the Special Enrollment Examination (SEE) to become an Enrolled Agent.

Here is a summary of the total fee amounts:

  •The current fee (effective for tests taken beginning May 1, 2017) for taking each of the three parts of the SEE is $111.94. This comprises $11 for IRS and $100.94 for the vendor.

  •Effective for tests taken beginning May 1, 2018, the fee for each part will be $181.94, comprised of $81 for IRS and $100.94 for the vendor.

  •Effective for tests taken beginning May 1, 2019, the fee for each part will be $184.97, comprised of $81 for IRS and $103.97 for the vendor.

Note: The IRS encourages non-credentialed tax return preparers to take the SEE and become Enrolled Agents. The Return Preparer Office recently published a new brochure with further details, Pub. 5279, “Your Pathway to Becoming an Enrolled Agent Starts Here.”

Also see Pub. 4693-A, “Guide to the Enrolled Agent Program.”

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4.  IRS introduces email option for Direct Pay and the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System

Your clients can now sign up for email notifications when using IRS Direct Pay or EFTPS to pay their taxes. This new email feature allows taxpayers to receive notifications about their payments in their personal email accounts.

Your clients who use EFTPS can opt in to receive email notifications when they enroll or update their enrollments. Business clients making payments through a payroll service provider can also opt in to receive email notifications. If they opt in, they’ll receive email notifications for all payments made through EFTPS, including those made by their payroll service provider.

Your clients who use Direct Pay can opt in to receive email notifications each time they make a payment.

To protect taxpayers, there are no web links within the email notifications. To avoid phishing scams, if taxpayers see links in an email appearing to be from the IRS about payments, they shouldn't click on those links.

Please share this information with clients who use these IRS payment options.

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5.  YouTube: Your Taxes in the Sharing Economy

Does your client participate in the sharing economy -- also known as the gig, on-demand or access economy? This video explains the tax issues that may arise.

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6.  Reminder: W-2 and W-3 Filing Requirements

The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act requires employers to file Forms W-2 and W-3 with the Social Security Administration by Jan. 31, whether filing paper forms or electronically.

The law also requires that Form 1099-MISC, when reporting non-employee compensation payments in Box 7, be filed with the Internal Revenue Service by Jan. 31.

For more information, refer to General Instructions for Forms W-2 & W-3, General Instructions for Certain Information Returns and Increase in Information Return Penalties on IRS.gov.

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7.  Technical Guidance

Notice 2017-40 amplifies Notice 2015-77, 2015-47 I.R.B. 676, with respect to the Treasury Department’s Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest-Hit Housing Markets (HFA Hardest Hit Fund) by extending through 2021 the safe harbor method for computing a homeowner’s deductions for payments made on a home mortgage and the relief for mortgage servicers and state housing finance agencies (State HFAs) from penalties relating to information reporting.  In addition, this notice amplifies Rev. Proc. 2011-55, 2011-47 I.R.B. 793, by extending its scope and effective date through calendar year 2021 for the HFA Hardest Hit Fund.

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