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Yearly Archives: 2023

Proposed IRS Regulations Expanding Online Sales of Seized Property

October 16, 2023


According to Law360, Property seized by the Internal Revenue Service to satisfy tax debts could sell for more money under proposed regulations released October 13, 2023 that the agency said would create a more competitive bidding process, remove barriers to online sales and for the first time allow buyers to pay by credit card.

These proposed regulations, mark the first major changes to its process for selling seized property since 1954, would allow the agency to solicit bids online from people in the county in which the property was seized. The agency is currently allowed to sell properties online only after obtaining a special order from the U.S. Treasury secretary, the notice of proposed rulemaking said.

The proposed regulations also would allow the IRS to pursue special permission to sell properties online to buyers outside the county in unusual situations and when doing so would be more efficient or more likely to attract more competitive bids. Those unusual situations include sales of property in places where internet access is limited or when property has been put into storage elsewhere, according to the proposed regulations.

  • The bidding itself would become more competitive under the proposal by ending the current regulatory requirement that the agency draw lots to settle a bidding war when there is a tie. 
  • Under the proposed regulations, bidding would remain open until the highest bid is submitted.
  • Bidders also would be allowed to submit and withdraw bids electronically, rather than only in writing through sealed envelopes or by public auction, according to the proposed regulations. 
  • Winning bidders would be allowed to pay by credit card or other electronic means for the first time, rather than only by check or money order.

While The Current Regulations Require A Winning
Bidder To Put Down 20% Of The Bid Amount,

The Proposed Regulations Would Allow The IRS To Set
The Down Payment On A Case-By-Case Basis.


The agency would also be able to more freely group properties for sale to try to attract the highest bids.

Modernizing to expand online sales allows the IRS to attract a wider range of potential buyers, and therefore higher bids, while lowering its cost to make the sales, the agency said in the proposed regulations. Ultimately, taxpayers would benefit, the IRS said, because the agency uses the sale proceeds first to pay its own sales costs, leaving whatever's left to pay down a taxpayer's liability.

While The Proposal Largely Gives The Agency More
Flexibility To Sell Seized Property, It Would Prohibit Revenue Agents Who Participated In Seizing A Property From Selling It.


That restriction incorporates advice from members of Congress, who said the practice was unfair under the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998.

The proposal starts the clock on the public comment period, with 60 days for the public to submit comments and request a public hearing on the proposed regulations, the notice 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

IRS To Furlough 67% Of Staff During Shutdown – Here We Go Again?

September 29, 2023

According to Law360, The Internal Revenue Service would furlough two-thirds of its staff if Congress can't reach an agreement to avoid a shutdown of the federal government, under a contingency plan released On September 28, 2023.

About 30,000 Of The Agency's 90,000 Employees Would Continue Working During The Shutdown,
According To The Plan Posted On The U.S. Department Of The Treasury Website.

Employees who continue working during the shutdown would be paid using funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, according to the plan.

All audit work and examination of returns would stop during a shutdown, as would non-automated collections and most headquarters operations and administrative functions not pertaining to safety of life and protection of property, the plan said.

The IRS also won't respond to paper correspondence during a shutdown, and 363 Taxpayer Assistance Centers nationwide would close, Treasury said. Further, the IRS would only process refunds that it can directly deposit automatically and that result from error-free, electronically filed returns, Treasury said.

"Most Core Tax Administration Functions Would Stop," Treasury Said.


Treasury said the IRS will continue preparing for the upcoming filing season, including by updating tax forms. Treasury also said the agency will provide income verification to banks and others, and will process transcript requests after disasters. Information technology functions needed to safeguard taxpayer data would also continue during a shutdown, Treasury said.

The Plan Covers The First Five (5) Business Days
After Funding Has Dried Up. 


If the shutdown lasts longer, the agency's deputy commissioner for operations support will order a review of ongoing work and identification of needed excepted positions and personnel adjustments, according to the plan.

Doreen Greenwald, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said Thursday that frontline workers, including those who open mail and process tax returns, have begun preparing for the financial hardship of missed paychecks.

"NTEU remains concerned about the stress that thousands of IRS workers in every state are dealing with right now knowing their income is in jeopardy," Greenwald said in a statement.

The shutdown could hamper IRS efforts to hire more workers to ease the backlog of tax work, Greenwald said. She also predicted it will be "incredibly difficult" for taxpayers to do business with the agency during the impending shutdown, with employees potentially "locked out of doing their jobs," she said.

The partial government shutdown that lasted from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019, resulted in 87,000 amended returns not getting processed, the agency's Taxpayer Advocate Service said at the time. The shutdown resulted in the furlough of about 88% of IRS employees.

