VITA Archives - TAX CONTROVERSY 360

Weekly IRS Roundup April 26 – April 30, 2021

Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of April 26, 2021 – April 30, 2021. Additionally, for continuing updates on the tax impact of COVID-19, please visit our resource page here.

April 26, 2021: The IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2021-23, making superseding changes to earlier Revenue Procedures related to the Child Tax Credit under section 24 of the Code, the Earned Income Credit under section 32 of the Code and the Premium Tax Credit under section 36B of the Code in order to reflect statutory amendments made by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA).

April 26, 2021: The IRS issued a news release reporting the results of its March 2021 inaugural National Virtual Settlement Month, an IRS-coordinated nationwide initiative to provide pro bono legal advice to pro se US Tax Court litigants.

April 27, 2021: The IRS issued corrections to final regulations published in December 2020 regarding the elimination of the deduction for expenses associated with certain employer-provided transportation and commuting benefits under section 274 of the Code.

April 27, 2021: The IRS issued a news release, describing various electronic services it provides and urging taxpayers and tax professionals to use such services to speed up the processing of tax returns, payments and refunds.

April 28, 2021: The IRS issued a news release announcing a seventh round of Economic Impact Payments consisting of nearly two million payments totaling more than $4.3 billion, bringing the total amount of disbursements under ARPA to approximately 163 million payments worth approximately $384 billion.

April 29, 2021: The IRS issued a news release, providing information and resources to assist with tax compliance by gig economy workers and taxpayers who claimed unemployment compensation in 2020.

April 29, 2021: The IRS issued a news release, reminding taxpayers of the availability of tax-filing extensions upon request and listing certain categories of taxpayers who automatically obtain extensions without request.

April 30, 2021: The IRS issued Announcement 2021-8, listing attorneys, Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) and other practitioners who have received disciplinary sanctions for violating the regulations governing practice before the IRS.

April 30, 2021: The IRS issued a news release announcing the release of updated 2021 versions of Schedules K-2 and K-3 for Forms 1065, 1120-S and 8865. The updated Schedules are intended to provide greater clarity regarding the reporting of certain international tax items with respect to pass-through entities.

April 30, 2021: The IRS issued a news release announcing that it is now accepting grant applications by eligible organizations under the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs, which provide tax assistance services to elderly taxpayers and underserved communities, respectively.

April 30, 2021: The IRS released its weekly list of written determinations (e.g., [...]

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Weekly IRS Roundup September 14 – September 18, 2020

Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of September 14, 2020 – September 18, 2020. Additionally, for continuing updates on the tax impact of COVID-19, please visit our resource page here.

September 14, 2020: The IRS published final regulations providing guidance on the limitation on the deduction for business interest expense after amendment of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The regulations provide guidance to taxpayers on how to calculate the limitation, what constitutes interest for purposes of the limitation, which taxpayers and trades or businesses are subject to the limitation and how the limitation applies in consolidated group, partnership, international and other contexts. The final regulations vary slightly from the document released on IRS.gov on July 28, 2020.

September 14, 2020: The IRS published a criminal tax bulletin concerning recent case law involving the Criminal Tax Division.

September 15, 2020: The IRS published Rev. Rul. 2020-20 that provides various prescribed rates for federal income tax purposes for October 2020, including: (1) the applicable federal rates (AFR) under section 1274(d); (2) the adjusted applicable federal rates (adjusted AFR) under section 1288(b); (3) the adjusted federal long-term rate and the long-term tax-exempt rate under section 382(f); (4) the appropriate percentages for determining the low-income housing credit under Section 42(b)(1); and (5) the federal rate for determining the present value of an annuity, an interest for life or for a term of years or a remainder or a reversionary interest under section 7520.

September 15, 2020: The IRS published a practice unit covering Last In-First Out (LIFO) inventories under various LIFO methods.

September 15, 2020: The IRS released for future publication in the Federal Register final regulations concerning the definition of an eligible terminated S corporation and rules relating to distributions of money by such a corporation after the post-termination transition period. The regulation package also amends current regulations to extend the treatment of distributions of money during the post-termination transition period to all shareholders of the corporation and clarifies the allocation of current earnings and profits to distributions of money and other property. The final regulations affect C corporations that were formerly S corporations and the shareholders of such corporations.

September 16, 2020: The IRS published a memorandum providing flexibility for taxpayers who are temporarily unable to meet the payment terms on accepted offers due to the economic impact of COVID-19. The procedures will expire December 31, 2020, unless extended.

September 17, 2020: The IRS published a practice unit providing an overview of the Overall Foreign Loss (OFL), Separate Limitation Loss (SLL) and Overall Domestic Loss (ODL) rules, as well as related examples.

September 17, 2020: The IRS
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