Speaking

This tax incentive has all the elements to ignite a major battle:  Four laws, many sources of administrative guidance, rules with retroactive effect, long delays, billions in refunds, companies urging aggressive positions, inconsistent assessment periods, and multiple civil and criminal enforcement efforts.  This presentation explains the rules, common misconceptions, tricky issues, and recent actions by the IRS as ERC battles get underway. 

The IRS has been attacking partnerships that make easement donations in many ways, including making them listed transactions, launching a Compliance Campaign, seeking injunctions, placing them on the “dirty dozen” list, litigating numerous cases, and more.  Things have started to change, though, with the issuance of new regulations and enactment of a new law in 2023.  This presentation explores the history and future of conservation easement disputes.

Congress realized that taxpayers needed financial help during the economic crisis caused by COVID.  Therefore, it created the PPP and ERC.  Congress later decided that taxpayers should be able to access both the PPP and ERC, provided that they did not claim double benefits based on the same payroll figures.  Recently, taxpayers that got dual PPP and ERC relief are beginning to understand that enforcement actions, timeframes, and consequences differ for each.  They are also grasping that an audit of one item often leads to scrutiny of the other.  This presentation explains the fundamentals of the PPP and ERC, the interplay between the two, and the distinct mechanisms used to recoup benefits that were improperly issued to taxpayers.

Many entities treated as partnerships are now under attack.  The IRS claims that they have incorrectly treated their owners as “limited partners,” thereby allowing them to escape self-employment taxes on their distributions.  The partnerships base their positions on a law enacted way back in 1977, which has never been updated.  The broad scope of the “limited partner” exception, coupled with governmental inaction over the next five decades and the IRS’s recent Compliance Campaign, has led to chaos.  This presentation chronicles the major events culminating in the current Tax Court disputes and forthcoming IRS regulations.

Opportunity Zones began attracting investors in 2018, and now they are attracting Congress and the IRS, too. This presentation explains the purpose of Opportunity Zones, how properties were selected, three main tax benefits for investors, penalties for violations, relevant filing requirements, administrative guidance issued thus far, special anti-abuse mechanisms, initial criticism by various organizations, and burgeoning enforcement efforts, including congressional investigations and IRS audits.

Congress, the Treasury Department, and academics have been critical of Private Placement Life Insurance (“PPLI”) for years, arguing that it constitutes an improper tax deferral and avoidance mechanism for wealthy taxpayers.  Related investigations into foreign financial institutions are underway, two legislative proposals have been floated, and labeling PPLI a “listed transaction” has gained momentum.  This presentation explains the applicable tax rules, points of controversy, suggested laws, IRS enforcement actions, and future possibilities.

Enforcement actions against alleged promotors of abusive transactions and taxpayers who participate in them are firmly linked.  Therefore, effectively defending against IRS challenges requires an understanding of the overlapping rules, standards, and procedures.  This presentation explains unique aspects of promoter penalties, various actions the IRS takes in promoter investigations, effects of such measures on taxpayers who engaged in the transactions under scrutiny, recent events suggesting a surge in investigations in the near future, and thoughts about the best path forward. 

Taxpayers have been seeking clarity on critical foreign gift and trust issues, from the IRS and the courts, for a long time.  This has not occurred, largely because the government has conceded the relevant cases before litigation took place.  Such pre-trial surrender by the government is positive for the one taxpayer involved in the dispute, but negative for others who desire broader guidance, strong rulings, judicial precedent on which all taxpayers can rely.  This presentation compares the main obligations stemming from foreign gifts and trusts, identifies several recent events, and analyzes two new cases in which key issues affecting many taxpayers were raised, but not resolved.

The world is filled with uncertainties, and people take steps to mitigate them.  One method is purchasing tax insurance.  Taxpayers have done for years.  The trend has increased recently as transactions become more complex, the amounts at stake skyrocket, and the IRS will not issue Private Letter Rulings on certain issues to give taxpayers the comfort they seek.  Tax insurance has forged a place in the private market, a reality about which the IRS is not altogether pleased.  This presentation explains why taxpayers are acquiring insurance, two major types of coverage, several challenges the IRS is now raising, and why incipient IRS actions should concern all companies offering tax insurance and all taxpayers obtaining policies.

IRS enforcement actions slowed for a period because of the Coronavirus, but it has returned in earnest.  This means that taxpayers, especially those who took aggressive positions or omitted income, are evaluating the pros and cons of proactively approaching the IRS through its broad disclosure program.  This article explains duties of U.S. persons, analyzes four rounds of IRS guidance about its program, and offers insights about internal IRS documents and what they reveal to taxpayers who might participate.

New Commissioner, new budget, and new priorities.  The IRS is increasing scrutiny in the international area, focusing on unreported foreign assets and activities, repatriation taxes, foreign investors with U.S. property, tax withholding on foreign payments, receipt of foreign gifts, unfiled international information returns, and much more.  This presentation discusses the critical international tax cases, administrative rulings, and other developments during the past year.

For lovers of tax controversy, upcoming disputes between taxpayers and the IRS over Malta pension plans should be legendary.  In short, it appears that taxpayers followed the letter of the law (i.e., the US-Malta treaty), the IRS detested the result, and now the IRS is implementing aggressive measures, including some that supposedly have retroactive effect, in an effort to combat behavior it considers improper.  This presentation explores general U.S. tax treatment of foreign retirement plans, key concepts of the treaty, favorable positions claimed by U.S. taxpayers with Malta pension plans, initial enforcement actions by the IRS, significance of the recent Competent Authority Agreement, effect of the Proposed Regulations on various persons, and potential paths for taxpayers at this juncture.