Navigating the Employee Retention Credit: Key Issues from the Taxpayer Advocate's Report... [ read ]
The Taxpayer Advocate is an independent branch of the IRS that is statutorily required to identify areas where taxpayers have problems in their dealings with the IRS. One of the significant problems identified by the Taxpayer Advocate relates to ERC. Specifically, the Taxpayer Advocate's report highlights several key issues relating to ERC that have presented significant challenges for taxpayers. This blog drills down on the ERC issues highlighted by the Taxpayer Advocate.
National Taxpayer Advocate's Annual Report to Congress Highlights Most Serious Problems Encountered by Taxpayers... [ read ]
It is becoming an annual event for me to write about the National Taxpayer Advocate's Annual Report to Congress and its top 10 list of the most serious problems encountered by taxpayers, see, " What Do the National Taxpayer Advocate and David Letterman Have In Common?" and "More Top 10 Tax Lists From the Taxpayer Advocate and David Letterman."
The IRS Starts 2025 With a Bang by Requesting Two Different John Doe Summonses... [ read ]
With a new administration, one party controlling the House and Senate, potentially a new IRS Commissioner, and likely a reduction in IRS enforcement funding, there has been a great deal of chatter regarding the impact on IRS enforcement in 2025 and beyond. However, someone forgot to tell the IRS because in the last few weeks, two courts have authorized the IRS to issue John Doe summonses to third parties, requesting taxpayer information.
IRS Commissioner Announces ERC Claim Processing Around the Corner: What Else Did We Learn?... [ read ]
Each year, I enjoy participating in the ABA Tax Section's Criminal Tax Fraud and Tax Controversy Conference in Las Vegas. This year, I had the privilege of hearing what sounded like it could be a monumental announcement by the IRS Commissioner, Danny Werfel. As mentioned by Anthony Daddino here, Werfel announced that the IRS had plans to process around 500,000 ERC claims by the end of 2024. The total value of those claims, per Werfel, is around $10 billion. In addition, Werfel announced that another 500,000 – 600,000 claims were "teed up" for approval next year.
Holiday Cash in the Form of ERC... [ read ]
Just in time for the holidays, the IRS just announced plans to approve 500,000 ERC claims in the coming weeks with more to come in 2025.
Hardly Anybody Trusts Attorneys, and Certainly Not the IRS... [ read ]
A December 2023 Gallup poll revealed that only 16% of Americans rate lawyers' honesty and ethical standards as "high." Perhaps the IRS was among those polled, as the IRS has announced an examination campaign against law firms.
IRS Dirty Dozen List-Let's Be Careful Out There... [ read ]
I speak at a number of events during the year regarding tax issues, primarily regarding IRS enforcement and mostly related to income tax or estate and gift tax issues. Many of my presentations reference the IRS Dirty Dozen list, which we annually blog about, along with other transactions highlighted by the IRS. I have joked that these days you can't throw a rock without hitting someone marketing the next tax savings transaction on the internet, including videos on YouTube.
Taxpayers Win But the Court Denies Their Request for Attorney Fees and Costs... [ read ]
In a recent blog post I discussed a case where a taxpayer was in a dispute with the IRS, made a qualified settlement offer of $1 to the IRS, won the case and collected attorney fees and costs from the IRS under IRC Section 7430. In a more recent case, the taxpayers did not make a qualified settlement offer, won their case and were denied attorney fees and costs.
Private Aircraft Audits May Be At Cruising Altitude... [ read ]
Earlier this year, the IRS announced that it would be increasing the audit rate on private aircraft. The IRS previewed that there would be dozens of private aircraft audits starting in the near future. Given what we have seen, the "dozens" figure appears low.
Collecting Attorney's Fees and Expenses From the IRS... [ read ]
We previously discussed making a qualified settlement offer pursuant to I.R.C. Section 7430 to put pressure on the IRS and potentially collect attorneys' fees and costs. How much does that offer need to be? In Mann Construction Inc. v. United States, (E.D. Mich. 1/1/24), a district court said the offer can be as little as $1 for a prevailing taxpayer to collect attorneys' fees and expenses.
