ITINs are used by taxpayers required to file or pay taxes, but who aren’t eligible for a Social Security number.

Here’s info about which ITINs will expire and how taxpayers renew them.

• These ITINs expire on December 31, 2019:
  • Those not used on a federal tax return at least once in the last three consecutive years.
  • Numbers with middle digits 83, 84, 85, 86 or 87 not already renewed.
     
• ITINs with the middle digits 83, 84, 85 or 86, 87 need to be renewed, even if it was used it in the last three years.
   
• Taxpayers whose ITIN is expiring and who expect to have a filing requirement in 2020 must renew their number. Others don’t need to take any action.
   
• The IRS is sending notices to affected taxpayers. This is a CP48 Notice. It explains the steps to renew the ITIN.
   
• Taxpayers who receive the notice after renewing their ITIN don’t need to take further action unless another family member is affected.
   
• ITINs with middle digits of 70 through 82 have previously expired. Taxpayers with these ITINs can still renew at any time, if they haven’t already.
   
• Those who receive a renewal letter from the IRS can renew the family’s ITINs together. They can do so even if family members have an ITIN with middle digits that aren’t expiring. Family members include the tax filer, spouse and any dependents.
   
• To renew an ITIN (PDF), a taxpayer must complete a Form W-7 and submit all required documentation. They don’t need to attach a tax return. However, taxpayers must note why they need an ITIN on the W-7.
   
• There are three ways taxpayers submit the renewal application:
  • Mail the form to the IRS address listed on the Form W-7 instructions.
  • Work with a Certified Acceptance Agent authorized by the IRS to help taxpayers.
  • Make an appointment at an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center to have each applicant’s identity authenticated in person.

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The IRS just launched this improved tool to help taxpayers check their withholding by doing a Paycheck Checkup. This lets the employee check to see if their employer is taking enough tax from their paycheck to cover the amount of tax they owe. After using the Estimator, if necessary the employee can change the amount of tax their employer takes out of their paycheck. This will help employees avoid an unexpected result at tax time, such as a smaller refund.

After using the new mobile-friendly tool, some taxpayers may find they need to pay more taxes before filing their tax returns in 2020. These folks have a few options for doing so.  Here are three ways taxpayers can adjust their withholding:

Change the withholding allowances on Form W-4.

When an employee reduces the number of allowances on their Form W-4, they increase the amount of income tax their employer withholds from their pay. On one hand, this mean a smaller paycheck. On the other hand, the employee is paying more tax upfront. This usually will mean less chance that they employee will see a smaller refund or larger tax bill at tax time.

Have an extra flat-dollar amount withheld from each paycheck.

Employees whose employers are already withholding the least amount of allowances can simply add a specific amount to their withholding. These employees can indicate this amount on a new Form W-4 and submit this to their employer or their employer’s payroll department. For example, an employee can tell their employer to withhold an extra $200 per paycheck. This will allow withholding to occur more evenly throughout the year. 

Make estimated tax payments throughout the year. 

Estimated payments are another way for taxpayers to pay what they owe in separate payments made throughout the year. For tax year 2019, the remaining estimated tax payments are due from individual taxpayers on September 16, 2019, and January 15, 2020. The fastest and easiest way to make estimated tax payments is electronically using Direct Pay or Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. Taxpayers can visit IRS.gov for other payment options.

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Under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the IRS notifies the State Department (State) of taxpayers certified as owing a seriously delinquent tax debt, which is currently $52,000 or more. The law then requires State to deny their passport application or renewal. If a taxpayer currently has a valid passport, State may revoke the passport or limit a taxpayer’s ability to travel outside the United States.

When the IRS certifies a taxpayer to State as owing a seriously delinquent tax debt, the taxpayer receives a Notice CP508C from the IRS. The notice explains what steps the taxpayer needs to take to resolve the debt. IRS telephone assistors can help taxpayers resolve the debt. For example, they can help taxpayers set up a payment plan or make them aware of other payment options. Taxpayers should not delay because some resolutions take longer than others.

Don’t Delay!

It’s especially important for taxpayers with imminent travel plans who have had their passport applications denied by State to call the IRS promptly. The IRS can help taxpayers resolve their tax issues and expedite reversal of their certification to State. When expedited, the IRS can generally shorten the 30 days processing time by 14 to 21 days. For expedited reversal of their certification, taxpayers will need to inform the IRS that they have travel scheduled within 45 days or that they live abroad.

For expedited treatment, taxpayers must provide the following documents to the IRS: 

• Proof of travel. This can be a flight itinerary, hotel reservation, cruise ticket, international car insurance or other document showing location and approximate date of travel or time-sensitive need for a passport.
• Copy of letter from State denying their passport application or revoking their passport. State has sole authority to issue, limit, deny or revoke a passport.

