Free Republic

" U.S. Senator Dan Coats has canceled a trip to Michiana. The senator was supposed to speak in Elkhart at a Lerner Theater reception on Wednesday. But The Elkhart Truth reports that business in Washington, D.C. is keeping him away. Those who registered for the reception should have been contacted Tuesday about a refund.

DURHAM — A stolen-identity tax refund scheme uncovered by a Durham retiree in March apparently is so widespread that one federal official has described it as the “No. 1 tax scam for 2013.” It’s called SIRF, stolen identity refund fraud, and it affects an untold number of innocent taxpayers, costing the federal government billions. It relies on two weaknesses in the operations of the Internal Revenue Service: its desire to get returns to taxpayers quickly, and a timing gap in how it deals with employees and employers. In short, criminals file fake tax returns in the name of a taxpayer,...

Technically, the IRS kicked off tax season Wednesday — a week later than expected, as a result of Congress’s 12th-hour deal — but tax pros say it could be weeks before many Americans can actually file their returns. The various changes to the tax code forced payroll departments to hold off their end-of-year accounting. A fair number of taxpayers still haven’t received their W2s, experts say. Those who need to file Form 8863 to claim credits for higher education won’t be able to file until the middle of February, after the IRS finishes updating its processing systems, officials said Monday....

Hoosier workers to get $111 come tax time 18 hours ago • Dan Carden dan.carden@nwi.com, (317) 637-9078 INDIANAPOLIS | Hoosier income tax payers each will receive $111 next year as Indiana returns a portion of its $2.15 billion budget reserve to its citizens. Gov. Mitch Daniels on Wednesday announced the value of the taxpayer refund created by lawmakers in 2011 to ensure the state's reserve funds never get too big. Under the law, a refund is automatically triggered when the reserve tops 10 percent of the next year's budgeted spending. "Better that these dollars remain in the pockets of the...

“Identity theft, tax refund scams are really no less than a tsunami that is barreling towards us,” said U.S. attorney Wifredo Ferre... For victims like South Dade’s Lauri King, waiting for help from the Internal Revenue Service is getting harder. She still doesn’t know when the agency may get around to mailing out her refund... King filed her tax refund seven months ago. She expected to get her refund a few months later, but continues to wait for the IRS to finally act... “Just two weeks ago, I mentioned to my husband, did we ever get our IRS refund and...

Office of Public Affairs, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE; Richard Kellogg Armstrong, 77, of Prescott, Ariz., was sentenced today to 108 months in prison plus an 660 day prison term and $1,021,500 of fines. Plus $1,678,834 and forfeit, two residences and a personal aircraft. (neither his wife nor dog has been shot) Armstrong was found guilty of one count of mail fraud, eight counts of filing false claims, three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from mail fraud, and one count of conspiracy to defraud + 10 acts of contempt of court. “The sentence in this case demonstrates that...

The boss of Spirit Airlines isn't about to cave in to a dying former Marine, and he doesn't lose sleep knowing his company leads the industry when it comes to customer complaints, he told FoxNews.com. “That’s an irrelevant statistic,” Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza said when told his airline generates gripes at two-and-a-half times the rate of the next most complained about carrier. Spirit racked up 8.27 complaints per 100,000 passengers in January, while United finished a distant second-worst, registering 3.5 complaints per 100,000 fliers, according to U.S. Department of Transportation statistics. By comparison, Southwest notched just 0.2 complaints per 100,000...

Raleigh going after unpaid parking ticketsUpdated: 6:41 p.m. Wednesday Raleigh, N.C. — Hundreds of area residents are getting mail from Raleigh officials this week, but it's not holiday greetings. The city sent 4,000 letters Monday to people who have unpaid parking citations, and officials said more mailings are planned. The move is part of a new collection method approved last spring by the City Council. Effective Dec. 15, the city can intercept the state income tax refund of anyone with more than $50 in unpaid parking citations that are more than six months delinquent in order to pay off the...

Tea Party vs Occupy: Are Cities Guilty of Double-Standard?Posted in Daily Dispatch Oct 27, 2011 Tea Party groups across the nation are accusing local and state governments of a double standard – charging them fees to hold rallies in public parks, while allowing Occupy protesters to set up camp for free. “I find it extremely frustrating and upsetting,” said Colleen Owens, a spokesperson for the Richmond Tea Party. “It is definitely a slap in the face.” Owens is demanding a refund of about $10,000 from the city of Richmond, claiming her group was charged for rallies at Kanawha Plaza but...

