Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, issued her annual report to Congress in which she lists the 20 most serious tax problems as required by Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 7803(c)(2)(B)(ii)(III). They are: 1. The Complexity of the Tax Code 2. The IRS Needs to More Fully Consider the Impact…
According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) hasn’t been doing a very good job collecting payroll taxes. Payroll taxes are amounts that employers withhold from employee wages for federal income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare (so called trust fund taxes) as well as the employer’s…
One of the important protections from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) is a taxpayer’s right to obtain a hearing with the IRS Appeals Division before an IRS collection officer can issue a tax levy. This hearing is known as collection due process, or CDP hearing. CDP hearings are permitted by…
Last month, the United States Tax Court (Tax Court) overturned an Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) ruling, and granted innocent spouse status to the widow of former San Francisco Mayor Joe Alioto. Alioto v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, T.C. Memo. 2008-185. Innocent spouse relief was allowed pursuant to Internal Revenue Code…
The United States Tax Court (Tax Court) has held that in innocent spouse cases under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 6015 it will consider evidence at trial that was not part of the administrative record. Porter v. Commissioner, 130 T.C. No. 10 (2008). The innocent spouse ruling in Porter was…
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California upheld a decision of the United States Tax Court (Tax Court) denying innocent spouse relief pursuant to Internal Revenue Code § 6015. Generally spouses filing joint income tax returns are both liable for any taxes due. In certain circumstances, however, one spouse…
In Kennedy v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2008-33, the United States Tax Court determined that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) could not serve a tax levy on the taxpayer’s assets since it failed to send the collection due process (CDP) notice to the taxpayer’s last know address. Generally in order for…
Sometimes taxpayers want to be “creative” in filling out IRS Form 433-A (Collection Information Statement for Wage Earners and Self-Employed Individuals). Stephen Miller got too creative, and he was found guilty of tax evasion in violation of Internal Revenue Code § 7201. He was sentenced to 46 months imprisonment. The…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released Publication 971 on Innocent Spouse relief pursuant to Internal Revenue Code § 6015. Generally, individuals who sign joint tax returns with their spouses are both jointly and severally liable for any taxes not paid with the return without regard to which spouse created…
The United States Tax Court held that the IRS did not abuse its discretion when the Appeals Division upheld a notice of intent to levy issued under Internal Revenue Code § 6330. In West v. Commissioner, TC Memo. 2008-30, the Wests had obtained an offer in compromise from the IRS,…