This item describes one such potential trap for the unwary, involving the effective date of a check-the-box entity classification election, and discusses how to address it.
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TOPICS
IRS Practice & Procedure
Gift Card and Gift Certificate Income Deferral
This item analyzes IRS audit guidelines for the treatment of gift card and gift certificate income, focusing on situations that require an examining agent to raise issues with IRS industry technical advisers.
Swallows Decision Renews Questions About Judicial Deference to Tax Regs.
In Swallows, the Third Circuit upheld the validity of an “interpretive” Treasury regulation and applied the high degree of deference to the regulation prescribed by Chevron.
Pilot Program Tests EFTPS Interface with QuickBooks
Treasury has been testing an interface between Intuit’s QuickBooks Payroll product and the electronic federal tax payment system (EFTPS).
The Qualified Offer: The Taxpayer’s 90-Day Letter
Practitioners can use the qualified offer to get a case resolved, or hopefully at least reviewed, within 90 days, and can use the qualified offer to impose administrative and litigation costs on the government when it refuses to accept a reasonable settlement offer
A Review of the Revised Disciplinary Process Under Circular 230
Circular 230 outlines the duties and restrictions relating to practice before the IRS and the rules regarding disciplinary proceedings for violations. Final regulations issued in 2007 made many changes to Circular 230.
Sec. 6694 Tax Return Reporting Standards for Preparers
The Sec. 6694 tax return reporting standards applicable to tax return preparers were increased to “more likely than not” for undisclosed nontax-shelter items.
Supreme Court Declines to Review Check-the-Box Case
The Supreme Court has refused to grant certiorari in Littriello, the first case to uphold the check-the-box regulations.
Tax Court May Apply Equitable Recoupment to Medicare Taxes
The Tax Court held that where it has original jurisdiction to redetermine a deficiency, it also may apply the doctrine of equitable recoupment, even if it does not have jurisdiction over the type of tax at issue.
New Rules for Disclosure and Use of Tax Return Information by Tax Return Preparers
Newly finalized regulations should prompt all return preparers to evaluate their processes to ensure that they conform to the disclosure requirements of Sec. 7216.
Closing Agreement Inapplicable to Successor in Interest
Chief Counsel advice highlights one of the limitations the IRS places on the use of closing agreements and serves as a good reminder for practitioners to be aware of those limitations.
Partnership Returns: Late Filing Penalties Increase
Late 2007 legislation brought changes to Sec. 6698, which provides for penalties against a partnership for filing a late or incomplete return.
CPA Obligations for Addressing Errors and Omissions
Both Circular 230 and AICPA professional standards impose obligations on CPAs who encounter errors or omissions on prior-year tax returns.
A Record-Breaking Year for e-Filing
2007 was another record-breaking year for tax returns filed electronically with the IRS.
How IRS Inaction Stymies Abatement Requests
This item examines a recent case that demonstrates a taxpayer’s limited ability to force the IRS’s hand when it comes to abatement requests.
CPAs at Risk as Government Continues to Attack Abusive Tax Shelters
Through regulations and other forms of guidance issued since 1999, the IRS has clearly put tax practitioners on notice that it considers tax shelter transactions that generate noneconomic tax losses as not allowable for federal income tax purposes.
IRS Issues Rules on New Preparer Penalties
Notice 2008-13 implements the expanded tax return preparer penalties and increased standards of return preparer conduct enacted by the Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007.
Codification of the Economic Substance Doctrine
Reviving an idea that has come and gone several times since 1999, the House and Senate have included similar proposals for the codification of the economic substance doctrine in recent proposed legislation.
The Ongoing Sec. 67(e) Controversy and the New Preparer Penalties
This item discusses how the 2% floor affects a trust’s regular tax and alternative minimum tax (AMT), the effect of the recent Supreme Court decision in Knight on the continuing controversy, and the efficacy of the proposed regulations in the wake of the Knight decision.
IRS to Perform Mandatory Audits of Foreign Earnings Repatriation
The IRS LMSB Division has identified foreign earnings repatriation as a Tier I compliance issue, making it a mandatory examination item for those U.S. taxpayers selected for audit that have elected to repatriate foreign earnings under Sec. 965.
INDIVIDUALS
Current Developments in Taxation of Individuals: Part 1
This update surveys recent federal tax developments involving individuals, including court cases, rulings, and guidance issued during the six months ending October 2025.
