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Thinking of Calling the IRS? Good Luck.
By on June 27, 2022
The National Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) recently issued its annual report to Congress. One of the more troubling findings in the report was that during the 2022 filing season, the IRS received 73 million calls and only 7.5 million of those calls were answered by an IRS employee. Another interesting side note was that in 2021, the IRS received 167 million calls and only 9% of those calls were answered by an IRS employee.
Congress May Soon Overrule the IRS on Crypto Taxation; What Should Taxpayers Do?
By on June 15, 2022
Earlier this year, I wrote about Jarrett v. United States, No. 3:21-cv-00419 (M.D. Tenn.), a case in which a crypto taxpayer rejected a complete government concession of a lawsuit. At issue in the case was whether the taxpayer's cryptocurrency staking rewards were immediately taxable. Presumably, the taxpayer was motivated by a desire to have a court publicly address the issue—which still has not occurred. To this date, there is no clear rule—let alone a clear signal from the IRS about how it views the issue—that dictates whether staking rewards are or are not immediately taxable.
Part Two: Are Tax Returns Given to an IRS Agent Considered Filed?
By on June 8, 2022
In 2015, I wrote a blog post with this same title (here) concluding that based on case law, a tax return that is given to a representative of the IRS is not considered filed and, therefore, the statute of limitations does not start. I followed that up with a blog post (here) last year discussing a case which confirmed that tax returns are not considered filed if merely given to an IRS representative. Furthermore, in 2015 the 9th Circuit reversed a CPA's convictions for tax evasion because "filing" is an element of tax evasion and the CPA handed his fraudulent tax returns to the IRS agent instead of filing them. United States v. Boitano
