By: Daniel F. Brown, Esq. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (the “Appropriations Act”) was passed by Congress and became law on December 27th, 2020, and addressed a number of specific bankruptcy issues which had not been addressed as a part of either the original Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES
By: Michael J. Tedesco The IRS released Notice 2021-11 on January 19, 2021 addressing how employers who elected to defer certain employees’ Social Security taxes (“Applicable Taxes”) can withhold and pay those taxes throughout the 2021 calendar year. On August 8, 2020, President Trump issued a Memorandum directing the Treasury Secretary to use his authority under I.R.C. Section 7508A, which
By: Randall P. Andreozzi Congress last night passed COVID-relief legislation that included a much-anticipated provision that allows businesses to deduct qualifying expenses paid with forgiven Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. IRS caused a stir earlier this year when it issued IRS Notice 2020-32 which told taxpayers that such otherwise-deductible expenses lose their character if they’re paid with forgiven PPP loans. The
By: Gary P. Bluestein The financial consequences of COVID-19 have been particularly difficult for a large number of American small businesses and with lockdowns accelerating in many states, many of those businesses will be forced to consider a bankruptcy filing. Ironically, legislation enacted by Congress just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, may have created a much-needed lifeline for many of
By: Derek Wheeler Today, July 15th, the IRS’ People First Initiative will come to an end. Implemented at the end of March as COVID-19 began spreading throughout the United States and large parts of the country began to shutdown, the People First Initiative relieved taxpayers of many impending tax burdens. Filing deadlines were extended, installment payment agreements were suspended, and
By: Heather L. Marello and Kevin M. Murphy During a recent web conference, IRS Large Business and International Division Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell warned that IRS is gearing up to initiate hundreds of non-filer audits against high income individuals and those with related flow-through entities. The original announcement of this initiative came in July, 2019, when LB&I added high income non-filers
By: Ruth R. Wiseman, Esq. and Melissa A. Brennan On March 27, 2020, the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES”) Act. The act has created numerous initiatives to help individuals and businesses navigate financial problems resulting from the Covid-19 Pandemic. The details related to many of those programs have been highlighted in numerous blogs and
The IRS has issued a warning to taxpayers to be cautious about phishing scams pertaining to IRS payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. These scams can lead to serious tax-related fraud and identity theft. Taxpayers should be mindful of this if they receive any phone calls, emails, text messages, social media or website requests for money or personal information. Taxpayers are
There have been a significant number of recent IRS updates that impact taxpayers from both a controversy and compliance perspective. While our focus is to always provide the absolute best tax controversy updates and counsel for our clients, the IRS is currently modifying many current compliance procedures in the wake of the pandemic that are important to pass on to