Ed Zollars' Tax Update Podcast

What's Ed Zollars' Tax Update Podcast about?

An update from time to time on various tax issues presented by Ed Zollars, CPA and designed for tax professionals. Users are cautioned to do their own independent research to verify any conclusions stated on this podcast--I do not claim to be infallible, but just to bring up issues to consider.

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Ed Zollars' Tax Update Podcast episodes:

06.01.2009
Gadgets and Gizmos
This week's presentation is based on a presentation I made for the Virginia Society of CPAs' 8th Annual Industry Conference in Williamsburg on May 28, 2009 on gadgets and gizmos. The presentation includes a look at: Novatel's MifiApple's Airport ExpressApple iPhone...
05.18.2009
The Education of the Taxpayer from a Business Perspective
Education incentives have been a favorite of Congress in recent years, but this week we look at the old favorite of education as a business deduction, a provision covered by regulations last updated back in 1967. The Tax Court had...
05.09.2009
The Limits on Taking a Return Position
Last year there was lots of discussion regarding the changes to §6694 and how tax professionals were to apply the standards there against return positions. However, while the standard to be applied may have changed, there were standards in place...
05.03.2009
Net Operating Loss Guidance: Let's Try This One Again
The IRS has issued a revised ruling on the use of a net operating loss under the new rules Congress added in February. The new ruling, Revenue Ruling 2009-26, updates and liberalizes the guidance previously given in Revenue Ruling 2009-19...
04.25.2009
What's Up Doc? Employee or Not?
The definition of an employee is this week's key issue--and we look at the matter in the case of Maimon v. Commissioner, TC Summary Opinion 2009-53. Dr. Maimon attempted to argue that he was not an employee of the professional...
04.20.2009
A Matter of Time (And Innocent Spouses)
The Tax Court recently decided a pair of cases related to the innocent spouse provisions of §6015 and time limits on filing for relief. In the case of Mannella v. Commissioner, 132 T.C. No. 10 the Tax Court held that...
03.07.2009
A Defining Moment-Brokerage Trade or Business
The IRS has shown recent interest in disputing whether real estate agents meet the requirements to be treated as real estate professionals that can use the rules of §409(c)(7) to treat rental real estate under the standard passive activity rules...
02.28.2009
The Case of the Missing Cattle-Overvaluation Penalty
Can nonexistent cattle be overvalued? The Ninth Circuit, disagreeing with the Tax Court and other circuits, says it cannot be in the case of Keller v. Commissioner, 2009 TNT 37-17 reversing on this issue the Tax Court's decision in TC...
02.22.2009
It's a Matter of Trust Funds—the Responsible Person Penalty
This week we look at a case dealing with the trust fund recovery penalty under §6672. In the case of Richard A. Smith v. United States, 2009 TNT 30-6, CA10, (http://ca10.washburnlaw.edu/cases/2009/02/07-4210.pdf) the Tenth Circuit refused to overturn the holding in...
02.14.2009
Losses and Choices-Stimulus Bill Net Operating Loss Rules
The new American Recovery Reinvestment Act of 2009 has a number of tax provisions, and this week's podcast looks at the small business net operating loss provisions of the Act. This provision will require action for some taxpayers within 60...
02.07.2009
Housing Fiasco of a Different Sort-Casualty Loss Issues
Housing problems are all over the news (and with some of our clients), but today's story is a housing problem of a different sort. We look at a case where lots of things went wrong in building a taxpayers' dream...
01.31.2009
A Matter of Timing-When Income and Deductions are Reported
What if a customer tells you they are going to reduce what they pay you for the work you just delivered to them because you owe them to fix for a bad job you did on an earlier contract? If...
01.25.2009
Home is Where the Job Is
This week I look at a case involving a Northwest Airlines mechanic who was laid off and ended up using his "bumping" rights in other cities while hoping to return to his original home base. The question of whether the...
01.19.2009
Sharing the Credit-IRS Rules on Section 36 Provision
Last year when Congress added the first-time homebuyer credit found in Section 36, they included the ability for unmarried individuals who jointly acquire a residence to allocate the credit among themselves, and gave the IRS the ability to write the...
01.16.2009
Debt, Foreclosures and the Tax Law
The new year opens up with a podcast based on a topic that was part of a panel I was a part of at the Arizona Forum for Improvement of Taxation's winter conference. I spoke with attorney Tracy Essig of...
12.27.2008
Medical Expenses: Testing the Limits
Medical expenses were the issue this week in the case of Magdalin v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2008-293. In this case the taxpayer had paid expenses for obtaining eggs and the services of a surrogate mother, and argued that these expenses...
