You may recall that earlier this year the IRS launched an initiative to pursue 125,000 “high-income, high-wealth” taxpayers who have not filed taxes since 2017. These were cases where the IRS received third party information...more
The Treasury Department and IRS have just published proposed Regulations that would identify transactions resembling certain basket contract transactions as listed transactions per the meaning of Section 6011, making them...more
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on June 17, 2024, confirmed it had formally notified Russia about the suspension of the Convention between the United States of America and the Russian Federation for the Avoidance of...more
Assume that X and Y agree to the following: X will transfer ownership of Prop to Y, and Y will transfer cash to X. What just happened? Obviously, X has sold Prop to Y. If the amount of cash that X receives is greater than...more
To avoid the manipulation of tax consequences to which transactions between certain related taxpayers may be susceptible, the IRS and the Courts generally require that such transactions be closely scrutinized to ensure that...more
On November 9, 2022, in a 15-2 decision, the Tax Court held that the IRS improperly issued Notice 2017-10 in Green Valley Investors, LLC, et al. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 159 T.C. No. 5. The Notice designated...more
The IRS wrapped its 2022 Dirty Dozen scams list urging taxpayers to watch out for and avoid being misled by tax avoidance strategies. Making the 2022 List are Cryptocurrency, non-filing, abusive syndicated conservation...more
In Chico v. Commissioner, the taxpayers challenged the Tax Court’s assessment of a fraud penalty. The Tax Court had imposed civil fraud penalties against the married taxpayers, finding clear-and-convincing evidence of fraud...more
Promoting abusive tax shelters. Taxpayers and tax return preparers should be aware of the various penalties that exist and can be assessed for certain actions (or nonactions). One such action includes promoting an abusive tax...more
The substance over form doctrine (and related step transaction and economic substance doctrines) are often invoked by courts to disallow tax consequences that seem too good to be true. Courts have struggled for years with how...more
On May 24, 2021, Sen. Warren introduced Senate Bill 1788, the “Restoring the IRS Act” (the Proposed Legislation). The Proposed Legislation generally (1) imposes new information reporting obligations on financial institutions...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee or chapter 11 debtor-in-possession ("DIP") to avoid fraudulent transfers is an important tool promoting the bankruptcy policies of equality of distribution among creditors and maximizing...more
Tax professionals are intimately familiar with certain reporting requirements under the Internal Revenue Code. Indeed, a failure to properly and timely report a position on a return where it is otherwise required may result...more
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) in an August 31st news release announced what it described as: . . . the completion of the first settlement under its initiative to resolve certain docketed cases involving syndicated...more
INTRODUCTION - On July 11, 2018, Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published final inversion regulations (TD 9834) which are largely consistent with the temporary (T.D. 9761) and proposed regulations...more
On July 11, 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (the IRS) issued final regulations under Section 7874 and related sections of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, (the Code)...more
The Opportunity Zone program was created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to encourage investment in low-income communities. Under this program (Sections 1400Z-1 and 1400Z-2 of the Internal Revenue Code, the “Statute”), an...more
On July 15, 2016, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) published proposed regulations that would modify the device and active trade or business requirements for tax-free...more
On September 2, 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued new temporary Treasury regulations addressing the application of Internal Revenue Code Section 956 to certain...more
On July 8, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued two notices (Notice 2015-47, 2015-30 IRB 1, and Notice 2015-48, 2015-30 IRB 1) targeting the use of Basket Option Contracts and Basket Contracts as tax avoidance...more