Tax Blog/Blawg

Last week, the Fifth Circuit in Matter of Diaz invalided a bankruptcy court rule that would have required that taxpayers make available to creditors any current or projected tax refund in excess of $2,000.  Docket No. 19-50982 (5^th Cir., Aug. 26, 2020).

The perfect storm is developing for this issue to affect a growing number of taxpayers.  Due to the economic downturn during the Coronavirus pandemic, a record number of bankruptcies is anticipated.  Also expected is a potentially unprecedented number of tax refunds as a result of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security ...

On August 24, the IRS issued an internal memorandum that impacts when taxpayers may obtain IRS Appeals Conferences if their issues are designated for litigation.  As background, the IRS has a long-standing policy of permitting taxpayers an administrative-level review of audit adjustments by referring matters to its Office of Appeals.  For decades, this review process was discretionary for the IRS to offer.  It was a matter of administrative grace.  No longer.

Enter The Taxpayer First Act

In July 2019, Congress enacted The Taxpayer First Act which codified the Appeals Office (with a new ...

Have you ever played darts?  Where the dart hits the board is very important to your score, but some rookies are happy if their dart hits the board at all.  That would be a fair characterization of The Inspector General for Tax Administration’s (“TIGTA”) January 21, 2020 report entitled “IRS Should Better Identify Noncompliant Exempt Orgs.”

In this report, TIGTA is very much like a rookie darts player, who declares himself a winner because his first dart hit the board.  In this regard, the Report is accurate about one thing:  the IRS does have problems identifying non-compliant ...

SBA Form 3508, Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness Application, provides an optional alternative payroll covered period for small businesses with a biweekly (every other week) or more frequent payroll schedule. A small business may elect the alternative covered period only if it uses a biweekly or more frequent payroll schedule; those with monthly payroll schedules cannot make the election. If a small business makes the election, the eight-week period, for ...

As the nation responds to COVID-19 and a world pandemic, IRC §139 may be one more tool in an employer’s toolkit to help their employees with fighting this silent war.

Under the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) §139(a), “qualifying disaster relief payment" from an employer to an employee are excluded from gross income, the opposite of normal tax law. 

IRC §139 applies after the President of the United States declares a disaster. On March 13, 2020, President Trump made an emergency declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Act, evoking the protections of §139.

Importantly, an ...

Last week, our Trust & Estates Team at Chamberlain Hrdlicka sent a general alert addressing some of the challenges and opportunities that exist for our clients' estate and tax planning as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. 

This week we want to focus on a helpful new development regarding the formalities applicable to the execution of Wills and other estate planning documents during this time of "social distancing." We also wish to highlight several estate planning techniques that have special attraction during this time of depressed values and historically low interest rates. 

Remote ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised several interesting issues for employers and employees under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This client alert will address the challenges employers are facing due to the pandemic and their effect on ACA compliance, as well as potential exposure to employer mandate penalties.

General overview of the ACA rules and ESRPs

The ACA added Section 4980H to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), which applies to applicable large employers (ALEs). An employer is an ALE for a calendar year if, on average, it employed at least 50 full-time employees during the previous ...

At Chamberlain Hrdlicka, we are endeavoring to be responsive to our clients' continuing needs for legal advice and counsel during this time of crisis.   Our various firm legal teams are focusing on the most critical issues confronting our business and individual clients.   Some examples include:

• our Corporate team providing critical information on SBA loan and grant programs available to provide emergency funding to businesses in distress;
• our Labor and Employment lawyers addressing a wide range of employment issues including the painful process of employee layoffs;
• our Real ...

COVID-19 is a public health crisis that has already had a profound impact on the U.S. economy. Businesses and individuals are struggling to adapt to restrictions imposed by federal, state and local governments in an attempt to "flatten the curve" and limit the consequences on public health. Several major laws were recently enacted to help partially offset the economic effects of this crisis and hopefully put businesses and the economy in a position to hit-the-ground running once this time has passed.

The Chamberlain Tax Planning & Business Transactions Team has prepared this ...

The Inspector General for Tax Administration, TIGTA, is in the news regularly.  In addition to tracking down misbehaving IRS employees and misbehaving representatives, an important role of this organization seems to be examining every aspect of the operation of the Internal Revenue Service about which it can publish a critical report.  Lately, it seems that TIGTA has been publishing an average of one a week, virtually all of which have been critical of the performance of the Internal Revenue Service.  Two of my favorites, however, deserve some close examination and cause this writer to ...