11.09.2008
Section 6694 Saga Developments-An Update After Latest Revision
The podcast this week is based on a presentation I made Thursday at the Arizona Tax Institute on the current state of Section 6694. The session was scheduled back a few months ago, but proved timely given recent tax law...
11.02.2008
S Corporation Debt and How to Not End Up With Basis
We continue with issues related to S Corporation debt and the many ways to end up not being able to use debts to deduct losses flowing through. This week we look at the Tax Court's opinion in the case of...
10.28.2008
Closing the Open Door-S Corporation Debt
The IRS has issued final regulations on S Corporation open account debt that will change the way that many clients have to deal with their loans to the corporation. These changes are effective immediately, so we have to understand how...
09.28.2008
Too Late to Elect
Another taxpayer found out well after filing his return with less than stellar results from his trading activities that there had been an option to file an election under §475(f) to use mark to market accounting which also converts the...
09.21.2008
"Creative Planning" Creates Fraud Penalty
This is a "travel" podcast of sorts this week--the materials were prepared on a Southwest Airlines 737 flying from Phoenix to Baltimore, and recorded in the Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, Virginia. This week's topic doesn't deal with any of that--rather...
09.15.2008
We Just Disagree-What is the Meaning of In Connection With?
We look this week at a difference in application of IRC §162(k) between the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Tax Court given the Tax Court's decision in Ralston Purina v. Commissioner, 131 TC No. 4 that...
09.07.2008
At Death Do Payments Stop? Alimony Revisited
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week affirmed the Tax Court's decision in the case of Johanson and Melzig v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2006-105 involving alimony. In its original decision, the Tax Court expressed exasperation at having to yet...
08.25.2008
Authoritative Support-Getting the Required Support for a Tax Position
We review the requirements found in the regulations for obtaining the required support for a tax position, concentrating on the methods outlined in Reg. §1.6662-4(d) in the definition of "substantial authority" which are cross referenced multiple times when considering other...
08.17.2008
Keeping Things Open-Life Insurance Demutualization Case
This week we look at the Recent United States Court of Federal Claims decision in Fisher, Trustee v. United States, 2008 TNT 154-7 where the court sided with the taxpayer and held that the proper treatment of amounts received...
08.10.2008
Section 108 Proposed Regulations for S Corporations
The IRS issued new proposed regulations to explain the reduction of the NOL substitute in an S corporation setting when cancellation of debt is excluded from the S corporation's income under Section 108. While the regulations are in proposed form...
08.03.2008
I Wish That Hadn't Worked--Section 83(b) Election Regret
This podcast is the sequel to a November 2006 podcast on the same case--that of Kadillak v. Commissioner where an individual who was caught by the "dot bomb" crash of the technology stock of his former employer attempted to mitigate...
07.27.2008
Home Run-A Look at Some Tax Provisions in the New Housing Law
In a special podcast, we look at the just passed American Home Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, taking a detailed look at a few tax provisions in that bill of interest. We look at the new, refundable first...
07.27.2008
Heeding Warnings-Taxpayer Penalized After Preparer Shopping
In the past year we've talked a lot about the preparer standards and tax return positions. This week, in the case of Wadsworth v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2008-171, we see a real world situation where a tax professional decided a...
07.21.2008
Virtual Machines and Tax Practice
I gave a presentation at the offices of the Arizona Society of CPAs on the use of virtual machines to deal with the transition from Windows XP to Vista in a tax practice. This podcast is based on that presentation,...
07.13.2008
Getting Started Automatically—IRS Modifies Rules for Start Up and Organization Costs
The IRS issued new temporary regulations that deal with start-up and corporate and partnership organization costs. Interestingly enough, the new regulations now create an automatic election to expense/amortize all such costs, and treat problems related to the identification of costs...
07.06.2008
S Corporations and AAA
The IRS this week issued some relatively unsurprising guidance on the treatment of life insurance and an S corporation's accumulated adjustments account, so this week we'll look at the more general issues of the relevance (and lack of relevance) of...
06.29.2008
IRS Releases New FAQ on HSAs
The IRS has issued new guidance in the form of a series of questions and answers related to Health Savings Account in Notice 2008-59. This podcast goes over the various items covered in this notice, and some of the planning...
