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. [...]
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 [...]
When an individual has outstanding federal tax liabilities, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a number of tools at its disposal to try to collect the liabilities from the individual, including levying the individual’s wages (I.R.C. § 6331(a)). When the IRS issues a wage levy notice to an employer, the employer must pay the IRS [...]
The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS’s) Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (Program) has elements of the Program that will no longer be available to certain taxpayers on September 28, 2018. For more on those elements, please see our previous posts here and here. Following the IRS’s decision to eliminate elements of the Program, it also issued Technical [...]
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 [...]
The recent Sixth Circuit decision in Bibler v. U.S., 2018 WL 1911249, may mark an evolution of the definition of “willfulness” in trust fund recovery penalty cases. For the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to prevail in its assessment of the trust fund recovery penalty pursuant to Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) § 6672, the liable taxpayer [...]
Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program Ends September 28, 2018 The IRS recently announced that it will end its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) on September 28, 2018. To participate in the OVDP before it ends on September 28, 2018, a taxpayer must submit a complete offshore voluntary disclosure. The disclosure must (1) conform to the requirements [...]
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 [...]
On January 16, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a press release emphasizing that taxpayers who are behind on their taxes should pay what they owe or enter into an Installment Agreement. This warning was issued because the IRS intends to implement new procedures that will put the passports of delinquent taxpayers at risk. [...]
Defaulted Installment Agreements The IRS expects taxpayers to pay all of their tax liabilities in full, at the latest, at the time the liabilities are due. When this is not possible, the IRS may allow taxpayers to pay their liabilities during a period of time through a monthly payment plan. These payment plans are called [...]