A Sordid Tale of Donkeys and Horses: Tax Court Style – Part One

The following tale is the first in a two part series relating to a couple of recent decisions from the United States Tax Court. Both decisions center around the often-litigated topic of a taxpayer’s profit-motive and whether those taxpayers should have been the allowed the losses stemming from their breeding businesses. On December 21, 2021, [...]

IRS Ratchets Up Efforts To Pursue Noncompliant Taxpayers

The United States Department of Treasury (the Treasury) issued “The American Families Plan Tax Compliance Agenda,” detailing how the current administration intends to tackle the ever-looming noncompliance issue. This report was a follow up to the April of 2021 American Families Plan that included proposals that the administration announced to increase tax compliance. The Treasury [...]

Emphasizing Physical Injuries In Settlement Agreements

The United States Tax Court (Court) recently issued a decision highlighting, yet again, the importance of clear drafting in settlement agreements. In Doyle v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue, T.C. Memo. 2019-8, the Court held that the taxpayer could not exclude amounts, pursuant to Internal Revenue Code § 104(a)(2), that he received from a settlement agreement. [...]

Can The IRS Really Seize My Assets Without Telling Me First?

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can utilize its jeopardy levy function (i.e., taking a taxpayer’s assets) to pursue a taxpayer’s assets prior to issuing a jeopardy assessment (i.e., telling a taxpayer how much they owe). In Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) 201830013, the IRS clarified the circumstances in which it would take such drastic steps. In [...]

Marijuana Dispensaries and the Federal Tax Trap

The marijuana industry has experienced a nationwide boom in the last five years. In 2013, the marijuana industry realized approximately $1.5 billion in sales. In 2017, the industry realized approximately $9 billion in sales. Those numbers will, likely, only continue to rise as more and more states continue to legalize recreational marijuana. In spite of [...]

Winning A Tax Battle, But Losing the Tax War

A recent U.S. Tax Court decision in Barker v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue, T.C. Memo. 2018-67 exemplified the notion that a taxpayer could win a significant tax battle, but still lose the tax war. Cecile Barker was a successful aerospace engineer who also operated a music production/promotion company called SoBe. Cecile’s son was among the [...]

I missed the deadline to file my tax return. Now what?

I missed the deadline to file my tax return. Now what? The deadline for individual taxpayers to file their 2017 Forms 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, was April 18, 2018. Generally, the filing deadline for Forms 1040 is April 15 of the following tax year. However, as was the case for the 2017 filing [...]

IRS Adopts The In-Person Approach

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had an interesting New Year’s resolution for 2018: more in-person meetings for taxpayers who have a local IRS Revenue Officer assigned to their case. For many taxpayers, particularly those who are unrepresented, this means that an IRS Revenue Officer will be coming to your home or place of business. The [...]

Minnesota Tax Law Attorneys

FOIAs and GDPAs: How Requests for Information Can Help Practitioners Resolve Cases with the IRS or DOR

This is the sixth article in the Freedom Of Information Act Requests (FOIAs) and Government Data Practices Act Requests (GDPAs) series. This series is intended to provide taxpayers and practitioners with answers to the most commonly asked questions relating to the use of FOIAs and GDPAs. The use of FOIAs and GDPAs allow taxpayers and [...]

Minnesota Tax Law Attorneys

FOIAs and GDPAs: How Requests for Information Can Help Practitioners Resolve Cases with the IRS or DOR

This is the fifth article in the Freedom Of Information Act Requests (FOIAs) and Government Data Practices Act Requests (GDPAs) series. This series is intended to provide taxpayers and practitioners with answers to the most commonly asked questions relating to the use of FOIAs and GDPAs. The use of FOIAs and GDPAs allow taxpayers and [...]

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