IRS Security Summit

Petz Enterprises, LLC (PEI), your CrossLink Team, participated in the March 19, 2015 IRS Security Summit meeting with the IRS, state tax administrators, and tax industry companies. The meeting was held to discuss ways to address the critical issue of identity theft, refund fraud, and data security.

At the meeting the IRS indicated their willingness to work with the industry and states to discuss solutions to help combat the growing issue of identity theft fraud in the following areas over the next few months:

• Fraud prevention and detection, which includes authentication of the taxpayers
• Information sharing related to fraud between IRS and state department of revenues, as well as with the tax industry
• Data security safeguards

The goal of this collaboration is to discuss solutions that can be implemented for the 2016 filing season and beyond. As always, CrossLink remains committed to data security for our professional tax preparer customers and the tax industry as a whole.

Tax Update: New IRS Publication 974 (Premium Tax Credit)

The final Publication 974 (Premium Tax Credit) is now available on the IRS website on the Current Forms and Publications page. This new publication provides additional instructions and information for taxpayers who purchased health insurance from a Marketplace and had a situation that was not covered in the Form 8962 (Premium Tax Credit) or the Form 1040 instructions.

The publication covers the following:

• How to calculate the self-employed health insurance deduction for self-employed individuals who purchased health insurance through a Marketplace
• How to request penalty relief for taxpayers who must pay excess advance premium tax credit 
• Information on individuals who are not lawfully present in U.S. and are enrolled in a qualified health plan
• Taxpayers who are filing a tax return but who are not claiming any personal exemptions
• How to determine the applicable second lowest cost silver plan premium amount that is needed to calculate the premium tax credit
• Taxpayers who were married during the tax year and want to use the alternative calculation that may lower their taxes