The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa didn’t need my services as a juror this week, so I will be participating in the Iowa Bar Association webinar this afternoon on new developments for 2014. It starts at noon. You can register here and find more information here. I will join Roger McEowen of the ISU Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation, and Kristie Maitre, IRS Stakeholder Liason for Iowa.
If the Tea Party scandal is not a scandal, why would it be so damaging to the IRS? The TaxProf’s IRS Scandal Roundup for Day 255 has some eye-opening quotes from a high-powered panel from a Pepperdine/Tax Analysts Symposium last week:
Donald Korb (Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell; former IRS Chief Counsel): I think it is incredibly damaging. Frankly, I see it as one of the seeds of the next tax shelter era. … And in terms of scandal, I don’t think we really know. We have not been permitted to understand exactly what happened. So, who knows.
George Yin (Edwin S. Cohen Distinguished Professor of Law and Taxation, Virginia; former Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation): I think there has been tremendous damage. Almost without regard to what actually happened. And I actually despair of finding out what actually happened. …
Donald Tobin (Frank E. and Virginia H. Bazler Designated Professor in Business Law, Ohio State): I think it is awful. I agree with Don and George. 7 or 8. I think this is ultimately going to have huge implications. …
Ellen Aprill (John E. Anderson Chair in Tax Law, Loyola-L.A.): I agree with all of that. I have myself avoided the word “scandal” because I just don’t know. And some of the people I know personally. I don’t think that was their political motivation. So I’ve used “controversy” and “brouhaha” and everything but tried not to go all the way to scandal. …
Korb: … This is very, very damaging. Maybe we are at a 9.5
You can already see effects in the reduction of the IRS funding request in the latest budget deal. While Congress makes the IRS the Swiss Army Knife of tax policy, it continues to cut back its resources. That can’t end well. But the GOP sees that the IRS has acted as a tool for its political opponents, and it’s asking a lot for them to fund their opposition.
Robert D. Flach ponders whether the Registered Tax Return Preparer designation could be revived as a voluntary credential. If any group of preparers can unite behind a voluntary credential with self-administered standards, great. Just keep the IRS out of it. It’s a poor use of their resources, and they aren’t to be trusted with that sort of power.
ESOP S corporation strategy. The Wall Street Journal (Laura Saunders, via the TaxProf) reports on an S corporation that may have found a way to funnel all of its income to a tax-exempt ESOP via restricted stock for the non-ESOP owners. Paul Neiffer suspects it may be too good to be true.
It would be a hard needle to thread, giving the severe 409(p) excise tax that can apply to allocations of ESOP shares to owners of closely-held S corporation. If the strategy does win in the courts, I would expect to see legislation to change the result quickly.
Jack Townsend, Eighth Circuit Affirms Offshore Account Related Conviction
Joseph Henchman, What Same-Sex Couples Need to Know This Filing Season (Tax Policy Blog). He links to a nice Tax Foundation study that tells how each state is approaching same-sex marriage this filing season.
Roberton Williams, Utah Lets Same-Sex Couples File Joint Tax Returns (TaxVox)
Kay Bell, Girl Scout cookies might be tax deductible. Unfortunately, only if you don’t eat them.
Russ Fox, The Trouble With Bitcoins: Taxation. ”If you make money with Bitcoins, it is absolutely taxable.”
Jason Dinesen, Issuing 1099s to an Incorporated Veterinarian. So veterinary services are “medical services.”
So the IRS agrees with Corb Lund.
Tax Justice Blog, Oklahoma Shows How Not to Budget. ”The biggest offender here is one we’ve explained before: the growing trend of funneling general tax revenues toward transportation in order to delay having to enact a long-overdue gas tax increase.”
William Perez, In Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. “In 1960, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., was found not guilty of filing fraudulent state tax returns for the years 1956 and 1958.” That’s why you don’t want politicized tax enforcement.
TaxGrrrl, Why Justice Matters: The Indictment & Trial Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Tax Charges
Annette Nellen, Real revenue sources for tax reform. ”Where can permanent tax increases be generated to offset the desired permanent tax decrease generated from permanent lower rates?”
Good, we need it. Bloggers = Media for First Amendment Libel Law Purposes (Eugene Volokh). “To be precise, the Ninth Circuit concludes that all who speak to the public, whether or not they are members of the institutional press, are equally protected by the First Amendment.”
That’s how it should be.
Peter Reilly, Soldier To Tax Accountant – Rachel Millios EA
News from the Profession. CPA Exam Pass Rates Basically Went Right Off the Cliff at the End of 2013 (Going Concern).
