Signed into law in December 2015, the FAST Act requires the IRS to notify the State Department of taxpayers the IRS has certified as owing a “seriously delinquent” tax debt, and requires the State Department to deny their passport application or renewal of their passport. (In some cases, the State Department may revoke their passport entirely.)

Taxpayers affected by this law are those with a seriously delinquent tax debt — someone who owes the IRS more than $51,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest (indexed yearly for inflation) for which the IRS has filed a Notice of Federal Tax Lien and the period to challenge it has expired or the IRS has issued a levy.

Taxpayers can request a payment agreement with the IRS by filing Form 9465. Taxpayers can download this form from IRS.gov and mail it along with a tax return, bill or notice. Some taxpayers can use the online payment agreement to set up a monthly payment agreement for up to 72 months.

Some financially distressed taxpayers may qualify for an offer in compromise. This is an agreement between a taxpayer and the IRS that settles the taxpayer’s tax liabilities for less than the full amount owed. The IRS looks at the taxpayer’s income and assets to determine the taxpayer’s ability to pay. To help determine eligibility, use the Offer in Compromise Pre-Qualifier, a free online tool available on IRS.gov.

More here from the IRS newsroom: IRS Urges Travelers Requiring Passports to Pay Their Back Taxes or Enter into Payment Agreements; People Owing $51,000 or More Covered

Big news — The IRS has finally announced the day they will begin accepting e-files: January 29th. And Tax Day is April 17th — making it a shorter-than-usual season, based on the number of days in-between.

Therefore, we encourage getting your books and tax prep docs together ahead-of-time, making fourth-quarter estimates based on these reconciled books, and getting in-line with your tax preparer asap, so as to avoid any bottlenecks. Your tax accountant can prepare your return ahead of the due date and simply check for new form updates the day filing opens — then your return will be one of the first in the queue.

More here: 2018 Tax Filing Season Begins Jan. 29, Tax Returns Due April 17; Help Available for Taxpayers | Internal Revenue Service

I mentioned this in a recent blog post, but it’s now been officially sanctioned by the IRS, so it bears repeating. If you have property taxes that would usually be due in 2018, which are assessed and paid before 2017 year-end, then you can deduct them on your Schedule A with the rest of your property taxes for 2017 as an itemized deduction.

This may be important for those that:

1. will no longer itemize starting in 2018, because the new standard deduction is higher than their combined allowable itemized deductions; or
2. who will continue to itemize in 2018, but will find themselves affected by the new $10,000 cap on deductible property + state income tax.

But caution: there are situations where the pre-payment deduction will not hold up — as this NYT article does a good job of outlining.

More here, direct from the IRS: IRS Advisory: Prepaid Real Property Taxes May Be Deductible in 2017 if Assessed and Paid in 2017 | Internal Revenue Service

UPDATED 12/19/17 — at the last minute, Congress decided to explicitly forbid prepayment of state income tax (but not property tax), so unfortunately, #5 below now only refers to making 4Q 2017 estimated payments, not any payments for 2018.

With tax “reform” looming, there is still a great deal of uncertainty in terms of what the new year will bring. However, there are some tips that are worth taking, given what we do know. I’ve attended three tax update webinars this month and read quite a few articles on the topic, and reduced the list to these essentials:

1. Defer Income into 2018
2. Accelerate Deductions into 2017
3. Boost Donations to Charities in 2017
4. Prepay Property Taxes in 2017
5. Prepay State Estimated Taxes in 2017 (see update above)
6. Harvest Investment Losses Against Capital Gains in 2017
7. Max-Out Retirement Contributions in 2017
8. Pay Deductible Medical Expenses in 2017
9. Pay Miscellaneous Deductible Expenses in 2017
10. Pay For Your Move in 2017

Please click on the links below for more information:

Accounting Today: Six ways taxpayers can make the new tax bill work for them, if they act fast

CNBC: Year-end tax moves to make before tax reform kicks in

Fox Business: Top year-end tips for taxpayers

And for the most astute, intelligent, comprehensible, and clever coverage of the tax bill, I suggest you follow Tony Nitti’s column in Forbes. Here’s his latest: The Tax Bill Is Finalized: Who’s Happy, And Who’s Not?

This particular article breaks it down section by section and identifies the winners and losers. Excellent coverage.

From today’s Journal of Accountancy:

The optional standard mileage rates for business use of a vehicle will increase slightly in 2018, after decreasing in the two previous years, the IRS announced Thursday (Notice 2018-3). For business use of a car, van, pickup truck, or panel truck, the rate for 2018 will be 54.5 cents per mile, up from 53.5 cents per mile in 2017.

Taxpayers can use the optional standard mileage rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile.

Driving for medical or moving purposes may be deducted at 18 cents per mile, which is one cent higher than for 2017. (The medical and moving expense deductions may be affected by the pending tax reform legislation.) The rate for service to a charitable organization is unchanged, set by statute at 14 cents per mile (Sec. 170(i)). The portion of the business standard mileage rate that is treated as depreciation will be 25 cents per mile for 2018, unchanged from 2017.

Forbes made some interesting points about how the current debate on looming tax reform may limit the use of these rates, however.

The current tax reform proposals would eliminate the mileage deduction for moving expenses and job-related business mileage deductions for employees filing a Schedule A. In addition, both proposals would disallow – on the employer’s side – favorable tax treatment for employer reimbursement of employee moving expenses. However, under Senate version of the bill, the tax treatment of these deductions would sunset, which means that the treatment of expenses would go back to the way the law is now (in 2017) beginning in 2026.

Both proposals would retain the charitable donation deduction, including for charitable miles. And in good news, under the House proposal, the mileage rate for charity would finally be indexed for inflation (it’s been 14 cents per mile since the Clinton era).

Both proposals would continue to allow you to deduct business miles related to your trade or business (for more on the difference between a Schedule A and a Schedule C, click here).

Remember: These are the rates effective at the beginning of 2018 for the 2018 tax year. Assuming that they still apply to you, that means they’ll show up on your 2018 returns (the ones you’ll file in 2019). However, you can still use the 2017 standard mileage rates for the tax return that you’ll submit in 2018. Even if the tax reform bills eliminate certain deduction as of January 1, 2018, those deductions are still applicable for the 2017 tax year.

If you’re looking for 2017 tax rates, including the standard deduction and other tax items, you’ll find them here.