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IRS Is Back! … They Are Bring Back Workers In 3 States Starting June 1

May 20, 2020

On May 20, 2020 we posted IRS Is Asking More Workers To Return To Work Voluntarily Amid The Pandemic, where we discussed that The Internal Revenue Service is recalling about 46,000 of its employees furloughed by the government shutdown, nearly 60 percent of its workforce, to handle tax returns and pay out refunds. The employees won't be paid during the shutdown and the IRS is asking more employees to volunteer to return to work on site with incentive pay as the agency begins to reopen offices that were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the union representing agency employees said.

 
Now according to Law360, the IRS plans to order employees in Kentucky, Texas and Utah who can't telework to return to their worksites starting June 1, Commissioner Chuck Rettig told workers May 19, 2020, saying the agency would keep pursuing employee safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

Rettig delivered the news in an email to agency workers. Tony Reardon, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS workers, said in a statement that according to the agency, there are about 20,000 IRS employees in the three states. About 9,000 will continue to telework, subjecting 11,000 to the recall, Reardon said.
 
Reardon said the IRS has informed the union that agency "posts of duty" in those states have been thoroughly disinfected, a comprehensive cleaning schedule is in place and there are sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment for workers to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
 
The union leader said the health and safety of returning workers is a priority for the union, which is why it will continue urging the IRS to provide the returning employees with tests and basic medical screenings.
 

"The IRS Made Clear That After An Initial Call For Volunteers In Certain IRS Divisions To Return To Work, Mandatory Callbacks Were Likely," Reardon Said.
 

"Such advance notice, however, does not alleviate the anxiety of the IRS frontline employees, who, just like most Americans, recognize that the health crisis has not fully subsided and are worried about protecting themselves and their families."

The directive for some employees to return follows agency workers voluntarily coming back. Earlier this month, Reardon said the union supported an IRS call for additional employees to volunteer to return, but said they needed to feel safe doing so, particularly after a Kansas City, Missouri, worker contracted COVID-19.

Rettig said in his email that over the next several weeks, the agency will continue asking employees whose work isn't portable to return to their posts of duty.

 

The IRS Is Aware Of Growing Taxpayer Needs And
An Expanding Backlog Of Work At Its Office
And Campus Locations, He Said.
 



Employees who are sick shouldn't come in and may have to provide documentation if sick leave exceeds three consecutive workdays, Rettig said in the email.

Workers who are in high-risk populations as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may ask for weather and safety leave if they can't telework, he said.

 


Have an IRS Tax Problem?
 
 
Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.   

for a FREE Tax Consultation 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 Is Asking More Workers To Return To Work Voluntarily Amid The Pandemic

May 20, 2020

 On April 29, 2020 we posted They're Back! - That is Right the IRS Has Begun to Recall Employees,

where we discussed that The Internal Revenue Service is recalling about 46,000 of its employees furloughed by the government shutdown, nearly 60 percent of its workforce, to handle tax returns and pay out refunds. The employees won't be paid during the shutdown.
 
That now the IRS is asking more workers to return to work voluntarily amid the pandemic. According to Law360, The IRS is asking more employees to volunteer to return to work on site with incentive pay as the agency begins to reopen offices that were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the union representing agency employees said Thursday.
 

The National Treasury Employees' Union Supports The Internal Revenue Service's Call For Additional Employees To Volunteer To Return To Work During The Pandemic, NTEU President Tony Reardon Said In A Statement.

 

Nevertheless, he added, they should feel safe enough to do so, especially after an agency employee contracted the illness in Kansas City IRS employees who volunteer to return to work should have sufficient personal protective equipment such as masks and hand sanitizer readily available, and additional steps should be taken to clean office spaces, Reardon said.
 
"We will continue to work with the IRS to find the right balance between delivering a tax-filing season and keeping federal employees safe," Reardon said.
 

He Added That The Union Would Continue To Urge The Agency To Extend The Filing Deadline Even Further,
From July 15 To Oct. 15.　

 
The IRS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Reardon said that ensuring employees' safety is even more critical after an IRS employee in Kansas City last week contracted COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
 
According to a Facebook post by the local NTEU chapter in Kansas City, the IRS campus there will be closed until May 12 to ensure the space is properly cleaned, and then employees will be able to return on a limited basis.
 
Last week, the IRS told the NTEU it had secured enough face masks for agency employees who volunteered to return to work. The agency also reported that there are few enough returning workers that they can comply with physical distancing standards, Reardon said.
 
Reardon previously said that state and local orders requiring people to stay home should be lifted and that other conditions should be met before federal employees returned to their offices.
 
The union's conditions for bringing back workers also included proof of thorough cleaning of sites, adequate supplies of sanitizers and disinfectants, a policy of voluntary maximum telework, work spaces that provide for physical distancing, procedures for taking employees' temperatures before they enter buildings and permitting and providing the use of cloth face coverings.
 
