EO Tax Journal

Truth is often funnier than fiction. Yesterday my hometown newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, had a story about attorney Stanley Needleman (wasn’t he in Animal House?) who is accused of stealing a judicial clerk’s textbook while in court. Seems Needleman was caught on the court’s surveillance cameras taking the textbook valued at $41. Needleman is claiming his innocence of course, but in April his home was raided by DEA agents who seized $600,000 in cash. While allegedly engaged in the textbook theft, Needleman was also representing a client who got a ten-year sentence for possessing drugs with intent to distribute. I wonder how the client feels about his representation? And why is Needleman still representing clients in court? Probably best not to ask.

The IRS has officially announced that the TE/GE Advisory Committee will hold its annual public meeting on June 15. See IR-2011-60 for details if you wish to attend (photo identification required, body scans optional). The EO members will be presenting their report, “Group Exemptions — Creating a Higher Degree of Transparency, Accountability, and Responsibility.” The TEB members’ report is “The Role of Conduit Issuers in Tax Compliance.”

Today I’m sending along Victoria Bjorklund’s outline that she prepared as background for her queries to Phil Hackney at the recent Georgetown program on tax-exempt organizations. Phil left the IRS for academia (LSU Law School) on May 20 but he had been one of the IRS’s experts on SOs and DAFs. Folks who are familiar with SOs and DAFs can skip the General Overviews and go directly to Victoria’s Current Developments and Questions. Tomorrow I will have a transcript of her remarks and Phil’s responses to her questions. Continue…

1 – Capitol Hill Update

2 – Recent Employee Plans Posting on www.irs.gov of Interest to Higher Education Organizations Continue…

I’ve been discussing the problems in becoming informed on EO litigation, especially pre-decisional developments. See email updates 2011-80 and 2011-83. Today I have the transcript of the recent D.C. Bar program titled “Litigation Developments for Exempt Organizations.” It’s a discussion of current EO cases that we rarely have from our friends in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel. Continue…

Today’s transcript of the April 28 “Update from Treasury and IRS” that comes from remarks at the recent Georgetown program is not much different from the May 6 “Update from Treasury and IRS” that occurred at the EO Committee meeting of the ABA’s Tax Section, so I probably won’t run the latter. Continue…

Today I’m sending along the remarks of Sarah Hall Ingram, the TE/GE Commissioner, whose jurisdiction includes the Exempt Organizations function. Sarah’s theme is on the Affordable Care Act, which is her current focus at the IRS. Continue…