A Smattering of Tax Measure Legislation

It is always interesting to review what tax measures the Legislature is or has been considering.  Here are a few of the tax measures that are or were being considered: Lifetime learning accounts.  Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) establish a tax-exempt lifelong learning account for the payment of certain employee higher education and training expenses; (2) [...]

Considering the Tax Return Preparer Penalty

The IRS has the ability to impose penalties on income tax return preparers for certain conduct. Congress amended the Tax Code just over a year ago to beef up the tax return preparer penalty. This took the IRS and the tax community by surprise. The IRS responded by issuing several Notices, which were subject to criticism [...]

Court Says No Fraud, So IRS Finds Friendlier Court

Say you are convicted of a tax crime and the criminal judge finds that your conduct has not risen to the level of tax fraud. Should a civil court later say that this same conduct does in fact rise to the level of tax fraud? In Maciel v. Commissioner, the Ninth Circuit Court [...]

IRS Spin on the Corporate Income Tax

The IRS recently made a series of public statements outlining its distaste with the corporate income tax system.  The purpose of these public statements is to encourage Congress to reduce the corporate income tax rate, in exchange for reducing corporate tax breaks.  The interesting part of this story is why the IRS – an entity which is [...]

Sluggish Economy May Help Taxpayers With Unpaid Tax Debts

The sluggish economy is impacting all of us in one way or another. This is a scary time. Taxpayers who owe unpaid tax debts may feel even more helpless. This is especially true given the IRS’s focus on tax assessment and collection efforts. Coincidentally, taxpayers who find themselves subject to IRS collection action may also [...]

There is no Place Like Home (or is There?)

Have you ever said something like “I can’t wait to go home?”  If so, you may not know what the term “home” means.  According to the IRS, the term “home” means the taxpayer’s “principal place of business.”  I am guessing that very few (if any) taxpayers consider their place of business their home. Our federal Tax Code does [...]

To Be a Tax Controversy Attorney?.

I get a number of inquiries from tax attorneys who are interested in adding tax controversy work to their law practices. I do my best to encourage other tax attorneys to pursue this practice area because there are not that many tax attorneys who want to do tax controversy work. At the same time I [...]

U.S. Tax Withholding and Reporting Requirements

Payments made by U.S. citizens and resident aliens (“U.S. persons”) to non-U.S. persons are typically subject to U.S. tax withholding and result in U.S. tax reporting requirements. These requirements can be difficult to understand and a misstep can prove to be very costly. U.S. Tax Withholding Whether a U.S. person is required to withhold tax depends on [...]

Unique Tax Issues Faced by Pilots and Other Interstate Transportation Employees

Where a taxpayer is located when he incurs expenses and receives income can have significant tax implications. This can raise a number of difficult tax issues. This is especially true for pilots and other interstate transportation employees. The recent tax court case, Tucker v. Commissioner, T.C. Summary Opinion 2008-78, highlights a few of these difficulties. Tucker [...]

Use of Tax Fraud Resources

The government has limited resources available to detect and prosecute tax fraud. This raises the question of whether it is a better to use our limited government resources to pursue taxpayers whose conduct barely amounts to tax fraud or if it is better to use government resources to pursue taxpayers who are blatantly committing [...]