Federal Tax Update Podcast

Current Federal Tax Developments for the week of February 24, 2020: Meals and Entertainment After TCJA

• Proposed regulations can be relied upon in the interim, as well as continued reliance on Notice 2018-76
• Separate invoicing rule for food/beverage first released in Notice 2018-76 is also in the proposed regulations
• Definition of entertainment stays similar to older definition, but does not include business meals
• Adopts Notice 2018-76 rules for business meals
• Detailed guidance on meals related exceptions to 50% disallowance found at §274(e)

Copyright 2020, Kaplan, Inc.

Current Federal Tax Developments for the week of February 17, 2020: The Week of Fortnite and Schedule 1

• IRS urges tax professionals to make use of multi-factor authentication
• V-bucks and Roblox removed from list of convertible virtual currencies on FAQ
• Challenge to validity of regulations on disclosing basis in appraisal found wanting by the Tax Court

Copyright 2020, Kaplan, Inc.

This week we look at:

• Regulations implementing changes to FAVR and cents-per-mile methods finalized by IRS
• OIRA finishes review of final §163(j) regulations, starts review of additional proposed regulations
• Tax Court finds that language in deed fails to comply with regulations for qualified conservation easements
• Form 1023 now goes fully online--but only after 90 days when applicants can still use paper

Copyright 2020, Kaplan, Inc.

This week we look at:

• Special agent in charge of Los Angeles CID talks about their potential use of the virtual currency question on Schedule 1, Form 1040.

• Taxpayer wins on claim LLC was not a sham, but finds the result is actually worse when court rules amounts paid to law firm were start-up expenses under §195 TAM rules that taxpayer did not have an intangible related to synergistic benefits that could be written off.

• Taxpayer could not use claim of right provision under §1341(a) to claim a deduction related to gain recognized in prior year when trustee of grantor sold stock that trustee was barred from selling by the trust agreement.

• IRS and taxpayer agree that a regulation on the books since 2001 mandates a result different from what the court had arrived at when agreeing with IRS position on §7502(a) and late filed returns asserted originally in the case.

Copyright 2020, Kaplan, Inc.