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Bankruptcy Decisions Impacting Taxes in 2018

Posted on Feb. 6, 2019

We provided a year in review look at the Collection Due Process cases decided in 2018 on which we wrote. Here is a similar year in review for bankruptcy cases involving tax issues. We wrote 18 posts on bankruptcy issues involving a wide range of issues. For the most part 2018 was not a year of groundbreaking jurisprudence in the intersection of bankruptcy and taxes but cases continue to clarify certain areas not previously addressed or to supplement prior decisional law. Because it is possible to litigate the merits of a tax liability in bankruptcy as well as to eliminate the liability completely under the right circumstances, it is not possible to fully discuss tax procedure without examining the law and the case in the bankruptcy area.

  • What is the effect of BC 523(a)(7) on the fraud penalty and how does bankruptcy impact the statute of limitations on collection?

In the case of United States v. Joel No. 3:13-cv-01102 (W.D. Ky. Oct. 18, 2018) the taxpayer committed fraud on the bankruptcy court. His bankruptcy case was reopened once the fraud was uncovered. At issue in this case is the impact of his bankruptcy case on the statute of limitations for collection.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/effect-of-a-revoked-discharge-on-the-suspension-of-the-collection-statute-of-limitations/

  • Interplay between the Federal Tax Lien and the Homestead exemption.

The bankruptcy trustee tries to use the federal tax lien to his advantage to bring property into the estate. The bankruptcy court holds that the trustee cannot step into the shoes of the IRS for the purpose of reaching property that he could not otherwise reach.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/the-federal-tax-lien-and-the-homestead-exemption/

  • Excluding pension plan from property of the estate.

Even though the Supreme Court ruled a couple of decades ago that pension plans are not included in property of the estate under BC 541, the issue of what is a pension plan remains and was addressed in this case. Here, the court holds that the taxpayers retirement plan did not qualify under ERISA and therefore the assets in the retirement account came into the bankruptcy estate for the creditors to use to satisfy their claims.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/bankruptcy-court-declines-to-exclude-retirement-plan-from-estate/

  • Tolling the Period for the IRS to obtain priority status for its claim

If the taxpayer files a prior bankruptcy case or submits an offer in compromise, the act can extend the period in which the IRS can file its claim as a priority claim. A pair of cases discuss how actions taken prior to bankruptcy can extend the statute. In the Clothier case the Assistant United States Attorney arguing the case initially, failed to fully apprise the bankruptcy court of the scope of the statute extension available which caused a motion for reconsideration and a revised opinion from the court once it understood the reach of the statute.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/suspending-the-priority-claim-period-and-an-update-on-clothier-v-irs/

https://procedurallytaxing.com/bankruptcy-court-limits-prior-supreme-court-decision-on-equitable-tolling/

  • Proper treatment of the EITC as source of funds for trustee vs taxpayer

Bankruptcy trustees regularly seek a chapter 13 debtors tax refund during the time the case is pending. The Seventh Circuit holds that the trustee does not have a right to a refund caused by the EITC if the taxpayer can show that the amount received by the taxpayer is needed for necessary expenses. Here there was evidence that the money the debtor received through the EITC tax refund allowed her to pay necessary expenses. Under these circumstances, the court did not order the debtor to pay over to the trustee the amount of the refund related to the EITC.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/proper-treatment-of-earned-income-tax-credit-in-calculating-disposable-income/

  • Who owns the refund in consolidated return cases

When some but not all members of a consolidated group go into bankruptcy the issue arises of who is entitled to refunds of the consolidated group and whether the refunds become property of the estate.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/who-owns-a-refund-consolidated-returns-and-bankruptcy-add-wrinkles-to-refund-dispute/

  • When can the bankruptcy court clawback money paid to the IRS by a fraudster

Cases regularly arise in which a party perpetrating a fraud pays taxes on the money gained by the fraud with the money fraudulent acquired. A circuit split exists on whether the bankruptcy court can clawback the money paid for the taxes in order to use it to repay the parties who lost it due to the fraudulent scheme.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/another-clawback-of-money-paid-to-the-irs/

