The Internal Revenue Service has issued a formal notice that officially delays the employer shared responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as the employer mandate, for a year and postpones the information reporting requirements.

The announcement gives larger employers an additional year to comply with the health care reform law. The requirements will instead begin in January 2015 for employers with 50 or more full-time employees (or the equivalent in full- and part-time employees) to offer quality affordable health insurance to employees or face a $2,000 fine per employee if the employee receives a premium tax credit for purchasing individual coverage on one of the upcoming health insurance exchanges.

Source: http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/IRS-Formalizes-Employer-Mandate-Delay-Providing-Health-Insurance-67392-1.html

The Internal Revenue Service is losing billions of dollars to fraudsters every year from stolen Employer Identification Numbers, according to a new government report, even though it has some processes in place to authenticate individuals who apply for an EIN. (more…)

A former Internal Revenue Service employee has pleaded guilty to stealing identities from an IRS Service Center in Fresno, Calif., and using them to claim more than $1,745,000 in fraudulent tax refunds and obtain more than $175,000 in refunds from the IRS.

Source: http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/Former-IRS-Employee-Pleads-Guilty-Claiming-Fraudulent-Tax-Refunds-69347-1.html