By Jaeyoung Lee, Esq. California finally follows the IRS, allowing one-time penalty abatement for certain civil penalties.[1] The Internal Revenue Service offers penalty relief by administrative waiver, and this procedure is often used by taxpayers to abate the failure to timely file or failure to time pay civil penalties under Internal Revenue Code 6651.[2] However, for years, the Franchise Tax Board did not offer a similar waiver, and so while the IRS would let taxpayers off the hook, they still owed the same corresponding civil penalties to the Franchise Tax Board. The inconsistent treatment between the Internal Revenue Service and... Read More

We are excited to announce that tax attorney Jaeyoung Lee of the Law Offices of Steven L. Walker, PLC, has received the Outstanding Volunteer in Public Service award from the Justice and Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Jaeyoung Lee will be honored alongside other recipients at the Justice and Diversity Center’s Outstanding Volunteers in Public Service Celebration on April 30, 2024.   The Justice and Diversity Center recognizes the top 15% of its volunteers with this award for demonstrating an outstanding commitment to assisting the underserved through the Justice and Diversity Center’s projects and programs.   Jaeyoung... Read More

By Philip Wolf and Steven L. Walker On April 11, 2024, the IRS wrapped up its annual Dirty Dozen campaign, which “lists 12 scams and schemes that put taxpayers, businesses and the tax professional community at risk of losing money, personal information, data and more.” See IR-2024-105. The Dirty Dozen campaign is an IRS effort to educate taxpayers about common “tax scams and schemes.” Id. Taxpayers should consult with competent tax counsel if either situation applies: Taxpayers believe the IRS is targeting them because they participated in or were the victims of one of the situations the IRS has described... Read More

The IRS Isn’t the Only One Out There. Watch Out for California Criminal Tax Investigations, Too By Philip Wolf and Steven L. Walker Do you have unfiled California or federal tax returns, and are you worried that the IRS or a California agency like the Franchise Tax Board (“FTB”) may start investigating you for a potential tax crime? Be proactive. Hire competent California tax counsel to help you avert a criminal case and possibly reduce the amount you owe. What are Common Tax Crimes that the Government Investigates? California and the federal government investigate and prosecute tax fraud (especially willfully... Read More

On March 1, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama issued a Memorandum Opinion striking down the Corporate Transparency Act (as applied to plaintiffs) and ruling that the law “exceeds the Constitution's limits on the legislative branch and lacks a sufficient nexus to any enumerated power to be a necessary or proper means of achieving Congress' policy goals.”[1] This ruling is the latest development since the Corporate Transparency Act was enacted in 2021 to help the government combat those using corporate forms to hide illicit activities like money laundering. As we previously reported, the Corporate... Read More

How Innocent Mistakes in E-filing Can Trigger Penalties By Philip Wolf and Steven L. Walker Sometimes good is just not good enough.  Relying on a return preparer to e-file your return is not enough to escape IRS penalties. In the recent case Lee v. U.S., the 11th Circuit barred a taxpayer (who was a surgeon) from applying a 2014 tax overpayment to taxes owed for 2015 and 2016.[1] The Court also allowed the IRS to assess the taxpayer over $70,000 in failure to file and failure to pay penalties.[2] The taxpayer had relied on a CPA to e-file his federal... Read More

Walk-Law Attorney Philip Wolf Selected to Write Annual 2023 Tax Wrap-Up Column for Prestigious International Publication, Tax Notes This year, leading tax practitioner journal Tax Notes invited Walker-Law attorney Philip Wolf to write a capstone summary of annual federal tax developments for 2023. Philip wrote the summary in a less traditional form, as a quiz. The thirteen questions that he included dealt with a variety of tax topics in which Philip and Walker-Law have experience. These topics include the following: Criminal tax (Philip has extensive experience in internal and government investigations, forensic accounting and white-collar criminal defense). Syndicated conservation easements.[1]... Read More

FinCEN Civil Penalties for Failing to Comply with New Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirements Rise to $591 Per Day. By Steven Walker and Philip Wolf The new Corporate Transparency Act does not just impact the big guys. Smaller clients who have formed entities may be subject to the reporting obligations.  And now, effective January 25, 2024, FinCEN announced that whoever fails to file Beneficial Ownership Information Reports (“BOI Reports”) could owe $591 per day of non-compliance (up from $500 per day).[1] The cap on this penalty remains $10,000, and failure to file BOI Reports can still also result in criminal... Read More

Walk-Law attorney Philip Wolf recently published an article in the International, Federal, State, and Local sections of the prestigious journal Tax Notes, titled Women in Tax: The Group Supporting Female Tax Practitioners.[1] In the article, Wolf (who was selected to be a regular columnist for Tax Notes) interviews tax practitioners from a series of international professional groups called Women in Tax. These Women in Tax groups aim to provide a space for women to join forces with other like-minded female tax practitioners and share strategies for how to be successful in the tax field. Walk-Law’s interview with professionals from these... Read More

The FTB just extended the deadline to participate in its resolution program until January 31, 2024.[1] Previously, the FTB sent letters to taxpayers whom it suspects participated in “Eligible Transactions” involving certain micro captive insurance arrangements or syndicated conservation easements. These letters stated that the FTB believes that these Eligible Transactions are “potentially abusive in nature and subject to significant penalties ranging from 20% to 75%.” The letter then explains that taxpayers who enter a resolution program can come into compliance and reduce their exposure to potential penalties. The main benefit of the resolution program is that FTB will permanently... Read More