Tax practice

Just in time for consideration by the President's new bipartisan panel on tax reform, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson has released a report to Congress that identifies the complexity of the Internal Revenue Code as the most serious problem facing taxpayers and the IRS alike. "Without a doubt, the largest source of compliance burdens for taxpayers and the IRS alike is the overwhelming complexity of the tax code, and without a doubt, the only meaningful way to reduce these compliance burdens is to simplify the tax code enormously," Olson wrote. The report cited the alternative minimum tax , the earned income tax credit, and the large number of provisions designed to encourage taxpayers to save for education and for retirement as key illustrations of the problems of complexity wrought by the 1.4 million-plus word tax code. Once again, Olson noted the problems associated with the alternative minimum tax. "The need for AMT relief looms like the proverbial elephant in the room," she said, "and for that reason we once again, for the third year, recommend its repeal." The report also recommended that Congress simplify certain tax burdens on small businesses, streamline and simplify tax incentives for education savings and spending, streamline and simplify tax incentives for retirement savings, and provide guidance to the IRS to accept a broader array of offers in compromise submitted under a new "equitable consideration" standard.

The Internal Revenue Service has updated for three states the tables that taxpayers can use to determine whether they'll benefit from deducting sales tax rather than state and local income taxes.

Washington - Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont., are calling for an independent investigation by the Government Accountability Office of the Offer in Compromise Program.In a letter to Treasury Secretary John Snow, the senators had questioned the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury implementation and administration of the OIC program. Based on the IRS response, the senators said that they have called for an investigation.

IRS INTEREST RATES UNCHANGED FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2005: Interest rates for calculating the amount owed on refunds and deficiencies will remain unchanged for the calendar quarter beginning Jan. 1, 2005, the Internal Revenue Service said.The rates will remain at 5 percent for overpayments (4 percent for corporations); 5 percent for underpayments; 7 percent for large corporate underpayments; and 2.5 percent for the portion of a corporate overpayment exceeding $10,000. The rates are computed from the federal short-term rate based on daily compounding determined during October 2004.

President Bush has named two former senators to lead a new nine-member bipartisan panel charged with arriving at options to reform the tax code.

With the tax law becoming increasingly complex, it is no surprise that there often can be several well-intentioned interpretations of a particular provision. Also no surprise is the expectation of many clients that a fee for planning advice should almost always result in an exponential decrease in overall tax liability.

In a display of bipartisan cooperation, the Senate and the House on Thursday unanimously approved legislation allowing extra time for 2004 deductions for tsunami relief donations, just two days after it was proposed by Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont.

Taxpayers who misreported their income to snare unjustified Earned Income Tax Credits are draining $2 billion a year from the U.S. Treasury, auditors at the Government Accountability Office told Congress.

Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont., announced a plan Tuesday to extend the period of time in which Americans can claim tax deductions for charitable donations to assist victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Southeast Asia on Dec. 26.

As the Internal Revenue Service kicked off its 2005 tax filing season this week, it announced that it expects that its e-file program will hit a milestone.

The Treasury Department tapped Robert Carroll, deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis, and deputy assistant secretary for regulatory affairs, Eric Solomon, to assume interim leadership roles in tax policy until a new assistant secretary for tax policy is appointed. In those roles, Carroll will provide economic advice and analysis with regard to tax policy issues on behalf of the Treasury, while Solomon will continue to direct the regulatory guidance process in his current role as deputy assistant secretary for regulatory affairs. He also will serve as the acting deputy assistant secretary for tax policy. The moves come roughly one week following the Dec. 17 resignation of Greg Jenner, who served as acting assistant secretary for tax policy. Jenner assumed that post after incumbent Pamela Olson left the Treasury for a job in the private sector. Under current law, the president must either nominate a new Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy or designate an acting leader.

Before the end of the year, President Bush intends to select panelists to comprise a bipartisan tax reform commission, which would be charged with reporting any and all recommendations related to reforming the tax code to the Treasury Dept. According to Tax Analysts, the panel's recommendations will be given to Treasury secretary John Snow who in turn, will refer them to the president. However, as previously reported, heading the "to-do" list on the president's second term agenda will be the overhaul of the Social Security system and non-defense spending cuts rather than tax code reform. Most Capitol Hill observers believe that any tax reform would most likely be incremental and not be addressed until 2006.

With a planned overhaul of Social Security and pressing budget issues occupying center stage during the onset of the second Bush administration term, the president's planned reform of the tax code would most likely be pushed back at least one year. According to the Washington Post, the president plans to name a panel to examine the current tax policy but reportedly will assign the Treasury Department to monitor the panel's progress. The report said that Treasury Secretary John Snow would most likely recommend incremental changes to the tax code, rather than more dramatic reforms such as supplanting it with a "flat tax" or national sales tax. A White House spokeswoman, however, maintained that overhauling the tax code remains a priority.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued letters to 1,700 businesses and retirement plan sponsors alerting them to new income and excise taxes applicable to S Corporation employee stock ownership plans, and warning of the consequences of participating in abusive schemes involving ESOPs and S Corporations. The letters are being mailed to S Corporation ESOPs reporting 10 or fewer participants. The letters follow recently issued temporary regulations on ESOPs and S Corporations, which provide guidance concerning the application of Internal Revenue Code section 409(p). Section 409(p) was enacted to address concerns about ownership structures involving S Corporations and ESOPs that concentrate the benefits of the ESOP in a small number of persons. For S Corporation ESOPs in existence on March 14, 2001, section 409(p) is effective for plan years beginning after Dec. 31, 2004. This delayed effective date has allowed existing S Corporations that maintain ESOPs some time to restructure the stock ownership in order to avoid the tax effects of section 409(p). The IRS letters also call attention to other abuses connected with S corporation ESOPs. "The IRS has determined that many existing arrangements designed to take advantage of the benefits of S corporation ESOP rules would not only involve taxation under section 409(p) but would also violate qualification requirements of the tax law, such as the coverage rules under Code section 410(b)," said Carol Gold, director of the IRS Employee Plans division."When an ESOP is not qualified under such circumstances, the subchapter S Corporation may be taxable as a C Corporation and any highly compensated ESOP participant may be taxable on the value of his or her account balance."

The Internal Revenue Service has expanded a program aimed at enabling some business taxpayers to resolve certain tax issues before they file their returns.

The Internal Revenue Service is allowing limited exceptions from coverage of the new deferred compensation rules for certain stock appreciation rights, or SARs, that "do not present potential for abuse or intentional circumvention of the purposes" of Section 409A.

The Internal Revenue Service has appointed 12 new members for the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council, the group that serves as a forum for IRS officials and public representatives to discuss relevant and emerging tax issues.

In addition to his role as a dictator who started World War II and sent millions of people to their deaths in concentration camps, Adolf Hitler was a tax evader, according to a recent report.

The Internal Revenue Service has released tax tables to help taxpayers determine whether they would benefit from an optional new sales tax deduction.

GAO SAYS IRS IMPROVED PERFORMANCE IN '04, BUT BETTER DATA NEEDED ON SOME SERVICES: The Internal Revenue Service scored high marks for processing returns and issuing refunds smoothly during the 2004 filing season, but didn't fare as well on accuracy in answering tax questions, according to a Government Accountability Office report.