Welcome to TaxBlawg, a blog resource from Chamberlain Hrdlicka for news and analysis of current legal issues facing tax practitioners. Although blawg.com identifies nearly 1,400 active “blawgs,” including 20+ blawgs related to taxation and estate planning, the needs of tax professionals have received surprisingly little attention.
Tax practitioners have previously lacked a dedicated resource to call their own. For those intrepid souls, we offer TaxBlawg, a forum of tax talk for tax pros.
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In a recent TaxBlawg post, my colleague Jonathan Prokup discussed the IRS’ intention to begin requesting electronic files as part of taxpayer examinations so that it can analyze the “metadata” contained in those files. One of the concerns raised in the post, as announced in Chief Counsel Advice 201146017, was the possibility that such data in the hands of the IRS may be insecure and therefore potentially susceptible to theft by third-party hackers (which, by the way, could conceivably expose the IRS to damages for disclosure of taxpayer information under IRC § 6103
As discussed in a story in this morning's Tax Notes, the IRS intends to begin requesting electronic files as part of taxpayer examinations so that it can analyze the "metadata" contained in those files. Metadata, sometimes referred to as "data about data," generally shows information about a computer file, such as its editing history. The IRS claims that such information "may be relevant" to taxpayer examinations because the information "may support or undermine the credibility of the records offered to substantiate the accuracy of the [taxpayer's] return." See Chief Counsel ...