Time For A Withholding Tax Check-up
By Megan L. Brackney The CPA Journal May 2017 Edition If it is not already on the schedule, CPAs should remember to talk to business clients about withholding on payments to nonresident aliens. Full Article
Meet John Doe Summonses
By Megan L. Brackney Journal of Passthrough Entities May – June 2017 Edition “John Doe” summonses have been in the news again.[1] On January 24, 2017, a federal district court unsealed an order authorizing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to serve a John Doe summons upon a third party to obtain
The New “Partnership Representative”
By Megan L. Brackney Journal of Passthrough Entities January – February 2017 Edition Under the new Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the “BBA”), there are significant changes to the partnership audit rules. Like TEFRA, the BBA requires partnership-level resolution of partnership income, gain, loss, deduction, and credits. Unlike TEFRA, under the BBA,
Filing A Qualified Amended Return To Avoid Accuracy Penalties
By Megan L. Brackney NJ Taxing Times Winter 2016 – 2017 Edition NEITHER THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE (“I.R.C.”) nor Treasury Regulations requires taxpayers to file amended returns. However, the ethical rules of Circular 230, the NAEA, and the AICPA call for tax practitioners to advise their clients about errors or omissions
Can The Code Sec. 6700 Tax Shelter Promoter Penalty Apply To Everyday Tax Advice?
By Bryan C. Skarlatos and Megan L. Brackney Journal of Tax Practice & Procedure October – November 2016 Edition Tax practitioners often give tax advice on things like how to structure an investment in a business venture, sell an asset, plan for retirement or pass wealth to the next generation. Sometimes a practitioner’s
Is It Really Over? Closing Agreements With The IRS
By Megan L. Brackney Journal of Passthrough Entities September – October 2016 Edition In my last column, I discussed the IRS’s prerogative to change its mind—to approve of a tax reporting position in one year, and then assess penalties on the ground that the taxpayer was negligent or did not have
Filing Amended And Current Returns In Cases Of Past Noncompliance: How Not To Make Matters Worse
By Megan L. Brackney The CPA Journal May 2016 Edition When a CPA discovers a taxpayer’s past noncompliance, there are both ethical and practical questions to answer. The last thing a CPA should want to do in this situation is turn a manageable issue into a serious problem. Although these
A Limit On The IRS’s Prerogative To Change Its Mind: Reliance On A Prior No-Change Letter As A Defense To Penalties
By Megan L. Brackney Journal of Passthrough Entities May-June 2016 Edition It is the IRS’s prerogative to change its mind. The IRS can conclude the audit of one tax year with no change and then make adjustments in a later tax year on the exact same tax positions present in the
Time Will Not Make This Problem Disappear: The Open-Ended Statute Of Limitations For Taxpayers With Delinquent Foreign Information Returns
By Megan L. Brackney American Bar Association Tax Times Volume 35, No. 2 – February 2016 Although section 6501(c)(8) has been in the Code for several years, many tax practitioners remain unaware of this exception to the general three-year statute of limitations for assessment of tax for delinquent foreign information returns.
Reporting Loss Transactions For Partnerships
By Megan L. Brackney Journal of Passthrough Entities January – February 2014 Edition February 01, 2014 The reporting requirements for loss transactions can be confusing, particularly when dealing with passthrough entities, where individual partners or members may have different reporting requirements and the reporting of the individual partners or members may
