I Wish the IRS Would Look At….

Have you ever thought of an area where you’d like to see the IRS issue guidance? Now is your chance to send the IRS cogent tax items that need clarification.

Today the IRS issued Notice 2006-36 requesting recommendations for the 2006-2007 Guidance Priority List. While any taxpayer can submit anything, in order for your recommendation to be seriously considered, you should ask yourself whether the recommendation:

“1. Whether the recommended guidance resolves significant issues relevant to many taxpayers;
2. Whether the recommended guidance promotes sound tax administration;
3. Whether the recommended guidance can be drafted in a manner that will enable taxpayers to easily understand and apply the guidance;
4. Whether the Service can administer the recommended guidance on a uniform basis; and
5. Whether the recommended guidance reduces controversy and lessens the burden on taxpayers or the Service.”

If you have any ideas that do, submit them to the IRS by May 15th, to:

Internal Revenue Service
Attn: CC:PA:LPD:PR (Notice 2006-36)
Room 5203
P.O. Box 7604
Ben Franklin Station
Washington, D.C. 20044

Here’s the 2005-06 Guidance Priority List. Not everything on the list receives guidance, of course.

Posted in IRS | Comments Off on I Wish the IRS Would Look At….

“I Never Got It”

Assume that you’re a conniving individual. The pesky IRS sends you a notice of non-payment. You decide to either (a) ignore it, or (b) move, but not give the IRS your new address. What will happen? Today, the Tax Court weighed in.

When the IRS sends you a notice, they send it to your last known address. If you move, the IRS has a form for you to file, Form 8822, that you can use to notify them of your new address. (Most state tax agencies have similar forms; California has Form 3533.) It’s your responsibility to notify the IRS. If you filed your tax return with a new mailing address, that also is sufficient notification. By the way, like anything else you send to the IRS (or FTB), you should send your change of address by certified mail, return receipt requested so that you have proof that you mailed the notice.

In the case at issue today the petitioners did none of those things. They claimed that they didn’t receive the IRS’s notices. In their case, they hand’t moved, and it may be that the PO Box they used had horrible service. Or it may be that they did receive the notices, and ignored them. Unfortunately for the petitioners, the Tax Court chose not to accept their testimony of non-receipt, and they lost their case.

Case: Prakasam v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2006-53

Posted in Tax Court | Comments Off on “I Never Got It”

Wide Right?

Ray Wersching had an illustrious career in the NFL. After starting his career with the San Diego Chargers, he moved on to the San Francisco 49ers, and played in Super Bowls XVI and XIX. Wersching holds the career Super Bowl record for most field goals (5). After retiring from the NFL, Wersching started an insurance company, Ray Wersching Insurance Agency, in Redwood City, CA, south of San Francisco on the Peninsula.

On Wednesday, Wersching was indicted for allegedly misappropriating premiums that should have been paid to Farmers Insurance Group, and of evading taxes on $3.6 million of corporate income in 1999 and 2000. Last year, the company’s co-owner, Mary Ann Locke, was indicted on similar charges.

Wersching’s attorney told the San Francisco Chronicle, “The money that was stolen went to Mary Ann Locke. Ray got none of it…She spent $8 million on a lavish lifestyle and gambling in Nevada.”

Wersching, who is also a CPA, is due in court on Monday.

News Stories: San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury

Posted in Tax Evasion | 4 Comments

Almost Impossible to Trace

Don’t try this at home.

Suppose you set up some offshore companies. You take investors’ money and buy gold coins (making the money harder to trace). Add a few shell companies, here and abroad, ignore those pesky IRS (and Treasury) regulations requiring you to disclose foreign bank accounts, mix it up, and you end up with a wonderful scheme to hide assets from the IRS.

Almost. The IRS found out. The perpetrators are finding their way to federal institutions. The Portland Oregonian reported today that the scam cost the IRS over $22 million in unpaid taxes. Terry Neal, of Gresham, OR, will have five years to consider his crimes (in prison) and was also fined $50,000. His co-conspirators received lesser sentences (but did get jail time). And the IRS ended up seizing most of the gold, and did collect over $176,000 from selling it.

The moral is the usual one: If it sounds too good to be true…

News Story: Portland Oregonian

Posted in Tax Fraud | Comments Off on Almost Impossible to Trace

CA LLCs: Where to Send Refund Request

Courtesy of Roth Tax Updates, and CCH, here’s how to request a refund:


Taxpayers should fax their protective claims to the FTB at 916-845-9796. In the fax, taxpayers should note that this is a protective claim and assert that the LLC fee is an unconstitutional tax. The following information should also be included: (1) the LLC’s name and identification number; (2) the tax years involved; (3) the amount of the claim; and (4) the name of a contact person and his or her phone number and fax number. The FTB will send an immediate fax confirmation.


The FTB is going to appeal, so don’t expect any money any time soon.

