“In these latter days, knighthood was an honor few Englishmen escaped.”
―
Rendezvous with Rama
THE TAX ANGLE ON THE THE BANKING ROYAL COMMISSION: PART I
THE TAX ANGLE ON THE THE BANKING ROYAL COMMISSION: PART II - THE IMPACT OF CONDUCT - by Muhunthan Kanagaratnam, Partner, Julian Lian, Consultant, and Tina Chen and Matthew Charman, Lawyers, Gilbert & Tobin
HMRC's first probes into corporate tax evasion facilitation
Lesson From The Tax Court: Form 2848 Does Not Change Your Address
But sometimes it’s not so nice, such as when the notice comes from the IRS. And when Congress wants the IRS to “notice” taxpayers (pun intended), it generally requires the IRS to send that notice to their last known address.
The last known address rule is critical to learn. Congress puts that rule in about 20 different statutes, helpfully listed in Rev. Proc. 2010-16. The governing regulation generally allows the IRS to comply with the rule by using the address in its Master File database. There are some exceptions. In a blog last November, I discussed one exception: certain events can trigger an IRS duty of due diligence to go beyond the address in its database.
Last week the Tax Court taught us about another exception in Damian K. Gregory and Shayla A. Gregory v. Commissioner, 152 T.C. No. 7 (Mar. 13, 2019) (Judge Buch). There, Tax Court let us know, in a fully reviewed opinion, that a Power of Attorney (Form 2848) does not have the legal effect of telling the IRS that a taxpayer has changed their official address of record. This is important because, as long-time practitioners know, Form 2848 used to work for that purpose (albeit as a backstop). Time to unlearn that old lesson! Details below the fold.
HMRC This policy paper sets out the HMRC approach and achievements in tackling tax avoidance, evasion and other forms of non-compliance.
Blighty's most trusted brand? Yeah, you wish, judgetells Post Office in Horizon IT system ruling
Ways not to win in court, no.94: 'threatening dire consequences to national business' if you lose
The explosion in government spending which
suddenly ramped up last May will leave the incoming government buried in
debt but worse, it will leave whoever wins the impending federal
election tied to billions of dollars in spending commitments which never
went to tender.
There have been $153 billion in “amended contracts”, or untendered contracts struck by the government between March 2016 and February this year, the bulk of it in the past ten months, and the vast bulk of that in Defence spending.
Poisoning the Well: Liberal spending splurge to bury Labor in debt
“Convert words to time. “Enter the word count into the tool below (or paste in text) to see how many minutes it will take you to read. Estimates number of minutes based on a slow, average, or fast paced reading speed.” Great tool for presentations in any setting – in person or online.
ACADEMIA’S CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Ex-diversity officer smacked with massive fine after giving husband big money fellowship. “The State of Connecticut Office of State Ethics fined Charmane Thurmand, a former graduate diversity officer at the University of Connecticut, $20,000 for awarding her husband a more than $50,000 fellowship for which he did not apply [and] did not have the requisite degree.”
Hailed as a massive victory for the states, the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair brought dated state tax jurisdiction standards into the twenty-first century, freeing the states to tax internet vendors. However, the decision left the larger state tax jurisdiction doctrine undertheorized and at a crossroads: should the doctrine concern itself only with notice and fairness issues akin to those found in the due process personal jurisdiction realm, or should it also concern itself with protecting interstate commerce from undue state tax burdens?
Nina Olson To Retire After 18 Years As National Taxpayer Advocate
On
this date eighteen years ago — March 1, 2001 — I walked through the
doors of the IRS headquarters building in Washington, DC to begin my
tenure as National Taxpayer Advocate of the United States. It was the
beginning of an always fascinating, usually complicated, and yes,
sometimes frustrating journey. Along the way, I have been privileged —
and I use that word in every sense — to have worked with extraordinary
people — in the Taxpayer Advocate Service, in the IRS, in Treasury, in
Congress, and most importantly, directly with taxpayers and their
representatives.
In
addition to celebrating my March 1 anniversary, I crossed another
milestone a few weeks ago. In the eyes of the Internal Revenue Code, I
am now “elderly” — that is, I am now of the age to qualify for the
additional credit for the elderly under IRC § 22. This has caused me to
reflect on how I want to proceed with the remaining stages of my life,
and I have concluded that I am ready to move on to a new stage.
So
it is with a mix of excitement and bittersweet emotions that I am
announcing today I will be retiring from the position of National
Taxpayer Advocate on July 31, 2019.
The National Taxpayer Advocate is convening the fourth International Conference on Taxpayer Rights (agenda) on May 23-24, 2019 at Minnesota:
The
conference brings together government officials, scholars, and
practitioners from around the world to explore how global taxpayer
rights serve as the foundation for effective tax administration. For two
days, speakers, panelists and attendees will explore the role of
taxpayer rights in the digital age, and the implications of the
expanding digital environment for transparency, certainty, and privacy
in tax administration.