The IRS may ask State to exercise its authority to revoke a taxpayer’s passport. For example, the IRS may recommend revocation if the IRS had reversed a taxpayer’s certification because of their promise to pay, and they failed to pay. The IRS may also ask State to revoke a passport if the taxpayer could use offshore activities or interests to resolve their debt but chooses not to.

Before contacting State about revoking a taxpayer’s passport, the IRS will send Letter 6152, Notice of Intent to Request U.S. Department of State Revoke Your Passport, to the taxpayer to let them know  what the IRS intends to do and give them another opportunity to resolve their debts . Taxpayers must call the IRS within 30 days from the date of the letter. Generally, the IRS will not recommend revoking a taxpayer’s passport if the taxpayer is making a good-faith attempt to resolve their tax debts.

Ways to Resolve Tax Issues

There are several ways taxpayers can avoid having the IRS notify State of their seriously delinquent tax debt. They include the following:

• Paying the tax debt in full,
• Paying the tax debt timely under an approved installment agreement,
• Paying the tax debt timely under an accepted offer in compromise,
• Paying the tax debt timely under the terms of a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice,
• Having a pending collection due process appeal with a levy, or
• Having collection suspended because a taxpayer has made an innocent spouse election or requested innocent spouse relief. 

Relief programs for unpaid taxes

Frequently, taxpayers qualify for one of several relief programs including the following:

• Payment agreement. Taxpayers can ask for a payment plan 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. Taxpayers who are eligible can use the Online Payment Agreement system to set up a monthly payment agreement. Using the Online Payment Agreement system is cheaper and can save time.
• Offer in compromise. Some taxpayers may qualify for an offer in compromise, an agreement between a taxpayer and the IRS that settles the tax liability 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. Taxpayers can use the Offer in Compromise Pre-Qualifier tool to help them determine whether they’re eligible for an offer in compromise.

Subject to change, the IRS also will not certify a taxpayer as owing a seriously delinquent tax debt or will reverse the certification for a taxpayer:

• Who’s in bankruptcy,
• Who’s identified by the IRS as a victim of tax-related identity theft,
• Whose account the IRS has determined is currently not collectible due to hardship,
• Who’s located within a federally declared disaster area,
• Who has a request pending with the IRS for an installment agreement,
• Who has a pending offer in compromise with the IRS, or
• Who has an IRS accepted adjustment that will satisfy the debt in full.

For taxpayers serving in a combat zone who owe a seriously delinquent tax debt, the IRS postpones notifying the State Department of the delinquency and the taxpayer’s passport is not subject to denial during the time of service in a combat zone.

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Getting married.

• Newlyweds should report any name change to the Social Security Administration. They should also report an address change to the United States Postal Service, their employers, and the IRS. This will help make sure they receive documents and other items they will need to file their taxes.

Sending kids to summer day camp.

• Unlike overnight camps, the cost of summer day camp may count towards the child and dependent care credit.

Working part-time.

• While summertime and part-time workers may not earn enough to owe federal income tax, they should remember to file a return. They’ll need to file early next year to get a refund for taxes withheld from their checks this year.

Normally, employees receive a Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, from their employer to account for the summer’s work. They’ll use this to prepare their tax return. They should receive the W-2 by January 31 next year. Employees will get a W-2 even if they no longer work for the summertime employer.

Summertime workers can avoid higher tax bills and lost benefits if they know their correct status. Employers will determine whether the people who work for them are employees or independent contractors. Independent contractors aren’t subject to withholding, making them responsible for paying their own income taxes plus Social Security and Medicare taxes.

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E-filing is the fastest way to get an IRS-stamped Schedule 1 as proof of payment. In fact, taxpayers who file 2290 can get a stamped Schedule 1 within minutes after the IRS accepts the e-filed form. While, alternatively, taxpayers can still file on paper, delivery of the paper IRS-stamped Schedule 1 can take up to six weeks.

Here are the three steps taxpayers should follow once they’re ready to file:

1. Gather information – Filers will need these things to complete and file their 2290:

• Employer identification number. Taxpayers cannot use their Social Security number. Anyone who doesn’t already have an EIN can apply online. It takes the IRS about two weeks to establish a new EIN. Taxpayers should use the same name on their Form 2290 as was assigned to them with their EIN. The name control on Form 2290 must match their EIN.
• Vehicle identification number of each vehicle.
• Taxable gross weight of each vehicle. Filers can use the table on page 2 of the Form 2290 to calculate their tax for vehicles used in July based on each vehicle’s weight. Taxpayers can use the partial-period tax tables in the Form 2290 Instructions to calculate their tax for vehicles first used in a month other than July.

