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Inc. v. United States

District Court Vacates, Sets Aside IRS Reportable Transaction Notice

by Jenny L. Johnson Ware, Sarah M. Raben and McDermott Will & Emery | Mar 23, 2022 | Appellate Courts, Court Procedure Matters, IRS Audits, IRS Guidance, Trial Courts

The fallout from taxpayer challenges to the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) “reportable transaction” regime continues. On March 21, 2022, the district court in CIC Servs., LLC v. IRS ruled in favor of the taxpayer, vacating Notice 2016-66 and ordering the IRS to return all documents and information produced pursuant to Notice 2016-66 to taxpayers and material advisors.

We previously posted about the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in CIC Servs., LLC v. IRS, which allowed a pre-enforcement challenge to the IRS’s reportable transaction regime. On remand, the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The district court, relying on Mann Construction, Inc. v. United States, explained that the “Sixth Circuit’s analysis in Mann Construction is binding on this Court and applies equally to the arguments advanced by the IRS regarding Notice 2016-66 in this case.” The court dealt the IRS another blow, holding that Notice 2016-66 had to also be set aside as an agency action that was arbitrary and capricious: “[s]imply including cases in the administrative record that suggest certain tax structures could be abusively employed is not synonymous with examining relevant facts and data in connection with issuing the Notice.” In determining the appropriate relief, the court rejected the IRS’s request to limit vacatur of the Notice to CIC, explaining that “vacating the Notice in its entirety is appropriate” and citing the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s prior statement that the IRS “do[es] not have a great history of complying with APA procedures, having claimed for several decades that their rules and regulations are exempt from those requirements” (See CIC Servs., LLC v. IRS, 925 F.3d 247, 258 (6th Cir. 2019) quoting Kristin E. Hickman & Gerald Kersa, Restoring the Lost Anti-Injunction Act, 103 Va. L. Rev. 1683, 1712-13 (2017)).

Practice Point: The assault on the IRS’s reportable transaction regime is far from over. We recently posted about the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in Mann Construction in which it held that Notice 2007-83, which required disclosure of listed transactions relating to certain employee benefit plans, violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). APA challenges continue to expand to other IRS notices that bypassed the notice-and-comment requirement, including Notice 2017-10, which identifies certain syndicated conservation easement transactions as listed transactions subject to disclosure to the IRS. These developments will certainly have a significant impact on taxpayers and material advisors’ responsibilities as we move into the tax filing season.

Sixth Circuit Sides with Taxpayer in APA Challenge to Reportable Transaction Regime

by Sarah M. Raben and Jenny L. Johnson Ware | Mar 7, 2022 | Appellate Courts, IRS Appeals

We previously posted about the US Supreme Court’s opinion in CIC Servs., LLC v. IRS, which allowed a pre-enforcement challenge to the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) “reportable transaction” regime. In that post, we noted the district court opinion in Mann Construction, Inc. v. United States, No. 1:20-cv-11307 (E.D. Mich. 2021), holding that an IRS Notice requiring disclosure of listed transactions was not subject to the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) notice-and-comment requirement, and identified unanswered questions and potential future disputes over IRS enforcement strategies.

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has now reversed the district court in Mann Construction, holding that the IRS’s process for issuing Notice 2007-83—which designates certain employee-benefit plans featuring cash-value life insurance policies as listed transactions—violated the APA. Specifically, the court found that Notice 2007-83 was a legislative rule under the APA because it had the force and effect of law. The Sixth Circuit relied on CIC Services, explaining that Notice 2007-83 “defines a set of transactions that taxpayers must report, and that duty did not arise from a statute or a notice-and-comment rule…failure to comply comes with the risk of penalties and criminal sanctions, all characteristics of legislative rules.” The court further found that Congress did not expressly exempt the IRS from the APA’s notice-and-comment requirements with respect to the reportable transaction regime. The Sixth Circuit explained that there was an absence of any express deviation from the APA’s notice-and-comment procedures, and “any exceptions to the sturdy protections established by the APA’s notice-and-comment requirements must come from Congress, not us and not the IRS.”

What now? Mann Construction is a heavy blow to the IRS’s reportable transaction regime, and similar APA attacks are underway against other Notices imposing non-statutory reporting obligations. One example is Notice 2017-10, which identifies certain syndicated conservation easement transactions as listed transactions subject to disclosure to the IRS.

Practice Point: In 2011, the Supreme Court announced in Mayo Found. for Med. Educ. & Rsch. v. United States, that “we are not inclined to carve out an approach to administrative review good for tax law only.” The last 10 years have seen numerous APA challenges in the tax world, some successful and others unsuccessful. CIC Services and Mann Construction are two important cases for taxpayers subject to non-statutory reporting obligations. Taxpayers and practitioners should carefully consider the impact of these cases in similar reporting situations in determining whether to initiate APA challenges.

