Budget cuts and ID thefts causes delays for the IRS

 

Reports coming from different sources are revealing that this year a lot of residents and non-residents of the USA are experiencing delays when it comes to receiving of their income tax refunds. But what triggered this and how long can it take before the returns are fully processed and the refunded money are sent to the people?

But before doing any further analysis of the current stage of the problem, it is essential to try to find what caused all of this. And, without doubt, the main reason are the budget cuts for the agency. The data published from TIGTA Conference Report says that “IRS has achieved $1 billion in budget cuts and efficiencies since 2010” and also “travel and training expenses are down more than 80 percent since 2010”. In order to do so, they also increased the use of virtual meetings and trainings to cut costs - mainly from traveling. They say that “we did not hold any similar, large-scale nationwide meetings like these in 2011, 2012 or 2013, and we do not have any plans to do so going forward.”

How it is looking this year so far? IRS, due to those budget cuts, did not worked 4 days until now - on May 24, June 14, July 5, July 22, and will be closed on August 30. It is worthy saying that the cuts are estimated to nearly $1 billion in two years with more than $600 million from sequestration from March. Of course, the agency denies that all of this impacted the service. The whole picture is not getting better with the Congress threating to cut the IRS budget with nearly 25% the next fiscal year.

The said immediate sequestration had its negative effects, that is for sure, but the decision by theInternal Revenue Service to push back the start of the filing season did not helped as well. It was supposed to start on January 22, but was postponed with 8 days to January 30 2013.

 

Another aspect of the delay is the massive anti-fraud campaign targeted at the ID thefts, claiming illegally income tax refunds. According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, until 29th of June, IRS had exposed nearly 1.9 million incidents of the fraud which is almost double from the same period of the fiscal 2011. The reported increase from 2012 to 2013 is around 65%.

As a effect of those budget cuts and anti-identity theft programs, a lot legitimate income tax returns are experiencing delays with some of them having more than 4 weeks added to the usual time frame. So far, IRS processed 590,000 fewer returns as of May 10. When it comes to the the issued refunds, they are 1.44 million less compared to the ones from the previous year.

Having answered the first question from the headline, we still cannot predict how long it will take IRS to process the remaining returns. Our hopes are with them to succeed in the near future since a lot of the people, mainly those with low income are relying on those money.

Visa delays in Canada

After the successful past year (2012) for the international students in Canada, the recent strikes might have caused delays for the on-going processing of visas for the foreign students and tourists.

We already mentioned that year 2012 was a success in terms of newly arrived international students in Canada. The numbers had exceeded 100 000 people - this is reported as a huge increase since the past years (Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada).

For the past months, there were numerous of strikes organized by the Canadian Foreign Service officers, demanding for wage adjustments and resumption of contract negotiations with the Canadian government. So far, the effects of this is a reported delay of up to 6 weeks in the processing of study and tourist visas. Obviously, this can result in less interest from foreigners, planning to visit and/or study in Canada for the coming months. As for tourism, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada reported potential loses of CAD $280 million for 2013.

Depending what course of action will be adopted by the government will determine where exactly those people will go. The United States of America as a near country and with their immigration reform currently being considered, might be the alternative for them.

It is clear that all of this can cause negative effects on the Canadian economy in long term, so all we can do is hope they overcome those problems and continue the good practice from the past years in terms of foreign students and tourists.

The average tax refund from Canada is $950 CAD. You can apply for Canadian tax refund with us now.

The US immigration reform, is that the new American dream?

President Obama promised to make immigration reform a priority. Well, from what is happening lately, we can say that he kept his word and it might get adopted soon.

President Obama promised to make immigration reform a priority. Well, from what is happening lately, we can say that he kept his word and it might get adopted soon. But firstly, some basic facts - this reform is named “the immigration bill” by the eight senators who wrote it. After it was passed to the Senate the term “Gang of Eight” became even more popular.

In brief, this reform promises to tackle the illegal immigration and also includes increased wages for the legal immigrants using h2b visas. This can result in budget cuts for a lot of companies, small, medium and even large businesses leaving in the end thousands of worker unemployed. But is this is going to happen in reality? This is what everyone is asking.

Some people are making comparisons with the American dream, with this time being initiated by the said reform. And it makes sense, because as we all know, immigration is important part of every economy. This is probably valid as much as possible for the USA.

So, if we want a growing economy (and who doesn't?), we want to have a solid, working and long-term immigration plan. The current almost broken visa system makes possible and encourages millions of illegal immigrants, which in the end is causing devastating effects nation and even world wide.

Of course, we cannot ignore the ethical part of the problem. And this is one of the key reasons for the bill to be passed. Everyone should feel welcome and valued and actually to be a part of the society, of the American dream! We all believe that this is possible.

Income tax refund - tax returns - Dendax.com

Top 10 most popular and visited states and cities in the USA Work & Travel programs

If you are curious about the mostvisited states and cities by USA Work and Travel participants, wehave the answer for you! Our Dendax team conducted and prepared astatistical study and data analysis to come with the followinginteresting results.

 

As a most visited state, without a doubt, comes New York with 7.54%, followed by Massachusetts with 7.4% and California 6.47%. You can see the rest of them on the image bellow:

When it comes to the cities, the clear winner and most popular summer Work and Travel destination is Ocean City, which is way ahead of the second in the chart Wisconsin Dells. The third place is for New York City and for the remaining of the table, check the next image:

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USA SIM Cards - just a reminder

If you are using our USA SIM cards, that here you can activate your card, get your call bonus, recharge your minutes, call instructions and so on:
http://www.dendax.com/ussim

Are you going to the USA this summer?

The US Department of State gives the following useful tips, guides and gives answers to some common questions for the participants of this year's cultural exchange in the USA. You can find out more at: http://j1visa.state.gov/programs/summer-work-travel

WETM-IAC Annual Conference

We are very happy to tell you that Dendax took part in The Work Experience Travel Market and IAPA Annual Conference which was held in Rome, Italy (13-15 March 2013).

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The Conference

The Work Experience Travel Market and IAPA Annual Conference provides a unique cost effective business-to-business opportunity for senders and receivers serving all aspects of cultural exchange, au pairing, volunteering, internship and work experience. WETM-IAC delivers an exceptionally targeted forum for our organisation to establish and strengthen sector-focused partnerships, gain industry intelligence and tap into emerging global markets.

Developing your business at WETM-IAC

In addition to providing an excellent business opportunity for attending organisations, the conference serves as an engaging forum for the development of the work and travel and cultural exchange community.

Featuring seminars, award ceremonies and more, WETM-IAC enables delegates to help shape their business and the industry for tomorrow.

At the event, our delegates – Kalin Ivanov (CEO) and Georgi Marchev(Market Specialist) took part in best practice discussions and case study reviews, in addition to meeting with national and global trade associations representing the various sectors in the community.