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

TIGTA Found That IRS Did Not Always Comply With Legal Guidelines When Issuing Levies

September 29, 2023

According to Report Number: 2023-30-066 TIGTA reviewed levies issued by the Automated Levy Programs for more than 2 million taxpayers during the period July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, and certain levies issued by revenue officers. TIGTA identified 11,258 instances of noncompliance that resulted in violations of taxpayers’ rights and taxpayers being burdened. TIGTA identified the following violations:

This is a significant number of CDP violations. 

The majority (10,095) of the taxpayer rights violations occurred from the untimely input of taxpayers’ CDP levy hearing requests by Automated Collection System Support due to an unexpected large initial volume of requests following the July 2021 restart of the Automated Levy Programs. Levy CDP notices had been suspended during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic. 

As a result, levies were issued while CDP hearings were pending, which is a violation of Internal Revenue Code § 6330. In addition, 561 taxpayers’ rights were violated when they were not notified or timely notified of their CDP rights, including 374 who were not notified due to errors in the Print to Correspondence Production Services pilot program that was initiated in December 2019.

TIGTA made nine recommendations to help improve the proper issuance of levies by the IRS, including that the IRS should periodically conduct a study of CDP levy hearing requests Form 12153, Request for a Collection Due Process or Equivalent Hearing. This will allow the IRS to determine the average time frame from when CDP levy hearing requests are received to when they are input into the CDP tracking system to determine a reasonable time frame to begin taking levy action against a taxpayer after they have been issued their CDP notice. IRS management agreed with eight of the recommendations and partially agreed with one recommendation.

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

Tax Court Rules That 30-day Rule For Requesting a Collection Due Process Hearing Is Subject To Equitable Tolling

September 29, 2023

The U.S. Tax Court in Organic Cannabis Foundation, LLC v. Commissioner, 161 T.C. No. 4 (September 27, 2023), held that the 30-day time limit for requesting a collection due process hearing under section 6320(a)(3)(B) is a nonjurisdictional deadline subject to equitable tolling. 

The Internal Revenue Service Must Consider A Cannabis Company's Day-Late Request For An Administrative Hearing With The Agency To Discuss A Federal Tax Lien Notice.

The taxpayer had unpaid tax for 2010, 2011, and 2018. The IRS issued notices of federal tax lien filings to the taxpayer for all three years, and the taxpayer timely requested a hearing with the IRS Independent Office of Appeals during the 30-day period for requesting a collection due process hearing under section 6320(a)(3)(B) for 2010 and 2011, but requested a hearing for 2018 after the 30-day period.

IRS Appeals provided a hearing for 2010 and 2011, but because the taxpayer’s hearing request for 2018 was untimely, it provided an equivalent hearing for 2018 under Treas. Reg. § 301.6320-1(i)(1). IRS Appeals issued a notice of determination for 2010 and 2011 but no determination for 2018.

The taxpayer then filed a petition before the Tax Court seeking review for all three years. After the petition was filed, IRS Appeals issued a decision letter for 2018.

The IRS moved to dismiss the taxpayer’s case before the Tax Court as to 2018 for lack of jurisdiction on the ground that IRS Appeals did not make a determination for review under section 6330(d)(1). The taxpayer argued that the 30-day period for requesting a collection due process hearing under section 6320(a)(3)(B) is subject to equitable tolling and thus IRS Appeals erred in failing to make a determination for 2018. In response, the IRS argued that the 30-day period is a fixed deadline that is not amenable to equitable tolling.

The Tax Court began its discussion by noting that it previously held in Kennedy v. Commissioner, 116 T.C. 255 (2001), that the 30-day period for requesting a collection due process hearing is a fixed deadline not subject to equitable tolling. 

However, in Boechler, P.C. v. Commissioner, 142 S. Ct. 1493, 1501 (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a different 30-day period in section 6330(d)(1) for a taxpayer to file a petition with the Tax Court for review of IRS Appeals’ determination following a collection due process hearing is a nonjurisdictional deadline that is subject to equitable tolling. 

Thereafter, in Hallmark Research Collective v. Commissioner, 159 T.C. 126 (2022), the Tax Court distinguished Boechler in holding that the 90-day deadline for filing a deficiency petition under section 6213(a) is jurisdictional.

In the light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Boechler and its opinion in Hallmark, the Tax Court decided to reexamine its precedent as to the 30-day deadline in section 6320(a)(3)(B) for requesting a collection due process hearing. The court ultimately held that the 30-day period in section 6320(a)(3)(B) is subject to equitable tolling when the circumstances warrant it, and overruled Kennedy in that regard.  

The court said it "must honor" the choice Congress made to add taxpayer protections by creating an administrative process for challenging the IRS. CDP hearings are meant to balance taxpayer concerns about collections with the government's need to quickly collect, the court said.

"These principles are reinforced by the application of equitable tolling," Judge Goeke 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

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