section update
Tax Law Section
By Murray Saylor
Chair of the Tax Law Section
The Saylor Law Firm LLP
[email protected]
T
he 2015 tax season is over, or at least the initial
due date, April 15, has passed. That’s when most
individual income tax returns are filed. The Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) reports that as of April 17 over 134
million individual tax returns were filed. About a quarter of
those tax returns were filed during the last week before the
due date.
While we are in the tax return extension period which ends
on October 15, comments are already being made about
this year’s tax filings. The IRS representatives report they
are doing the best they can with what Congress has given
them. However, the service level provided by the IRS has
been described as the worst in recent history. “Service level”
includes such things as how long it takes IRS representatives
to answer the phone, and how often IRS representatives’
answers to inquiries are correct.
The frequency of IRS audits is apparently lower than usual and
lower than at any time in the past sixty years. The definition
of an audit may be quite different than it was sixty years ago
and even different than twenty years ago. Most of the IRS
enforcement is by mail and directed to a particular part of
a tax return. For example, there may be an IRS request to
provide by mail or fax support for all travel and
entertainment expenses. Additionally, the IRS
matches documents provided by employers,
banks and investment companies to information
reported on tax returns. Electronic tax return
filing (eFiling) no doubt streamlines the matching
process. Some good comes from a quick IRS
inquiry. If something is obviously overlooked, the
IRS will deal with it before interest and penalties
get very high. Even so, nobody is happy getting
a letter from the IRS.
that individual health care responsibility was met.
Despite all the aggravation surrounding the US tax system,
Americans are known as the most compliant taxpayers in
the world.
The Tax Law Section custom is that officers serve in each
position for two years. May marks the end of my two year term
as Chair of the Section. I appreciate the opportunity of serving
and thank the officers who served with me, Vice Chair, Julian
Fortuna, Secretary/Treasurer, Scott Wright, and Immediate
Past Chair Brian Bodker as well as the eight at-large board
members. We have had several well attended programs
focusing on both federal and Georgia tax matters. The Section
has had joint programs with other Atlanta Bar sections, the
State Bar tax section, the Georgia Society of CPAs, and
financial planners. The Section has supported Atlanta Bar
Programs by attending Bar wide events and contributing to
the Bar Foundation and to Bar marketing initiatives. I wish
Julian Fortuna well as the next Chair of the Section.
Finally, Larry O’Neil was recently appointed by Governor Deal
as administrative law judge for the Georgia Tax Tribunal. We
all wish him well in providing Georgians the opportunity to be
heard in a court dedicated to handling Georgia tax issues.
I previously wrote about implementation of
the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) in part
through the tax collection system. As it turns out,
compliance with Obama Care was a non-event
for people who had qualifying health insurance
for all of 2014 and were not eligible to have the
insurance cost subsidized by the government. All
that had to be done was to check a box indicating
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association
May 2015
THE ATLANTA LAWYER
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