Employees from the US Nonprofit housing group ACORN were fired after being caught on hidden camera assisting a man posing as a pimp and a woman pretending to be a prostitute, advising them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and giving guidance on how to claim underage girls from El Salvador as tax dependents.

Initially, two ACORN staffers from the Baltimore office were fired on Thursday, September 10, for recommending illegal activities to secure a housing loan. 24 hours later two ACORN staffers in the Washington office were also fired for offering to help the same “pimp” and “prostitute” secure a loan.

25-year-old independent filmmaker James O’Keefe, posing as the pimp, secretly taped the meeting that have ignited calls for investigations of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

ACORN’s leaders said Friday they were “appalled and angry” at what their employees had done, but insisted the videos were part of a political “smear” campaign and not representative of the institution as a whole.

“But that does not excuse the behavior of the employees,” wrote ACORN’s president Alton Bennet and executive director Mike Shea. “We have fired them and are initiating an internal review of practices and reminding all staff of their obligation to uphold the highest legal and ethical standards.”

Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., called for a hearing to investigate ACORN’s tax filing assistance programs following the release of the videos he said suggested multiple incidents of tax fraud.

“In light of the apparent flagrant and willful attempts to suborn tax fraud, I … (am seeking) a hearing of the Oversight Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee as soon as practicable to investigate ACORN’s activities,” he said Friday.

O’Keefe was accompanied by 20-year-old Hannah Giles, posing as a prostitute. They both sought help from ACORN workers in Baltimore, who advised them how to falsify tax forms and seek illegal benefits for young girls from El Salvador they wanted to smuggle in as prostitutes.

“There’s like 10 girls,” O’Keefe says. “There’s ten El Salvodoreans.”

The ACORN staffer replies, “I understand what you are saying.”

ACORN — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — calls itself a network of families “working together for social justice and stronger communities,” according to its Web site.

The organization has been accused by Republicans and conservatives of committing fraud in voter registration drives.

“Taxpayers should be outraged that their money has gone to an organization that, in addition to facing charges of voter fraud and tax violations, is willing to facilitate prostitution,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

“As this video confirms, ACORN continues to operate as a criminal enterprise.”

The videotape was made public Thursday, September 10 by BigGovernment.com. Portions of the video were aired throughout the day on FOX News.

source: Fox News

Do you have questions about IRS Filing Status, Exemptions or Dependents?  Here are 6 of the most frequently asked questions taxpayer have about these issues.

1. How much does a student have to make before he or she has to file an income tax return?

If you are an unmarried dependent, you must file a tax return if your earned and/or unearned income exceeds certain limits.

To find these limits refer to Filing Requirements for Dependents in Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information.
Even if you do not have to file, you should file a federal income tax return to get money back if any of the following apply:
You had income tax withheld from your pay.
You qualify for the earned income credit.
You qualify for the additional child tax credit.

2. For head of household filing status, do you have to claim a child as a dependent to qualify?

In certain circumstances, you do not need to claim the child as a dependent to qualify for head of household filing status, such as when the qualifying child is unmarried and is your child, grandchild, stepchild, or adopted child.

3. Is there an age limit on claiming my children as dependents?

Age is a factor in the qualifying child test, but a qualifying relative can be any age.

As long as the following dependency exemption tests are met, you may claim him or her:

Qualifying child or qualifying relative test
Dependent taxpayer test
Citizenship or resident test
Joint return test

4. My wife and I are married filing separately. We have one son and we meet all of the dependency exemption tests. We contributed an equal amount to our son’s support and want to know if we both can claim him on our separate returns?

A dependency exemption may only be claimed on one return.

Since your son is a qualifying child for both of you, you and your wife can decide who will claim the child.
A multiple support declaration identifying each of the others who agreed not to claim the exemption must be attached to the return of the person claiming the exemption. Form 2120, Multiple Support Declaration, can be used for this purpose.
If you cannot agree on who will claim him refer to Tie-Breaker Rule in Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filling Information.

5. If you pay child support, are you allowed to deduct anything on your taxes or claim the child as an exemption?

Nothing can be deducted for the child support payments.

Child support payments are neither deductible by the payer nor taxable income to the payee.
You may be able to claim the child as a dependent.

The parent who the child lived with for the greater part of the year is the custodial parent. 
Generally the custodial parent is allowed to claim the exemption for the child if the other exemption tests are met.
The noncustodial parent may be allowed to claim the exemption for the child if the custodial parent signs a Form 8332 (PDF), Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced of Separated Parents, or a substantially similar statement.

6. If I claim my daughter as a dependent because she is a full-time college student, can she claim herself as a dependent when she files her return?

If you claim your daughter as a dependent on your income tax return, she cannot claim herself on her income tax return.

If an individual is filing his or her own tax return, and the individual can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return, the individual cannot claim his or her own personal exemption.
In this case, your daughter should check the box on her return indicating that someone else can claim her as a dependent.

Federal Tax Laws are complex and may require that you speak with a Tax Expert, CPA, go online to the irs.gov site or even speak to someone at the irs.  Here are some toll free numbers to speak with an IRS tax representative:

IRS Telephone Assistance for Individuals:
Toll-Free, 1-800-829-1040 
Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. your local time (Alaska & Hawaii follow Pacific Time).

IRS Telephone Assistance for Businesses:
Toll-Free, 1-800-829-4933
Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. your local time (Alaska & Hawaii follow Pacific Time).

source: irs.gov