2. File –There are two ways taxpayers can file Form 2290:

• E-file. All taxpayers can file electronically for faster processing. Taxpayers who are reporting 25 or more vehicles are required to file electronically.
• By paper. Taxpayers can complete Form 2290 and then mail it to the IRS. Filers can go to the Form 2290 Instructions for the correct mailing address.

3. Pay – There are several ways for taxpayers to pay what they owe:

• Pay taxes by credit card or debit card. Filers can pay over the internet, by phone, or using their mobile device.
• Electronic funds withdrawal. Taxpayers can authorize a direct debit when they file electronically.
• Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. Using this system requires advanced enrollment.

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The Department of Homeland Security has announced on Thursday the extension of Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from El Salvador and Nicaragua until January 2, 2020.

This temporary extension is due to the decision of a federal court in California, which has prohibited the Donald Trump government from eliminating, as it had decided, this protection status for Salvadorans and Nicaraguans.

If the decision of the court is known before January 2, 2020, and fails in favor of the Government, the protection of the TPS would be extinguished on the dates set forth before the legal action on April 2, 2019 for Nicaragua and 9, September 2019 for El Salvador. If the decision became known after those dates, the TPS would be extinguished 120 days after the judicial ruling was announced.

The TPS benefits 2,500 Nicaraguans and 257,000 Salvadorans. It also protects 86,000 Hondurans, who have not been affected by this judicial process; where appropriate, the TPS also expires in January 2020.

Telemundo News / February 28, 2019 / 5:15 PM EDT

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“The new capability increases transparency and assures applicants that they have the most up-to-date and accurate information about their case, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna. “We strive to adjudicate all applications and petitions in a timely manner and are working to reduce the impact on processing times by aligning resources appropriately.”

Previously, asylum applicants could only check their case status through an asylum office in person or by phone, fax, or email. Non-governmental organizations and stakeholders within the legal community informed USCIS that asylum applicants have found this process is very difficult. Furthermore, giving asylum applicants the ability to check their case status online allows asylum office staff to better focus their resources on scheduling interviews and adjudicating pending cases.

This enhancement is a part of our overall modernization efforts to provide a more efficient and effective user experience.

For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov Twitter (@uscis), Instagram (/uscis), YouTube (/uscis), and Facebook(/uscis).

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In an order laced with language accusing President Donald Trump of attempting to rewrite immigration laws, a federal judge based in San Francisco temporarily blocked the government late Monday night from denying asylum to those crossing over the southern border between ports of entry.

Judge Jon S. Tigar of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said that a policy announced November 9 barring asylum for immigrants who enter outside a legal check point ‘”irreconcilably conflicts” with immigration law and the “expressed intent of Congress.”
“Whatever the scope of the President’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden,” Tigar wrote, adding that asylum seekers would be put at “increased risk of violence and other harms at the border” if the administration’s rule is allowed to go into effect.
The Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department slammed the ruling and the lawsuit, calling them both “absurd.”

“Our asylum system is broken, and it is being abused by tens of thousands of meritless claims every year. … It is absurd that a set of advocacy groups can be found to have standing to sue to stop the entire federal government from acting so that illegal aliens can receive a government benefit to which they are not entitled,” Homeland Security spokeswoman Katie Waldeman and Justice Department spokesman Steven Stafford said in a statement.

The temporary restraining order is effective nationwide and will remain in effect until December 19, when the judge has scheduled another hearing, or further order of the court.

The order is the latest setback for the administration that has sought to crack down on what it says are flaws in the immigration system, and it is a victory for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups who argued it is illegal to block someone based on how they entered the country.
Now a key question looms: What impact will the judge’s decision have in the coming days at the US-Mexico border, where Trump has deployed thousands of troops as large groups of migrants seeking asylum head toward the United States?
More than 2,000 Central American migrants arrived in the border city of Tijuana in recent days, and about 3,000 more migrants are estimated to be in Mexicali, Mexico, another border city about 100 miles away, UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Francesca Fontanini said.

In recent days, administration officials have maintained that there is a crisis at the border and that abuses in asylum claims forced them implement new measures.
Immigrant rights groups, who argue the administration is creating a crisis at the border to score political points, praised the judge’s ruling.
“This is a critical step in fighting back against President Trump’s war on asylum seekers,” said Melissa Crow, senior supervising attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In their lawsuit, immigrants advocates argued it was illegal to block someone from seeking asylum based on how they entered the country, and that the Trump administration also violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not providing public notice or comment on its new asylum rule.

