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The average refund so far this tax season is ringing in at $1,395 compared to $1,963 last year... Tax refunds so far this year are markedly smaller than the same time a year ago, according to the earliest tax season data from the Internal Revenue Service. The average refund amount was $1,395 as of Feb. 2, down 28.9% from $1,963 for the same period last year, the IRS reported. That’s based on nearly 2.6 million refunds disbursed so far versus 7.9 million refunds disbursed by this point last year. The statistics for this year are based on five days of...

In addition to the off-year elections to be decided this November in Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi, a number of ballot initiatives will be voted on in other states. Perhaps the most consequential measure appearing on the November 2023 ballot, at least when it comes to fiscal policy, is found in Colorado, where voters will be asked whether they want to weaken the nation’s strongest tax and expenditure limit in exchange for property tax relief. Proposition HH, which was referred to the November ballot by Colorado lawmakers with the support of Governor Jared Polis (D), would weaken the state’s Taxpayer’s...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is paying $23 billion less in tax refunds for the 2023 filing season—with the average refund amount found to be lower by nearly $300. The IRS has issued over 69 million refunds collectively worth $198.868 billion for the week ending April 7, 2023, according to the agency’s filing statistics. Compared to the $222.344 billion in refunds handed out in the 2022 season, the 2023 filing season’s refund is $23.476 billion smaller or about 10.6 percent lower. The average refund amount between the filing seasons has dropped from $3,175 to $2,878, a decline of 9.3 percent...

The State of California is warning residents who may have received an inflation “refund” in the form of a bank card to withdraw their funds as soon as possible because thieves are targeting the refunds in fraud scams. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), facing reelection, announced that his administration would be sending “inflation relief” checks to residents in the form of EBT cards to help pay for expensive gas and other goods. The refunds were conveniently timed to begin arriving in residents’ mailboxes right before the election. Many people received letters that included a special EBT card loaded with...

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In today’s cruise ship and travel news we hear about the Giant Ponzi Scheme going on with some of the cruise lines and customers that want a refund and can’t get one after months of trying. Jim Walker a Marine Lawyer based in the Miami area has called out the cruise lines for their poor handling of this multi million dollar issue.

According to SXSW’s terms and conditions of participation, their strict no-refund policy states, “Any and all payments made to SXSW are not refundable for any reason, including, without limitation, failure to use Credentials due to illness, acts of God, travel-related problems, acts of terrorism, loss of employment and/or duplicate purchases.” Due to the cancellation, the festival also laid off a third of its employees, a decision referred to as “the only way to stop the bleeding” by a source to the Austin Chronicle.

The tax season appeared to be off to a slow start when it opened last month, with initial statistics showing fewer returns filed and smaller refunds issued. While the numbers from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were down, expectations were still high. However, a few weeks later, the data is again raising eyebrows: across the board, fewer taxpayers have filed tax returns and refund numbers remain underwhelming. Tax season opened on January 28, 2019. Three weeks into the season (week ending February 15, 2019), the IRS has received 39,747,000 individual income tax returns. That compares with 41,738,000 individual income tax...

The space tourism firm XCOR Aerospace Inc. announced plans in 2008 to launch its private two-seat Lynx space plane. Lynx was expected to fly paying space tourists to an altitude of about 38 miles above Earth, where passengers would experience 90 seconds of weightlessness. The company first estimated flight tests would begin in 2010, with private flights to follow soon after. Many space tourists bought into XCOR's Lynx model for the chance to briefly experience weightlessness at the edge of space. Having paid XCOR $100,000 for a ticket, customer Nael Hamameh thought his flight would come as early as 2011,...

Shares of Tesla were down 4 percent Monday after falling more than 6 percent on a report that the electric car maker has turned to some suppliers for a refund of previously made payments in a bid to turn a profit. Tesla has asked some suppliers to refund money it has paid since 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing a memo. The memo, which the paper said was sent by a global supply manager, described the request as essential to Tesla's continued operation and characterized it as an investment in the car company to continue the long-term growth...

Some advertisers question level of refunds, want more details about fraudulent traffic Google is issuing refunds to advertisers for ads bought through its platform that ran on sites with fake traffic, people familiar with the situation said, as the company develops a tool to give buyers more transparency about their purchases. In the past few weeks, Google has informed hundreds of marketers and ad agency partners about the issue with invalid traffic, known in the industry as “ad fraud.” The ads were bought using the company’s DoubleClick Bid Manager. Google’s refunds amount to only a fraction of the total ad...

