Tax Relief Blog

IRS Appeals – Tax Relief Options

September 14, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

A new IRS revenue procedure updates Rev Proc 2002-44, 2002-2 CB 10, which formally established a mediation procedure for cases at the IRS Appeals administrative level. The new revenue procedure expands and clarifies the types of cases that may be mediated by Appeals. Generally, the program is available for cases in which a limited number of legal and factual issues remain unresolved following settlement discussions in Appeals.

IRS Code Sec. 7123(b)(1) provides the statutory authority for the Appeals mediation program. On July 1, 2002, Rev Proc 2002-44, formally established the Appeals mediation procedure. It modified and expanded the availability of mediation for cases that are already in the Appeals administrative process. Rev Proc 2009-44 supersedes Rev Proc 2002-44.

Back Taxes Help

September 9, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS Back Taxes Help for Financially Distressed Taxpayers

IRS Back Taxes – IRS Tax Tip

If you are facing financial difficulties and struggling to meet your tax obligations the IRS can help. As the 2009 tax filing season begins, in addition to new credits, deductions and exclusions, the IRS is taking steps to help people who owe back taxes. Here are some areas where IRS can help:

What is Self-Employment Tax?

September 4, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

What is Self-Employment Tax?

Self-employment tax (SE tax) is a social security and Medicare tax primarily for individuals who work for themselves. It is similar to the social security and Medicare taxes withheld from the pay of most wage earners.

You figure SE tax yourself using Schedule SE (Form 1040). Social security and Medicare taxes of most wage earners are figured by their employers. Also you can deduct half of your SE tax in figuring your adjusted gross income. Wage earners cannot deduct social security and Medicare taxes.

Employee vs. Independent Contractor

September 3, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Employee vs. Independent Contractor – Ten Tips for Business Owners

IRS Tax Tip

If you are a small business owner, whether you hire people as independent contractors or as employees will impact how much taxes you pay and the amount of taxes you withhold from their paychecks. Additionally, it will affect how much additional cost your business must bear, what documents and information they must provide to you, and what tax documents you must give to them.

EDD and BOE Wildfire Tax Relief

September 2, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

California – Multiple Taxes: Wildfire Relief Extended to Taxpayers in Three More Counties

For taxes and fees they each administer, the California State Board of Equalization (BOE) and the Employment Development Department (EDD) have extended relief to qualifying taxpayers and fee payers who have been affected by wildfires in the counties of Los Angeles, Monterey, and Placer. Both agencies have recently extended similar relief for those affected by wildfires in Santa Cruz and Yuba counties, as reported.

EDD Relief

CEO Personally Liable for Unremitted Taxes

September 1, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

CEO of Long Distance Phone Service Reseller Personally Liable for Unremitted Taxes (Brinskele, FedCl)

An individual who was the chairman, president and CEO (“the CEO”) of a company that resold long distance telephone service had to pay the IRS an assessed penalty plus interest. The term “markup,” in the context of the litigation, referred to the margin between the price at which the company purchased long distance minutes and the higher price at which it resold them. The assessed penalty amount represented the portion of the Code Sec. 4251 communications excise tax collected by the company from its customers on the markup.

In the court’s previous opinion (2006-2 USTC 70,261), it held that the company had an obligation to pay over to the IRS any monies it collected for long distance telephone service even if that service was improperly taxed. Here, the “overwhelming evidence,” indicated that the company did in fact collect the Code Sec. 4251 tax on the markup but failed to remit it to the IRS. Further, the CEO was a responsible person for purposes of Code Sec. 6672. In addition to being the company’s CEO, he was its founder, at times its controlling shareholder, and for a period of time signed many of its checks. Finally, the CEO acted willfully in failing to pay the Code Sec. 4251 tax to the IRS; therefore, he was personally liable for the unpaid taxes. He both knew of his obligations to remit the tax collected on the markup and showed a reckless disregard of the company’s tax responsibilities by failing to do so.

FTB Cash for Clunkers Tax Rules

September 1, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

Clarification of the “Cash for Clunkers” Tax Rules

September 2009 – The federal “Cash for Clunkers” program has generated a lot of interest among consumers and we have received many inquires about the tax implications of this popular program. As a result, we are clarifying state tax rules for people who trade in their used vehicle under the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

The “Cash for Clunkers” program, Federal law, H.R. 2346, The Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program, allows qualifying consumers to receive a $3,500 or $4,500 voucher from the federal government when they trade in qualifying old vehicles and purchase or lease a new one. This federal law provides the value of the voucher received by the consumer is not considered as gross income of the purchaser for purposes of the federal income tax.

IRS May Mine Mortgage Data To Flush Out Tax Cheats

September 1, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS May Mine Mortgage Data To Flush Out Tax Cheats

Source: Dow Jones

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Internal Revenue Service might scrutinize mortgage interest data more closely to help catch tax cheats, after prompting from an IRS auditor.

Who said the IRS is not generous?

August 26, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS Sends $122,783 Check by Mistake

House Cleaner Sensed it was an Error and Returned Check; IRS won’t Comment

SOURCE: CBS

IRS & UBS agreement

August 24, 2009 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS to Receive Unprecedented Amount of Information in UBS Agreement

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice today announced the successful negotiation of an agreement that will result in the IRS receiving an unprecedented amount of information on United States holders of accounts at the Swiss bank UBS.

As a result of this agreement, the IRS will receive substantially all of the accounts that it was interested in when it initiated the John Doe summons against UBS.