Generally, an employer is required to deduct and withhold Federal Insurance Contribution Act taxes ("FICA"), Federal Unemployment Tax Act taxes ("FUTA"), and income tax withholding from its employee's wages and is separately liable for the employer's share of FICA and FUTA. However, in some cases, an employer will use a third party to perform some or all of the employer's federal employment tax withholding, reporting, and payment obligations.
Common third-party payer arrangements include: a payroll service provider ("PSP"), a reporting agent ("RA"), a professional employer ...
The Supreme Court issued its opinion in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. on June 21, 2018. The closely followed case involved a South Dakota law that required certain out-of-state sellers who sold more than $100,000 of goods or services to South Dakota customers, or engaged in 200 or more separate transactions with South Dakota customers, to collect sales tax. South Dakota enacted the law to provide a basis to challenge the physical presence rule. The physical presence rule precludes a state from requiring an out-of-state seller to collect sales tax if the seller does not have a physical ...
Where a business does not pay its federal employment and/or unemployment taxes, and continues in operation, the IRS will utilize administrative measures, including tax liens and levies, to collect the unpaid taxes. Administrative measures alone, however, may often not prevent a business from operating and also paying its back taxes. In these instances, the IRS has increasingly gone to the courts, and is now more frequently requesting injunctive relief against these businesses in order to prevent the business from operating and where it may further accrue federal ...
The IRS has the power to seize or “levy” assets, banks accounts, wages and other assets and income of an individual or business to satisfy delinquent taxes. However, the IRS will sometimes levy the wrong assets or income; that is, it will seize assets or income belonging to someone other than the person or business that owes the tax. This happens.
When the IRS wrongfully seizes or levies the assets or income of a person or business that does not owe the tax, this person/business can file a claim for wrongful levy with the IRS and also can sue the IRS civilly to prevent the levy or to have the ...
In an important decision, the South Carolina Administrative Law Court (ALC) recently ruled that a bartending service was not liable for sales tax on separately-stated service charges. See A Southern Bartender v. South Carolina Department of Revenue, Docket No. 17-ALJ-17-0002-CC (April 26, 2018). The business provided several bartending service packages. Customers could choose to pay a flat price for both alcohol and bartending services together, but could also select to pay for the alcohol and bartending services separately and where the alcohol and bartending services were ...
Qualified Opportunity Zones were included as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which became law in December 2017. The zones were originally introduced as the Investing in Opportunity Act sponsored by South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and are meant to encourage investment in economically distressed communities.
Opportunity Zones have generated a lot of interest and even more questions. This alert attempts to answer the most frequently asked questions we are hearing from clients.
- What is the opportunity?
The opportunity is for investors with long-term capital gains to defer paying ...
On April 23, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (the "DOL") released Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2018-01 ("FAB 2018-01") which provides guidance regarding (1) the exercise of shareholder rights and written statements of investment policy (addressed in Interpretation Bulletin 2016-01); and (2) economically targeted investments ("ETIs"; addressed in Interpretation Bulletin 2015-01). I have previously discussed certain issues arising with respect to the exercise of shareholder rights. See my article "DOL Updates Guidance on Proxy Voting by Plan Fiduciaries", January 19 ...
Taxpayers who disagree with a proposed tax assessment issued by the South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR or DOR) may or may not be able reach an agreement at the administrative level. When taxpayers and SCDOR cannot resolve a proposed tax assessment at the administrative level, DOR will issue a Department Determination. A taxpayer can then seek judicial review of the Department Determination by filing a request for a contested case hearing with the South Carolina Administrative Law Court (ALC) within 30 days of the issuance of the Department Determination. This is the only ...
On April 11, 2018, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed House Bill 3684, which will allow the South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR or DOR) to centralize state tax lien filings. State tax lien filings are currently filed with local county recording offices throughout the state. The new bill, if adopted by the South Carolina General Assembly, would simplify the state tax lien filing process by implementing a centralized system of filing and indexing tax liens, and which would also accessible to the public online through the Internet. State tax liens would no longer ...
The IRS recently announced that, beginning this month, the tax agency will be assigning certain unpaid tax accounts to private collection agencies. The IRS will retain and continue to collect most unpaid taxes. The IRS has identified certain tax accounts, however, that it will assign over to these newly-designed private collection firms for collection. The accounts to be assigned to the private collection firms involve taxpayers who have not paid their taxes for many years and who should be well-aware of their unpaid taxes.
The private collection firms will be authorized to contact ...