Tax News Update | July 2024

• 2024 BTB Brochure Mailing
• New Guidance on Exceptions from Additional 10% Tax on Early Distributions
• IRS Announces New Steps to Combat Abusive Use of Partnerships
• NTA Issues Mid-year Report to Congress
• IRS Makes Direct File Program Permanent
• Tax Troubles
• July Applicable Federal Rates
• 2024 Back to Basics Update
• 2024 Seminar / Webinar Dates and Locations 
• 2023 On-Demand Webinars Available
• 2024 Desk Reference Guide
• State Tax Updates
• Accounting Practice for Sale
• Area Stakeholder Liaison Teams
• Speaking Engagements
• The Tax Book – Promo Code 544
• CFS Tax Tools – Coupon Code BTB57143
• $50 Referral Bonus 

“This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.”

~  Thurgood Marshall

Instructors 

James Hockenberry, EA – Jim is the President of Back to Basics Income Tax Seminars and has over 31 years of experience in income tax and financial planning. He is an Enrolled Agent and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He has worked as a tax researcher / technical writer and has served as an instructor for several tax and financial organizations. 

Steve O’Rourke, EA – Steve is an Enrolled Agent with a successful tax practice in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. His firm, which was established in 1989, prepares over 2,500 individual and business tax returns. Steve has a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. He has over 40 years of experience as a tax professional and is a nationally known speaker, having taught tax seminars for the National Association of Enrolled Agents, the National Association of Tax Professionals, and several other professional organizations nationwide.

2024 BTB Brochure Mailing

The 2024 BTB brochure was mailed out in mid-April.  If you did not receive a copy of the brochure – you can always go to the BTB website or click here for a copy. As for the brochure mailing, it seems that the PTIN list may have had an error as some tax professionals received more than one brochure and/or a brochure with an incorrect name. We apologize for any inconvenience. If you received an extra brochure in the mail – please share it with a colleague so they may register for our continuing education events.

New Guidance on Exceptions from Additional 10% Tax on Early Distributions

The IRS has provided guidance In Notice 2024-55 on exceptions to the additional 10% tax under §72(t)(1) when taking early permissible retirement plan distributions for emergency personal expenses and for victims of domestic abuse. A taxpayer is permitted to receive a distribution from an applicable eligible retirement plan to meet unforeseeable or immediate financial needs relating to necessary personal or family emergency expenses. A taxpayer is also permitted to receive a distribution from an applicable eligible retirement plan if made during the one-year period beginning on the date on which the individual is a victim of domestic abuse by a spouse or domestic partner. Qualified distributions received for emergency personal expenses or by domestic abuse victims must be included in gross income but are not subject to the additional 10% tax. These provisions became effective on 1/1/24 as part of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. 

IRS Announces New Steps to Combat Abusive Use of Partnerships

As part of ongoing efforts to focus more attention on high-income compliance issues, the Internal Revenue Service announced today a new series of steps to combat abusive partnership transactions that allow wealthy taxpayers to avoid paying what they owe.

The IRS and the Department of the Treasury today also issued three pieces of guidance focused on partnerships following discoveries by IRS audit teams. Currently, the IRS has tens of billions of dollars of deductions claimed in these transactions under audit.

The new guidance is designed to stop the use of “basis shifting” transactions that use related-party partnerships to avoid taxes. In these complex moves, high-income taxpayers and corporations strip basis from assets they own where the basis is not generating tax benefits and then move the basis to assets they own where it will generate tax benefits without causing any meaningful change to the economics of their businesses. These basis shifting transactions allow closely related parties to avoid taxes.

Note: This topic is covered in the upcoming 2024 Business Issues Update and Review.

NTA Issues Mid-year Report to Congress

National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins, released her statutorily mandated mid-year report to Congress. The report says the tax-return filing season generally ran smoothly this year, but it identifies delays in issuing refunds to identity theft victims, misleading telephone measures that lead to poor resource allocation decisions, and delays in processing Employee Retention Credit claims as key taxpayer challenges. The report also emphasizes the importance of technology upgrades as the IRS seeks to modernize its operations in the coming years.

The report also identifies TAS’s key objectives for the upcoming fiscal year. The report describes 11 systemic advocacy objectives, five case advocacy and other business objectives, and four research objectives. The full report can be found here.

IRS Makes Direct File Program Permanent

The IRS has announced that starting with the 2025 tax season it will make Direct File a permanent option to file federal tax returns following a successful filing season pilot. During the 2024 tax season, over 140,000 taxpayers in 12 states filed their taxes using the Direct File pilot. This saved taxpayers a combined $5.6 million in filing fees that would have otherwise gone to commercial tax prep companies. The IRS is also looking for ways to expand Direct File to make more taxpayers eligible by both looking at covering more common tax situations, with a particular focus on those situations that impact working families, as well as inviting all states and the District of Columbia to partner with Direct File next year. Announcements about expanded eligibility are expected in the coming months.

