IRS practice & procedure

The Court held that the APA requires courts to exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority and not to defer to an agency’s interpretation of the law simply because a statute is ambiguous.

The IRS is making a time-limited settlement offer to certain taxpayers who participated in syndicated conservation easements. The terms will require “substantial concession” of income tax benefits and the imposition of some penalties.

In her midyear report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins writes that, as of April, the IRS was taking over 22 months to resolve cases in its identity theft victim assistance unit, which had about 500,000 unresolved cases.

The Court will rule by the end of its term Friday on the fate of the Chevron doctrine, which requires courts to give deference to a reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute by a government agency, including the IRS.

The IRS says that at least 10% of employee retention credit claims will be denied in the coming weeks and that at least 60% of claims show an “unacceptable” level of risk. The IRS will leave in place its moratorium on processing a majority of recent claims.

New employee retention credit (ERC) claims continue to be filed, and the IRS still has a backlog of claims from before a processing moratorium was announced in September. National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says “soon” is the answer to when the moratorium will end. Meanwhile, some business owners sit and wait.

Speaking at ENGAGE, Erin Collins asks: How does the IRS fight bad tax advice on TikTok when employees are not supposed to access it?

A speaker at AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE tells attendees that the IRS is paying higher salaries to attract midcareer workers as the agency increases audits.

The IRS said it agrees with the six recommendations from the Government Accountability Office to eliminate the bias.

Commissioner Danny Werfel said the successful pilot program of Direct File encouraged the IRS to make the program available in all states and the District of Columbia.

The IRS said scams involving the fuel tax credit, the sick and family leave credit, and household employment taxes led thousands of taxpayers to file inflated refund claims.

The IRS was required to reduce the charge for preparer tax identification numbers after a federal court found the previous amount excessive. The final regulations adopt the text of interim final and proposed regulations issued in 2023 without change.

The final regulations, which the IRS issued Friday, also provide rules regarding the critical mineral and battery component requirements for the new clean vehicle credit, and they add a new test for mineral content.