Tax Blog/Blawg

Life grants few chances at true redemption. The Internal Revenue Code, likewise, is not known for facilitating taxpayer salvation. Sure, under certain circumstances, taxpayers have an opportunity to file late tax-related elections to rectify an oversight, and other forms of clemency exist. However, the general rule is that taxpayers are stuck with a position once they take it on a tax return filed the IRS. One obscure exception to this rule is the qualified amended return (“QAR”), which can be a powerful self-help remedy for taxpayers who experience the “oh-shoot” moment. This event often occurs when taxpayers realize that, oh shoot, they forget to include certain income items on their tax return or, oh shoot, they cannot sleep because the stance they took on their tax return was too aggressive. Filing a QAR in these situations may allow a taxpayer to sidestep penalties stemming from the inaccurate tax return. The QAR rules, like most things tax, are complex. A recent Tax Court case, Bergmann v. Commissioner, 137 T.C. No. 10 (2011), provides us an opportunity to analyze the purpose, application, intricacies, and evolution of the QAR rules. The attached article, called “The Parameters of Qualified Amended Returns Examined by Tax Court in Case of First Impression,” examines the issues in Bergmann v. Commissioner. It was published in the most recent edition of the Journal of Taxation.