The Trump administration is continuing its offensive against the Internal Revenue Service by proposing a $2.5 billion cut to the agency’s budget for FY2026. In the White House’s “skinny budget” released on May 2, the IRS’s...more
The Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has released a report showing how the Internal Revenue Service has been dramatically impacted by government-wide efforts to reduce the size of the...more
5/7/2025
/ Audits ,
Employees ,
Employment Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Government Efficiency ,
Hiring & Firing ,
IRS ,
Reduction of Force ,
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury
Turmoil continues to roil the highest ranks of the Internal Revenue Service, as the President has replaced the acting IRS Commissioner that he appointed just last week. As we previously wrote, on Tax Day, the President named...more
Tuesday, while millions of Americans were busy finalizing their tax returns, the President named a former IRS criminal investigator as the tax agency’s new leader. Gary Shapley, a former IRS special agent who gained...more
The indictment this week of the owners of a Texas bakery on harboring charges is proof that the Trump administration has made immigration enforcement a top priority, targeting both unauthorized foreign nationals and the...more
3/5/2025
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS
The defense of clients experiencing mental health issues is one of the most challenging and nuanced aspects of criminal law.
An estimated one-third to one-half of incarcerated individuals live with some form of mental...more
The ERC is a legitimate, refundable tax credit designed to help businesses that continued to pay employees while they were shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic or that experienced a significant decline in gross receipts...more
8/21/2024
/ Audits ,
CARES Act ,
Cooperation ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Deadlines ,
Employee Retention ,
Fraud ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investigations ,
IRS ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Relief ,
Voluntary Disclosure
The Internal Revenue Service has adjusted its moratorium on processing Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) claims, announcing last week it will begin processing claims filed between September 14, 2023 and January 31, 2024. In...more
8/13/2024
/ Audits ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Employee Retention ,
Fraud ,
Investigations ,
IRS ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Relief ,
Voluntary Disclosure
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued a news release identifying five new signs that a business’s Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) may be incorrect. It has also begun issuing a third round of letters denying...more
8/9/2024
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Retention ,
Enforcement ,
Fraud ,
IRS ,
IRS Independent Office of Appeals ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Tax Credits ,
Wage and Hour
With the IRS showing no sign of lifting its moratorium on processing Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) claims filed after September 14, 2023, businesses whose unpaid, legitimate ERC claims are older than six months should...more
The March 22 deadline for applying to the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) to repay improperly claimed Employee Retention Credits (ERC) at a discount is just around the corner. The VDP requires businesses to repay only...more
Thanks to a dramatic increase in funding courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the Internal Revenue Service recently announced several new, high-profile enforcement initiatives designed to generate significantly...more
3/7/2024
/ Aircraft ,
Business Expenses ,
Business Taxes ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement ,
Income Taxes ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Tax Debt ,
Tax Fraud ,
Tax Revenues
The IRS recently issued a news release identifying seven signs that a business’s Employee Retention Tax Credit (the ERC) may be incorrect. The IRS identified these warning signs based on feedback from tax professionals and...more
The House Ways and Means Committee recently advanced a bill that gives businesses a proposed deadline of January 31, 2024 to file Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims. Known as the Tax Relief for American Families and...more
There are several new developments in the Internal Revenue Service’s ongoing campaign to combat false and fraudulent Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims, including an indefinite extension of the agency’s moratorium on...more
The Internal Revenue Service has announced a new Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) that offers businesses a limited-time opportunity to repay improperly claimed Employee Retention Credits (ERC) at a discount while avoiding...more
In its most recent effort to fight fraudulent and improper Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) claims, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is notifying an initial 20,000 taxpayers that it is rejecting their claims. The IRS,...more
Amid an ongoing federal crackdown on fraud in COVID-19 relief programs, the IRS announced that it will offer certain employers an opportunity to withdraw Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims if they are concerned about...more
Responding to concerns about extensive fraud and scams involving the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has stopped processing new ERC claims, published updated frequently asked questions...more
“If it is a conservation easement and the people who are receiving the deduction are outside of family...the IRS assumption is that it's a tax shelter.”
A backlog of conservation easement Tax Court cases and IRS audits are...more
Employers should be careful before claiming the Employee Retention Credit (ERC).
Over the past several months, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has warned taxpayers twice about third parties who advise employers to claim...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a new voluntary self-disclosure policy February 22, 2023, that sets uniform criteria for how and when prosecutors should reward corporate cooperation in criminal investigations. The...more
In its first enforcement action related to COVID-19 government aid programs, the Federal Reserve Board recently announced that it has fined New York-based Popular Bank $2.3 million for processing Paycheck Protection Program...more
2/9/2023
/ Borrowers ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Reserve ,
Fraud ,
Lenders ,
Loans ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, chaired by Rep. James E. Clyburn, released the final report on its investigation into the use and distribution of $5 trillion in federal pandemic-related aid,...more
Continued Internal Revenue Service processing delays are preventing businesses from receiving pandemic relief benefits, according to the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). And at the same time,...more