Weekly IRS Roundup June 7 – June 11, 2021

by McDermott Will & Emery | Jun 14, 2021 | Appellate Courts, Court Procedure Matters, IRS Guidance, Tax Reform, Tax Refunds, Trial Courts

Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of June 7, 2021 – June 11, 2021. Additionally, for continuing updates on the tax impact of COVID-19, please visit our resource page here.

June 7, 2021: The IRS issued a news release announcing it has begun sending letters to inform more than 36 million American families of their potential eligibility to receive monthly Child Tax Credit payments beginning in July, pursuant to the expansion of the Child Tax Credit under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA).

June 8, 2021: The IRS issued a news release, soliciting applications for 80 vacancies within its Procurement office, including vacancies for contract specialists who assist the IRS in the procurement and administration of third-party contracts.

June 8, 2021: The IRS issued a news release reminding taxpayers who make estimated tax payments that the second installment of estimated taxes for 2021 is due June 15, 2021.

June 9, 2021: The IRS issued a news release announcing the disbursement of more than 2.3 million Economic Impact Payments worth more than $4.2 billion, bringing the total amount of disbursements under ARPA to more than 169 million payments worth approximately $395 billion.

June 10, 2021: The IRS issued Notice 2021-36, announcing that the applicability date for certain regulations under sections 59A and 6038A of the Code, which set forth various reporting requirements with respect to qualified derivative payments (QDPs) for purposes of the base erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT), is delayed to the 2023 taxable year.

June 11, 2021: The IRS issued final regulations regarding the new mandatory 60-day postponement of certain tax deadlines due to a federally-declared disaster, enacted as section 7805A(d) of the Code by the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020.

June 11, 2021: The IRS issued Revenue Ruling 2021-11, providing the semi-annual Standard Industry Fare Level (SIFL) rates and terminal charges used in computing the value of noncommercial flights on employer-provided aircrafts for purposes of the taxation of fringe benefits under section 61 of the Code. The Revenue Ruling provides both unadjusted SIFL rates and SIFL rates adjusted for relief provided to the airline industry by COVID-related legislation.

June 11, 2021: The IRS issued an Action on Decision, announcing it would not acquiesce to TriNet Group, Inc. v. United States, 979 F.3d 1311 (11th Cir. 2020), which held that a professional employer organization (PEO) had “control of the payment of wages” to its clients’ employees and therefore the PEO—not its clients—was the “employer” (under section 3401(d) of the Code) eligible to claim Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tip tax credits with respect to such wages.

June 11, 2021: The IRS issued a news release and two sets of FAQs, providing assistance to families and small businesses claiming [...]

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Recent Developments in US Federal Income Tax Litigation

by McDermott Will & Emery | Aug 20, 2018 | Appellate Courts, Court Procedure Matters, Trial Courts, Uncategorized

Summer is winding down and fall is approaching. Here are a few of the significant tax cases from the last few weeks.

Tax Court

YA Global Investments, LP v. Commissioner, 151 TC No. 2 (Aug. 8, 2018): The Tax Court held that withholding tax liability on effectively connected income of foreign partners is a partnership liability that constitutes a partnership item. The Tax Court has jurisdiction over the issue in a partnership-level proceeding.
Illinois Tool Works Inc. & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2018-121 (Aug. 6, 2018): The Tax Court held that intercompany loans constituted bona fide debt for US federal income tax purposes.
Becnel v. Commissioner, TC Memo. 2018-120 (Aug. 2, 2018): The Tax Court holds that a property developer’s yacht related expenses are non-deductible entertainment facility expenses under Code section 274.
Kane v. Commissioner, TC Memo. 2018-122 (Aug. 6, 2018): Code section 6672 trust fund recovery penalties were imposed on a third-party vendor that performed bookkeeping services and held signature authority over certain accounts for a taxpayer delinquent on employment taxes. The Tax Court found that a collection officer did not abuse their discretion in denying a collection alternative during the collection due process proceeding, particularly when the taxpayer failed to submit an offer in compromise and already disputed the merits of the penalty during the appeals process.

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SOL and the 1603 Cash Grant – File Now or Forever Hold Your Peace

by Kevin Spencer, Natalie Colvin and Philip Tingle | May 10, 2018 | Appellate Courts, Court Procedure Matters, Tax Refunds, Uncategorized

Taxpayers are running out of time to file refund claims against the government. If the government reduced or denied your Section 1603 cash grant, you can file suit in the Court of Federal Claims against the government to reclaim your lost grant money. Don’t worry, you will not be alone. There are numerous taxpayers lining up actions against the government and seeking refunds from this mismanaged renewable energy incentive program. Indeed, the government lost in round one of Alta Wind I Owner-Lessor C. v. United States, 128 Fed. Cl. 702 (2016). In that case, the trial court awarded the plaintiffs more than $206 million in damages ruling that the government unreasonably reduced their Section 1603 cash grants.

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