Source: https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/?offset=1544822536503
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 04:58:43+00:00

Document:
The IRS has released the 2019 automobile mileage numbers in Notice 2019-02.
The standard rate for transportation or travel expense is 58 cents per mile for business use in 2019. The standard rate for 14 cents per mile for use of an automobile for providing gratuitous services to a charitable organization and 20 cents per mile for medical expenses. The 20 cent rate would also apply to moving expenses under §217, though for most taxpayers such a deduction is not available for 2019.
The experience of tax advisers over the years suggests that most often the key disputes in tax exams arise not so much over the arcane issues in the tax law as over the state of the taxpayer’s records to support the facts in the case. The case of Dasent v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2018-202 is just such a case. While the question of hobby loss does arise for a portion of the deductions (and the activity clearly met that test), the Court pointed out that even had that not been an issue, none of the taxpayers’ deductions could be allowed due to lack of adequate records.
In the case of United States v. Ulasi, et al, USDC SD Texas, Case No. 4:17-cv-01164, we once again revisit the issue of the trust fund penalty found in IRC §6672 and what can make a person a “responsible person” who ends up on the hook for the withheld payroll taxes.
Additional relief, in the form of a waiver of penalties on underpayment of estimated taxes due on Form 990-T, has been given to certain tax-exempt organizations for 2018 in Notice 2018-100. The guidance was issued on the same day as Notice 2018-99 which provided guidance on computing the amount of employee parking benefit that is to be treated as UBTI by the exempt organization.
Notice 2018-97 provides guidance to taxpayers about issues related to IRC §81(i), a provision added by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that allows employees in certain situations to defer recognition of income when receiving stock or having an interest in such stock vest.
The ability of an employer to opt out of permitting employees to elect the deferred tax treatment even if the requirements under section 83(i) are otherwise met.
The IRS has addressed how taxpayers will gain permission to change their methods of accounting to comply with changes made by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to IRC §451 (found at IRC §451(b)) that require a taxpayer with an “applicable financial statement” (AFS) who is recognizing revenue for tax purposes under the accrual basis using the all events test to treat the test as satisfied no later than when revenue is recognized in the AFS. The guidance is found in Revenue Procedure 2018-60.
Beginning in 2010 cellular telephones were no longer considered “listed property” subject to the strict substantiation rules of IRC §274(d). But, as was noted, in the case of Archuleta v. Commissioner, TC Summary Opinion 2018-55, that doesn’t mean that a taxpayer should not have documentation of the expense and what portion related to business use.
While taxpayers have a right to take disputes to the U.S. Tax Court and payment of the amount due is delayed until the proceeding is complete, under IRC §6673 the Court is authorized to impose up to a $25,000 penalty if it appears the Court was being used primarily to delay payment. In the case of The Community Law Firm Inc. v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2018-198 the taxpayer was warned that their history suggested they were filing in the Tax Court principally to delay action and that continuing this practice could lead to the imposition of the penalty.
After deciding in September 2018 to give up on the revisions to Form W-4 found in the draft 2018 Forms W-4 released in June, the IRS in Notice 2018-92 has decided to continue for the most part with interim rules that were found in Notice 2018-14 for the 2018 tax year and, in the case of one such rule, until April 30, 2019.
In Chief Counsel Email 201846005 the IRS discusses the potential issues with imposing the due diligence penalty under IRC §6695(g) against the 25% owner of an S corporation. The issue related to the risk of hazards of litigation in such a pursuit. But the email gives information on the application of this penalty.
Under IRC §6695(g), a tax preparer may be penalized for failing to exercise due diligence in his/her preparation of returns if certain information is not obtained for taxpayers claiming certain benefits. Originally the penalty was limited to claims for the earned income tax credit, but Congress has expanded the penalty to cover claims for the child tax credit, additional child tax credit and American opportunity tax credit. In the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Congress branched out beyond credits to impose the requirements on preparers of a return where the taxpayer claims head of household filing status.
The IRS has released the 2019 inflation adjusted numbers in Revenue Procedure 2018-57.
A taxpayer who filed her petition in Tax Court asking for innocent spouse relief under IRC §6015 discovered that the Tax Court could not offer her relief because there, in fact, had not been a joint return filed. In the case of Abdelhadi v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2018-183, the Tax Court ruled that because she had filed a petition for redetermination of the deficiency, the Court could only rule whether she was entitled to §6015 style relief—and, not having actually filed a joint return, there was no such relief available.
The IRS announced in Notice 2018-83 the inflation adjusted limitations imposed on qualified plans for 2019.
The IRS has issued proposed regulations dealing with certain aspects of qualified opportunity funds. I have a number of sessions on the East Coast I am in the middle of presenting and haven’t had time to write up a detailed outline of the regulations.
But I will cover the regulations in the audio and video podcast for October 22 that will be posted on this site (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/podcasts/ is the page with the most often weekly presentations).
And I have also created a copy of the IRS PDF that has Adobe bookmarks for the regulations and preamble that can make it easier to work with the document as you are planning for clients that you can download below.
Proposed Regulations for Opportunity Zones with Adobe Bookmarks.
In the case of Felton v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2018-168, the Tax Court was faced with a minister who claimed that $200,000 given to him by parishioners in addition to their regular offers were gifts and not compensation.
Reverend Felton found his vocation at Tuskegee University, where he assisted the dean of the school’s chapel while still a student. He also first learned about “shake-hand” money at that chapel — the custom in some evangelical churches of handing donations to the pastor on the way out of the church. Reverend Felton didn’t like the way the chapel handled these donations and silently resolved to do things differently if he ever had a church of his own to run.
The church Reverend Felton presided over used envelopes to allow members of the congregation to designate what their contributions would be used for, including a line that allowed for pastoral contributions. Contributions made with such envelopes would be accounted for by the church, with the donors given statements regarding their contributions.
Since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the meetings of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation have produced comments from officials with the Treasury and the IRS that have given hints to the shape of future guidance to be issued on the law. The October meeting in Atlanta has produced new information about the application of the provisions of §199A.
The proposed regulations issued earlier this year provided for a de minimis rule where the performance of what would be in the category of a specified service trade or business would not cause the underlying business to be treated as such if the gross receipts were below specific floors. For a business with gross receipts of $25 million or less, the floor is set at 10% or less of gross receipts. For businesses with gross receipts above $25 million, the floor drops to 5% or less of gross receipts.
In Information Letter INFO 2018-0030 the IRS has given limited additional information on the clarification the agency issued on September 5 regarding the state tax deduction workaround proposed regulations on August 23 (REG-112176-18).
The proposed regulations would require taxpayers to reduce charitable contribution deductions by the amounts of any state tax credits received for contributing if the credit exceeds 15% of the amount of the contribution. In the later clarification, the IRS and Treasury stated that this regulation did not change the treatment of amounts paid that might be deductible under IRC §162(a) as an ordinary and necessary business expense.

References: §217
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 §6672
 §81
 §451
 §451
 §274
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 §6673
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 §6695
 §6695
 §6015
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 §6015
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 §199
 §162