Earlier this year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced the creation of a new Joint Strategic Emerging Issues Team (JSEIT). The new initiative, announced at the New York University School of Professional Studies Tax...more
9/8/2022
/ Criminal Investigations ,
Government Entities ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Large Business & International Division (LB&I) ,
Self Employed ,
Small Business ,
Tax Audits ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
Tax Reform ,
Tax Returns
Since the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in CIC Servs., LLC v. IRS was issued in May 2021, courts have grappled with how to apply the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA) in other contexts. The US Court of Appeals for the...more
On August 5, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the US Tax Court’s bench opinion in favor of partners and investors in a refined coal business. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has...more
On August 10, 2022, a petition for writ of certiorari filed by Whirlpool Financial Corporation & Consolidated Subsidiaries and Whirlpool International Holdings S.a.r.l. & Consolidated Subsidiaries (collectively, Whirlpool)...more
As we previously discussed, toward the end of June Whirlpool Financial Corporation & Consolidated Subsidiaries and Whirlpool International Holdings S.a.r.l. & Consolidated Subsidiaries (collectively, Whirlpool) asked the...more
In March 2010, Congress codified the economic substance doctrine in Internal Revenue Code (Code) Section 7701(o). The codification clarified that a conjunctive analysis applies in determining if the doctrine applies. The...more
Tax penalties are always a hot topic here. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a large arsenal when it comes to grounds for asserting penalties on income tax deficiencies, ranging from the common 20% penalty under Internal...more
A substantial amount of our practice over the years has involved representing clients before the US Tax Court. And, we both started our tax careers clerking at the Tax Court and working on dozens of orders and opinions....more
We previously provided an overview of the time limits imposed on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for assessing federal tax. The general rule is that the IRS must assess tax within three years from the later of the due date...more
1/17/2022
/ Appeals ,
Audits ,
Estate Tax ,
Failure-to-File ,
Federal Taxes ,
Fraud ,
GILTI tax ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Tax Court
We previously wrote... about decisions made by the District Court of Minnesota and the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in Mayo Clinic v. United States regarding challenges to the validity of certain Treasury...more
On October 15, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a press release related to required information for valid research credit refund claims. The press release contains a link to a memorandum by two IRS employees,...more
On October 15, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a news release and fact sheet for IRS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), which are typically posted on the IRS’s website. The purpose of the fact sheet is to...more
Historically, the Supreme Court of the United States rarely grants petitions for certiorari in tax cases, and it appears this trend continues in the current term.
On September 30, 2021, the Supreme Court granted the...more
10/8/2021
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Certiorari ,
Equitable Tolling ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Jurisdiction ,
SCOTUS ,
Surcharges ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Injunction Act ,
Tax Litigation
Internal Revenue Code (Code) section 7803(a)(3)(C) provides that taxpayers have “the right to pay no more than the correct amount of tax.” However, there are two relevant considerations to this “right.” First, the Internal...more
Several years ago, it came to light that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had hired a law firm to assist with transfer pricing matters in an ongoing audit of a large corporate taxpayer. Contemporaneous with that hiring, the...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must follow the “statute of limitations” as stated in Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 6501 to “assess” additional federal tax. Likewise, taxpayers must seek a tax overpayment or refund...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
In CIC Services, LLC v. Internal Revenue Service, a unanimous US Supreme Court allowed CIC, a tax advisor, to proceed with a pre-enforcement challenge to the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) “reportable transaction” regime....more
6/1/2021
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Anti-Injunction Act ,
CIC Services LLC v IRS ,
Criminal Liability ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Notice and Comment ,
SCOTUS ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction ,
Tax Penalties
In the latest tax regulation deference case, the Eighth Circuit provided guidance to taxpayers and tax practitioners on the “analytical path” to resolve the question of whether a tax regulation is a valid interpretation of...more
5/18/2021
/ Auer Deference ,
Chevron Deference ,
Debt Financing ,
Functionality ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Judicial Deference ,
Judicial Interpretation ,
Kisor v Wilkie ,
Mayo Clinic ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Tax Practitioner Privilege ,
Tax Reform ,
Unrelated Business Income Tax
One of the most pressing audit issues for large taxpayers today centers on the Internal Revenue Code (Code) Section 965 transition tax. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has designated Code Section 965 as a campaign issue...more
On January 13, 2021, the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled in favor of Exxon Mobil Corporation (“Exxon”) in its battle against the government over tax penalties. Exxon filed amended returns for its...more
In general, section 6751 requires that a supervisor give written approval before penalties can be asserted against a taxpayer. In Koh v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2020-77, authored by the US Tax Court’s (Tax Court) most recent...more
In response to a series of questions posed in a November 2019 letter from Senator Menendez (D-NJ), the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) issued a letter on April 15, 2020, analyzing carbon oxide...more
On April 24, 2020, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit published its opinion in Wells Fargo & Co. v. United States, No. 17-3578, affirming a district court’s holdings that the taxpayer was not entitled to certain...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s recent opinion in Standing Akimbo, LLC v. United States, No. 19-1049 (10th Cir. April 7, 2020), reminds us of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) ability to obtain...more