Internal Revenue Service

The IRS expects the 2014 tax season to be delayed by one to two weeks.  That would mean the new tax season would begin somewhere between January 28th and February 4th.  The reason for the delay?  None other than the historic Fall 2013 government shutdown.

The IRS normally begins tuning and tweaking their complicated tax return processing systems in the fall, even before the start of the 4th quarter.  This year’s system testing period was delayed when the IRS closed its doors during the first half of October.  You should also be aware that the February 4th start date is only an estimate.  The IRS will re-evaluate and confirm the 2014 Tax Season start date in December.

California Franchise Tax Board

We often hear about federal tax scams, but the FTB recently sent out a warning to California residents to keep their eyes and ears open for phishing schemes and identity theft.  There is apparently a scheme which targets elderly taxpayers in Beverly Hills.  The caller, posing as a FTB employee, tells the victim that they were ticketed for a red light violation and their case has been forwarded to the FTB for collection purposes.  As ridiculous as this may sound, the IRS has been given so many additional responsibilities over the years that it’s hard to say what they may have a hand in.  So, why not the FTB too?

The moral of the story is the same as it always is for the IRS: they won’t contact you by email, and they will rarely call you without sending a series of notices first.  You need to be suspicious if either of these things happen to you.