After the Supreme Court declined to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Altera Corporation v. Commissioner, 926 F.3d 1061 (9th Cir. 2019) (cert denied — S. Ct. — (June 22, 2020)), the IRS has confirmed that it is examining taxpayers that did not include stock-based compensation costs as intangible development costs under Treasury Regulations §§ 1.482-7A(d)(2) and 1.482-7(d)(3) (the “Regulations”). As reported in a prior post, the IRS lifted its administrative moratorium on examining…

The IRS has announced that it will begin enforcing Section 965’s repatriation tax in October 2020. Section 965 and its regulations require United States shareholders to pay a one-time transition tax on untaxed foreign earnings of certain foreign corporations as if these earnings had been repatriated to the United States. Cash holdings are taxed at 15.5% and non-cash or non-liquid assets are taxed at 8%. Taxpayers can make payments over eight years. Prior to the…

In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the tax controversy group has put together a chart detailing tax controversy-related developments as they arise.…

On July 27, 2020, the Senate Republicans proposed the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act (HEALS Act) in response to the House passing the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act). The HEALS Act is a combination of eight individually proposed bills from the Senate. Both the HEALS Act and the HEROES Act are commonly referred to as Phase 4 of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. Complete…

Mornings are different, all around the country — and world. Due to travel limitations imposed in response to the COVID-19 crisis, instead of taking trains, buses and cars to commute to work, people are going to work at home. This new work location has created concerns for both businesses and individuals as to what authority will be trying to tax work that happens from homes. Foreign countries — and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and …

In two decisions issued on July 9, 2020, the Supreme Court addressed challenges to several subpoenas that sought the President’s financial records, including tax returns. In a case concerning a subpoena issued by a state district attorney’s office, the Court held that a sitting president is not categorically immune from issuance of a subpoena in a state criminal proceeding. The case was remanded to the District Court for further proceedings, including potentially an analysis of…

Update: On July 15, the Internal Revenue Service announced in news release IR-2020-158 that taxpayers who have experienced delays with the process of Form 7200, Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due To COVID-19 will receive letters. If the IRS rejected taxpayer’s Form 7200 or made a change to the requested amount of advance payment due to a computation error, the taxpayer will receive letter 6312 explaining the reason for rejection or list the new payment…