Tax Relief Blog

IRS Demutualization Ruling

August 12, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

Court rebuffs IRS and allows policyholder to escape gain on demutualization

Eugene A. Fisher et al. v. U.S. (Ct Cl 8/6/2008) 102 AFTR 2d ¶ 2008-5150

The Court of Federal Claims has applied a variation of the open transaction doctrine with the result that a policyholder had no gain to report when it chose a cash option in connection with a demutualization of an insurance company. Under this option, the shares awarded to the policyholder were immediately sold by the company and the proceeds were then paid to the policyholder in cash. IRS said that the policyholder was taxable on the full amount of the gain without being able to allocate any of his basis in the contract to offset the sales proceeds. The Court allowed the policyholder to use his basis in the contract (which greatly exceeded the amount of the sales proceeds) to fully offset the proceeds and thus to report no gain.

Tax Shelter IRS Resolution

August 8, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

New IRS settlement initiative for LILO and SILO transactions

Mike Habib, EA

IRS recently announced a settlement initiative for Lease-In/Lease-Out (LILO) and Sale-in/Lease-Out (SILO) transactions. Under this initiative, more than 45 of the nation’s largest corporations that participated in these shelters will receive a letter with an offer. Shelter participants will have 30 days to make a decision to accept the offer. Taxpayers would have to concede 80% of certain claimed tax breaks but they would not be hit with accuracy-related penalties.

Charitable Contribution

August 7, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

Proposed regs explain strict charitable contribution substantiation & appraisal rules Preamble to Prop Reg 08/06/2008; Prop Reg § 1.170A-15, Prop Reg § 1.170A-16, Prop Reg § 1.170A-17, Prop Reg § 1.170A-18

Mike Habib, EA

IRS has issued proposed regs explaining the charitable contribution substantiation changes made by the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA) and the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). The proposed regs, which would be effective for contributions made after the date final regs are issued, also would provide guidance on what constitutes qualified appraisals and qualified appraisers for purposes of the substantial rules for noncash gifts.

Identity Theft Tax Problem

August 7, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

Finance Chairman Baucus wants more action and details on IRS strategy to combat identity fraud [Press release dated Aug. 5]:

A recent IRS update on its Identity Protection Strategy has failed to satisfy the concerns of Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

The report, submitted to Baucus on July 21 by IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, was provided in response to a request the senator made at a committee hearing held in April. It summarized IRS’s efforts in three areas: assistance to taxpayers in resolving tax issues associated with identity theft; outreach to increase taxpayer awareness of identity theft; and prevention of identity theft by building programs to address the problem.

CWA Central Withholding

August 5, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS issues new version of Central Withholding Agreement form

Mike Habib, EA

The IRS has issued a June 2008 version of Form 13930, Application for Central Withholding Agreement.

Passive Activity Losses

August 5, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

IRS may require reporting of PAL activity groupings

Mike Habib, EA

Notice 2008-64, 2008-31 IRB 268

Social Security Increase

August 5, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

Presidential candidates discuss merits of increasing the Social Security tax:

Mike Habib, EA

With less than three months until the 2008 presidential election, both candidates have expressed their views about a possible Social Security tax increase. The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) imposes two taxes on employers, employees, and self-employed workers — one for Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI; commonly known as the Social Security tax), and the other for Hospital Insurance (HI; commonly known as the Medicare tax).

Innocent spouse relieved of tax

August 3, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

Innocent spouse relieved of tax from embezzlement and forgery

Yakubik, TC Summary Opinion 2008-74

Mike Habib, EA The Tax Court recently held that the IRS abused its discretion in not granting equitable innocent spouse relief to a husband whose wife embezzled funds from her employer and forged checks taken from her stepfather.

REIT changes in the 2008 Housing Act

August 3, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

REIT changes in the 2008 Housing Act

Mike Habib, EA Included in the $15.1 billion of housing tax incentives in the recently enacted “Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008” (the Housing Act) is a package of changes liberalizing the real estate investment trust (REIT) rules. Under these new provisions:

Foreign exchange gains that a REIT generates from operating real estate outside of the U.S. generally will qualify under both REIT gross income tests.
The limit on a REIT’s ownership of taxable REIT subsidiaries (TRSs) increases from 20% to 25% of the REIT’s gross assets.
The safe harbor test for dealer sales is changed by reducing the holding period requirement from four years to two years and by allowing measurement of the 10% sales test by fair market value instead of tax basis.
Health care facilities can be leased by a TRS to a REIT under the same rules that currently apply to lodging facilities.
The new rules for REITs are generally effective for tax years beginning after the date of enactment. However, some of the effective dates are accelerated to apply to transactions entered into after the date of enactment, e.g,. dispositions tested under the dealer sales rules.

I hope this information is helpful.

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Home sale exclusion

August 3, 2008 | Mike Habib, EA

Tightened home sale exclusion and other revenue raisers in the 2008 Housing Act

Mike Habib, EA To pay for the $15.1 billion of housing tax incentives in the recently enacted “Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008” (the Housing Act), Congress passed several offsetting revenue raisers, including a requirement that banks provide information returns reporting annual credit card sales to IRS and to merchants, a provision requiring homeowners to pay tax on gains made from the sale of a second home to reflect the portion of time the home was used as a vacation or rental property, and a provision delaying for one year a “worldwide interest allocation provision” that would result in lower taxes for some multinational companies. Here are the details of these revenue-raising provisions.

Payment card and third party network information reporting For returns for calendar years beginning after 2010, the new law requires banks and online payment networks to file an information return with IRS reporting the gross amount of credit and debit card payments a merchant receives during the year, along with the merchant’s name, address, and taxpayer identification number (TIN). Reporting is also required for third party network transactions. Information reporting for third party network transactions will be required only for merchants that have (1) annual credit and debit card transactions exceeding $20,000 in the aggregate, and (2) an aggregate number of such transactions during the year that exceeds 200.