Prose by Tax Pros

Taxpayers embroiled in a tax dispute often feel bullied by the IRS. This is particularly true with partnerships that donated conservation easements to charitable organizations, because the IRS has implemented a long list of aggressive enforcement tactics. The good news is that various mechanisms are available to taxpayers to turn the proverbial tide, one of which is submitting a “qualified offer” to the IRS. In simplified terms, if the IRS ignores or rejects a qualified offer, the case goes to trial, and the court rules that the taxpayer’s liability is less than the amount in the earlier qualified offer, then the IRS must reimburse the taxpayer’s reasonable administrative and/or litigation costs.  Only two cases have addressed whether partnerships subject to the special proceedings created by the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (“TEFRA”) are able to make a qualified offer. Just one of these cases yielded a decision with precedential value, and it explained that TEFRA part...

A long list of cases over the past decade have centered on the proper definition of “willfulness” in the context of penalties for an unfiled, incomplete, or inaccurate FinCEN Form 114 (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) (“FBAR”). However, those cases did not address some key issues, including (i) whether the Internal Revenue Service, with help from the Department of Justice (“DOJ”),can assess and/or collect penalties after the taxpayer who committed the FBAR violation dies, and (ii) if so, against whom can the IRS and DOJ take action, the deceased individual, a surviving spouse, the executor of the estate, beneficiaries of the estate, transferees, others? This article analyzes a series of recent cases centered on post-death actions by the IRS and DOJ, giving special attention to the question of the survivability of FBAR penalties. Click here to read the full article. About Hale E. Sheppard HALE E. SHEPPARD, Esq. (B.S., M.A., J.D., LL.M., LL.M.T.) is a Shareholder in the T...