The IRS is closing several business payment P.O. Boxes in the Cincinnati and Hartford areas beginning July 1. Payments mailed to these closed payment locations will be returned to the sender. To help ensure timely receipt, check Where to File on IRS.gov before mailing in a payment. Taxpayers can also use IRS Direct Pay to pay a tax bill or estimated tax payment directly from a checking or savings account and receive instant confirmation the payment has been made.

2. New online assistant helps determine correct amount of income tax to withhold from workers’ pay

The IRS has launched a new online assistant designed to help employers, especially small businesses, easily determine the correct amount of federal income tax to withhold from their workers’ pay. The new Income Tax Withholding Assistant for Employers is a spreadsheet-based tool designed to help employers easily transition to the redesigned withholding system (no longer based on withholding allowances), which went into effect on Jan. 1.

3. Tax season advice for taxpayers: Don’t be victim to "ghost" tax return preparers

As the 2020 tax filing season gets underway, the IRS is reminding taxpayers to avoid unethical "ghost" tax return preparers. A ghost preparer does not sign a tax return they prepare. Unscrupulous ghost preparers will print the return and tell the taxpayer to sign and mail it to the IRS. For e-filed returns, the ghost will prepare but refuse to digitally sign as the paid preparer. By law, anyone who is paid to prepare or assists in preparing federal tax returns must have a valid Preparer Tax Identification Number, or PTIN.

4. Businesses and the self-employed can benefit from IRS e-News subscriptions

The IRS e-News Subscription Service has been redesigned and updated in recent months to make it easier to subscribe to specific areas that businesses and individuals are interested in. In addition to e-News for Small Business, the IRS offers subscription services tailored to tax exempt and government entities, tax professionals and individuals.

For more information, see the IRS news release: Get up-to-date information this tax filing season with redesigned IRS e-News Subscriptions.

5. New FAQs for IRS Tax Withholding Estimator

The IRS has developed a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the new and Tax Withholding Estimator, designed to help employees target the refund they want by having the right amount of federal income tax taken out of their pay. The Tax Withholding Estimator, now available on IRS.gov, incorporates the changes from the redesigned Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate.

For more information, go to IRS.gov.

6. Hiring in the New Year? Don’t forget the Work Opportunity Tax Credit

There’s a valuable tax credit available to those who hire long-term unemployment recipients and others certified by their state workforce agency. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit is a Federal tax credit available to employers for hiring individuals from certain targeted groups who have consistently faced significant barriers to employment.

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