Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
IRS News
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Tax Court: IRS Agent Could Substantiate Only $215 of $95,000 of Claimed Charitable & Medical Deductions
Following up on my previous post. IRS Fires Agent Who Lost Tax Court Case on Deductibility of Losses from Side Business (June 25, 2012): Quinn v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2012-178 (June 27, 2012): [P]etitioner is an experienced tax compliance officer that remains employed by the IRS. Petitioner should have a complete understanding of substantiation requirements.…
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IRS Goes on ‘Hiring Frenzy’ After Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Affordable Care Act
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com (Hat Tip: Robert Knox.)
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ETAAC Releases 2012 Annual Report to Congress
The Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC) has released its 2012 Annual Report to Congress: Highlights of the report include recommendations on the following key outcomes: Reinforcing standards for security, privacy, and fraud prevention Moving forward on e-file of employment tax and information tax returns, Creating Internet tools for taxpayers and tax professionals, Leveraging tax…
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GAO: Tax Deadbeats Got $1.4 Billion in Stimulus Loans
The Government Accountability Office today released Tax Debtors Have Received FHA Mortgage Insurance and First-Time Homebuyer Credits (GAO-12-592): The Federal Housing Administration insured over $1.44 billion in mortgages for 6,327 borrowers with $77.6 million in federal tax debt who benefited from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Of these borrowers, 3,815 individuals claimed and…
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IRS Fires Agent Who Lost Tax Court Case on Deductibility of Losses from Side Business
Forbes: Sauce for the Gander? Revenue Agent Loses Job for Losing In Tax Court, by Peter J. Reilly: If you have a money losing side activity, you might consider the tax savings as easing the pain a little bit. … [But] if you have persistent losses, there is a decent chance that the IRS will…
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IRS Pledges to Improve Whistleblower Program
Following up on Tuesday's post, The IRS Whistleblower Office: Where Allegations of Tax Cheating Go to Die: Bloomberg, IRS Says It Will Improve Whistle-Blower Program Amid Outcry: The IRS will review its tax whistle-blower program to improve its backlog and working practices, after the program came under fire from politicians and lawyers. The IRS will…
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IRS-TPC Research Conference: New Research on Tax Administration
The IRS and Tax Policy Center are hosting a research conference today on New Research on Tax Administration with these presentations and papers (webcast here): Keynote Speaker: Fred Goldberg (Former IRS Commissioner) Session #1: Understanding the Taxpayer Experience Moderator: Javier Framiñan (IRS) George Contos, John Guyton (IRS), Allen Lerman & Susan Nelson (Department of the…
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TIGTA: IRS Did Not Justify 1,000 New Hires to Enforce $438 Billion of New ObamaCare Taxes
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration today released Affordable Care Act: Planning Efforts for the Tax Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Appear Adequate; However, the Resource Estimation Process Needs Improvement (2012-43-064): The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2012…
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The IRS Whistleblower Office: Where Allegations of Tax Cheating Go to Die
Bloomberg: IRS Resists Whistle-Blowers Despite Wide U.S. Tax Gap, by Jesse Drucker: The IRS whistle-blower program — created by Congress in 2006 to boost tax revenue by giving incentives to tipsters — has become the place where allegations of tax avoidance go to die. Over the past five years, more than 1,300 claims have been…
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IRS Issues Estate Tax Unified Credit Portability Rules
The IRS today issued temporary regulations (T.D. 9593) and proposed rules (REG-141832-11 on the portability of a deceased spousal unused exclusion amount applicable where the death of the first spouse occurs on or after Jan. 1, 2011.
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NYU Hosts 4th Annual Tax Controversy Forum Today
NYU Hosts its 4th Annual Tax Controversy Forum today: The NYU Tax Controversy Forum brings together representatives from the government and expert private practitioners to compare perspectives on a wide range of topics involving federal tax audits, appeals, and litigation. Coverage encompasses a broad scope of controversy work, from international issues to ethical problems, sensitive…
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TIGTA: 41% of VITA Groups Did Not Meet Performance Goals, But Received Increased Funding From IRS
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Additional Steps Are Needed to Ensure the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Grant Program Reaches More Underserved Taxpayers (2012-40-049): The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Grant Program has become a significant component of the IRS’s Volunteer Program. One-third of the tax returns prepared by the Volunteer Program are…
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IRS Denies 501(c)(4) Status to Emerge America — Is Crossroads GPS Next?