A new way to help American workers keep their working wages free. Under the 1988 Supreme Court decision Communications Workers of America v. Beck every member of a union is entitled to a full refund of their dues that are not directly used for representing them. Until now though, it’s been almost impossible for any member to find out exactly how much their refund should be. The process is simple. Choose your labor state from the list below. Fill out some basic information and UnionRefund will automatically generate a letter that you can print and mail to your union representative...

MONTGOMERY, AL - Have you gotten your state refund tax check yet? Many Alabamians haven't yet, and they're growing more impatient by the day. Barbara Moore of Athens wrote WHNT NEWS 19 to ask us to find out when the state will send refund checks to people who are waiting on refunds. "Some of us feel like we're being forgotten by the state," said Moore. "Can you get us a general idea when to expect what is due to us?" WHNT NEWS 19 is taking action to get the answer. We contacted the Alabama Department of Revenue, and workers say...

Many Americans have been asking the question, "Why is my tax refund less than last year?" This is true even for people whose income and deductions were similar in tax year 2009 to tax year 2008. For these people, the answer is simple. You have been scammed by President Obama and Congressional Democrats. Obama and Democrats were desperate to quickly pass the "Stimulus Bill" last year and convince Americans they were taking strong action to turn around the economy. One of the major elements of the "Stimulus" was a $400 tax credit for many Americans. Democrats decided to put this...

JPMorgan Chase is negotiating with the FDIC for a tax refund related to its acquisition of Washington Mutual that could amount to $1.4 billion, The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning. A little noticed change in tax law was incorporated into the extension of jobless benefits last year. Under the new rules companies can use losses to apply for tax refunds against earnings from the past 5 years--up from just 2 years before the change. It isn't just JP Morgan that is benefiting from the tax changes. The WSJ reports

PIERRE — The mail should bring pleasant news this week about a controversial piece of South Dakota’s past to the governments of a dozen counties and two water districts. Thousands of dollars in refunds will be flowing to them for taxes collected decades ago for the old Oahe irrigation sub-district.

Tony Seminary is a 1996 graduate of the University of Oregon and a season ticket holder for the Ducks football team. He attended the Boise State game, and witnessed the loss to the Broncos and LeGarrette Blount’s PunchGate up close and personal. After the game, Seminary wrote an email to Chip Kelly, and did what you may have dreamt of doing after traveling to watch your team put in an embarrassing performance on the road: he asked for a refund, and attached an invoice bureaucrat-style. From the original email: I was so angry with the game (even before the post-game...

MARCH 3--Angered that her local McDonald's was out of Chicken McNuggets, a Florida woman called 911 three times to report the fast food "emergency." Latreasa Goodman, 27, last Saturday called police to complain that a cashier--citing a McDonald's all sales are final policy--would not give her a refund. When cops responded to the restaurant, Goodman told them, "This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn't have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don't want one." Goodman noted, "I called 911 because I couldn't get a...

State tax refunds, Medicaid reimbursements and payments to local schools are all on hold because of a political showdown between Kansas legislative leaders and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. The Kansas Finance Council was to meet at 1 p.m. today to vote on whether to borrow $225 million from healthy state funds to cover expected payments to schools, state workers and taxpayers. The state did the same thing last December when it ran into a cash-flow problem.

Anybody know if its still possible to get a donation back from the McCain campaign? I made a $200 donation on Oct. 30th and want a refund. The reasons are obvious! If you know who I should contact to make this happen let me know. If you think its impossible let me know. Or if there is another thread on this, let me know that too. If you think I was crazy to make this donation in the first place, I would concur with your assessment!

WASHINGTON – The government sent out more than $1 billion in fraudulent refunds last year and offered this explanation Thursday for the bad checks in the mail: The Internal Revenue Service has too few resources to pursue every tax fraud case. IRS investigators never even looked at an estimated $742 million in fraudulent refunds, according to a report by the Treasury Department office that monitors the agency. When they did identify an additional $264 million in bad refunds, it was too late to stop them from being issued. The report noted that the IRS must divide its limited resources among...

In an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," billionaire Warren Buffett suggested that donors to the John Edwards for President Campaign might consider filing a class action lawsuit. "I think if I had given him money I'd probably be asking him for it back now" quipped the investor icon in a half serious, half joking manner. "I think if I were Edwards I might give up a haircut or two and return some of the money....if they (donors of the smaller amnounts) had known the facts they woudn't have sent him the money." Buffett's main problem with Edwards was the fact...