CRYPTOCURRENCY AND COMPENSATION: US TAX AND SECURITIES LAW RAMIFICATIONS... [ read ]
As discussed in a prior blog post by my colleague, Anthony Daddino, the IRS began sending "educational" letters (i.e., warning letters) to taxpayers regarding their potential failure to report or pay tax on cryptocurrency transactions. The identity of the recipients of such educational letters allegedly arose from the information obtained by the IRS from the "John Doe" summons served on Coinbase, Inc., a cryptocurrency exchange that primarily dealt in Bitcoin transactions during the time period covered by the summons. The primary focus of the letters was to "educate" taxpayers who purportedly engaged in sales or exchanges of virtual currency; however, such letters also identified an additional source of taxable income and reporting requirements that could arise from cryptocurrency payments made to employees or independent contractors for their services (i.e., compensation).
IRS Form 8275: To Disclose or Not Disclose -- That Is The Question... [ read ]
At least once in their career most tax return preparers have faced the dilemma of whether and how to make a disclosure with a tax return. A disclosure is an extra explanation beyond the usual income and expenses shown on a tax return. Not surprisingly, most taxpayers do not want to disclose anything more than necessary to the IRS. There may be privacy concerns or they just don't want the IRS to know anything more than necessary about them or their business. They also may be concerned that a disclosure is a red flag and will increase the chances of an IRS audit. All of these are legitimate concerns, but a disclosure can protect the taxpayer -- and maybe more importantly the tax return preparer -- from penalties.
New IRS Ruling Shows the Dangers of Standard LLC Agreement Provisions When an S Election is Made... [ read ]
Most LLC agreements provide that distributions will be made to members in accordance with their positive capital accounts. In fact it is virtually boilerplate. So what happens when an LLC makes a Subchapter S election with this provision in its LLC agreement? You guessed it -- a second stock of class, and the need for IRS relief in resurrecting the S election, as a new IRS private letter ruling reveals.
Is the IRS Going to Contact Your Neighbor or Others? New IRS Notices Say They Intend to Do Just That... [ read ]
Many taxpayers have begun to receive a letter from the IRS stating that the IRS intends to contact other persons—including potentially the taxpayer's neighbors, banks, employers, and employees—about the taxpayer's tax liability.
The IRS Streamlined Procedures: Not For Everyone... [ read ]
The IRS Streamlined Procedures are not a one-size-fits-all program, as evidenced by the successful criminal indictment of a taxpayer charged with filing a false "streamlined submission" to disclose his foreign accounts and activities.
When Can the IRS Abate Interest?... [ read ]
Interest on a federal tax liability generally begins accruing from the date the tax should have been paid, even when the additional tax is due to IRS examination changes. IRC Section 6404 allows the IRS to abate interest under some specific circumstances, primarily unreasonable delay by the IRS in determining the taxpayer's tax liability.
A New Court Decision on E-Filed Tax Returns and the Failure to File Penalty... [ read ]
In prior blog posts, I discussed the application of the IRC Section 6651 failure-to-file penalty to an electronically-filed tax return. On August 2nd, a U.S. District Court in Tennessee took on the issue directly and ruled against a taxpayer holding that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in United States v. Boyle is applicable even when the tax return is filed electronically.
The Importance of Hiring the Right Valuation Expert in an Estate Tax Case... [ read ]
Expert testimony in litigation is very important. It is even more important in an estate tax case where the only issue is the value of the decedent's assets and the case will likely turn on valuation expert testimony. The 9th Circuit's recent unpublished affirmation of the Tax Court's decision in Estate of Kollman v. Commissioner highlights the importance of vetting and hiring the right valuation expert.
Texas Comptroller Proposes Revisions to Texas Franchise Tax Rule 3.586, Implementing Wayfair... [ read ]
The Texas Comptroller's office issued a draft set of proposed revisions to Comptroller Rule 3.586 (Margin: Nexus) today in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., 138 S.Ct. 2080 (2018).
Get Compliant or Else: IRS Embarks on Letter Campaign to Reach 10,000 Virtual Currency Owners... [ read ]
The Internal Revenue Service has begun sending letters to taxpayers with virtual currency transactions that potentially failed to report income and pay the resulting tax from those transactions or did not report them properly. This is yet another step in the IRS' enforcement campaign against virtual currency.