Wall Street Journal Report: Leadership, Are You a Confident or Overconfident Boss? Here’s How to Tell, by Sydney Finkelstein Dartmouth; author, Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent (2016)):
Four questions to ask yourself to make sure cockiness isn’t interfering with your—and your team’s—performance.
“The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2019 the government reported 337 new white collar crime prosecutions – an historic low. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, this number is down 20.3 percent over the previous month, and continues a five-month downward slide.
Compared to five years ago, January filings were down 35.7 percent. White-collar prosecutions since President Trump assumed office generally have been lower than in previous administrations. The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with white collar crime-related offenses are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was the lead investigative agency for slightly over a quarter (28%) of white collar crime prosecutions filed in January. Other agencies that referred a substantial number of these white collar cases were the Internal Revenue Service (14%), the Department of Homeland Security (13%), the U.S. Postal Service (11%), and the Secret Service (8%). Relative to its population size, the Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis) was the most active judicial district in the nation, followed by the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).”
For around 40 years, U.S. Presidents and major-party Presidential candidates have publicly released their personal income tax returns. However, during the last election cycle, candidate Donald Trump broke from this recent tradition and did not disclose them. This nondisclosure ultimately did not imperil his candidacy, and he became the 45th President of the United States.
But calls for the President’s tax returns have continued. Many Democratic legislators believe that the President’s tax returns could contain important information related to his apparent conflicts of interest and his foreign connections. However, for the last two years, the Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives declined to pursue those returns.
Wired: “Stochastic Terrorism n. Acts of violence by random extremists, triggered by political demagoguery. “When President Trump tweeted a video of himself body-slamming the CNN logo in 2017, most people took it as a stupid joke. For Cesar Sayoc, it may have been a call to arms: Last October the avowed Trump fan allegedly mailed a pipe bomb to CNN headquarters. No one told Sayoc to do it, but the fact that it happened was really no surprise. In 2011, after the shooting of US representative Gabby Giffords, a Daily Kos blog warned of a new threat the writer called stochastic terrorism: the use of mass media to incite attacks by random nut jobs—acts that are “statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.” The writer had in mind right-wing radio and TV agitators, but in 2016, Rolling Stone accused then-candidate Trump of using the same playbook when he joked that “Second Amendment people” might “do” something if Hillary Clinton won the election…”
Wired: “Stochastic Terrorism n. Acts of violence by random extremists, triggered by political demagoguery. “When President Trump tweeted a video of himself body-slamming the CNN logo in 2017, most people took it as a stupid joke. For Cesar Sayoc, it may have been a call to arms: Last October the avowed Trump fan allegedly mailed a pipe bomb to CNN headquarters. No one told Sayoc to do it, but the fact that it happened was really no surprise. In 2011, after the shooting of US representative Gabby Giffords, a Daily Kos blog warned of a new threat the writer called stochastic terrorism: the use of mass media to incite attacks by random nut jobs—acts that are “statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.” The writer had in mind right-wing radio and TV agitators, but in 2016, Rolling Stone accused then-candidate Trump of using the same playbook when he joked that “Second Amendment people” might “do” something if Hillary Clinton won the election…”
Mixed reviews for DFAT-AusAID merger five years on
DFAT/AusAID: Strong and widely disparate opinions are expressed on the impact of AusAID's absorption into foreign affairs, says an independent review.
Car-free cities: are Australians ready to take back the streets?
MOBILITY: Would restrictions on cars improve our cities' health and stress levels? A detailed look at the benefits and costs of going car-free.
Government agencies' digital governance problems
DATA MANAGEMENT: Government agencies' immediate issue should be how to set appropriate boundaries for the sharing and release of the public’s personal data, argues Peter Leonard.
Two million Aussies delay or don’t go to the dentist. Here’s how to fix that
HEALTH: Dental care in Australia is a policy anomaly; for some reason, the mouth is treated very differently to other parts of the body.
What’s in store for online privacy and data management?
We canvass the key issues in the online privacy and data management landscape – from government, a digital media platform and consumer policy perspectives. (Partner article)
Behaviour change in public policy masterclass
Learn about behavioural solutions to public policy challenges, including the latest methods and tools to bring about change in this ANZSOG masterclass. (Partner link)
How can the APS maintain trust at a time of significant disruption?
ON-DEMAND WEBCAST: Sven Bluemmel, Victorian Information Commissioner and Scott Miller, CEO of Volunteering Victoria discuss the need for greater trust and transparency, and how government can meet citizen expectations. Watch today.
