The IRS announced yesterday, in IR 2017-210 (the “Advisory”), that state property taxes must be “assessed” in 2017 in order for such taxes to be prepaid in calendar year 2017 and therefore deductible in 2017. The Advisory says that state or local law determines whether and when a property tax is “assessed,” but the Advisory … Continue Reading
The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has issued Notice 2017-75 (the “Notice”), which provides certain limited relief from the strict requirements of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), in order to pay income taxes on deferrals attributable to services performed before 2009 that are required to be included … Continue Reading
In this first of (we hope) many posts on the interesting and myriad tax issues arising in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, we focus on the very basic U.S. federal income tax consequences of cryptocurrency transactions. The following is a very high-level discussion of the consequences generally applicable to U.S. individual holders of … Continue Reading
In a notice of proposed rulemaking issued on October 11, 2017 (the “NPRM”), the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) proposed an amendment to existing regulations (the “Proposed Regulation”) under Section 754 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The Proposed Regulation eliminates the requirement … Continue Reading
Today, the Wall Street Journal considers again, on its front page above the fold, the potential benefits of corporate spin-off transactions (https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-reason-investors-love-spinoffs-juicier-returns-1507681008 (subscription required)). The Journal article notes that the S&P Spin-Off Index has outperformed the S&P 500 Index by nearly 190 percentage points in the last ten years. Also discussed are the wide-ranging reasons investors favor spin-off transactions … Continue Reading
On September 21, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued Revenue Procedure 2017-52[1] (the “Rev. Proc.”), introducing an 18-month “pilot program” in respect of corporate “spin-off,” “split-up” and “split-off” transactions (“Spin-off Transactions”[2]). Under this pilot program, the IRS will again issue private letter rulings on the general federal income tax consequences of Spin-off Transactions … Continue Reading
On June 13, 2017, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) re-released proposed regulations (REG 136118-15) that provide guidance on the new centralized partnership audit regime. The centralized partnership audit regime was enacted in November 2015 by Section 1101 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, P.L. 114-74, and … Continue Reading
On April 6, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (the IRS) added three new frequently asked questions to its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) compliance page, which is available only online.[1] These additional FAQs clarify recent temporary regulations (the “Temporary Regulations”) requiring that a beneficial owner withholding certificate contain a foreign taxpayer identification number (“TIN”) and, … Continue Reading
On October 13, 2016, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued final and temporary regulations under section 385 of the Internal Revenue Code. The final and temporary regulations recharacterize certain debt instruments as equity for all federal income tax purposes. The final and temporary regulations narrow considerably the scope of the proposed regulations … Continue Reading
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released Revenue Procedure 2016-45 (the “Revenue Procedure”) on August 26, 2016, permitting taxpayers once again to seek private letter rulings on issues of “corporate business purpose” and “device” under Section 355 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (dealing with tax-free spin-offs and related transactions). The corporate … Continue Reading
The IRS adopted final regulations that no longer require taxpayers who have made Internal Revenue Code §83(b) elections to attach a copy of the election to their annual federal income tax return. Under §83, restricted stock granted in connection with the performance of services generally becomes taxable as ordinary income compensation when it is no … Continue Reading
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) have published proposed regulations that would modify the device and active trade or business requirements for tax-free spin-offs under section 355 of the Code in three important respects. First, the proposed regulations clarify the “device” test and its relationship to the “business … Continue Reading
In general, proposed rulemaking issued in December 2008 with respect to income inclusion under Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (available here) provides that if there is a Section 409A violation in a taxable year, all compensation deferred under the applicable nonqualified deferred compensation arrangement for that taxable year and … Continue Reading
Pursuant to the final regulations under Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, a termination of employment generally occurs at such time as the employer and employee reasonably anticipate that the level of services to be performed after such time, whether as an employee or an independent contractor, would permanently decrease … Continue Reading
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued proposed Treasury Regulations (available here) that would clarify certain provisions of the final regulations under Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The proposed regulations also would expand the anti-abuse provisions of proposed rulemaking issued in December 2008 with respect to income … Continue Reading
It was widely reported that on the June 5 episode of the HBO program, Last Week Tonight, John Oliver forgave nearly $15 million of medical debt. That’s not quite right. This blog explains what really happened and why the forgiveness did not cause the debtors to recognize “cancellation of debt income” (“COD”) for federal income … Continue Reading
On May 3, 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued new temporary and proposed regulations (Temp. Treas. Reg § 301.7701-2T) addressing the tax treatment of partners of a partnership that is the sole owner of an entity that is not a corporation (a “disregarded entity”) that employs the partners. The regulations provide that for … Continue Reading
In April, the IRS issued proposed regulations interpreting deemed distributions under Section 305(c). Specifically, the proposed regulations would clarify the amount and timing of deemed distributions that result from an adjustment to the right to acquire stock. These regulations will generally apply to deemed distributions occurring after they are finalized, but may be relied upon … Continue Reading
Our colleagues over at Proskauer’s ERISA Practice Center Blog have noted that a recent IRS information letter confirms that “waiting time penalties” paid under California law are not wages for federal income tax withholding purposes. Please click here for the full post and please see Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum 201522004 and IRS Information Letter 2016-0026 … Continue Reading
On December 21st, 2015 the IRS proposed Country-by-Country (“CbC”) reporting rules requiring certain U.S. multinational companies to provide extensive information about business operations (including their revenue, number of employees, taxes paid or withheld, etc.) that may be shared with other taxing authorities under Information Exchange Agreements. The exchange of information is reciprocal; the IRS will … Continue Reading
Citing scary facts like the 16.6 million victims of identity theft in 2012 and the recent customer data security breaches at major U.S. companies, the IRS recently announced special tax relief for identity protection services provided to individuals affected by a security breach. Often, if a company has experienced a data security breach, it will … Continue Reading
