News and Updates

Five ways to fix the IRS, starting with a halt to most audits

By Nina E. Olson
The Washington Post

Pause all audits for four months and bring retired people back to work until the agency clears its backlog of tax returns

If there is one thing we’ve learned over the past two years, it is that the Internal Revenue Service is vital to the economic health of our nation. In the midst of a pandemic it has delivered $800 billion in economic impact payments (EIPs), or stimulus checks, almost $93 billion in advance child tax credits, and additional billions in employee retention and sick and family leave credits.

Read the full article at washingtonpost.com.

PMA Responds to Congressional Letter Urging IRS Action During 2022 Tax Filing Season

Washington, D.C. – Executive Director Chad Hooper of the Professional Managers Association (PMA) – formed in 1981 by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Managers as a national membership association representing the interests of professional managers, management officials and non-bargaining unit employees in the federal government – released the following charge and response regarding the bipartisan Congressional letter urging IRS action to improve taxpayer services during of the 2022 filing season.

Read more…

Training: GILTI Take 2 – What We Know Now

This course delves into the global intangible low tax income (GILTI) regime that takes effect for many taxpayers in tax year 2018 and how it has evolved over the last year. We will provide an overview of the final regulations and their intent, define the new terms of art in the regulations, calculate GILTI, demonstrate how the regulations affect entities and individuals differently, and outline strategies to mitigate potential tax consequences.

Training: International Penalties and Abatement Strategies

Date: December 4, 2018
Time: 2pm – 4pm EDT

The IRS is focusing their resources on international tax compliance; as such, practitioners are seeing increasing numbers of examinations in this area along with FBAR and international information return penalties. We will discuss in detail methods to defeat these penalties, such as reasonable cause, as well as how to effectively represent clients in either an international non-compliance examination or penalty abatement engagement. In addition, we will look at case studies to bring a real-life perspective to these issues.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the penalty structures for FBARs and other international information returns.
  • Explain “reasonable cause” in the context of FBAR and international information return penalties and how to effectively demonstrate reasonable cause and advocate for your client.
  • Understand the different ways to contest FBAR and international information return penalties both pre-assessment and post-assessment.

Webinar Cost: $149.00 USD

Register for this course.

Advanced International Tax Issues – GILTI Fundamentals

This course will demystify the new global intangible low tax income (GILTI) regime that takes effect for many taxpayers in 2018. We will provide an overview of the regulations and their intent, define the new terms of art in the regulations, calculate GILTI, demonstrate how the regulations affect entities and individuals differently, and what strategies are available to mitigate potential tax consequences.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify what taxpayers are subject to GILTI taxation.
  • Compare and contrast the taxation of entities and individuals under the GILTI regime.
  • Understand the calculations of tested income.
  • Describe potential strategies to mitigate GILTI taxation.

Register for this course.

PFIC Training Series – PFIC Masterclass: QEF & MTM

This webinar will instruct in both the details and computations required to complete Form 8621 under the qualified electing fund (QEF) and mark-to-market (MTM) regulations. This is a course aimed at practitioners that have an intermediate level of understanding of PFIC taxation. The materials will be computation-intensive and will cover both QEF and MTM theory as well as application on Form 8621.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the overall QEF and MTM mechanisms and their purposes.
  • Analyze the benefits and drawbacks of the QEF and MTM elections.
  • Complete a basic Form 8621 using the QEF and MTM regimes.
  • Transfer the tax items from a completed Form 8621 using the QEF and MTM regimes to the tax return.

Register for this course.

PFIC Training Series – PFIC Masterclass: Section 1291

This webinar will instruct in both the details and computations required to complete Form 8621 under the default §1291 regulations. This is a course aimed at practitioners that have an intermediate level of understanding of PFIC taxation. The materials will be computation-intensive and will cover both §1291 theory as well as application on Form 8621.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the overall §1291 mechanism and its purpose.
  • Compute both excess and non-excess distribution amounts under §1291.
  • Complete a basic Form 8621 using the §1291 regime.
  • Transfer the tax items from a completed Form 8621 using the §1291 regime to the tax return.

Webinar Cost: $149.00 USD

Register for this course.