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As for the IRS’s argument that LINE
the copy of Seaview’s return did not ITEMS
constitute a return under the four Beard
tests, the Ninth Circuit found it met
each of the tests. Citing Coffey, 150
T.C. 60 (2018), the panel found that For these full stories plus the latest tax news, visit
because the revenue agent requested the journalofaccountancy.com and thetaxadviser.com.
return and received the faxed copy, that
copy “unambiguously purports to be a Tax update: S elections, PTE, and Sec.
‘return.’ ” Although the copy did not bear 1202 (podcast)
an original signature, it was nonethe- Tony Nitti, CPA, a national tax partner with
less signed under penalty of perjury EY Private in Denver, explicates maintaining S
by Seaview’s majority partner. It also elections, state passthrough entity tax elections,
contained sufficient data for the IRS to and exclusion of gain from certain small business
calculate a tax liability and represented stock in this preview of his general business tax
“an honest and reasonable attempt to update during AICPA & CIMA’s ENGAGE
satisfy the requirements of the tax law,” 22 conference.
the court held.
Observations: An extensive Senate Finance airs post-Wayfair sales
dissenting opinion called the ma- tax burdens
jority’s holding “astonishing and Small business owners tell senators how they
unprecedented.” have had to scramble to comply with varying
The dissent stated that Sec. 6230(i) rules across a welter of jurisdictions following the
and Regs. Sec. 1.6031(a)-1(e) provide a 2018 Supreme Court decision allowing state and
“straightforward statutory and regula- local economic nexus sales tax laws applicable to
tory framework” for proper filing, one remote sellers.
“informed by long-standing, binding
Midyear IRS mileage rate increase follows
precedent” and requiring taxpayers’
“meticulous compliance” to obtain the precedent, recent pleas
benefit of the three-year statute of A four-cent boost by the IRS in the optional rate for
limitation in which the IRS may assess computing deductible costs of operating an auto-
tax. In its “atextual” distinction between mobile for business purposes to 62.5 cents per mile
a timely and delinquent return for effective July 1, 2022, comes in response to sharply
purposes of prescribing the manner and higher fuel prices and is the third such midyear
place for filing, however, the majority increase in 14 years.
was “left with a regulatory gap of its
own making,” the dissent stated, which Senators request details on IRS info
the majority filled by “manufacturing return destruction
(one might just as easily say legislat- A letter from GOP members of the Senate Finance
ing) out of whole cloth its own filing Committee requests specifics on the IRS’s decision
regime.” According to the dissent, in 2021 to destroy 30 million unprocessed informa-
“Lawbreakers everywhere may rejoice tion returns, which the IRS has said was forced by its
when they learn that by not complying antiquated technology.
with one part of a statute or regulation,
the rest of the statute or regulation is IRS voice bots help set up payment plans
rendered ‘silent.’ ” The IRS deploys more AI-powered phone
■ Seaview Trading, LLC, No. abilities, enabling taxpayers calling the Service to
20-72416 (9th Cir. 5/11/22), rev’g and authenticate their identities and arrange to pay
remanding T.C. Memo. 2019-122 tax liabilities.

— Paul Bonner is a JofA senior news
writer. ■

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