Washington D.C. Tax Law Blog

“Tax gap” is kind of a wonky term. But it reflects a tax compliance and enforcement context that has definite implications for taxpayers. The term refers to the difference between the amount of taxes that a revenue agency actually collects and the amount of taxes that theoretically were due. In this two-part post, we will […]

It’s no secret that the IRS doesn’t have quite a much capacity as it once did to conduct tax audits. We wrote about one aspect of that in our March 22 post on businesses taxes. But what are the odds of a tax audit? Here are three things to know, in the form of a […]

In the first part of this post, we began discussing a powerful hammer in the IRS’s enforcement toolkit for payroll taxes. This hammer is the trust fund recovery penalty (TFRP). Last week, we discussed what it is and how the IRS can use it to go after individuals who willfully fail to collect or pay […]

Uncle Sam is very serious about collecting income and employment taxes that are supposed to be withheld by businesses. To be sure, the IRS is serious about collecting other taxes too. But with employment taxes, the agency has an additional and potentially powerful tool: the trust fund recovery penalty (TFRP). In this two-part post, we […]

You owe taxes but you don’t have the money to pay them. What to do? At this point, three days before the filing deadline, you’ve got two immediate challenges for this year’s taxes. One is avoiding the failure-to-file penalty. The other is avoiding the failure-to-pay penalty. And you may also have tax debt from previous […]

It’s common knowledge now that the overall number of tax audits is down due to IRS budget cuts. We noted that fact last month, in our March 22 post on business tax audits. Audits of individuals are down as well, as the IRS deals with the budget cuts it has experienced in recent years. Tax […]

If you can’t pay your taxes, you still have options. You can set up an online payment plan, if you owe less than $50,000 (or $25,000 for businesses) and are current on your tax-filing obligations. You could apply to pay in monthly installments, through an installment agreement. And if you can get the IRS to […]

As a business owner, you’ve got a lot to keep track off. The issues may include competitive challenges, employee matters and many more. And of course tax compliance issues. It’s important to be aware of what the trends are there – and here’s one: a decline in business tax audits. In simple terms, business tax […]

U.S. tax authorities began a stepped-up enforcement campaign on offshore account reporting requirements in 2008. It hasn’t really let up since. Indeed, with the passage of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), these requirements have become even more burdensome for U.S. taxpayers with foreign income or assets. The burden is such that an increasing […]

The filing deadline for federal taxes this year is April 18. That’s exactly one month from now. If you don’t think you’ll be able to file your return by then, it may have crossed your mind to seek an extension. In this post, we will address some frequently asked questions about getting an extension of […]