Andrew Belter and William Schmidt discuss their experiences with withdrawing from cases in the U.S. Tax Court.  Since it is necessary to receive court approval for an attorney to withdraw from a case, both of your hosts provide guidance on how to navigate what is required to be withdraw from a case when your client is no longer cooperating with you.

If all goes right, you should be able to find some sample forms for those withdrawals along with this episode.  If not, contact William on LinkedIn.

Plus, Andrew talks about providing CLE information to LITCs to help them meet their match goals.

Last episode, William Schmidt talked on his own and gave the setup for the current episode.  Now, he is joined by Andrew Belter to break down the Tax Court’s virtual visit to Kansas City and the 2021 American Bar Association Tax Section Virtual Fall Tax Meeting.

In Kansas City’s virtual Tax Court, learn more about the extra guests that appeared during the calendar call and the interesting cases where the Low Income Taxpayer Clinics gave advice to unrepresented taxpayers.

For the 2021 American Bar Association Tax Section Virtual Fall Tax Meeting, learn more about the Diversity Committee panel on tax preparer fraud, news from the Tax Court, the Individual and Family Taxation Committee’s look at the current state of the IRS, and more.

This episode is providing a quick update on some items that William Schmidt is involved with.  For starters, there is Tax Court for Kansas City scheduled the week of September 20 and coming the week of January 24.  Next, William is involved with the Individual and Family Taxation Committee and gives a preview of their panel.  Last, William is on a panel Wednesday, September 22, for the Diversity Committee on “Protecting Vulnerable Taxpayers Against Tax Preparer Fraud.”

Andrew Belter and William Schmidt have a discussion on two items regarding client deadlines in taxes.

-What to do when a client shows up with a short deadline for the IRS or Tax Court?  This might put an attorney in a bind regarding the work to do in a short amount of time.  Entering an appearance in court is easy for an attorney to do, but requires the judge’s approval to for the attorney to withdraw from the case.  In other instances, there may be a scramble to file paperwork to the IRS.  What are some considerations necessary to trust the client?

-Also, there is the issue of premature assessments.  The U.S. Tax Court is backed up on processing petitions they have received.  In the meantime, the IRS has not received notices that those petitions were filed.  Their Collections department may then believe there is no petition and incorrectly send out a notice regarding the deficiency.  To address this issue, there is an email address to contact and provide your case number in the situation:  [email protected]

Here is the recent press release from the Tax Court on premature assessments:  08162021.pdf (ustaxcourt.gov)

Andrew Belter and William Schmidt discuss some items that have been happening at Legal Aid of Western Missouri (LAWMO).

Last year, LAWMO set up a help line for people needing help getting their stimulus/Economic Impact Payments.  An article about the help line went viral and LAWMO wound up getting hundreds of applicants.  Now, LAWMO has a grant for a stimulus attorney to assist applicants.

Tune in to hear more details!

I wanted to pass on the information that I need to do a format shift for Tax Justice Warriors.  I have been thinking it would be good to have a co-host on the show to bring in more conversations on current tax topics.  I have enlisted frequent guest Andrew Belter, LITC Program Director at Wisconsin Judicare, to be a co-host so we are going to try and provide you some interesting discussions.  This will lead to some longer episodes.

Also, I am keeping busy in my position as Supervising Attorney of the Consumer Protection Unit (which includes the LITC) at Legal Aid of Western Missouri.  As a result, it has been tougher for me to find the time to edit podcasts so I am going to switch from a weekly format to twice a month.  So, that means longer episodes but less often.  

Hopefully, a frequency that works for everyone.

I hope you will tune in and join us!

Andrew Belter - is he guest or co-host or…is he both?  Andrew Belter, Clinic Director of the LITC at Wisconsin Judicare joins William Schmidt of the LITC at Legal Aid of Western Missouri to discuss the child tax credit.

What are some of the issues for the child tax credit for divorced or separated parents?  Is there a safe harbor for people who should not have received the payments that would keep them from repaying?  What should be done for issues where the wrong parent received the payments?  These and other items come up on our discussion of the child tax credit.  Tune in to learn more!

The IRS is hosting advance child tax credit free tax prep days to assist taxpayers in filing 2020 tax returns in order to be eligible for the child tax credit in 12 select cities.

Turnout was low on June 25 and 26 so I am providing information to boost turnout on July 9 and 10.

For information, go to this website:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/advance-child-tax-credit-free-tax-prep-days

To make an appointment at a Taxpayer Assistance Center, call (844) 545-5640.

Locate one of the Taxpayer Assistance Centers by going here:  https://www.irs.gov/help/contact-your-local-irs-office

I wanted to let you know about a recent publication from the American Bar Association.  It is an essential reference for any tax controversy or Low Income Taxpayer Clinic worker.  I was co-author of chapter 5 for this edition, "Securing Information from the IRS by Taxpayers."

Effectively Representing Your Client Before the IRS, 8th Edition

Edited by Christine S Speidel and Patrick W Thomas

Effectively Representing Your Client Before the IRS is a comprehensive collection of everything a tax professional should know when dealing with the IRS.

https://www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/404782279/?fbclid=IwAR3poLqI9KQeg_M9-fxvRG7R2NuB2q1NiEObaYU3_NvD7ZLLybf3tk4nCUs

Two big updates from the IRS came out this week:

• The Advance Child Tax Credit Non-Filer Portal is now available

The non-filer portal is now available and further online tools will assist taxpayers to get the advance child tax credit this year.  Payments will begin on July 15 and will continue around the 15th of the month until the end of 2021.

• IRS Collections is resuming normal operations

As IRS Collections resumes normal operations, notices will be going out starting June 15 and taxpayers could be subject to liens or levies beginning August 15.