In March, the IRS extended the April tax filing deadline to July 15 to account for hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The agency also took steps in March to temporarily suspend some tax enforcement efforts and generally not begin new audits or collection efforts until July 15.
 
Additionally, the IRS shuttered all its service centers and Taxpayer Assistance Centers and is holding mail. The IRS has also directed much of its workforce to telework and suspended some enforcement actions.
 
HAVE AN IRS TAX PROBLEM?


Contact the Tax Lawyers at
Marini & Associates, P.A.   
for a FREE Tax Consultation contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com or
Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888) 882-924


Read more at: Tax Times blog

References to the NAFTA in Income Tax Treaties Will Be interpreted as a References to the USMCA

May 19, 2020


Announcement 2020-06 provides the Treasury Department and IRS view on how to interpret references in U.S. income tax treaties to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) once it is replaced by the Agreement between the United States Canada and Mexico (the USMCA). 

The announcement provides that once the USMCA goes into force, the IRS and Treasury will interpret any references to NAFTA in a U.S. income tax treaty as a reference to the USMCA. 

Have an International Tax Treaty 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

DC Finds That IRS Improperly Levied Property Belonging to Decedent’s Children

May 18, 2020

A federal district court has found, in Goodrich, (DC LA 3/17/2020) 125 AFTR 2d ¶2020-558 that the IRS improperly levied property belonging to a decedent’s children. The decedent held a life estate in certain property that was willed to the children by their mother and decedent’s interest in that property ended when he died. Therefore, the children were entitled to get that property back. 
A nontaxpayer can sue the IRS for wrongful levy. (Code Sec. 7426). To establish a wrongful levy claim against the IRS, a nontaxpayer must show that:
  1. the IRS levied against property held by the nontaxpayer to satisfy another taxpayer’s liability;
  2. the nontaxpayer had an interest in that property superior to that of the IRS; and 
  3. the levy was wrongful because, for example, the property did not belong to the taxpayer at the time of the levy. (Oxford Capital Corp., (CA5 2000) 85 AFTR 2d 2000-1840)
Under Louisiana law, a surviving spouse who receives a usufruct (life estate) in certain property created by a will generally may consume or sell consumable property such as money (La. Civ. Code Art. 536) and may possess and use non-consumables such as real estate, stocks and mineral rights. (La. Civ. Code Art. 537)
When the life estate’s beneficiary ("beneficiary") dies, the life estate in consumables terminates and the beneficiary is bound either to pay to the “naked owners” ("remaindermen") the value that the consumables had at the beginning of the life estate or to deliver to the remaindermen things of the same quantity and qualify. (La. Civ. Code Art. 629)
The debts that the beneficiary owes to the remaindermen, including restoration of the value of consumables that were subject to the life estate, are debts of the estate. (In Re Succession of Catching, (La. App. 2d Cir. 2010) 35 So.3d 449)
Henry Goodrich (Henry) died owing a significant amount of taxes. At the time of his death he held a life estate, created by his deceased wife’s will, that included personal property, real property, stocks, cash, and mineral interests. Henry’s three children were the remaindermen of the life estate.  
A few years after Henry died, the IRS issued levies against funds in his estate’s bank accounts, including cash that Henry received when he sold shares of stock. The IRS applied the seized funds to Henry’s tax debts. 
In their wrongful levy action, Henry’s children argued that at the time of Henry’s death they became 100% owners of the assets subject to Henry’s life estate and, therefore, none of the levied assets were Henry’s when the IRS issued the levies. The children demanded that the IRS return the cash it seized from the estate’s accounts.
The district court found that the IRS improperly levied cash from the estate’s account that was generated by the sale of personal property and real property because under Louisiana law Henry’s interest in that property ended when he died even through the proceeds from the sale of the property were deposited in the estate’s account.
However, the court decided that Henry’s children had a claim against the estate for the cash Henry received for certain stock that he sold. Therefore, the IRS’s levy on this amount was not wrongful.
Citing In Re Succession of Catching, the court held that because Henry had the option to deliver to his children (as the remaindermen of the life estate) either stock in the same quantity or quality as the stock he sold or a sum of money representing the value of that stock to restore the value of the consumables (stock) he sold, Henry’s obligation was a debt he owed his children. Thus, when Henry died and his life estate terminated, the debt became an obligation of his estate that was subject to administration and payment only if the estate had adequate funds to satisfy the obligation.  
 Do You Have and IRS Collection Problem?
 
Contact the Tax Lawyers at 
Marini & Associates, P.A.   
for a FREE Tax Consultation contact us at:
www.TaxAid.com or www.OVDPLaw.com 
Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888) 882-9243
 

Read more at: Tax Times blog

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