Facebook IRS Request Fails

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Facebook’s IRS document request suit fails because the claim didn’t match FOIA request. A district court has denied Facebook’s motion to compel the IRS, based on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), to provide the social media giant with documents about the IRS’s audit of the company. The court held that Facebook’s claim in its complaint didn’t match its FOIA request to the IRS and, thus, Facebook didn’t “exhaust its administrative remedies.” In FOIA cases, a party must exhaust administrative remedies before that party can seek judicial review.

Court rules on taxpayers’ disposal of partnership interests

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The U.S. Tax Court has upheld the IRS determination that two brothers’ losses on the disposal of partnership interests weren’t ordinary abandonment losses, as they claimed on their returns, but rather were capital losses. The court also rejected the brothers’ argument that they received proceeds from the sale, which were used to acquire an intangible asset they were entitled to amortize. This argument was “contrary to the unambiguous terms” of the partnership agreement.

Senate Republicans release health care reform “discussion draft.”

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The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA) summarizes their plan for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The BCRA would, among other things, eliminate many of the ACA taxes but retain the ACA premium tax credits in modified form. The Congressional Budget Office will now score the BCRA, which will include cost estimates and an estimate of how many individuals will likely lose coverage if the plan is passed as is. The Senate expects to vote on the bill before July 4.

A vision for “transformational” tax reform

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In a recent speech to the National Association of Manufacturers, House Speaker Paul Ryan urged Republicans to seize this “historic opportunity” to enact meaningful tax reform. With few details, he listed goals that included a simplified tax code, lower tax rates, improved global competitiveness for American businesses, elimination of special interest carveouts and permanent changes that give businesses certainty to plan for the future. Ryan projected that a realistic timeline for tax reform would be the end of 2017.

Raffensperger, Martin & Finkenbiner will continue to follow the potential tax reform. In truth, many of us thought the bill would be law by now, and the rates and changes would have been retroactive to January 1, 2017. Based on the timeframe, we anticipate that any changes would not be law until January 1, 2018. 

As of now, that makes proactive tax planning a little more challenging as what’s good this year may be altered in the future. However, we will continue to recommend options and new ideas that provide immediate benefit. We will still look at long-term plans but will be more conservative in our recommendations depending on the situation and circumstance.