A scam designed to trIck people into disclosing bank account information in order to receive the $1,200 Economic Impact Payment has surfaced. The Internal Revenue Services and its partners in the Security Summit said criminals are utilizing a text message to convince taxpayers they need to disclose bank or identity information.

The need to improve technology used by its financial professionals and provide services to tax and wealth management clients emerged as a major theme during this week’s earning webcast for Blucora’s third quarter ended September 30. Meanwhile, the shift of the federal income tax filing deadline to July 15 from April 15 shifted tax preparation revenue from the second quarter to the third quarter, while the inability for advisors to meet in person were a factor in a 27-percent decline in transaction-based commission revenue.

The Internal Revenue Service has launched a plan to help taxpayers who may be struggling to pay their tax because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The IRS Taxpayer Relief Initiative is designed provide flexibility in payment plans, including installment agreements.

The Internal Revenue Service has published the annual inflation adjustments for more than 60 tax provisions for tax year 2021. These include tax rate schedules and other tax changes and these are detailed in Revenue Procedure 2020-45 PDF.