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has confirmed to Congress that illegal immigrants granted amnesty under President Obama’s new programs could claim back refunds even when they never filed returns to pay their taxes in the first place. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who had pressed Mr. Koskinen over the issue, released written responses Wednesday ... and, in fact, illegal immigrants granted the amnesty will now be able to claim refunds on tax returns they never even filed, thanks to the Earned Income Tax Credit. “To clarify my earlier comments on EITC, not only can an individual amend a prior year return to claim...

City University of New York is returning thousands of dollars to about 150 immigrant students who live illegally in the U.S. and overpaid for their tuition. A student group called CUNY Dreamers told school officials late last year that many immigrant students from New York paid higher, out-of-state tuition even though they were eligible for in-state rates, a difference of about $4,000 per semester. A CUNY spokesman said administrators conducted a review of enrollments on CUNY’s 24 campuses and began the process of returning excess payments. New York is among 19 states that allow in-state tuition for immigrant students. Its...

There's plenty to be mad about with Obama's executive orders on immigration. But this ruling by the IRS that illegal aliens who didn't pay any taxes or file a tax return can recieve a tax refund on monies they never paid is about as outrageous as a government action can get. Washington Times: The IRS is defending its decision to let illegal immigrants claim up to three years’ refunds on income even if they never paid income taxes, telling Congress in a new letter last week that agency lawyers have concluded getting a Social Security number triggers the ability...

mmigration: Aliens granted executive amnesty by President Obama will be eligible for tax credits for the years they worked here illegally. But wasn't amnesty supposed to benefit the economy and not drain the U.S. Treasury? Subverting the Constitution to grant millions of illegal aliens work permits and freedom from deportation apparently isn't enough for the Obama administration. It now intends, through the Internal Revenue Service, to subvert the tax code to let these illegals collect billions in retroactive Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) payments. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, an unindicted co-conspirator in the cover-up of the IRS Tea Party targeting...

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen confirmed Tuesday that illegal immigrants granted amnesty from deportation under President Obama’s new policies would be able to get extra refunds from the IRS for money they earned while working illegally, as long as they filed returns during those years. Illegal immigrants who are granted the amnesty will be given official Social Security numbers, which means they can go back and amend up to three years of previous tax forms to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, potentially claiming billions of dollars in additional payments they were ineligible for before the amnesty. Mr. Koskinen said they...

With a week to go before tax season opens, taxpayers were already bracing for a potentially “miserable” filing season. It turns out that it could live up to the hype. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Koskinen has advised employees that the budget cuts will result in reduced services to taxpayers. In an email to employees sent earlier today, Commissioner Koskinen advised that “realistically we have no choice but to do less with less.” What does that mean for taxpayers? * Identity theft could increase. Despite the need for increased taxpayer protections against identity theft, the implementation of additional measures will...

Above: Illegal aliens made out like banditos thanks to Harry Reid and Senate Democrats. Disabled vets? Not so much.- They actually did it. They are on the record. Senate Democrats, led by their filibuster-slaying dictator Harry Reid, actually put the interests of illegal aliens above those of our disabled military veterans.Let that sink in for a moment. Now the details: The two-year budget deal brokered by Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, would cut military pensions by $6 billion over ten years. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, joined by several others in his party, tried...

The Internal Revenue Service issued $4 billion in fraudulent tax refunds last year to people using stolen identities, with some of the money going to addresses in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Ireland, according to an inspector general's report released Thursday. The IRS sent a total of 655 tax refunds to a single address in Lithuania, and 343 refunds went to a lone address in Shanghai. In the U.S., more fraudulent returns went to Miami than any other city. Other top destinations were Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta and Houston.

According to the report, improper payments in the past decade, from 2003 through 2012, totaled up to $132.6 billion dollars, peaking during the 2010 economic crisis at $18.4 billion dollars. The report says the IRS was unable to show it has taken proper steps to fix the problem after the inspector general flagged it in 2008. Here's how the tax credit works: low income working families get a credit that reduces their tax bill. The size of the credit depends on their income and number of children. If the credit is larger than what they owe, or they pay no...