Western States Tax Advisor

Collection Due Process Hearing. A taxpayer is entitled to a Collection Due Process Hearing to determine if the IRS may correctly proceed with collection of tax or a notice of federal tax lien. The Collection Due Process Hearing is held before a settlement officer of the IRS Independent Office of Appeals. In a Collection Due […]

In Part I of this article, we discussed factors the IRS considers in determining whether innocent spouse relief under IRC § 6015(f) will protect one spouse from the other spouse’s failure to pay federal income tax. (https://crowleyfleck.com/what-to-do-when-your-spouse-doesnt-pay-the-tax-bill-part-1-of-2-2/) In Part 2, we will review the obligations of a taxpayer to prove that the spouse qualifies for […]

Many spouses file a Married Filing Jointly federal income tax return in order take advantage of tax rates, deductions and other tax items. But Married Filing Jointly also imposes joint and several liability for the tax on the husband and wife, meaning that either spouse is fully liable for the joint tax debt, and the […]

In the past year, the Director of the Montana Department of Revenue (“DOR”), Brendan Beatty, spoke to the Taxation Committee of the Montana State Bar Association, of which I am the Chairman. Director Beatty was appointed Montana DOR Director by Governor Greg Gianforte in 2021. Director Beatty previously served for over 20 years as legal […]

Calculating property tax in Montana can be complicated. While this is often true for real property, this can be especially true for personal property, which has a lot more definitions, exceptions, and exemptions which may or may not apply, often turning on very nuanced factual circumstances. Since Montana imposes a property tax on the value […]

I am at times approached by taxpayers who “want to go to court” to challenge their federal income tax[liability. Such taxpayers may be chagrined to learn that while the ability to have a court hear their tax case definitely can lay in their future, there are typically multiple steps that taxpayers must follow before ending […]

Taxpayer can seek legal fees at Tax Court. A taxpayer has the right to request from the Tax Court an award of attorney fees and costs spent in successful tax appeals against the IRS. See 26 U.S.C. § 7430(a). However, there are multiple prerequisites that the taxpayer must meet before being entitled to an award […]

The IRS is permitted to file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien (“NFTL”) to perfect a tax lien that arises by operation of law under the Internal Revenue Code for unpaid federal tax. It may become necessary to obtain copies of the filed NFTL if the taxpayer, who should have been mailed a copy, does […]

Plentywood, MT pharmacy rent expenses. The US Tax Court recently heard a case where a Montana pharmacy located in Plentywood, Montana, population 1,700, paid rent for a building owned by the same people that owned the pharmacy. While rent is typically a deductible expense, that is not necessarily the case when the parties are closely […]

Taxpayers who owe delinquent taxes to the IRS or have tax liens on their property receive many different tax notices from the IRS in an attempt to collect. However, taxpayers may also receive other official looking notices that appear to be tax notices, but that are not from the IRS. A copy of one such […]