In Notice 2023-34[1], the IRS has modified Notice 2014-21.  While the modification recognizes that some jurisdictions now treat Bitcoin as legal tender, it merely removes that statement from the background section but does not modify the Notice’s position that such currencies are treated as property and not foreign currency for US tax purposes.

The IRS determined that holding units of a cryptocurrency that undergoes a change from using a proof of work consensus mechanism to a proof of stake consensus mechanism does not create a sale or exchange nor any other sort of income recognition event under IRC §61 in Chief Counsel Advice 202316008.[1]

In the case of Gerhardt v. Commissioner,[1] the Tax Court found no support for a taxpayer’s claim that the charitable remainder annuity trust structure the taxpayers had entered into virtually eliminated any tax on the gain inherent in low-basis property contributed to a charitable remainder annuity trust (CRAT) which then sold the property and purchased an annuity product that paid the CRAT annuity amount to the taxpayers.

In the case of Lucas v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2023-9, a taxpayer found that his diabetes diagnosis did not either cause his distribution from a §401(k) plan to be exempt from the regular income tax nor exempt it from the 10% tax on a premature distribution under IRC §72(t).

In Revenue Procedure 2023-14[1] the IRS has released the depreciation limits on automobiles under IRC §280F for 2023.

An article in Tax Notes Today Federal reported that Ken Corbin, the IRS’s taxpayer experience officer and Wage and Investment Division Commissioner, stated that the IRS was now answering phone calls to the practitioner helpline in under 10 minutes.  Mr. Corbin made this statement in a virtual event hosted by the California Society of Enrolled Agents on January 18, 2023.[1]

On January 12, 2023 the IRS released a draft of revised instructions[1] for Form 6765, Credit for Increasing Research Activities that now contains the guidance the IRS announced previously regarding what must be submitted with an amended income tax return claiming a credit under IRC §41 for increasing research activities.

If a taxpayer makes a charitable contribution of cryptocurrency valued at more than $5,000, a qualified appraisal is required the IRS held in Chief Counsel Advice 202302012.[1]  The IRS finds that cryptocurrency fails to fall into any category of property exempted from the qualified appraisal rules of §170(f)(11)(C).

The crypto winter of 2022 has a number of those burned by the drop in price looking to see if there may be some sort of tax benefit they can claim based on their holdings dropping in some cases to virtually worthless.  But it turns out merely being virtually worthless virtual currency won’t deliver any sort of tax benefit, at least in the conclusions given in IRS Chief Counsel Advice 202302011.[1]

A government contractor could not exclude the value of employer provided housing from his income under IRC §119 per a Tax Court ruling in the case of Smith v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2023-6.[1]

The IRS announced that it plans to issue regulations defining specific terms for the revised and renamed clean vehicle credit under IRC §30D in Notice 2023-1.[1]  The notice even provides the expected content for these terms.  But, interestingly, nowhere in the Notice does it say taxpayers may rely on these definitions until the regulations are issued.

The qualified commercial clean vehicle credit at IRC §45W added by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that takes effect beginning in 2023 requires taxpayers to reference the incremental cost of their qualified vehicle as one of the factors that can limit the credit.  However, in no case can the credit exceed $7,500 for a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of less than 14,000 pounds, so if the incremental cost is more than $7,500 then it would not serve to limit the amount of the credit.

In Notice 2023-9,[1] the IRS has issued guidance for determining the incremental cost of vehicles for purposes of the credit under IRC §45W, providing for safe harbor values taxpayers may use based on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2022 Incremental Purchase Cost Methodology and Results for Clean Vehicles.[2]

The annual update for tax-related automobile mileage rates for 2023 was published by the IRS in Notice 2023-03.[1]

The IRS posted the final version of the 2022 partnership Schedule K-2 and K-3 instructions to their 2022 forms site on December 28, 2022.[1] No changes appear to have been made to the Domestic Filing Exception when compared to the second draft version of the instructions that were issued in early December.

The IRS announced in Announcement 2023-2[1] that the agency will not require reporting on digital assets by brokers as required by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act until regulations are issued implementing Section 80603 of the Act modifying IRC §§6045 and 6045A.

The IRS has delayed the expanded Form 1099-K reporting requirement for third party settlement organizations (TPSO) enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 by one year in Notice 2023-10.[1]

The IRS issued the final 2022 instructions for Schedules K-2 and K-3 for Form 1120-S on December 20, 2022.[1]  The document contains the final instructions for a corporation to meet the domestic filing exception to preparing Schedules K-2 and K-3 for 2022.  These rules are virtually the same as were found in the draft instructions released on December 5, 2022.

The IRS again succeeded in showing that a taxpayer had failed to timely obtain a contemporaneous written acknowledgement (CWA) required by IRC §170(f)(8) related to a charitable contribution in the case of Brooks v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2022-122.[1]

While there are two other issues the IRS and the Tax Court find fault with for the taxpayer, note that the Court yet again states a failure to comply with the CWA provisions of IRC §170(f)(8) results by itself in an entire denial of the charitable contribution deduction.

The IRS in News Release IR-2022-220[1] reminded taxpayers that the second payment of deferred employer Social Security and self-employment taxes is due no later than December 31, 2022.  The release reminds taxpayers of this COVID-19 relief provision that applied in 2020, allowing affected taxpayers to defer paying these taxes:

As part of the COVID relief provided during 2020, employers could choose to put off paying the employer's share of their Social Security tax liability, which is 6.2% of wages. Self-employed individuals could also choose to defer a similar amount of their self-employment tax. Generally, half of that deferral was due on December 31, 2021. The other half is due on December 31, 2022.[2]

While the IRS sent notices to impacted taxpayers earlier this fall per the release, the agency reminded taxpayers they must still make this payment even if they did not receive the notice.

The IRS has released guidance providing for automatic permission to change a taxpayers’ method of accounting for IRC §174 research and experimental expenditures in Revenue Procedure 2023-8.[1]  The guidance modifies Section 7 of Revenue Procedure 2022-14, which previously provided for an automatic change to the treatment of research and experimental expenditures under IRC §174.