Keith and I are off to the ABA Tax Section meeting in DC this week. We will report back on some of the highlights; both Keith and I are speaking. Keith is on a panel today discussing issues small businesses confront when things do not go well, including trust fund recovery and bankruptcy issues.
read more...I am moderating a panel tomorrow that will feature two former PT guest posters, David Vendler and Caleb Smith. David and Caleb will be focusing on information reporting issues; David will be looking at interest reporting arising from transactions relating to homeownership (e.g., loan modifications, short sales). As David has discussed here before, the issue is timely: it is part of the recent IRS guidance priority and David is lead attorney in a class action suit that alleges banks are systematically underreporting interest to millions of consumers. Caleb will be looking at systemic approaches to information reporting, looking at student loan discharge as a case study, a topic he has also discussed in PT here.
On Saturday I will be on a panel moderated by former guest poster, current Tax Court clerk (and Villanova Law alum) Lany Villalobos with the National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, EITC expert Steve Holt, and Congressional Research Service staffer Margot Crandall-Hollick; the panel will focus on tax benefits for working families, with an eye toward future reform proposals. I will look at two recent cases as a platform to show how the current EITC often entraps individuals, contributing to the high improper payment rate. This is a topic of a brief essay I am finishing and hope to discuss in more detail in PT once it is done.
In addition to hosting meetings, the Tax Section submits many comments. Earlier this week, the Section submitted a set of comments looking at recent Appeals changes and suggesting improvements. Those comments are quite good and are linked here.
Finally, the ABA Tax Section is recognizing National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson this weekend with its Distinguished Service Award in honor of her service to the ABA Tax Section, the government and the tax system generally. Former ABA Tax Section Chair Michael Hirschfeld wrote a brief article discussing some of Nina’s career highlights. In it he shares a terrific story involving Keith and Nina meeting years ago to discuss Nina’s prescient idea to have tax clinics help the unrepresented in tax disputes.
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