Internal Revenue Service

Attorney for Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians Indicted for Bribery and Conspiracy

Adrea Korthase1 Comment

Here and here.

Miccosukee Appeals IRS Subpoenas Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opening brief:

Miccosukee Opening Brief

Lower court materials here.

Federal Court Allows Miccosukee to Depose IRS Agent Seeking Tribal Documents from Banks

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here are those materials:

Miccosukee Discovery Memorandum

US Response to Miccosukee Discovery Motion

DCT Order on Miccosukee Motion for Discovery

Our earlier post on this case is here.

IRS Seeks Applications for Advisory Committee for the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

IRS Seeks Applications for Advisory Committee for the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division
 
IR-2011-107, Oct. 27, 2011

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is seeking applications for vacancies on the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT). The committee provides a venue for public input on relevant areas of tax administration.

Vacancies exist in the following customer segments:

  • Employee Plans – two vacancies
  • Exempt Organizations – two vacancies
  • Tax Exempt Bonds – two vacancies
  • Indian Tribal Governments – one vacancy

Members are appointed by the Department of the Treasury and serve two-year terms, beginning in June 2012. Applications will be accepted through Dec. 1, 2011.

The ACT is an organized public forum for the IRS and representatives who deal with employee plans, exempt organizations, tax-exempt bonds, and federal, state, local and Indian tribal governments. The ACT allows the IRS to receive regular input on administrative policy and procedures of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division (TE/GE).

Applications can be made by letter or by completing an applications form available on IRS.gov. In either case, applications should reflect the proposed member’s qualifications. Members of the ACT may not be federally registered lobbyists. A notice published in the Federal Register, dated Oct. 24, 2011, contains more details about the ACT and the application process.

The ACT member application, along with the required Tax Check Waiver form, are available on this website.

Applications should be sent to Bobby Zarin, TE/GE Communications and Liaison Director, Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Ave., NW-SE:T:CL Penn Bldg., Washington, DC 20224, or by fax to 202-283-9956 (not a toll-free number).

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=248966,00.html

New IRS Revenue Procedure 2011-56 (Gaming Per Cap Trust Funds Safe Harbor)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the IRS:

Revenue Procedure 2011-56 clarifies, modifies, and supersedes Rev. Proc. 2003-14 in response to comments.  The revenue procedures provide a safe harbor for Indian tribes to establish trusts for tribal members who are minors or legally incompetent for the distribution of gaming revenues under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).  If the provisions of the revenue procedures are followed, an Indian tribe is treated as the grantor and owner of the trust.  The trust beneficiary is not taxed on distributions to the trust or income earned by the trust until actually or constructively received.

Revenue Procedure 2011-56 will appear in IRB 2011-49 dated Dec. 5, 2011.

Update in Miccosukee Effort to Quash IRS Subpoenas of Banks’ Tax Records

Matthew L.M. Fletcher4 Comments

Previous order here.

Here:

Miccosukee Motion for Reconsideration

DCT Order on Miccosukee Motion for Reconsideration

Miccosukee Motion for Stay Pending Appeal

IRS Opposition

Miccosukee Reply

DCT Order Denying Miccosukee Motion for Stay

IRS Issues Proposed Rule re: Tribal Governmental Plans under ERISA

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

IRS proposed re tribal govt plans

IRS Seeking Indian Tax-Exempt Bonds Advisory Committee

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the posting: IR-2010-109

Barrett v. United States Briefing in CA10

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the briefs in Barrett v. United States, to be heard by the Tenth Circuit:

barrett-appellant-brief

usa-appellee-brief

Lower court materials, including the opinion, are here in an earlier post.

Indians DO Pay Taxes!

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is a recent decision from the U.S. Tax Court called Green v. Commissioner. From the opinion:

When income payable to a person is shunted away to pay a debt, it normally still counts as taxable income. This is just what happened to Green in the years at issue here-1997, 1999, and 2000. But Green never filed Forms 1040 for those years. Nor did he make estimated income tax payments. Instead, as he had done since at least 1991, he sent to the IRS documents called “Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114.” In these documents, he claimed that he was exempt from taxation under an 1815 treaty between the United States and the Potawatomi tribe. [footnote 6 is here — interesting reading] Treaty with the Potawatomies, Sept. 8, 1815, art. 2, 7 Stat. 131. A footnote in a much tinier font set out his income for each year. Accompanying the big-font, little-font assertion of his tax-exempt status was a cover letter, a summary of purported legal arguments for his treaty-based return position, a photocopy of the regulations applicable to section 6114, copies of computer screen printouts that Green claims show the Commissioner’s agreement with his decision not to file returns, a long article written by Green himself describing his belief that tribal Potawatomi are exempt from income tax, and copies of caselaw supposedly supporting his arguments.