06.26.2008
Proposed Regulations for Preparer Penalties - Part Two
This is part two of a series of two podcasts on the proposed regulations for preparer penalties released recently. . The materials are at http://edzollars.com/2008-06-23_Penalty.pdf . The podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, on the web at http://www.leimbergservices.com .
06.23.2008
Proposed Regulations for Preparer Penalties - Part One
This is the first of what will be a series of two podcasts on the proposed regulations for preparer penalties released here recently. Considering the length of the regulations and podcast, the first hour is in this file to listen...
06.15.2008
Who is Knocking at Your Door? Computer Security for Financial Professionals
Securing our client's data is the responsibility of all of those in tax practice. This past week I gave a presentation at the Arizona Society of CPA's Financial Planning Conference on this matter, and that presentation serves as the basis...
06.08.2008
Step or No Step-Holman Case
This week we look at the step transaction doctrine and where the line is drawn when we deal with the application of the step transaction doctrine in the formation of a family limited partnership. The IRS attempted to use their...
05.30.2008
Poor Records Not Equated to Fraud
This week we look at a Court of Claims case that deals with an IRS examination and the imposition of the fraud penalty--a penalty the Court of Claims found was not justified. The case is the one of Gagliardi v....
05.24.2008
Not a Mere Technicality-SEP Disqualified
Simplified employee pensions (SEPs) are a popular retirement plan for extremely small businesses, with one of the key attractions being that don't require many of the formalities of regular qualified plans. But that has led to taxpayers treating them too...
05.17.2008
Partnership Liabilities, Tax Shelters and Different Views of the Same
The Fifth Circuit came down with a ruling in Kornman & Associates, Inc. v. United States on whether a taxpayer who set up a Son of BOSS style shelter would get the benefit that was expected--and the taxpayer was disappointed. ...
05.10.2008
All IRS Employees Are Not Equal
Since we've discussed mailing returns in previous podcasts, this time we look at the problems a taxpayer who tries to hand file a return can run into getting that done correctly. In the case of Allnut, Sr. v. Commissioner, 2008-1...
05.04.2008
Sloppiness and the Tax Shelter
Partnership taxation is one of those areas where things may not work exactly as many practitioners expect, and those unexpected workings are things that tax shelter promoters have attempted to make use of. But if you are going to try...
04.28.2008
Qualified Joint Venture and Memo on Self-Employment Tax
This week we follow the continuing saga of the self-employment tax and qualified joint venture that we've been following since the early part of this year. This week we analyze CCA 200816030 issued by the IRS that outlines the "new...
04.20.2008
The Mailbox Rule Comes Up Once Again
The issue of whether §7502(c) provides the exclusive means to prove timely filing of a document by a taxpayer is addressed yet again by the courts--and what the Third Circuit had to say, the IRS didn't like hearing. In the...
04.16.2008
Was it a Gift or Compensation? The Tax Court Knows
After a hiatus at the end of tax season, we return with a new show dealing with an issue of whether a payment to a person was compensation income or a gift. The case in question is the case of...
03.22.2008
Upon Further Review-Self-Employment Tax Issues
The self-employment tax is our topic for this week, specifically dealing with two topics. We revisit an issue last visited in the early days of the podcast (back in June 2005) of the treatment of LLC members for self-employment tax...
03.16.2008
CPA Says Error, IRS Says Accounting Method
The question of whether a problem on a return was an error or a method of accounting is important, as we'll discuss this week looking at the Sixth Circuit's ruling in the case of Huffman v. Commissioner, where the appeals...
03.09.2008
Risky Business - LLC Debt Restoration Provision Fails to Provide At Risk Status
This week we look at the Tax Court's second pass at the case of Hubert v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2008-46, a case that sent back to the Tax Court by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to decide if the...
03.02.2008
Safe Harbor for Section 1031 Exchanges
The IRS has issued a safe harbor treatment for §1031 exchanges involving property that previously had or subsequently has personal use. Revenue Procedure 2008-16 outlines the tests taxpayers can meet to be given safe harbor status on the question of...
02.24.2008
Not Quite Good Enough-Timely Filing One More Time
We revisit the issue of what exactly is timely filing, revisiting an issue last covered in a podcast back in October of 2005. This time we look at the Tenth Circuit's opinion in the case of Gibson v. Commissioner, a...

