Tax Justice Warriors

IRS Settlement Days are a process where IRS Counsel selects cases that would potentially be ripe for settlement or would benefit from a conference.  These Settlement Days are often in anticipation of upcoming Tax Court trial sessions.  They work with pro bono attorneys, often from Low Income Taxpayer Clinics, that act as disinterested third parties to advise unrepresented petitioners regarding the tax or legal procedural issues they are facing.

This year, Settlement Days are happening virtually due to the pandemic.  Kansas City Counsel had scheduled Virtual Settlement Days for August 26 through 29.  I give a report on how things went, provide some tips and describe different issues the taxpayers faced.

For another account of Virtual Settlement Days, go here:

https://procedurallytaxing.com/inside-a-virtual-settlement-day/

A shorter episode this week as I inform you about some other tax podcasts out there for tax news and interviews.  Just keep listening to this one - please!!!

Here are some of the podcasts mentioned in this episode -

ABA Tax Times People in Tax:

https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/peopleintaxpodcasts

Simply Tax:

https://www.bkd.com/simplytax

Bloomberg Talking Tax:

https://pro.bloombergtax.com/talking-tax-podcast/

Tax Notes Talk:

https://www.taxnotes.com/tax-notes-talk

Tax Rep Network:

https://taxrepllc.com/tax-rep-network-podcast/

Tax Resolution Success Show:

https://www.rozstrategies.com/podcast/

Taxing Subjects (Drake Software):

https://www.drakesoftware.com/blog/tags/taxing%20subjects%20podcast

Taxgirl Podcast:

https://www.taxgirl.com/taxgirl-podcast/podcast-episode-guide/

This episode is an interview with Bobby French.  Bobby is starting as a 3L at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law.  He worked both as a student intern and volunteer for the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic at Kansas Legal Services and is pursuing his LL.M. in Taxation at UMKC.

We discuss the value of fun in teaching tax, lessons he learned while interning for Kansas Legal Services, his thoughts on assisting low income clients, the differences in tax controversy work and tax theory courses, his views on the amount of math involved in tax controversy work and more.

The IRS communicated that prisoners and decedents were not eligible for economic impact payments through the COVID-19 FAQs on their website.  IRS FAQs are best for communicating their message quickly to the public.  The problem is that there is no formal comment process on these FAQs and the IRS does not consider them to be legal authority that would be usable for a legal argument in a court case.  There were some blog posts in July that criticized IRS FAQs that I revisit in this episode.  I agree with their arguments and make my own statements that unreliable IRS communication erodes the trust that taxpayers place in the IRS.  Tune in to learn more and draw your own conclusions regarding IRS statements to the public.

Around 160 million economic impact payments have been distributed by the IRS.  This is a feat that must be applauded!  However, not everyone received their payments.  In this podcast episode, I will discuss those who did not receive their payments – those who were explicitly mentioned in the statutory language, those who were added later by FAQs from the IRS, and those who were lost in the shuffle.  The National Taxpayer Advocate, Erin M. Collins, wrote about how the Taxpayer Advocate Service can assist beginning August 10. 

https://taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/news/nta-blog-tas-to-assist-correcting-eip-amounts-for-limited-groups-of-taxpayers?category=Tax%20News

The former National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olson, wrote in Procedurally Taxing about how the IRS still has work to do to get economic impact payments to vulnerable taxpayers.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/irs-we-applaud-your-work-and-we-feel-your-pain-but-we-need-you-to-do-more-to-get-dollars-out-to-vulnerable-taxpayers/

A wrap-up regarding my report on teaching Tax Procedure at Washburn University School of Law.  A discussion of the class project involving the Taxpayer Roadmap, plus some talk about refund suits and private debt collections, and a review of the client counseling session from the beginning of the semester.

Unfortunately, we cannot avoid ethical issues by choosing to do tax controversy cases.  I wanted to share with you some specific issues for taxes that I learned about at an American Bar Association Section of Tax Meeting.  Forms to think about include informed consent for married taxpayers (if they divorce or have a different conflict of interest) and limited scope representation.  I also bring up some issues regarding the duty of confidentiality and clients with special circumstances like diminished capacity, death or other unavailability.

When advocating for a client, you do not want to skip to the conclusion.  It is necessary to build up the argument with support – link the law and the facts with words like “because.”  This has applications in law school exams, court arguments, and correspondence-based advocacy.  Correspondence-based advocacy includes government submissions where we are making arguments with supporting documents.  Learn about the IRAC and CRAC methods and how to gain sympathy for your client by painting a picture in words.

This focus on Tax Court concludes with a focus on litigation related to Tax Court.  How do you frame a trial with Tax Court?  How is Tax Court different from other courts?  These items and a dive into certain items like shifting the burden of proof to the IRS and making qualified offers make up the episode.

I mentioned some of this before, but here is an update on changes with the Tax Court due to COVID-19.  The main item I wanted to bring to your attention is the availability of the Clerk’s office with the Tax Court on July 10 if you are timing the filing of a petition based on the Guralnik case.  I discuss the cancellation of Tax Court dockets in the spring and summer, balanced with the scheduling of dockets for the fall.  That leads into virtual trial settings and virtual settlement days.  Also, the Court has not been receiving mail but that changes on July 10.  If you are filing a petition in July, there are the Guralnik case and IRS Notice 2020-23 that affect jurisdiction.  I end with a talk about the changes to the Tax Court case system and the June 2 post on Procedurally Taxing by Keith Fogg.  I hope this helps to understand Tax Court changes for the summer!  Happy 4^th of July weekend!