The Internal Revenue Service is upping its game with a newly formed team to identify and quickly address emerging tax compliance issues.
Announced in June, the Joint Strategic Emerging Issues Team, or JSEIT, combines expertise from units across the agency, including Criminal Investigation, Tax Exempt/Government Entities, Large Business & International, and Small Business/ Self Employed.
JSEIT’s goal is to act before a tax scheme becomes a widespread issue. Acting as a conduit between taxpayers with compliance issues and the relevant IRS division, JSEIT hopes to provide early communication to prevent abusive fraud. Any transactions that have already been identified as abusive by the IRS will not be in focus.
So how will JSEIT find these issues? According to the Agency, the group does not have a planned agenda, but instead will rely on communications from the public, from their peers at the agency and by combing through social media posts for potential issues. Their main goal is to quickly identify emerging issues and collaborate with all relevant teams to best address issues of noncompliance. An example would be a question on a scheme that an IRS official receives at a speaking engagement.
The Dirty Dozen
Every year the IRS compiles a list of 12 common scams that taxpayers may encounter, called the “Dirty Dozen.” As many of these schemes peak as returns during filing season, with the help of JSEIT, the Agency will prioritize those that are easily replicable,…
