Friday, August 6, 2004
The ABA Tax Section is sponsoring two programs at the ABA Annual Meeting today in Atlanta:
The Contingent Fee Tax Trap (9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.)
Panelists Professor Toni Robinson (Quinnipiac) & Professor Mary Ferrari (Quinnipiac)
When Congress changed the rule in 1996 to require the inclusion of damages from non-physical injuries in income, it did not enact a specific provision excluding from the income of a successful plaintiff the portion of an award or settlement she paid to her lawyer. Although the taxpayer-plaintiff can deduct the portion paid to her lawyer as a below-the-line expense (subject to the 2% haircut), inclusion of the total amount of the award in income increases the amount of adjusted gross income, and therefore, the amount of the 2% the taxpayer cannot deduct. Moreover, the operation of the alternative minimum tax sometimes creates a tax in excess of the portion retained by the plaintiff!
Liability of Professionals in Tax Fraud Investigations: Have The Rules Changed? (2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.)
Moderator Justin A. Thornton (Washingtom, D.C.)
Panelists
Stephen A. Whitlock (Deputy Director, Office of Professional Responsibility, IRS)
Eileen J. O’Connor (Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, Tax Division)
Stuart E. Abrams (Frankel & Abrams, NYC)This panel will discuss recent changes in both the law and investigatory climate that expose professionals, principally lawyers and accountants, to greater risks in criminal and civil tax fraud cases. The panel will discuss a variety of topics, including recent developments in criminal tax fraud cases affecting professionals, new administrative efforts by the IRS to police misconduct by professionals, civil suits by investors, and developments in the law regarding the attorney-client and tax practitioner privileges.
