On October 18, 2024, the IRS issued final regulations on withholding for qualified retirement plan payments made to United States taxpayers living outside of the country. The final regulations come five years after the IRS issued proposed regulations on the topic and almost four decades after the IRS issued Notice
Continue Reading IRS Issues Final Regulations Governing Withholding on Certain Retirement Plan and Commercial Annuity Distributions Made to U.S. Taxpayers AbroadIRS
IRS Issues FAQs Addressing Tax Treatment of Work-Life Referral Services Provided to Employees
By Montené Speight & S. Michael Chittenden on
On April 16, 2024, the IRS issued fact sheet FS-2024-13 providing answers to frequently asked questions about the tax treatment of work-life referral services provided to employees under an employer’s work-life referral program. The FAQs clarify that, under certain circumstances, the value received from work-life referral services provided to employees…
Continue Reading IRS Issues FAQs Addressing Tax Treatment of Work-Life Referral Services Provided to EmployeesAdministration Proposes Increased Childcare Tax Credit for Employers
By Sarah Friedman & S. Michael Chittenden on
Posted in IRS, Tax Policy
As we have been discussing in recent blog posts, the Treasury Department released its Fiscal Year 2024 General Explanations of the Administration’s Revenue Proposals, commonly called the “Green Book,” on March 9, 2023. This year’s Green Book includes a proposal that both employers and employees are likely to embrace: an enhanced tax credit for employers that provide childcare.Continue Reading Administration Proposes Increased Childcare Tax Credit for Employers
IRS Repeats Cautions Regarding Aggressive Claims for Employee Retention Credit
By Jack Lund & S. Michael Chittenden on
On March 7, 2023, the IRS issued a renewed warning to employers considering an Employee Retention Credit (“ERC”) claim. While many businesses with legitimate ERC claims have already made them, a cadre of consulting firms have come forward to, in the words of the IRS, “push[] ineligible people to file” claims. …
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Supreme Court Limits Penalties for Nonwillful FBAR Failures in Bittner Decision
On February 28, 2023, the Supreme Court decided Bittner v. United States—a rare Supreme Court foray into Financial Crimes Enforcement Network or FinCEN reporting of foreign bank and financial accounts under the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”). The BSA is codified under Title 31 (Money and Finance) of the United States Code rather than Title 26 (the Internal Revenue Code) so the section references in this post are to Title 31. At issue was how to calculate penalties for nonwillful violations of the BSA’s recordkeeping and reporting obligations for foreign transactions and accounts. By a narrow 5-4 majority, the Supreme Court held that the penalty for a nonwillful violation of the reporting requirements shall be assessed on a per-form basis rather than a per-account basis, a result favorable for those taxpayers with nonwillful failures.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Limits Penalties for Nonwillful FBAR Failures in Bittner Decision
Treasury and IRS Extend Olive Branch to Reporting Model 1 FFIs and Model 1 IGA Jurisdictions Regarding U.S. TIN Reporting for Certain U.S. Accounts
Last week, the IRS issued Notice 2023-11 providing relief procedures for foreign financial institutions (“FFIs”) in countries with Model 1 intergovernmental agreements (“IGAs”) that have failed to provide U.S. taxpayer identification numbers (“TINs”) for certain preexisting accounts. Preexisting accounts are defined in Model 1 IGAs as a financial account maintained by a reporting financial institution as of June 30, 2014. Those FFIs in eligible Model 1 IGA jurisdictions that comply with the procedures described in the notice will avoid being identified by the U.S. Competent Authority as being in significant non-compliance with the IGA. (A list of U.S. IGAs, including Model 1 IGAs, along with other useful information regarding the status of all IGAs may be found at the Treasury’s FATCA page.)Continue Reading Treasury and IRS Extend Olive Branch to Reporting Model 1 FFIs and Model 1 IGA Jurisdictions Regarding U.S. TIN Reporting for Certain U.S. Accounts
IRS Delays Gross Proceeds Reporting, Basis Reporting, and Transfer Statements between Brokers on the Disposition or Transfer of Digital Assets until Final Regulations are Issued
This afternoon, in Announcement 2023-2, the IRS announced that brokers are not required to report additional information with respect to dispositions of digital assets until the IRS and Treasury issue final regulations under sections 6045 and 6045A. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (the “Act”) amended sections 6045 and 6045A to clarify and expand the rules regarding the reporting of information on digital assets by brokers. These provisions of the Act were intended to increase tax compliance through additional information reporting regarding transactions involving digital assets.Continue Reading IRS Delays Gross Proceeds Reporting, Basis Reporting, and Transfer Statements between Brokers on the Disposition or Transfer of Digital Assets until Final Regulations are Issued
IRS Publishes Last Minute Reprieve for Implementation of New Form 1099-K Reporting Threshold
Today, in Notice 2023-10, the IRS announced a delay in the new reduced reporting threshold for section 6050W applicable to third-party settlement organizations (TPSOs). Section 9674(a) of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 amended section 6050W(e) to provide that, for returns for calendar years beginning after December 31, 2021, a TPSO is required to report payments in settlement of third party network transactions with respect to any participating payee that exceed a minimum threshold of $600 in aggregate payments, regardless of the aggregate number of such transactions. Prior to the change, the threshold was $20,000 and 200 transactions. Continue Reading IRS Publishes Last Minute Reprieve for Implementation of New Form 1099-K Reporting Threshold
IRS Releases Form 1042-S Data Integrity Tool to Assist Withholding Agents in Complying With Withholding and Reporting Obligations
By Michael M. Lloyd on
The Internal Revenue Service recently released an online tool to help U.S. withholding agents comply with withholding and reporting obligations on IRS Form 1042-S, Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding. Forms 1042-S are issued by withholding agents to non-U.S. beneficial owners of U.S. source FDAP income under Chapter 3 and to non-U.S. payees who receive U.S. source withholdable payments under Chapter 4. Given the complexity of the Form 1042-S, this tool provides withholding agents with an opportunity to screen their draft Forms 1042-S for errors prior to filing. The Form 1042-S Data Integrity Tool performs a quality review of data before IRS submission at no cost to the user.
Continue Reading IRS Releases Form 1042-S Data Integrity Tool to Assist Withholding Agents in Complying With Withholding and Reporting Obligations
IRS Issues Additional Guidance on Employee Retention Credit
Nearly 18 months into the pandemic, the IRS continues to issue guidance on the employee retention credit, a credit that was adopted in March 2020 and has been addressed in a number of articles on the Tax Withholding & Reporting Blog, most recently on August 3, 2021.
The latest guidance takes the form of Notice 2021-49 and Revenue Procedure 2021-33, which together address a range of topics, including how employers should treat cash tips for purposes of determining the amount of qualified wages, whether the credit may be claimed with respect to the same wages for which the employer receives the Code Section 45B credit, how the related individual rules work for determining qualified wages, and whether employers are required to file amended tax returns if they claim the employee retention credit retroactively. The Service has also outlined a safe harbor that employers may apply to exclude from gross receipts the amount of the forgiveness of any PPP loans or the amount of shuttered venue operator grants or restaurant revitalization grants.
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