Tax Troubles

A Florida fisherman pleaded guilty to evading more than $400,000 in taxes on income earned while working as a commercial fisherman for companies operating out of Massachusetts.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Christopher Garraty, of New Port Richey, and formerly of Newport and East Greenwich, Rhode Island, worked as a commercial fisherman and deckhand for fishing companies operating out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Despite earning substantial income working as a fisherman, Garraty did not file until 2012 any federal income tax returns for tax years 2002 through 2011. When he filed the delinquent returns, he reported that he owed a total of approximately $234,497 in taxes for those nine years. But even after reporting that he owed taxes, Garraty did not make any payments to the IRS. In addition, Garraty did not file returns for 2015 through 2018 despite earning approximately $600,000 in fishing income across those years and owing approximately $179,382 in taxes.

To prevent the IRS from assessing or collecting his outstanding taxes, Garraty regularly cashed his paychecks at the issuing bank to conceal the source and disposition of his income. Garraty did not deposit a significant portion of his cashed paychecks into his bank accounts. Moreover, when his paycheck was over $10,000, Garraty frequently cashed the paycheck at the issuing bank and then immediately made multiple cash deposits of less than $10,000 into his bank account to avoid triggering the bank’s reporting requirements. He used the cash to fund his lifestyle to further conceal his financial activity.

In total, Garraty caused a tax loss to the IRS of approximately $413,879. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 17 and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

July Applicable Federal Rates

Rev Rul 2024-13

2024 Back to Basics Update

Website – New and improved website for better access to the newsletter and an improved registration system. 

Registration – In an effort to improve registration and CPE / CE reporting we need to have each participant register with his/ her own separate email address. The system is now designed to allow only one distinct email address per person. Your registration is your ticket to the seminar or webinar.

Note: Because of the strict continuing education requirements – each person will have to register separately even if you are part of an office group.

E-book Option – As always, all participants will receive a printed textbook for each session. However, if you prefer to go paperless, you can save $10 per session by selecting e-book only.

Webinars – Over 45% of our registrations are from Webinars – which tells us that more people prefer the convenience of on-line education. We have added additional dates and times for our on-line webinars this year – including an option that is more convenient for those in the Mountain time zone.

Seminar Locations – Due to the success of the webinars, the average classroom size for the in-person seminars has decreased. Unfortunately, this makes it necessary to consolidate a few of our seminar locations. For those who attended our prior seminars in Superior, Janesville, and Racine you will have to select one of our other remaining locations – or join us on-line.

Referral Program – We understand that referrals have always been the best way to grow a business. As a thank you, we will mail you a $50 referral fee for each new attendee who registers for a Back-to-Basics seminar.

2024 Seminar / Webinar Dates and Locations 

Registration is now available.

Sure, here is the data converted into a table format with four columns: WISCONSIN, BUSINESS, PART I, and PART II.

Note: All webinars begin at 8:25 am and end at 4:35 pm in the time zone indicated above.  

2023 On-Demand Webinars Available

All three of our 2023 8-hour webinars are available on demand at a reduced price but without CE/CPE credits. They are perfect for new hire training and review. Click here to check out the content, agendas, and pricing.

2024 Desk Reference Guide

Now that the final numbers for 2024 have been released by the IRS, we have updated the Desk Reference Guide for the new year. Click here for your copy of the 2024 Desk Reference Guide.  

State Tax Updates

In mid-January we sent a link for the state tax updates. As a reminder, all Part II participants have the ability to view the Wisconsin and Arizona state updates for FREE. The state tax update programs will not qualify for continuing education credits. The link for the state updates included a recorded video, the written text, and PowerPoint slides.

If you did not attend the Part II session, you may purchase the state programs for $30 on our website.  

Accounting Practice for Sale

Northeast/central Wisconsin. $380,000 gross (sale price negotiable). Drake tax software, Quickbooks accounting software.  Networked computers, all office equipment, 3,300 square foot office on main highway, available for lease or purchase.   Seller willing to provide multiple years of transition support.  

Reply to bkcpa@frontier.com for more details.

Area Stakeholder Liaison Teams

Speaking Engagements 

If your professional group is looking for outside speakers for an upcoming event – we can help. For additional information, please email jhockenberry@dbcllc.com.

The Tax Book – Promo Code: 544

Use Promo Code 544 for additional discounts and take advantage of The Tax Book’s award-winning tax research solutions. 

Order at: www.thetaxbook.com/order
Promo Code: 544

CFS Tax Tools – Coupon Code: BTB57143

CFS Tax Software, Inc.

Tax Tools is a collection of over 300 worksheets, calculators, flowcharts, and forms that tackle a variety of tough tax topics (many of which aren’t included in your 1040 software), including:

• Individual Tax Planner 
• ACA modules 
• Penalty and Interest Calculator 
• Social Security Optimization 
• Updated for latest tax law changes

You can order online at www.taxtools.com, or call 1-800-343-1157. Either way, be sure to use Coupon Code BTB57143 for additional savings.

$50 Referral Bonus

Refer a new attendee to a Back to Basics Income Tax Full Day Seminar and receive a $50 referral fee. Upon receipt of the new attendee registration(s), BTB Income Tax Seminars will mail you a check of $50 for each new attendee. Click Here to get a copy of the referral coupon.

(NOTE: Not valid with any other special offers or discounts)

Back to Basics Income Tax Seminars^® is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org. Sponsor ID # 108520