Current Federal Tax Developments

For this week of April 11, 2016 in Current Federal Tax Developments we look at:

• IRS formally disagrees with Tax Court’s view on taxability of tax adviser damage award
• Informal IRS letter indicates additional conditions under which an employer HSA contribution may be refunded
• Depreciation limits and lease inclusion amounts for autos for 2015 and 2016 published by the IRS
• Trust allowed to enter into agreement of interpretation of terms to allow for QSST election
• Omitted gift statute rule doesn’t keep open years after the omitted gift
• A lesson in dicta, as the IRS discovers the Tax Court decides it didn’t mean what it said in passing in a separate case

Current Federal Tax Developments is brought to you by the state societies of CPAs and Nichols Patrick Incorporated

A PDF of the articles for this week's topics can be downloaded below.

• 2016-04-11 Current Federal Tax Developments

For this week of April 11, 2016 in Current Federal Tax Developments we look at:

• IRS formally disagrees with Tax Court’s view on taxability of tax adviser damage award
• Informal IRS letter indicates additional conditions under which an employer HSA contribution may be refunded
• Depreciation limits and lease inclusion amounts for autos for 2015 and 2016 published by the IRS
• Trust allowed to enter into agreement of interpretation of terms to allow for QSST election
• Omitted gift statute rule doesn’t keep open years after the omitted gift
• A lesson in dicta, as the IRS discovers the Tax Court decides it didn’t mean what it said in passing in a separate case

Current Federal Tax Developments is brought to you by the state societies of CPAs and Nichols Patrick Incorporated

A PDF of the articles for this week's topics can be downloaded below.

• 2016-04-11 Current Federal Tax Developments

For this week of April 4, 2016 in Current Federal Tax Developments we look at:

• When Code Sections Collide - Dealing with the Interaction of Two Partnership Anti-Abuse Rules
• Did the finding of value where a bankruptcy trustee saw worthless junk lead to self-employment income?
• Actions after the decedent’s passing had consequences to estate’s charitable contribution deduction
• Same facts, same result--another IRA bites the dust despite new ideas presented to the court on how to keep the IRA alive
• A reminder regarding reimbursing a single employee’s private health insurance

The written discussions for the week can be downloaded via the link below.

• Current Federal Tax Developments for the week of April 4, 2016

For this week of April 4, 2016 in Current Federal Tax Developments we look at:

• When Code Sections Collide - Dealing with the Interaction of Two Partnership Anti-Abuse Rules
• Did the finding of value where a bankruptcy trustee saw worthless junk lead to self-employment income?
• Actions after the decedent’s passing had consequences to estate’s charitable contribution deduction
• Same facts, same result--another IRA bites the dust despite new ideas presented to the court on how to keep the IRA alive
• A reminder regarding reimbursing a single employee’s private health insurance

The written discussions for the week can be downloaded via the link below.

• Current Federal Tax Developments for the week of April 4, 2016

For this week of March 28, 2016 in Current Federal Tax Developments we look at:

• We get delays this week--but they are probably ones you’ll like
• Details and timing matter for charitable contribution documentation
• Even a really good pair of excuses for a failure to make money doesn’t help in one hobby loss case
• Revisions are made to the procedures for referrals to Appeals once a taxpayer turns to the Tax Court to challenge the IRS

You can download the related write-ups with links to the source documents here:

• 2016-03-28 Current Federal Tax Developments

For this week of March 28, 2016 in Current Federal Tax Developments we look at:

• We get delays this week--but they are probably ones you’ll like
• Details and timing matter for charitable contribution documentation
• Even a really good pair of excuses for a failure to make money doesn’t help in one hobby loss case
• Revisions are made to the procedures for referrals to Appeals once a taxpayer turns to the Tax Court to challenge the IRS

You can download the related write-ups with links to the source documents here:

• 2016-03-28 Current Federal Tax Developments

For this week of March 21, 2016 in Current Federal Tax Developments we look at:

• Blues over Congressional explanations of laws
• A taxpayer discovers that he can be penalized even when the issue of whether he owes tax hasn’t been decided
• The IRS explains trust charitable contributions and
• The IRS again successfully wields its favorite weapon against family limited partnerships

You can also listen to or download the audio only version here:

You may download the the written materials for this week's podcast below.

• Current Federal Developments for March 21, 2016

For this week of March 21, 2016 in Current Federal Tax Developments we look at:

• Blues over Congressional explanations of laws
• A taxpayer discovers that he can be penalized even when the issue of whether he owes tax hasn’t been decided
• The IRS explains trust charitable contributions and
• The IRS again successfully wields its favorite weapon against family limited partnerships

You can also listen to or download the audio only version here:

You may download the the written materials for this week's podcast below.

• Current Federal Developments for March 21, 2016

The continuing issues with the security of taxpayer information, both at the IRS and with employers start off this week's discussion.  The discussion then moves on to two different cases, decided one day apart by the Tax Court, looking at the problems taxpayers run into if they try to argue substance over form and what is and is not a substance over form argument.  Finally this week's program looks at the IRS's request for comments on implementing the new partnership audit regime.

PDF of Articles - Current Federal Tax Developments March 14, 2016

The continuing issues with the security of taxpayer information, both at the IRS and with employers start off this week's discussion.  The discussion then moves on to two different cases, decided one day apart by the Tax Court, looking at the problems taxpayers run into if they try to argue substance over form and what is and is not a substance over form argument.  Finally this week's program looks at the IRS's request for comments on implementing the new partnership audit regime.

PDF of Articles - Current Federal Tax Developments March 14, 2016