Bloomberg, IRS Denial of Tax Exemption to U.S. Political Group Spurs Alarms: An IRS decision revoking the tax-exempt status of a small political nonprofit organization may foreshadow an investigation into groups such as Crossroads GPS and Priorities USA that spend millions on the 2012 U.S. presidential election. At risk would be the groups’ nonprofit status,…
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IRS Oversight Board Releases 2011 Annual Report to Congress
The IRS Oversight Board has released its 2011 Annual Report to Congress: The level of service on IRS toll-free telephones during FY2011 was 70%, a drop of four percentage points over the 74% achieved in FY 2010, and below the 80% level the Board considers acceptable for good taxpayer service. IRS enforcement contacts, such…
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Cleveland Waitress Gets $434,712 Tax Refund Check From IRS
USA Today, Cleveland Waitress Receives Huge IRS Refund Check by Mistake: A longtime Cleveland waitress got the surprise of her life this week when an enormous income tax refund check arrived in the mail.When Ginny Hopkins filed her tax return, she expected a refund of $754 — money she really needs to fix her car,…
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IRS: 20,752 High Income Taxpayers Paid Zero Income Tax in 2009
Following up on Saturday's post, IRS Releases Spring 2012 SOI Bulletin: Accounting Today, 20,752 High-Income Taxpayers Had No Income Tax Liability ataxingmatter, One in Four of Those With $200,000 or More in AGI Paid No Federal Taxes in 2009 Bloomberg, IRS Finds One in 189 High Earners Paid No 2009 U.S. Tax Huffington Post, New…
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IRS Releases Spring 2012 SOI Bulletin
The IRS's Statistics of Income Division yesterday released (IR-2012-58) the Spring 2012 SOI Bulletin (Vol. 31, No. 4), with these articles: High-Income Tax Returns for 2009 (p.6), by Justin Bryan: For 2009, there were 3,924,489 individual income tax returns reporting AGI of $200,000 or more, and 3,975,288 with expanded income of $200,000 or more. These…
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It’s Time to Investigate the IRS
Following up on my prior posts (links below): Fox News: It’s Time to Investigate the IRS: Richard Nixon ordered the IRS to conduct tax audits of those on his infamous “Enemies List.” Now, a spate of investigations and leaks coming out of President Obama’s IRS raises concerns that this administration may also be using the…
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Treasury Department: Distributing the Corporate Income Tax
The Treasury Department's Office of Tax Analysis has released Distributing the Corporate Income Tax: Revised U.S. Treasury Methodology (Technical Paper 5, May 2012): The purpose of this analysis is to improve the U.S. Treasury Department’s distributional model and methodology by defining new model parameters. We compute the percentage of capital income attributable to normal versus…
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Sen. Grassley Wrongly Targets IRS Whistleblower Office
Following up on last week's post, Sen. Grassley Demands Accounting From IRS Whistleblower Office: Forbes, Keep Heat On IRS Commissioner Shulman; Whistleblowers Needed to Uncover Offshore Tax Abuses: Senator Charles Grassley sent a strongly worded letter last week to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman criticizing the IRS for the way it…
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NY Times: Lavish TBN Ministry Raises Tax, Self-Dealing Issues
New York Times, Family Battle Offers Look Inside Lavish TV Ministry: For 39 years, the Trinity Broadcasting Network has urged viewers to give generously and reap the Lord’s bounty in return. The prosperity gospel preached by Paul and Janice Crouch, who built a single station into the world’s largest Christian television network, has worked out…
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Sen. Grassley Demands Accounting From IRS Whistleblower Office
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley issued this press release today: Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa has asked the IRS and the Treasury Department to answer a detailed series of questions aimed at understanding why the IRS whistleblower office has been so slow in processing cases and making rewards. Grassley expressed his “extreme disappointment…
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IRS Seeks Grant Applications for $6 Million in Funding for Low Income Taxpayer Clinics
The IRS has announced (IR-2012-50) that it is accepting grant applications for Low Income Taxpayer Clinics for the 2013 grant cycle (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2013). Applications will be accepted May 1, 2012, through June 15, 2012. The LITC program awards matching grants of up to $100,000 per year to qualifying organizations to develop, expand,…
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IRS Commissioner on Declining Service to Taxpayers This Filing Season: ‘I’m Proud — It Could Have Been Worse’
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has released Interim Results of the 2012 Filing Season (2012-40-036): As a result of budget constraints, the IRS expects to be able to serve fewer taxpayers at its walk-in offices, called Taxpayer Assistance Centers, and answer fewer taxpayer telephone calls. The IRS anticipates it will have increased wait…
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TIGTA: IRS Misses Deadlines in 74% of Offers in Compromise
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration today released Increasing Requests for Offers in Compromise Have Created Inventory Backlogs and Delayed Responses to Taxpayers (2012-30-033): An offer in compromise (OIC) is an agreement between a taxpayer and the Federal Government that settles a tax liability for payment of less than the full amount owed. ……