The California Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) recently reversed a Franchise Tax Board (FTB) proposed assessment of a Texas-based independent contractor working for a California-based company. The OTA found that income reported to the contractor on a Form 1099-MISC did...
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Ninth Circuit Confirms Tribal Manufacturers Are Subject to Tobacco Excise Tax
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in U.S. v. King Mountain Tobacco Co., affirming that tribal manufacturers of tobacco products on land held in trust by the United States are subject to the federal excise tax on manufactured tobacco...
OTA Releases Inaugural Opinions on California Tax Matters
The new California Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) just released its first seven opinions. All seven opinions were decided in the favor of the Franchise Tax Board (FTB); none of the taxpayer-appellants opted for representation by an attorney, although three...
California Office of Tax Appeals Releases Draft Emergency Regulations
The new state Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) began hearing appeals cases as of January 1, 2018. California taxpayers may file an appeal with the OTA after receiving a Notice of Action or Notice of Determination from the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) or the new...
Fourth Circuit finds Fifth Amendment privilege inapplicable to documents required to be maintained under the Bank Secrecy Act
Last Friday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court's refusal to quash subpoenas related to foreign bank account records that were required to be maintained under the Bank Secrecy Act and Treasury Regulations.The case involves an investigation...
Supreme Court Upholds Valuation Misstatement Penalty for Disallowed Partnership Losses
Yesterday the Supreme Court held that the 40% gross valuation misstatement penalty under I.R.C. § 6662(h) is applicable in cases where the IRS determines that a partnership is a sham or lacks economic substance. United States v. Woods, No. 12-562 (U.S. Dec. 3,...
FTB Loses against an Out-of-State Nevada Corporation Owned by California Resident
In February, the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) lost a case, DANIEL V INC. v. Franchise Tax Board, in a Los Angeles Superior Court where it had asserted that a Nevada Company was commercially domiciled in California because it was owned by a California resident, Ron...
U.S. Supreme Court Declines To Review Connecticut’s Taxation of Out-of-State Seller
On October 9, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court denied, without comment, Scholastic Book Club's petition for certiorari, declining to hear an appeal regarding Connecticut's taxation of classroom catalog sales of books to students.Earlier this year, the Connecticut Supreme...
Tax Court Lacks Jurisdiction to Review IRS’s Refusal to Pursue Whistleblower’s Claim
In a case of first impression, the United States Tax Court held that it lacked jurisdiction under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 7623(b) to review the IRS's refusal to pursue a whistleblower's claim. Cohen v. Commissioner, 139 T.C. No. 12 (Oct. 9, 2012)In this...
Court Orders Production of Foreign Bank Account Records Despite Claim for Fifth Amendment Privilege
On August 27th the Seventh Circuit decided In Re: Special February 2011-1 Grand Jury Subpoena Dated September 12, 2011. The Court held that the required records doctrine requires a taxpayer asserting a Fifth Amendment privilege to produce the documents required to be...
