On Wednesday January 20, 2021, the Department of Treasury issued a memorandum[1] (the “Memo”) implementing temporary measures with respect to levy procedures to avoid levying bank accounts with funds from the second round of Economic Impact Payments.[2] The second round of economic impact payments (“EIP 2”) is generally $600 for individuals and $1,200 for married…
In Ramey v Commissioner, 156 T.C. No. 1 (2021) (available in Tax Notes free resources here), the IRS mailed a final notice of intent to levy (LT11) to the taxpayer’s last known address (and actual address) via certified mail return receipt requested. The address was a shared office location (i.e., multiple businesses were located at…
On Monday November 2, 2020, the IRS announced the new Taxpayer Relief Initiative (“TRI”) in a News Release (IR-2020-248) (link) and an IRS Closer Look blog post by the head of IRS Collections, Darren Guillot (Deputy Commissioner, SB/SE Collection and Operations Support) (link). TRI provides some changes to IRS collection procedures to help taxpayers more…
Overview of IRS Rev. Proc. 2020-20 Rev. Proc. 2020-20 (link) provides certain qualifying non-resident aliens some administrative relief for certain extended stays in the U.S. caused by travel disruptions arising during the COV-19 pandemic. As discussed below, if the individual meets the revenue procedure’s criteria, then the individual may exclude up to 60 days from…
On August 8, 2020, President Trump signed four executive orders. One of the orders directs the Secretary of the Treasury to use the Secretary’s authority to defer certain payroll tax obligations for some employees (the “Executive Order”). The Executive Order can be found here (link) at the Whitehouse website. The Executive Order provides that Secretary…
Overview In Reflectxion Resources, Inc. v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2020-114 (August 3, 2020)(link), the U.S. Tax Court held that a Notice of Determination of Worker Classification (“NDWC”) was not in and of itself sufficient to provide the Tax Court with jurisdiction for all payroll tax periods raised in Reflectxion Resources, Inc.’s (“Taxpayer”) petition. In order…
In U.S. v. Bittner [1](available here: link), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (the “Court”) handed taxpayers a victory by declining to follow the legal analysis in Boyd v U.S. In doing so the Court rejected the IRS’s interpretation of what constitutes a “violation” for purposes of computing non-willful FBAR penalties…
On Friday June 5th, 2020, the President signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (the “PPP Flexibility Act”)[1], which was passed by the House and Senate with almost complete unanimity.[2] The PPP Flexibility Act makes several significant changes to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Summary of provisions: Adds…
Over the last two weeks, the IRS has put out a flurry of guidance on the recent legislation[1] aimed at providing relief from the economic fallout of the coronavirus. On March 25, 2020, the Commissioner of the IRS announced the People First Initiative (PFI)[2], which is largely predicated on the IRS’s discretion to take or…
Per an internal IRS memorandum prepared within the IRS SB/SE division (link to memo), the IRS has determined that it will not allow a § 199A deduction when it prepares a substitute for return (“SFR”). [mfn] SBSE-04-1219-0054 Guidance for the qualified business income deduction on a substitute for return (12/9/2019) available at https://www.irs.gov/pub/foia/ig/sbse/sbse-04-1219-0054.pdf.[/mfn] Under §…