What's Ed Zollars' Tax Update Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Ed Zollars' Tax Update Podcast episodes:

Gadgets and Gizmos

The Education of the Taxpayer from a Business Perspective

The Limits on Taking a Return Position

Net Operating Loss Guidance: Let's Try This One Again

What's Up Doc? Employee or Not?

A Matter of Time (And Innocent Spouses)

A Defining Moment-Brokerage Trade or Business

The Case of the Missing Cattle-Overvaluation Penalty

It's a Matter of Trust Funds—the Responsible Person Penalty

Losses and Choices-Stimulus Bill Net Operating Loss Rules

Housing Fiasco of a Different Sort-Casualty Loss Issues

A Matter of Timing-When Income and Deductions are Reported

Home is Where the Job Is

Sharing the Credit-IRS Rules on Section 36 Provision

Debt, Foreclosures and the Tax Law

Medical Expenses: Testing the Limits

Section 6694 Saga Developments-An Update After Latest Revision

S Corporation Debt and How to Not End Up With Basis

Closing the Open Door-S Corporation Debt

Too Late to Elect

"Creative Planning" Creates Fraud Penalty

We Just Disagree-What is the Meaning of In Connection With?

At Death Do Payments Stop? Alimony Revisited

Authoritative Support-Getting the Required Support for a Tax Position

Keeping Things Open-Life Insurance Demutualization Case

Section 108 Proposed Regulations for S Corporations

I Wish That Hadn't Worked--Section 83(b) Election Regret

Home Run-A Look at Some Tax Provisions in the New Housing Law

Heeding Warnings-Taxpayer Penalized After Preparer Shopping

Virtual Machines and Tax Practice

Getting Started Automatically—IRS Modifies Rules for Start Up and Organization Costs

S Corporations and AAA

IRS Releases New FAQ on HSAs

Proposed Regulations for Preparer Penalties - Part Two

Proposed Regulations for Preparer Penalties - Part One

Who is Knocking at Your Door? Computer Security for Financial Professionals

Step or No Step-Holman Case

Poor Records Not Equated to Fraud

Not a Mere Technicality-SEP Disqualified

Partnership Liabilities, Tax Shelters and Different Views of the Same

All IRS Employees Are Not Equal

Sloppiness and the Tax Shelter

Qualified Joint Venture and Memo on Self-Employment Tax

The Mailbox Rule Comes Up Once Again

Was it a Gift or Compensation? The Tax Court Knows

Upon Further Review-Self-Employment Tax Issues

CPA Says Error, IRS Says Accounting Method

Risky Business - LLC Debt Restoration Provision Fails to Provide At Risk Status

Safe Harbor for Section 1031 Exchanges

Not Quite Good Enough-Timely Filing One More Time