Monthly Archives: January 2022

On January 25, 2022 we posted 3rd Party Family Members Vitiate Privilege, where we discussed that in the case of U.S. v. Barbara Fairbank, the US government has requesting a Florida federal court to compel a woman in a $554,000 foreign bank account reporting violations case to produce emails sent between her attorneys and her son because they aren't protected communications.

Emails between Barbara Fairbank's attorneys and the son, Keith Hagaman, aren't eligible for attorney-client privilege because Hagaman is a third party desirous of remaining neutral who wasn't proved to be an agent either of his mother or her attorneys, the government told the court Thursday.

However the government has withdrawn its motion to compel the emails after reviewing Barbara Fairbank's response and confirming the nature of the documents. 

Fairbank said that she used the son's account because she was visiting California and did not have access to her own email.

Have an IRS Tax Problem?

 Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A. 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243) 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

A coalition of organizations representing tax industry professionals and stakeholders sent a joint letter to IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig and Treasury Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Lily Batchelder calling on the IRS to grant taxpayers penalty relief and to pause its compliance activities. The requests follow the IRS's reported failures to timely process returns and provide adequate customer service.

The coalition is made up of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), Latino Tax Pro, the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), National Association of Enrolled Agents (NAEA), National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP), National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP), National Society of Accountants (NSA), National Society of Black Certified Public Accountants (NSBCPA), National Society of Tax Professionals (NSTP), Padgett Business Services, and Prosperity Now.

Among the findings in the National Taxpayer Advocate's 2021 Annual Report to Congress was that the IRS took much longer than usual to process taxpayer responses to its notices, in some cases so long that automated systems triggered compliance notices to taxpayers who had been waiting on the IRS to communicate back.

A taxpayer that sent a request for abatement of a math error assessment (of which the IRS sent approximately 14 million in 2021), for example, could have their assessed liability moved to the collection process automatically if the IRS failed to reprogram its system to properly reflect the situation, in which the taxpayer isn't at fault. Though the IRS tried to prevent improper enforcement, "there were gaps," according to the NTA report.

The IRS Last Year Answered Only One of Every Nine Calls
To Its Customer Service Representatives, Resulting In Widespread "Frustration And Dissatisfaction" With How
The Agency Has Handled Taxpayer Correspondence
During The COVID-19 Pandemic, The Report Said.

In its letter, dated January 14, the coalition said it recognized that the IRS is aware taxpayers aren't getting what they need, but it added that "the Service has not taken reasonable actions that would meaningfully reduce unnecessary burdens" entering this tax season.

Because of these shortcomings, the letter requests that the IRS:

• discontinue automated compliance actions until the IRS has the resources to timely resolve the underlying issues contributing to long processing times and lack of transparency

• "align requests for account holds" with penalty abatement request processing times

• grant reasonable cause penalty waivers that do not affect a taxpayer's eligibility for a future first time abatement

• provide "target relief" regarding the underpayment of estimated tax and late payment penalties for tax years 2020 and 2021.

AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon released a statement January 10 following a call with Treasury officials echoing sentiments in the coalition's letter.

"The AICPA is calling on the IRS to do more than simply state the obvious: Taxpayers and practitioners deserve solutions. We urge Members of Congress to join us in this effort," Melancon said.

ave an IRS Tax Problem?

 Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A. 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243) 

 

Source

Thomson Reuters

Read more at: Tax Times blog

So often family members want to attend conferences with tax attorneys or want to be copied on emails. This is an area where tax attorneys need to be sensitive that this can cause a waiver of their attorney-client privilege.

This is exactly what happened in the case of U.S. v. Barbara Fairbank, case number 4:20-cv-00132, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, where the US government has now requesting a Florida federal court to compel a woman in a $554,000 foreign bank account reporting violations case to produce emails sent between her attorneys and her son because they aren't protected communications.

Emails between Barbara Fairbank's attorneys and the son, Keith Hagaman, aren't eligible for attorney-client privilege because Hagaman is a third party desirous of remaining neutral who wasn't proved to be an agent either of his mother or her attorneys, the government told the court Thursday.

Therefore, the court should compel her to produce six emails sent between the attorneys and her son that she wishes to withhold, since they aren't eligible for that kind of protection, the government said.

The government sued Fairbank in March 2020, contending that she willfully failed to report her overseas accounts and consequently owes a little more than $554,000 in penalties and interest.

Have an IRS Tax Problem?

 Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A. 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243) 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

According to Law360, the Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel is looking to hire as many as 200 more attorneys to take on abusive tax schemes, the agency said on January 21, 2022.

The IRS said the chief counsel's office is looking to recruit attorneys for jobs at more than 50 locations across the country, including in Washington, D.C., in order to fight tax schemes including abusive microcaptive insurance arrangements and syndicated conservation easements.

Attorneys who are hired will serve on trial teams, handle U.S. Tax Court cases and provide legal advice to IRS staff conducting audits, as well as perform other duties, the agency said.

Have an IRS Tax Problem?

 Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A. 

for a FREE Tax HELP Contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com
or Toll Free at 888 8TAXAID (888-882-9243) 

 

Read more at: Tax Times blog