Judge Hammers Obama On Privacy Fishing Expedition
A Federal judge, last week, ordered the Revenooers to turn over the records of any requests from the White House which may have sought taxpayer private info in recent times.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson said IRS cannot simply refuse on the basis of confidentiality laws.
“This court questions whether Section 6103 (of the Internal Revenue Code) should or would shield records that indicate confidential taxpayer information was misused, or that government officials made an improper attempt to access that information,” quoth Judge Amy who denied IRS efforts to close the case.Read More
Court Slaps Private Foundation: Private Inurement
A recent decision of a district court in the District of Columbia agreed with the Revenooers, who actually revoked the tax exempt status of a foundation because some of its activities resulted in extraordinary benefits (“private inurement,” to use the vernacular of the bureaucrats) to the entity’s founder’s family.
Seems a decedent’s estate gave about $2.5 million to a foundation which had previously been put in place. The estate, of course, took a charitable deduction for estate tax purposes, resulting in zero, zip, nada being paid in estate taxes.Read More
Ninth Circuit Liberalizes Mortgage Deductibility For Unmarrieds
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (our jurisdiction) recently reversed the Tax Court and potentially handed unmarried mortgage debtors a significant windfall.
The panel’s decision involved the debt limit provisions – recall that the Internal Revenue Code has long allowed taxpayers to deduct interest on up to $1 million of home acquisition debt and $100,000 of home equity debt. The case of Voss v. Comm. involved two unmarried co-owners of real property. Voss and Sophy are domestic partners registered with the State of California. They co-own two homes as joint tenants – one in Rancho Mirage, California and the other, their primary residence, in Beverly Hills, California.Read More
“Beware of Scammers”, Warn Revenooers
Apparently taking note of ever-increasingly blatant tactics foisted upon we and thee by scammers, IRS recently issued a new warning to taxpayers.
These thieves, you see, pop up by telephone, emails and letters on authentic-looking letterhead, in an effort to trick taxpayers into providing personal financial information, or scare folks into making a payment to the criminal, ostensibly in settlement of the target’s delinquent tax account.Read More
IRS Commish Seat Getting Hotter
If you listen to U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, anyway.
Judicial Watch recently announced that Sullivan has threatened to hold IRS Commissioner Koskinen (and Justice Department attorneys!) in contempt of court after IRS failed to produce status reports and recently obtained emails of Lois Lerner.Read More