IRS Closed - Income Tax Still Payable
THIS is with reference to the dreaded Internal Revenue Service - the Income Tax department of the US of A. The US Congress did not approve a budget appropriation for Fiscal Year 2014 by October 1, 2013. Consequently, most IRS operations are closed. Though IRS operations are limited, the underlying tax law remains in effect, and all taxpayers should continue to meet their tax obligations as normal. Individuals and businesses should keep filing their tax returns and making deposits with the IRS, as they are required to do so by law. The IRS will accept and process all tax returns with payments, but will be unable to issue refunds during this time. No live telephone customer service assistance will be available, however most automated toll-free telephone applications will remain operational. IRS walk-in taxpayer assistance centres will be closed. While the government is closed, people with appointments related to examinations (audits), collection, Appeals or Taxpayer Advocate cases should assume their meetings are cancelled. IRS personnel will reschedule those meetings at a later date.
IRS has advised that it will not be working any paper correspondence during this period; taxpayers should continue to file and pay taxes as normal. Individuals who requested an extension of time to file should file their returns by Oct. 15, 2013. All other tax deadlines remain in effect, including those covering individuals, corporations, partnerships and employers.
Even though we don't have a problem like the one in US, maybe we should experiment with closure of most of our tax offices for a few months, especially during the year-end and during the period when VCES is on.