Many businesses outsource their human resources to third parties called Professional Employer Organizations (“PEOs”). PEOs are particularly popular with small businesses. The benefits of using a PEO include allowing the business to focus on its business operations rather than HR activities and giving employees access to better employee benefits. This is achieved by having the…
Category: Employment Tax
Employment Tax
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IRS Can Force Business to Use Payroll Service, Court Rules
When a business fails to pay its payroll taxes, the consequences can be severe. The IRS has several collection tools at its disposal to collect unpaid payroll taxes. This includes liens, levies, and even criminal charges against the business owners. The IRS recently attempted to expand its collection powers to prevent future non-compliance. In United…
Tax Form Mixup Can Extend the IRS’s Statute of Limitations
Suppose you file a tax return and, months or years later, you get a letter from the IRS saying that it will not accept the tax return. The IRS letter says that you used the wrong tax form. And maybe even change the facts so that the IRS mailed this letter to you, but you…
Limited Partners May be Subject to Self-Employment Tax
When we think of taxes, we often think of income taxes. But for business owners, they also have to contend with payroll and/or self-employment taxes. These other taxes can be substantial for businesses and their owners. This is why Congres and taxpayers have devised several ways to avoid these taxes. The rules are nuanced enough…
How to Challenge Payroll Taxes
Payroll tax disputes can be more difficult to resolve with the IRS than some other types of taxes. This is largely due to the IRS’s notice of deficiency process. The IRS’s notice of deficiency is the final notice the IRS sends before it assesses or records a tax as being due. The notice is required…
Worker Reclassification: Degree of Control
The Groundhog Day movie from the 90’s starring Bill Murray portrays a news anchorman who lives the same day over and over again. He is stuck in a loop. Each day starts the same way. Bill tries to alter his conduct and he interacts with different people throughout the movie. The other characters act and…
Does an Author Pay Self-Employment Tax on Royalties?
Taxpayers are free to structure payments for services rather than for something other than services. This can save self-employment taxes. But can a taxpayer carve out part of their service income by asserting that some part of the income is not from a business? The Slaughter v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2019-65, case addresses this in…
Can LLC Use Crewman’s Exemption for Employment Taxes?
This is a question about international tax laws. Can a U.S. citizen who owns and operates a vessel outside of the U.S. avoid paying U.S. employment taxes for its crewmen by using a foreign legal entity? The court considered this issue in DAF Charters LLC v. Commissioner, 152 T.C. 14, for a single-member LLC formed…
Credit for Employment Taxes Reported in Error for Another Entity
If employment taxes are paid by one legal entity but incorrectly reported to the IRS for another legal entity, can the entity that paid the taxes get credit for the payment? The IRS said ‘no;’ the U.S. Tax Court said ‘yes.’ The case is E.C.C.B.A. v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2018-55. Facts & Procedural History The case…
Court Says Employer Entitled to Worker’s IRS Records
When the IRS determines that independent contractors are taxed as employees, it is up to the employer to show that the IRS determination is incorrect. One way to do this is to show that the workers paid tax even though the employer did not withhold the tax. In Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Commissioner, 148 T.C.…