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Posts from February 2015.

iStock Beach with coconutIn 2009, the Service introduced its first Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”). As a result of this program, more than 50,000 taxpayers have come forward and disclosed offshore financial accounts. In a news release issued by the IRS on January 28, 2015 (IR-2015-09), it reported that the government has collected over $7 billion from this initiative. In addition, as we know from the Zwerner case (reported in my blog on June 16, 2014), the Service has conducted thousands of civil audits relating to offshore financial accounts, resulting in the collection of taxes and penalties in the “tens of millions of dollars.” Last, the IRS has not been shy about pursuing criminal charges against taxpayers who fail to disclose their offshore financial accounts. In fact, the IRS reports that it has collected “billions of dollars in criminal fines and restitutions” since the introduction of the OVDP.

As reported in my January 20, 2015 blog post, the IRS continues to take strong blows to its body in terms of budget setbacks.  President Obama, however, as part of his administration’s 2016 budget proposal issued on February 2, 2015, plans to end some of the pain being imposed on the Service.  His budget proposal, if enacted, would infuse over $12.9 billion into the Service’s coffers during fiscal year 2016.  This represents an increase of approximately $2 billion over the fiscal year 2015 IRS budget.

President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal includes provisions which, in the aggregate, increase income tax revenues by approximately $650 billion over 10 years.  At least three of the proposed tax increases will be of concern to a broad spectrum of taxpayers:

On February 2, 2015, President Obama published his 2016 budget proposal.  It proclaims that “[a] simpler, fairer, and more efficient tax system is critical to achieving many of the President’s fiscal and economic goals.”  While some tax practitioners may debate the claim that the tax provisions embedded in the President’s budget proposal make the tax system simpler, it is a certainty that a significant number of tax practitioners will question the fairness of these provisions.

Charitable Deductions

As in the past, the President’s budget proposes that “wealthy millionaires” pay no less than 30% of their income in federal income taxes.  To facilitate accomplishing that goal, President Obama suggests these taxpayers be prevented from making charitable contributions to reduce their tax liability.  He states:  “…this proposal will act as a backstop to prevent high-income households from using tax preferences to reduce their total tax bills to less than what many middle class families pay.”

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Larry J. Brant
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Larry J. Brant is a Shareholder and the Chair of the Tax & Benefits practice group at Foster Garvey, a law firm based out of the Pacific Northwest, with offices in Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Washington, D.C.; New York, New York, Spokane, Washington; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Beijing, China. Mr. Brant is licensed to practice in Oregon and Washington. His practice focuses on tax, tax controversy and transactions. Mr. Brant is a past Chair of the Oregon State Bar Taxation Section. He was the long-term Chair of the Oregon Tax Institute, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Portland Tax Forum. Mr. Brant has served as an adjunct professor, teaching corporate taxation, at Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College. He is an Expert Contributor to Thomson Reuters Checkpoint Catalyst. Mr. Brant is a Fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel. He publishes articles on numerous income tax issues, including Taxation of S Corporations, Reasonable Compensation, Circular 230, Worker Classification, IRC § 1031 Exchanges, Choice of Entity, Entity Tax Classification, and State and Local Taxation. Mr. Brant is a frequent lecturer at local, regional and national tax and business conferences for CPAs and attorneys. He was the 2015 Recipient of the Oregon State Bar Tax Section Award of Merit.

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