But the Tax Check Was Mailed—Now What? Ben Peeler, Eide Bailly. “Most taxpayers breathed a sigh of relief when the due date for the filing and payment of the tax due on their 2019 income tax return was moved to July 15, 2020. After all, they had plenty of extra time since the April 15 due date was moved. But now, many taxpayers are receiving late notices and tax payment due letters in the mail. The problem? It appears the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may have a problem processing all those July 15 payments that were made by check.”
Got IRS problems? Eide Bailly’s Tax Controversy team can help.
IRS Tally of Outdated Systems May Be Underselling Problem – William Hoffman, Tax Notes ($). “The IRS classifies more than one-third of its production systems as outdated, “legacy” systems, but that may be a significant undercount, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.”
“Using the IT organization’s definition, TIGTA found that over 34 percent (231) of the IRS’s 669 production systems were classed as legacy. Twenty-two percent (150) were declared non-legacy systems. But the IRS was unable to provide basic information for 43 percent (288) of systems that would allow a determination of whether they were legacy systems — meaning that about three-quarters of systems could be considered legacy.”
IRS Gives California Wildfire Victims Tax Extension To December 15 – Robert W. Wood, Forbes. “The IRS has given victims of the California wildfires that began Aug. 14 until Dec. 15, 2020 to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.”
Taxes And The Gig Economy – Forbes. Tax Notes senior reporter Paul Jones talks with Richard C. Auxier, senior policy associate at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, about tax issues raised by the gig economy and how policymakers are working to address them.
Teleworking and state and local taxes – Paul Bonner, Journal of Accountancy.
“This episode explores the huge implications for state and local taxes raised by workers more often untethered from the employer’s physical location, sometimes in another state. And now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, remote teleworking has become the rule for many professions.
Eileen Sherr, CPA, MT, and Mo Bell-Jacobs, J.D., bring us up to speed. Sherr is a senior manager with the AICPA’s Tax Advocacy team in charge of the AICPA State and Local Tax Technical Resource Panel, or SALT TRP, and Bell-Jacobs is a senior manager at RSM National Tax in Washington and a member of the SALT TRP.”
White House Touts Opportunity-Zone Tax Break Criticized by Democrats – Richard Rubin, WSJ($). “The program has spurred significant interest from investors, real-estate developers and local officials trying to revitalize long-struggling areas. The initial idea had bipartisan support, but Democrats have increasingly soured on it.”
Related: White House Touts O-Zones’ Promise in New Report – Jonathan Curry, Tax Note ($).
Manhattan prosecutor agrees to shelve subpoena for Trump tax returns – John Kruzel, The Hill.
“Cyrus Vance Jr., the Democratic district attorney for Manhattan, had the legal right as of this Friday to enforce a New York grand jury subpoena to obtain a lengthy financial paper trail that includes Trump’s corporate and personal tax records.
But Vance has agreed to temporarily shelve the subpoena against Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA. The delay allows for another round of litigation, extending the nearly yearlong court battle over the subpoena in which Trump has lost every bout, including a landmark decision last month at the Supreme Court.”
Billionaire Who Vowed To Pay Off Student Loans Of Morehouse College Graduates Fights Criminal Tax Probe – Paul Caron, Tax Prof Blog. “When billionaire Robert Smith ended his 2019 Morehouse College commencement speech by vowing to pay off student debt for the entire graduating class, cheers of “MVP, MVP, MVP!” rose from students and faculty on the Atlanta campus. What the audience didn’t know was that Smith was harboring a financial secret. He was being pursued by Justice Department prosecutors and Internal Revenue Service agents for potential tax crimes, according to four people familiar with the matter.”