The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to dismiss tax fraud charges leveled by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at the owner of a small business. United States v. Greve, 490 F.3d 566 (7th Cir. 2007). The case illustrates the perils of representing yourself in a civil tax audit involving…
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…
Tax lawyers from the Department of Justice are seeking to enjoin two tax return preparers from representing anyone before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) , acting as tax preparers or engaging in any other tax related conduct. The IRS complaint also seeks an injunction barring the tax preparers from engaging…
Internal Revenue Code § 6672 provides that so-called responsible persons who willfully fail to pay corporate payroll taxes may be held personally responsible for the payment of the trust fund portion of these taxes. Internal Revenue Code § 6672 is sometimes referred to as the trust fund recovery penalty (TFRP).…
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…
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 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a decision of the United States Tax Court (Tax Court), and held that an Internal Revnue Service Appeals Officer was not impartial within the meaning of Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 6330. Cox v. Commissioner, No. 06-9004 (2008), reversing, Cox v. Commissioner,…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says that tax audits have increased during the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2007. For example the IRS audited 84% more returns of individuals with income of over $1 million dollars than the previous year. This amounted to a tax audit rate of almost 10%.Tax…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has provided new instructions for persons who wish to file wrongful levy claims against the IRS pursuant to Internal Revenue Code § 6343(b). These instructions are set forth in IRS Publication 4528 (Rev. Nov. 2007). If the IRS were to take your property to pay…
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued FS 2008-10 warning taxpayers about tax fraud by tax preparers. The IRS points out that while most tax return preparers are honest a few are not, and that taxpayers need to be careful when choosing a tax return preparer. While it may seem…