“This ban is illegal, will put people’s lives in danger and raises the alarm about President Trump’s disregard for separation of powers,” said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrant Rights Project and the lead attorney in the case.
“There is no justifiable reason to flatly deny people the right to apply for asylum, and we cannot send them back to danger based on the manner of their entry,” he said.

The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security argued that the President has the right to suspend entry by individuals into the United States if he determines it to be in the national interest.
“As the Supreme Court affirmed this summer, Congress has given the President broad authority to limit or even stop the entry of aliens into this country. Further, asylum is a discretionary benefit given by the Executive Branch only when legal conditions are met and a favorable exercise of discretion is warranted,” Waldman and Stafford said in the joint statement from the departments. “It is lawful and appropriate that this discretionary benefit not be given to those who violate a lawful and tailored presidential proclamation aimed at controlling immigration in the national interest.

Following the ruling, some top Democrats called on the Trump administration to work with Congress on immigration reforms.
“Once again, the courts have been forced to step in and preserve the rule of law. No one, including the President, can rewrite the nation’s immigration laws on their own,” Reps. Jerrod Nadler, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Zoe Lofgren, the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, said in a joint statement.
Earlier this month, the President issued a proclamation referring to “large, organized groups” who were traveling through Mexico and “reportedly intend to enter the United States unlawfully or without proper documentation and to seek asylum.”
It said that those seeking entry can only do so temporarily at recognized ports of entry to allow for “orderly processing” and denied entry to those at any other location along the southern border.

“But aliens who enter the United States unlawfully through the southern border in contravention of this proclamation will be ineligible to be granted asylum,” the President wrote.
“The arrival of large numbers of aliens will contribute to the overloading of our immigration and asylum system and to the release of thousands of aliens into the interior of the United States,” the proclamation read.

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In light of recent USCIS policy changes regarding denials and deportations, the following steps may help you prepare for adverse actions when requesting an immigration benefit.

Trump administration guidelines for summoning legal and undocumented immigrants before an immigration judge to start deportation procedures will expand again starting on Nov. 19.

The U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS) recently announced that its officials will have more leeway to issue so-called Notices to Appear (NTA) if an immigration benefit request has been denied.

USCIS started to implement a new protocol on Oct. 1 that expanded the number of reasons for issuing NTAs — a document issued to non-citizens instructing them to appear in immigration court. The NTAs traditionally mark the beginning of a deportation procedure.

USCIS has the legal authority to issue NTAs and has been so authorized for some time.

The new measure that takes effect next week will affect foreigners who entered the U.S. legally, and applied for an immigration benefit such as a visa. But now if their application, petition or benefit request gets turned down, their presence in the United States becomes immediately unlawful.

Previously, an immigrant had more time to re-petition or pursue other avenues to stay in the United States under a different status.

“If applicants, beneficiaries, or self-petitioners who are denied are no longer in a period of authorized stay and do not depart the United States, USCIS may issue an NTA,” the agency announcement said.

Starting Nov. 19, USCIS may issue NTAs based on denials of the following visas:

▪ I-914/I-914A, Application for T Non immigrant Status for victims of a severe form of trafficking.

▪ I-918/I-918A, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status for victims of qualifying criminal activity.

▪ I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant.

▪ I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petitions for spouses and/or unmarried children under 21 years of age of refugees.

▪ I-929, Petition for Qualifying Family Member of a U-1 Non immigrant. (Violence Against Women Act self-petitions and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status petitions.)

▪ I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (geen card applicants in the United States)

“It is expected that individuals who no longer have a lawful basis to remain in the United States will return to their home country. As such, notices to appear will generally be issued to VAWA, T, or U visa applicants or other petitioners who have failed to meet one or more of the eligibility requirements and are not lawfully present in the United States,” USCIS spokesman Michael Bars said in a statement.

“Importantly, individuals who apply for benefits, including VAWA, T, and U visas, continue to have rights to appeal negative decisions on their applications and petitions,” he added.

USCIS will not implement the memorandum with respect to employment-based petitions at this time. An agency official said that its priority are cases of individuals with criminal records, fraud or national security concerns.

The regulations announced in June also allow the deportation of legal immigrants if they violate federal or state programs related to “the reception of public benefits.” Since Oct. 1, immigration agents are able to issue NTAs for a wider range of cases involving fraud or criminal activity.

The USCIS policy memorandum states its purpose is to align with Trump’s executive order “for enhancing public safety,” which “articulated the priorities for the removal of aliens from the United States.”

USCIS Director, L. Francis Cissna has stated that the expanded NTA policy equips agency officials with “clear guidance they need and deserve to support the enforcement priorities established by the president, keep our communities safe, and protect the integrity of our immigration system from those seeking to exploit it.”

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