BBA Audit Procedures for Tax Counsel: IRS Enforcement Actions, Pitfalls to Avoid, Successor Liability, and More

Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Tax Law
- event Date
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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BARBRI is a NASBA CPE sponsor and this 110-minute webinar is accredited for 2.0 CPE credits.
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BARBRI is an IRS-approved continuing education provider offering certified courses for Enrolled Agents (EA) and Tax Return Preparers (RTRP).
This CLE/CPE course will provide tax professionals and advisers guidance on Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) audit procedures and rules and recent IRS enforcement actions and guidance. The panel will describe the partnership audit processes in detail, outlining the changes that facilitate IRS audits of partnerships. The speakers will offer concrete suggestions on managing BBA audits, pitfalls to avoid, taxpayer rights, and other vital items.
Faculty

Mr. Stein specializes in tax controversies, as well as tax planning for individuals, businesses and corporations. For more than 25 years, he has represented individuals with sensitive issue civil tax examinations where substantial penalty issues may arise, and extensively advised individuals on foreign and domestic voluntary disclosures regarding foreign account and asset compliance matters. Mr. Stein is well respected for his expertise and judgment in handling matters arising from the U.S. government’s ongoing enforcement efforts regarding undeclared interests in foreign financial accounts and assets, including various methods of participating in a timely voluntary disclosure to minimize potential exposure to civil tax penalties and avoiding a criminal tax prosecution referral. Mr. Stein is a frequent lecturer at national and regional conferences on topics including tax compliance sensitive issues, IRS examinations, State and Federal worker classification issues, etc.

Mr. Kalinski specializes in both civil and criminal tax controversies as well as sensitive tax matters including disclosures of previously undeclared interests in foreign financial accounts and assets and provides tax advice to taxpayers and their advisors throughout the world. He handles both federal and state tax matters involving individuals, corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, and trusts and estates. Mr. Kalinski has considerable experience handling complex civil tax examinations, administrative appeals, and tax collection matters. Prior to joining the firm, he served as a trial attorney with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel litigating Tax Court cases and advising revenue agents and revenue officers on a variety of complex tax matters.

Mr. Horwitz has over 35 years of experience as a tax attorney specializing in the representation of clients in civil and criminal tax cases, including civil audits and appeals, tax collection matters, criminal investigations, administrative hearings and in civil and criminal trials and appeals in federal and state courts. He has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Taxation Section of the State Bar of California and was Chair of the Taxation Section for 2015-2016 year. Mr. Horwitzwas previously Chair of the Tax Procedure and Litigation Committee of the State Bar Taxation Section. Prior to joining Hochman Salkin Toscher Perez P.C., Mr. Horwitz was with a boutique tax controversy firm in Orange County, where he represented clients in civil and criminal tax cases in the U.S. Courts of Appeal, U.S. district courts, California superior courts, and before the Internal Revenue Service, the California Franchise Tax Board, the Board of Equalization, the Employment Development Department and the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. He has been a speaker on tax matters at the UCLA Tax Controversy Institute, the Annual Meeting of the Taxation Section of the California Bar and the California State Bar Annual Meeting. Mr. Horwitz has authored articles on tax law that have appeared in diverse publications, including Tax Notes, the Federal Lawyer (the publication of the Federal Bar Association), and the California Tax Lawyer. His monograph in “Responsible Persons and Fiduciary Liability” was published in the Proceedings of the New York University 75th Institute on Federal Taxation. Mr. Horwitz was an invited delegate to the 2015 U.S. Tax Court Judicial Conference. He is a member of the Planning Committee of the UCLA Tax Controversy Institute. Mr. Horwitz is a member of the bar in California and in Illinois. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Seventh, Ninth and Federal Circuits, the U.S. District Courts for the Central, Southern, Northern and Eastern Districts of California, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Tax Court. He was named a Southern California Super Lawyer 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Description
The IRS Large Business and International Division stated in its most recent Focus Guide that an increase in partnership audits is underway. Tax professionals must identify critical issues for partnerships subject to BBA audit rules and implement strategies for managing these audits and minimize potential tax liability and penalties.
The BBA centralized partnership audit regime replaced the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act audit procedures and the electing large partnership rules. Under the BBA centralized partnership audit regime, the IRS generally assesses and collects any tax understatement at the partnership level. Under the BBA audit rules, many partnerships are subject to an entity-level audit by default.
A partnership is subject to BBA centralized partnership audit rules unless it is an eligible partnership and makes an annual election out of BBA on a timely filed Form 1065. An eligible partnership is one with 100 or fewer partners, all of whom are either individuals, C corporations or foreign entities treated as a C corporation if it were domestic, S corporations, or estates of deceased partners.
Listen as our panel of experienced tax attorneys discusses BBA audit procedures, recent IRS enforcement actions, and concrete suggestions on managing BBA audits, taxpayer rights, and other critical items.
Outline
- BBA centralized partnership audit rules
- Compliance procedures to minimize chances of an audit
- A step-by-analysis of a BBA audit
- Navigating BBA audit procedures and pitfalls to avoid
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- What are the compliance challenges of partnerships subject to BBA audits?
- What are the compliance best practices to limit the possbility of being selected for a BBA audit?
- What are strategies for handling a BBA audit?
- What are the pitfalls to avoid under the BBA procedures and rules?
NASBA Details
Learning Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Identify the key issues for partnerships under the BBA audit procedures
- Determine alternatives for partnership op-outs of entity-level assessments
- Ascertain procedural protections available to minority partners
- Obtain a step-by-step analysis on managing a BBA audit
- Field of Study: Taxes
- Level of Knowledge: Intermediate
- Advance Preparation: None
- Teaching Method: Seminar/Lecture
- Delivery Method: Group-Internet (via computer)
- Attendance Monitoring Method: Attendance is monitored electronically via a participant's PIN and through a series of attendance verification prompts displayed throughout the program
- Prerequisite: Three years+ business or public firm experience at mid-level within the organization with supervisory authority over other preparers/accountants in preparing complex tax forms and schedules and preparing for partnership audits. Specific knowledge and understanding of partnership structures and operating agreements and IRS partnership audits. Familiarity with new partnership audit rules under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.

Strafford Publications, Inc. is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of Accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE Credits. Complaints regarding registered sponsons may be submitted to NASBA through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org.

Strafford is an IRS-approved continuing education provider offering certified courses for Enrolled Agents (EA) and Tax Return Preparers (RTRP).
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