Joshua Smeltzer Quoted by Law360 on Treasury’s Proposed Digital Asset...
The U.S. Treasury Department faces a complex task in enforcing its proposed digital asset reporting rules on foreign trading platforms. The regulations, introduced in late August, primarily address...
View ArticleWhen Taxpayer and IRS Can’t Agree, the Tax Court Must Intervene
On remand for re-calculation of 4 errors in deficiency amounts, concerning years 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, the Tax Court entered final revised decisions based on the Commissioner’s twice-revised...
View ArticleThe IRS is Attacking Abusive Trust Arrangements
Recent Government actions suggest that third-party promoters and potentially hundreds of taxpayers may be entering into abusive trust arrangements aimed at unlawfully eliminating or deferring federal...
View ArticleJoshua Smeltzer Quoted by Law360 on Digital Asset Rules for NFTs
The Internal Revenue Service’s proposed classification of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as digital assets has raised concerns in the blockchain industry and among stakeholders. While these tokens are...
View ArticleFBAR Penalty Defenses and Techniques: The Wrong “Willful” Penalty Computation
On September 8, 2023, the IRS issued a News Release suggesting that FBAR compliance investigations and audits would heat up in the near future. For those unfamiliar with FBARs, federal law requires...
View ArticleThe IRS is Hiring an Army to Audit Corporations, Partnerships, and...
The IRS has been understaffed for many years, and this has led to a decline in the number of audits conducted. The personnel shortage has also made it difficult to keep up with the growing complexity...
View ArticleIt’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to USA: Expatriation and the IRS
Ever thought about packing it all up and starting that romantic, expatriate life abroad? Ever felt like these parts were just so wild, it was time to find yourself a new passport? Expatriation, where a...
View ArticlePhantom Income: The Spooky Side of Taxation
There’s a hidden tax horror behind pass-through entities, cancellation of debt, and even prizes, winning, and awards: “phantom income.” It even sounds scary, right? And when it comes to one’s tax...
View ArticleRelease the Kraken Tax Transaction Information
On June 30, 2023 the District Court in the Northern District of California granted a petition to enforce the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken to release customer information. Specifically, Kraken was...
View ArticleWhen is an Accountant Forced to Testify Against Their Client?
Recently, in a criminal case involving a physician who hired an accountant to prepare and submit certain tax forms to the IRS on her behalf, the court denied attorney-client and work-product privilege...
View ArticleIRS Concedes Yet Another Form 3520 Related Penalty Case
United States citizens and residents are often not aware of the myriad of foreign information return filing obligations that exist under federal tax laws. For example, buried within the Code are...
View ArticleTony Box Quoted by Tax Notes on Tax Conspiracy Case
The top charge in the federal election interference indictment against former President Trump alleges a conspiracy to defraud the government by impairing, obstructing and defeating the lawful federal...
View ArticleWhere Have All the Theft Losses Gone?
In November 2023, Gray Reed Tax Partners Joshua Smeltzer and Matthew Roberts authored an article titled “Where Have All the Theft Losses Gone?” published in Taxes: The Tax Magazine. The article...
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The Basis Matrix: Navigating the Interplay of Sections 743(b) and 734(b)
Real estate funds and family offices are two types of investors[1] that often (i) purchase equity interests in partnerships[2] and (ii) make in-kind asset distributions for tax planning purposes.[3]...
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ERC Claims on Hold While IRS Figures Out What it Thinks is Real
The IRS recently issued a press release regarding its “continuous efforts to combat dubious Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims” to announce an initial round of over 20,000 notification letters of...
View ArticleJoshua Smeltzer Quoted by Law360 on FTX’s $24B Tax Bill
FTX is embroiled in a $24 billion tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in its bankruptcy case. The IRS claims FTX owes this amount in unpaid taxes, but FTX says the claim has “no...
View ArticleCharting the Course for Digital Assets in 2024
As the price of bitcoin rises, it is dominating the discussion regarding the future of cryptocurrencies, other digital assets and blockchain technology. Although the bitcoin price is a good thing,...
View ArticleIRS Targets Malta Pension Plans: Compliance Options
In recent years, U.S. taxpayers have engaged in “Malta pension plans,” utilizing these arrangements to contribute appreciated assets and claim tax exemptions under the U.S.-Malta tax treaty....
View ArticleWhat a Difference a Day Makes, at Least When it Comes to Tax Court Petitions
The Tax Court can be an unusually cruel place when it comes to deadlines. This is what a recent taxpayer found out in a Tax Court decision that denied their challenge of an over $4.6 Million dollar...
View ArticleERC Voluntary Disclosure: Promoters Targeted and Employers Cautioned
For some time, the IRS has targeted fraudulent employee retention credit (“ERC”) claims. More recently, on December 21, 2023, the IRS issued guidance on a new voluntary disclosure program (the...
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