The IRS in a news release announced the release of a new online tax withholding estimator, replacing the previous withholding calculator.[1]  The new calculator, found at https://apps.irs.gov/app/tax-withholding-estimator, is designed to be both simpler to use and mobile friendly (that is, easier to use on smart phones).

The Fifth Circuit in March 2019 raised, but did not answer, the question of whether it was still appropriate to hold that taxpayers could not reasonably rely on a return preparer for timely filing of a return in the age of electronic filing.[1]  A U.S. District in Court in Tennessee decided that, since taxpayers could prepare their own paper return or obtain paper returns from the preparer, the prior rule should continue to apply.[2]  The Court also held that the taxpayer could not seek first-time abatement (FTA) relief in Court—rather, that is fully under the IRS’s control.

The US Supreme Court held in the Boyle case[3] that a taxpayer could not establish reasonable cause for failing to file a tax return by claiming he/she relied upon a tax preparer to timely file the return.  The Court found that the duty required no special knowledge or skill to file a return (a trip to the Post Office or local IRS office) and, as such, could not be delegated to a third party—the taxpayer had a duty to insure the third party actually took the desired action.

The Self-Employed/Small Business (SBSE) Division of the IRS has a memorandum outlining revised procedures for third party contact in SBSE-04-0719-0034.[1]  The revised procedures reflect changes made to IRC §7602(c)(1) by the Taxpayer First Act of 2019.

IRC §7602(c)(1), both before and after amendment, required the IRS to provide notice to the taxpayer prior to contacting third parties.  The IRS had taken the position, noted in the Internal Revenue Manual at IRM 25.27, Third Party Contacts, that providing the taxpayer with Publication 1, Your Rights as a Taxpayer, was sufficient notice under the prior law.

The issue of the reach of the ban on claiming the earned income tax credit when a taxpayer knowingly claims a dependent he/she is not allowed to claim is discussed in an emailed chief counsel advice (CCA 201931008).

To retain status as a §501(c)(3) charitable organization, an entity must not only have been organized for charitable purposes (a requirement for initial qualification), it must also be operated exclusively for charitable purposes in order to retain that status.  A failure on the second test caused the organization in the case of Giving Hearts, Inc. v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2019-94[1] to retroactively have its status revoked by the IRS.

The case involves an attempt by a business that was negatively impacted by the National Do Not Call Registry, a program conducted jointly by the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, to blunt the impact of that program.  The business, Windows Plus, relied primarily upon telemarketing calls to sell replacement windows and other home improvement services to homeowners.

One of the features of the new centralized partnership audit regime that was enacted as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 is that once a partnership return is filed that is covered by the program, any later change does not lead to the partners amending their return for the year of change.  Rather, after the return is filed the partnership files an administrative adjustment request (AAR) and either:

• Pays tax with the request, computed under the CPAR rules to compute tax due on the imputed adjustment or

• If the partnership elects the alternative to the imputed adjustment, the partners report the additional tax, penalties and interest on their return for the year the AAR is filed.

The IRS posted a clarification on its website that the IRS has changed its position with regard to certain taxes paid to France, holding that these taxes are not covered by the Agreement on Social Security between the two countries.[1]  Thus, these taxes will be retroactively treated as income taxes for which a foreign tax credit is available.

Although it’s an issue we’ve discussed before, it’s important to remember to remind noncustodial parents of the requirement to submit a signed Form 8332, Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent with their tax return to claim the child as a dependent.  In the case of DeMar v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2019-91,[1] the taxpayer was denied such benefits due to his failure to submit the form.  And even though the taxpayer did eventually obtain a signed form, he failed to prove that his former spouse had filed an amended return to give up her tax benefit—a condition imposed in proposed regulations when taxpayers attempts to submit Form 8332 after initially filing a return for the year.

Divorces often leave the parties with hard feelings, and the issues surrounding children can be especially sensitive.  To keep the Tax Court from getting into the middle of such squabbles between former spouses, the law provides a very mechanical test for which of the divorced parents will be able to claim the child as a dependent.

Although it took 30 years, the IRS has issued a correction to a regulation dealing with attribution rules for purposes of determining a “brother-sister group” under IRC §52.  In TD 8179 the IRS changes a reference from “Reg. §1.414(c)-4(b)(1)” to “Reg. §1.414-4.”  And it’s the sort of quirky flaw that only tax geeks can love—and potentially exploit for the (temporary) benefit of eligible clients.