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IRS Updates Guidance on Adequate Disclosure of Positions

The IRS has released updated guidance identifying when a taxpayer’s disclosure of an item or position in an income tax return is adequate for purposes of reducing the understatement of tax penalty and the tax return preparer penalty for understatement due to unreasonable positions.

Reorganizations and Tax Attribute Survival

Whether tax attributes will survive corporate tax reorganizations often becomes a critical consideration in assessing the ramifications of a proposed transaction. This item discusses issues surrounding these reorganizations and emphasizes the need for practitioners to have a good foundational understanding of the relevant rules.

Payments Under Forbearance Agreements Held Partially Deductible

The Tax Court held that payments by a company to investors for agreeing to temporarily forgo making an election to redeem stock were not interest payments; however, it further held that some of the payments were deductible ordinary and necessary business expenses.

Deepwater Horizon and Sec. 162

This item examines the deductibility of fines and penalties incurred by BP in the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

Deferral of Loss from Sale or Exchange Between Members

The IRS rejected a parent corporation’s argument that it was entitled to take into account a loss arising from its sale of domestic subsidiary (Sub1) stock to a foreign subsidiary (Sub2) as a result of the domestic subsidiary’s later liquidation.

Congress Votes to Limit Use of Foreign Tax Credits

P.L. 111-226 makes changes to how corporations can use the foreign tax credit and also terminates the advance refundability of the earned income credit (under Sec. 3507), effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2010.

IRS Releases Final Schedule UTP, Incorporates Changes

In two announcements, the IRS unveiled a number of significant changes to its plan to require certain business taxpayers to report uncertain tax positions on their tax returns and issued a final version of Schedule UTP.

Extended NOL Carrybacks and the AMT

The addition and expansion of the Sec. 172(b)(1)(H) election has created numerous tax planning opportunities for corporations that have sustained NOLs; the ability to change the character of election-year ATNOLs creates an additional benefit of making this election.

Suspension of Applicable High-Yield Discount Obligation Regime for 2010

Congress suspended the applicable high-yield discount obligation (AHYDO) rules under Sec. 163(e)(5) for certain debt-for-debt exchanges occurring between September 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009. Notice 2010-11 extended the suspension of the AHYDO regime through December 31, 2010, but with additional requirements.

Sec. 382 and the Hold Constant Principle

The IRS provided long-awaited interim guidance on Sec. 382(l)(3)(C) with the issuance of Notice 2010-50, which provides certain methodologies for taking into account, or not taking into account, fluctuations in value.

Transparency and Compliance in Light of the New Schedule UTP

In April 2010, the IRS issued a draft of Schedule UTP, Uncertain Tax Position Statement, with Announcement 2010-30. This represents an important development in the longstanding and ongoing battle between taxpayers and the federal and state taxing authorities for access to tax accrual workpapers and other tax-related information.

The Qualified Therapeutic Discovery Project Tax Credit and Grant

Included in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are a few new income tax credits. In particular, there is one that many new startups and growing health care industry enterprises may benefit from—the qualifying therapeutic discovery project credit (Sec. 48D).