  • The application of the voluntary payment rule in bankruptcy cases

The IRS allows taxpayers to designate the liability to which their payment will be posted if they make a voluntary payment. If the IRS levies to obtain money or otherwise obtains it involuntarily, it does not allow the taxpayer to designate how the payment will be applied. How does a bankruptcy payment fit into this scheme?

https://procedurallytaxing.com/bankruptcy-and-the-voluntary-payment-rule/

  • What happens when the IRS wrongly tells the taxpayer a debt was discharged by a bankruptcy case

Following bankruptcy many taxpayers have not spoken to their bankruptcy lawyer in a long time and rely upon the IRS determination regarding discharge. Sometimes the IRS person to whom they speak may give them wrong advice. What then?

https://procedurallytaxing.com/detrimental-reliance-on-the-irs/

  • Filing the notice of federal tax lien during the automatic stay

The stay prohibits collection action including filing the NFTL. In this case the IRS asked the bankruptcy court to lift the stay to allow it to file the NFTL and the bankruptcy court agreed to do so.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/filing-the-notice-of-federal-tax-lien-during-the-automatic-stay/

  • Must the IRS affirmatively obtain permission of the bankruptcy court before pursing post discharge collection from a taxpayer.

The IRS makes a discharge determination in each bankruptcy case in which it is listed as a creditor. When it makes the decision that a debt is excepted from discharge, it sends the case back into the collection stream. It does not seek a ruling from the bankruptcy court before doing so. One bankruptcy court challenged this practice. If the IRS must seek a ruling from the bankruptcy court in every case in which it makes a discharge determination and determines that the bankruptcy case did not discharge the taxes, the bankruptcy courts will see a definite rise in the cases on their dockets since it is common for some taxes to pass through bankruptcy without being discharged.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/does-irs-bear-the-responsibility-to-affirmatively-obtain-a-ruling-from-the-bankruptcy-court-before-pursuing-collection-after-discharge/

  • Can a taxpayer obtain a discharge on a late filed tax return

There is a serious circuit split on the meaning on the language at the end of BC 523(a) regarding late filed tax returns. These cases continue to bubble up although the pace has slowed and the tide has turned against the per se one day late rule adopted by three circuits. 2018 did not produce any groundbreaking decisional law in this area but an opinion from the 9th Circuit continued to provide a basis for court opinions on the subject of late returns.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/mr-smith-continues-to-suffer-from-his-failure-to-file-and-other-updates-on-late-filed-returns/

  • Validity of IRS claims in bankruptcy

A pair of cases examines how and when to attack IRS claims in bankruptcy. One deals with who is authorized to file the claim while the other deals with the amount of the claim.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/irs-claims-in-bankruptcy/

  • Priority claim status of unpaid individual mandate tax (penalty)

Several liabilities imposed by the IRC carry the label tax but walk like a penalty and talk like a penalty. Bankruptcy courts have determined that several such liabilities cannot result in priority status claims. It recently applied the same logic to the liability imposed by the individual mandate of the ACA.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/priority-status-of-individual-mandate-tax-obligation/

  • Dischargeability of the first time homebuyer credit

In an issue similar to the priority provision for the individual mandate, a bankruptcy court addresses the dischargeability of the credit. The similarity between to two situations is the need for the bankruptcy court to examine what type of debt is really present and whether the debt created when someone does not fulfill their obligation under the homebuyer credit provisions is tax debt or some other type of debt.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/dischargeability-of-the-first-time-homebuyer-recapture-liability/

  • Cases raising the issue of excepting a liability from discharge due to the fraud exception

Taxpayers who fraudulently evade their liability cannot obtain a discharge. A pair of cases are discussed.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/bankruptcy-cases-involving-evasion-of-payment-and-classification-of-the-failure-to-file-penalty/

  • Who can avoid the federal tax lien in a bankruptcy case

A debtor tries to avoid the federal tax lien and fails in a situation in which the trustee would have succeeded.

https://procedurallytaxing.com/avoiding-the-federal-tax-lien-securing-penalties-in-a-bankruptcy-case/

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