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By on September 28, 2018
The Tax Court made itself loud and clear again in its recent decision Yapp v. Commissioner: carefully review your return before filing even if a professional is used to prepare the return. A failure to do so can have drastic consequences down the road.
How to Respond to an IRS Backup Withholding Notice
By on September 24, 2018
The Internal Revenue Code provides that if a business files an information return that has a missing or incorrect Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), the business will be notified by the IRS and may be required to withhold a specified percentage (24% for payments made after 12/31/17) of certain reportable payments made to the payee with the missing or incorrect TIN. Businesses that ignore the IRS notices and fail to comply may be responsible for uncollected taxes and face penalties for filing incorrect information returns.
Information Reporting Penalty and the Reasonable Cause Defense
By on September 20, 2018
Forms W-2 are subject to information reporting penalties under Sections 6721 and 6722 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 6721 imposes a penalty for any failure to file an information return timely, for any failure to include all required information, or for the inclusion of incorrect information. Section 6722 imposes a penalty in the case of any failure to furnish a payee statement on or before the required date, any failure to include the required information, or the inclusion of incorrect information.
IRS Collection and Retirement Accounts
By on September 14, 2018
Pursuant to IRC Section 72(t)(1), if a taxpayer receives a distribution from a qualified retirement account, the taxpayer not only faces potential taxes on the distribution amount itself, but also an additional tax equal to 10% of the amount of the distribution that is includible in gross income. There are a number of exceptions to the 10% rule, most notably distributions made after the taxpayer has reached the age of 59 ½.
By on Septmeber 12, 2018
In prior blog posts, we discussed the McClendon case where a doctor made a loan to his business to make payroll, and in doing so, inadvertently exposed himself to liability for the trust fund recovery penalty. The 5th Circuit recently returned the case to the U.S. District Court for further consideration, including the Government's argument that the doctor's failure to oversee the trusted employee to whom he delegated the duty of filing payroll tax returns and paying the employment taxes satisfies the willfulness element of IRC Section 6672.
The Continuing Saga of Dr. McClendon and The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty
By on September 4, 2018
In a prior blog post, we discussed the case of Dr. Robert McClendon and the IRS' assessment of the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty against him due to his attempt to do the right thing. In 2016, a U.S. District Court granted the IRS' motion for summary judgement regarding the trust fund recovery penalty, because Dr. McClendon, after learning that his medical practice owed the IRS payroll taxes, loaned the business $100,000 to make its payroll to employees.
