Another Circuit Weighs In on Impact of Work Product Privilege of Disclosure to Outside Auditor

In United States v. Deloitte, LLP, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia looked at the impact of disclosure of what would otherwise be protected by work product privilege to the outside auditor, and its decision, while officially avoiding holding that Textron was not decided correctly, certainly suggests this panel had severe doubts [...]

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Tax Court, Dismissing Both Experts Opinions, Decides Compensation Reasonable for Profitable Year, but Reduces Allowed Compensation in Loss Year

The Tax Court decided in Multi-Pak Corporation v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2010-139 that the sole shareholder of a corporation had been paid a reasonable salary in the profitable year under question, but that his salary for the following year when performance suffered was unreasonably high and reduced that salary to a level that produced a [...]

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Chief Counsel Office Revises Guidance on How to Proceed in Equitable Relief Innocent Spouse Cases Following Victory at Seventh Circuit

Less than two weeks after the Seventh Circuit in Lantz v. Commissioner reversed the Tax Court’s holding that the requirement that equitable innocent spouse relief under §6015(f) must be requested within two years of first contact was an invalid regulation, the IRS Chief Counsel’s office has issued revised guidance (CCN CC-2010-011, 6/18/10) to its attorneys [...]

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Third Circuit Decides Internal Communications Not Protected Under ERISA Anti-Retaliation Rule, Agreeing With Second and Fourth Circuits, Disagreeing with Fifth and Ninth

Prior to the Third Circuit’s decision in this case (Edwards v. Cornell and Son Inc, CA3 No. 09-3198), there was an even split among the Courts of Appeal that had addressed the question of whether ERISA’s whistleblower protection found in ERISA Section 510 protected an employee who made an internal complaint to management. The Fifth [...]

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The HTC Evo Smartphone

I carry around two cell phones, one my personal phone and one my business phone (the IRS should be happy-and I got to use this fact as an example just recently in an examination context).  As long as I’m going to have two, I have them on different carriers, presuming that one of them will [...]

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Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Regulations on Preexisting Medical Conditions, Benefit Limitations and Rescissions Issued

The IRS issued temporary and proposed regulations on June 25 that implement the preexisting medical conditions, benefits limitations and rescission provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [TD 9491, Temporary Regs. §§54-9815-2704T, 54.9815-2711-T, 54-9815-2712T, and 54-9815-2719T]. At the same time, the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services issued complementary regulations implementing [...]

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What Are Your Bad Workplace Habits?

An anonymous and wise person—at least I think they were— once wrote, “Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of.” Do you ever wonder if you have habits that may annoy or even anger your colleagues, friends or loved ones?

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Is Reimbursing New Employee’s COBRA Premiums to Prior Employer Taxable Income to Employee?

In emailed advice, a member of the Chief Counsel’s office determined that the reimbursement by a current employer of COBRA premiums under a prior employer’s plan could generally be excluded from the employee’s income under §106 as payments under a medical plan of the new employer.

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Taxpayer Cannot Change Mind After Designating Overpayment to Be Applied to Next Year’s Estimate

In a Chief Counsel Memorandum, the IRS considered the issue of whether a taxpayer could later change its mind and redesignate what had been an overpayment of tax for a year that was applied to the following year. In the matter in question, the IRS later examined the year in question and determined there was [...]

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Employees That Voluntarily Waived Salary Set by Statute Allowed to Exclude Waived Amounts From Income

In PLR 201024045, the IRS dealt with issues of constructive receipt when an employee voluntarily waives his/her right to salary.

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