Posted in California | Comments Off on CA LLCs: Where to Send Refund Request

I’m Shocked (New Jersey)

Remember Captain Renault from Casablanca? He steps into the back room of Rick’s Cafe, and says, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” A croupier then hands him a pile of money and says, “Your winnings, sir.” That’s how I feel when discussing corruption in New Jersey.

Last week I reported on corruption at the Department of Taxation. Today, courtesy of the TaxProf Blog, we find corruption in the school system. The report shows that administrators are making far more money than what one would expect. The TaxProf Blog then goes on to note that schools in New Jersey are funded by property taxes, and that New Jersey’s property tax rates are among the highest in the nation. The Wall Street Journal has a particularly good critique of this issue in an editorial today.

So what do you suppose New Jersey’s Governor Jon Corzine would do? Promise to stamp out the problem? A fight against corruption? How about a budget full of tax increases? No, he couldn’t have that kind of poor political timing.

Sorry, the cynics win.

“Residents see higher taxes, less relief under Corzine’s $30.9 billion budget” screams AP’s headline in Newsday. The article goes on to detail a $1 billion increase in sales tax (by increasing the tax rate from 6% to 7%), and another $0.8 billion increase in other taxes. To his credit, Corzine also wants to find a few programs to cut ($2 billion in spending on a $31 billion budget). However, while he may be cutting some programs, the budget is, overall, a 9% increase from fiscal 2006’s $28.3 billion.

Posted in New Jersey | Comments Off on I’m Shocked (New Jersey)

All-In Back in Florida

Florida has some unusual gambling laws. A court last year ruled that no-limit Texas Hold’em tournaments violated the law. On Friday, an appeals court ruled that the Florida Department of Pari-Mutuel Gaming erred in its decision that no-limit Texas Hold’em was illegal.

Interestingly enough, the original ruling hurt tax revenues. The appellate decision could be appealed, though, to the Florida State Supreme Court.

News Story: Sun-Sentinel

Posted in Gambling | Comments Off on All-In Back in Florida

Las Vegas Gears Up for Prop 82

Proposition 82, Rob Reiner’s Preschool/Tax Increase Initiative, is really the “Help Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Denver” Initiative. Las Vegas decided that I am absolutely correct. Today, Las Vegas’ mayor, Oscar Goodman, announced a new initiative to bring more California businesses to Las Vegas. “There is very little we can give them that they don’t get already. We just give them ourselves.”

Goodman noted to Reuters that Las Vegas isn’t offering business incentives. Well, they don’t need to. Even with increased real estate costs in Las Vegas, it’s still less expensive than California. Add in workers compensation, high income taxes, and the potential disaster of Proposition 82, and you have a trifecta. Las Vegas even has a beach (well, I saw one at the Mandalay Bay hotel’s pool….)

News Story: Reuters

Posted in Nevada | Tagged | Comments Off on Las Vegas Gears Up for Prop 82

Will the Feds End Up With a Casino?

Renato Medina is the principal owner of Lucky Chances, a Bay Area poker club located in Colma. According to the US Department of Justice and the IRS, he allegedly caused Lucky Chance’s to deduct $2.6 million in bogus business expenses, causing the government to lose out on nearly $1 million in tax revenues. Medina was indicted on conspiracy and tax evasion charges. Also indicted were his neice and nephew. All have been released on bond pending the trial.

Medina faces three counts of tax evasion, five counts of making false tax returns, and one count of conspiracy. If convicted on all counts, he could face 35 years in prison and fines of well more than $1 million.

Medina is the principal owner of Lucky Group, the holding company that owns Lucky Chances. The Lucky Group’s website states, “The Lucky Group of Companies is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and demonstrating the highest personal standards of integrity at all levels, as well as a commitment to truth and fair dealing and complying with the spirit and letter of all laws and regulations wherever they conduct its businesses.” Mr. Medina’s attorney, Cris Arguedas, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “This is a simple tax case…[and Mr. Medina] asserts his innocence.”

In a related story, two State Senate candidates are returning donations from Medina.

News Story: San Francisco Chronicle

Posted in California, Gambling, Tax Evasion | Comments Off on Will the Feds End Up With a Casino?

Shades of Wetsern Tax Service

Out of the news and into my email inbox this afternoon comes word that a Bell Buckle, TN woman and a Florida couple have been charged with preparing tax returns with phony deductions, causing unwarrented refunds to taxpayers in the millions of dollars, and thousands of dollars in fees to the alleged perpetrators. If convicted on various counts, the three could be facing five years inprisonment and fines of up to $250,000.

The IRS happen to send out list of frivolous arguments yesterday. The TaxProf Blog has a nice list of them here. Joe Kristan of Roth Tax Updates presents an interesting list of real and phony frivolous arguments here. A more complete list of frivolous arguments can be found here.

Of course, when you have to debate whether a frivolous argument is real or phony (a phony frivolous argument?!?)….

News Story: Shelbyville Times-Gazette

Posted in IRS | Comments Off on Shades of Wetsern Tax Service