Business ventures fail for countless reasons. Partners mismanage funds. Projects never materialize. Promises about how capital will be deployed go unfulfilled. When an investment goes south, the parties have to figure out how to minimize the damage. This often shifts the focus to how to benefit from the loss, which can warrant closer examination of…
Tax Articles
The IRS Collection System is Broken
Taxpayers sometimes owe the IRS and cannot currently pay. It happens. When it happens, taxpayers often reach out to the IRS for help. The IRS has processes in place to handle these requests. In fact, it has a while collection function that is set up to handle these requests. This collection function is a bureaucratic…
You Can’t Raise What You Didn’t Know: The Variance Doctrine
Our income tax system uses a self-reporting process. Taxpayers, in most cases, voluntarily file income tax returns. The IRS can then evaluate the filings to determine whether they appear to be correct or warrant further investigation. The IRS has developed a whole regime of forms to be used for this very purpose. Taxpayers who fill…
Using Ranching Tax Loss to Offset Other Income
Ranch operations often start with genuine business intentions. A successful business owner buys land. They get into cattle grazing areas or orchards. The owner hires experienced ranch hands and invests in equipment and facilities. The ranch may make money from livestock sales, hay production, or crop harvesting. The ranch would likely report losses for the…
What is a Statutory Employee and Who Qualifies?
Our tax laws usually look to various foundational definitions, such as units of property, activities, or even roles. When it comes to workers who receive compensation for their work, it is often the role that matters the most. We see this in disputes over whether a contractor is really an employee for payroll tax purposes.…
Can Jury Trial for IRS Penalty be Conditioned on Paying the Penalty First?
There have been a number of court cases that have considered whether various administrative agency determinations violate constitutional jury trial rights. These are often premised on the fundamental promise of American justice that courts should remain open to all. The issue is presented when government agencies require substantial upfront payments before allowing judicial review. One…
Business Owner Liable for Tax Incurred by a Buyer After the Sale of the Business?
If you own a business and you sell it to a third party, should you be liable to the IRS for taxes triggered by the buyer after the business you sold? What if the tax was triggered by the buyer’s wrongdoing? What if there was no evidence that you even knew that the buyer would…
Can a Criminal Prosecution Delay a Civil Tax Case?
Imagine that you earned significant income and failed to file tax returns. You later file the tax returns once the IRS caught on to you, but you omitted a large part of your income. The government indicts you on criminal tax evasion charges, and starts an IRS audit. Before the criminal trial, the IRS audit…
How Wrong Does the IRS Have to be to Be Liable for Attorneys Fees?
In most civil litigation cases, the parties are not entitled to an award of attorneys fees. The exceptions are generally when there is a contract that provides for attorneys fees or there is a statute. This can be problematic in litigation cases–particularly where one party brings or defends a friviolous suit just to drive up…
Do You Report Stock an Employer Mistakenly Gave You to the IRS?
When your employer deposits 100,000 shares of stock into your brokerage account after you’ve left the company, and you believe it was done in error, do you have taxable income? And what do you do in this case? If the amount is taxable to you as compensation, then when do you report it? Should you…