Collections. If you have clients with collection issues affected by the shutdown, review the Collection Resumption FAQs. This section includes information on liens, levies, notices of deficiency, penalties, passports and private debt collection.

For post-shutdown information on tax filings, the Tax Court and the Taxpayer Advocate Service, visit IRS Activities Following the Shutdown.

2. Tax-Filing Season Begins

The IRS successfully opened the 2019 tax-filing season this week and has started accepting and processing federal tax returns for tax year 2018. The first refunds are expected to go out the first week of February. Your clients can check Where’s My Refund? for updates. Phone traffic to IRS is traditionally heavy during the early weeks of tax season, so IRS encourages everyone to use IRS.gov to find answers before they call.

3. 2019 IRS Nationwide Tax Forums

The 2019 IRS Nationwide Tax Forums will be held in the following locations:

National Harbor, Md. (Washington, DC area), July 9 - 11
Chicago, Ill., July 23 – 25
New Orleans, La., Aug. 6 – 8
Orlando, Fla., Aug. 13-15
San Diego, Calif., Sept. 17 – 19

The Tax Forums offer three full days of seminars with the latest word on tax law, compliance and ethics, as well as networking opportunities. Registration for the 2019 IRS Nationwide Tax Forums begins March 1.

4. Closure of Cincinnati Submission Processing Center

The IRS Cincinnati Submission Processing Center located in Covington, Ky., will be closing in 2019. If you have clients who need a 147C letter for Backup Withholding purposes, please send your request to the Ogden or Kansas City centers.

5. IRS Extends Transcript Faxing Service

The IRS will extend its transcript faxing service beyond the previously planned Feb. 4 end date and will review options for a new timeframe. Unmasked Wage and Income Transcripts can be sent to your e-Services secure mailbox by following certain procedures, which should help bring clients into compliance and allow for electronic filing. For details, please see Fact Sheet 2018-20, Steps for tax professionals to obtain wage and income transcripts needed for tax preparation.

6. Publication 2043 Available for 2019

Publication 2043, IRS Refund Information Guidelines for the Tax Professional Community for 2019, is now available on IRS.gov. The publication contains information you can share with your clients along with information on claiming the Earned Income tax credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit.

7. Treasury, IRS Issue Final Regulations and Guidance on New Qualified Business Income Deduction

The Treasury Department and the IRS issued final regulations and three related pieces of guidance, implementing the new qualified business income (QBI) deduction (section 199A deduction). The new QBI deduction, created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) allows many owners of sole proprietorships, partnerships, S corporations, trusts, or estates to deduct up to 20 percent of their qualified business income. The guidance includes:

A set of regulations, finalizing proposed regulations issued last summer
A new set of proposed regulations providing guidance on several aspects of the QBI deduction, including qualified REIT dividends received by regulated investment companies
A revenue procedure providing guidance on determining W-2 wages for QBI deduction purposes
A notice on a proposed revenue procedure providing a safe harbor for certain real estate enterprises that may be treated as a trade or business for purposes of the QBI deduction.

For details on the QBI deduction, including answers to frequently-asked questions and information on other TCJA provisions, visit IRS.gov/taxreform.

8. Technical Guidance

Notice 2019-07 contains a proposed revenue procedure that provides for a safe harbor under which a rental real estate enterprise will be treated as a trade or business solely for purposes of section 199A of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and sections 1.199A-1 through 1.199A-6 of the Income Tax Regulations (Regulations) (26 CFR Part 1), which are being published contemporaneously with this notice.

Notice 2019-13 provides guidance on the corporate bond monthly yield curve, the corresponding spot segment rates used under section 417(e)(3), and the 24-month average segment rates under section 430(h)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Revenue Ruling 2019-04 provides various prescribed rates for federal income tax purposes including the applicable federal interest rates, the adjusted applicable federal interest rates, the adjusted federal long-term rate, the adjusted federal long-term tax-exempt rate.

Revenue Procedure 2019-11 provides methods for calculating W-2 wages, as defined in section 199A(b)(4) and section 1.199A-2 of the Income Tax Regulations, (1) for purposes of section 199A(b)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) which, for certain taxpayers, provides a limitation based on W-2 wages to the amount of the deduction for qualified business income (QBI); and (2) for purposes of section 199A(b)(7), which, for certain specified agricultural and horticultural cooperative patrons, provides a reduction to the section 199A deduction based on W-2 wages.

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