More than 25 years ago, Congress enacted Internal Revenue Code Section 6751(b) to protect taxpayers from the IRS using penalties as a bargaining chip in an effort to coerce taxpayers to settle. Generally, Section 6751(b)...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent thousands of taxpayers a letter, alerting them of an unauthorized inspection or disclosure of their tax return or return information by a former IRS contractor, Charles Littlejohn....more
Upon closing its October 2023 term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two significant opinions – despite neither being a tax case – that will have broad consequences for taxpayers seeking to challenge tax regulations and other...more
7/19/2024
/ Administrative Authority ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Corner Post Inc v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ,
Government Agencies ,
IRS ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
SCOTUS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
U.S. Treasury
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 20, 2024, ruled 7-2 that Section 965 of the Internal Revenue Code, as revised by the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, is constitutional. The issue presented to the Court in Moore v....more
6/27/2024
/ 16th Amendment ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Controlled Foreign Corporations ,
GILTI tax ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Moore v US ,
Repatriation ,
SCOTUS ,
Shareholders ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Revenues
Basketball just wrapped up its season and hockey is in the last period of its season, but there is no summer vacation for the IRS Large Business and International (LB&I) division. The IRS recently announced a new enforcement...more
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the IRS was confronted with a proliferation of corporate transactions that it viewed as aggressive tax shelters. Relying on the authority Congress delegated through Section 6011(a), the IRS...more
6/13/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Conservation Easements ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Easements ,
IRS ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Tax Appeals ,
Tax Avoidance ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Penalties ,
Tax Shelters
The U.S. Tax Court recently held in SN Worthington Holdings LLC v. Commissioner, 162 T.C. No. 10 (2024), that the petitioning partnership had properly elected into the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA) procedures for the...more
6/3/2024
/ Audits ,
Bipartisan Budget Act ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Default ,
IRS ,
Jurisdiction ,
Partnerships ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Returns ,
TEFRA
The U.S. Tax Court recently issued an opinion in Parkway Gravel Inc. v. Commissioner, Docket No. 10819-21, respecting the structure of a gravel company's sale of a land parcel known as the Freeway Pit. In finding for the...more
5/31/2024
/ Anti-Abuse Rule ,
C-Corporation ,
Complex Corporate Transactions ,
Corporate Taxes ,
IRS ,
Real Estate Development ,
Real Estate Transfers ,
Recharacterization ,
Related Parties ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Deferral ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax-Deferred Exchanges
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) on May 3, 2024, reversed the U.S. Tax Court (USTC) in Alon Farhy v. Commissioner, No. 23-1179 (D.C. Cir. May 3, 2024) by holding that...more
5/17/2024
/ Administrative Procedure ,
Appeals ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Tax ,
Foreign Tax Credits ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Penalties ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Reversal ,
Stare Decisis ,
Statutory Authority ,
Tax Assessment ,
Tax Court
In holding that that Treas. Reg. § 1.170A-14(g)(6)(ii) (Proceeds Regulation) is procedurally invalid under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the U.S. Tax Court abandoned its precedent in Oakbrook Land Holdings, LLC v....more
4/5/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Conservation Easements ,
Easements ,
Fair Market Value ,
Gifts ,
IRS ,
Legal History ,
Partnerships ,
Property Valuation ,
Tax Court ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Vesting
The U.S. Tax Court (USTC) on April 3, 2023, issued its opinion in Alon Farhy v. Commissioner, which held that the IRS lacks authority to assess certain foreign-related information return penalties pursuant to Section...more
Holland & Knight invites you to read our China Practice Newsletter, in which our authors discuss pertinent Sino-American topics.
...more
3/6/2023
/ China ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Joint Venture ,
Made in the USA ,
Mexico ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Research and Development ,
State Labor Laws
The close of 2022 means family gatherings, holiday fun and one step closer to the end of research and development (R&D) expense current deductibility. Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), Internal Revenue Code Section...more
In Flint v. United States, 2022 WL 3593826 (Fed. Cl. 2022), the court held that the executors of an estate could not recover a six-figure "Title 26 miscellaneous offshore penalty" (MOP) the decedent paid to the Internal...more
9/1/2022
/ Audits ,
Breach of Contract ,
Foreign Bank Accounts ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Offshore Funds ,
Penalties ,
Remediation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Self-Certification ,
Tax Penalties ,
Tax Returns ,
Willful Violations
The "Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts" (FBAR) penalty has been the subject of much litigation. This Holland & Knight alert focuses on the non-willfulness element of 31 U.S.C. § 5321(a)(5)(B). Both the U.S. Court...more
1/10/2022
/ Compliance ,
FBAR ,
Foreign Bank Accounts ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Penalties ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Statutory Requirements ,
Tax Audits ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
Willful Violations
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can file a lien and levy on any and all of a taxpayer's property (and rights to property) regardless of how the property is held or titled. 26 U.S.C. § 6321. Whether the item is a taxpayer's...more
7/26/2021
/ Appeals ,
Beneficiaries ,
Civil Code ,
Estate Planning ,
Executors ,
IRS ,
Liens ,
Life Estates ,
Mineral Rights ,
Personal Property ,
Property Ownership ,
Stock Sale Agreements ,
Tax Debt ,
Tax Levy
One of the most highly litigated issues in U.S. Tax Court is whether taxpayers are liable for certain penalties, additions to tax or additional amounts (each, a "penalty" and collectively, "penalties"). This should come as no...more
As Congress continues to deliberate the federal legalization of marijuana, the cannabis industry continues to face scrutiny from the IRS under Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). Enacted in 1982 in response to a...more
4/23/2021
/ Audits ,
Business Expenses ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Controlled Substances ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Hemp Related Businesses ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Deductions
In Cotto-Vázquez v. United States, CIV. NO.: 16-2807 (SCC) (D.P.R. March 11, 2021), Miguel Ángel Cotto-Vázquez (Cotto),1 the former four-time Puerto Rican boxing champion, became involved in another fight. This time he faced...more
In Notice 2004-45, 2004-2 C.B. 33, the IRS put taxpayers who were asserting to be bona fide residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) and who were not following the requirements of meeting the applicable bona fide residency...more
3/10/2021
/ Appeals ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Large Business & International Division (LB&I) ,
Puerto Rico ,
Remand ,
Residency Requirements ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Returns ,
Virgin Islands
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Section 1603 provided a cash grant (Grant) for "specified energy property" (as defined in ARRA Section 1603(d)). Specified energy property, within the meaning of ARRA...more
This Holland & Knight alert is not focused on the structured trust advantaged repackaged securities (STARS) transaction or the economic substance doctrine, which were the primary issues before the U.S. Court of Appeals for...more
Virtual currency transactions are now a prime focus of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scrutiny. The IRS has numerous information-gathering tools to enforce its taxing power, including summons, artificial intelligence, data...more
12/4/2019
/ AICPA ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
FBAR ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Returns ,
Virtual Currency ,
Voluntary Disclosure