Let’s Talk About Tax

On Thursday, June 20, 2024, the Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited tax decision in Moore v. U.S. And, an interesting set of opinions it is (all 83 pages of them)!

On June 6, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that, for federal estate tax purposes, a company’s obligation to redeem shares from a deceased shareholder’s estate does not offset life insurance proceeds used by the company to satisfy that obligation.

The new "economic reality" test issued by the U.S. Department of Labor provides additional clarity and important worker protections, but it went into effect quickly—on March 11, 2024—leaving employers scrambling to ensure that their workers are properly classified.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear another tax case in the upcoming 2023-2024 session. This one, Moore v. United States, is a doozy...

In August 2021, we published a short blog post on how the Internal Revenue Service and the Minnesota Department of Revenue determine worker classification for tax purposes. However, the risk of misclassification discussed in that post extends well beyond payroll taxes. It applies to unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, fair labor and wage laws, third-party lawsuits, and much more.

It is another brisk morning walk to work. Leaves swirl about and black coffee warms your body as the autumn wind blows. Once inside, you take the elevator all the way up before walking down the hall to your office. You just closed the quarterly books, so your morning is busy preparing to report financials. Despite the chaos, you are calm and in control. You then open an email from your general counsel, and all calm is shattered.

The Supreme Court accepted United States v. Bittner for certiorari on June 21, 2021, and the case will be argued on Tuesday, November 02, 2022.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Minnesota’s nexus waiver policy provided that the state will not assert nexus for business income tax or for sales and use tax purposes “solely because an employee is temporarily working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Under IRC § 6330, a taxpayer is entitled to a “collection due process” (CDP) hearing before the IRS Appeals Office can take any enforced collection action.

The two most troubling sales tax issues for companies tend to be related to software and direct mail. Direct mail is especially difficult, as there are numerous issues to untangle, and a robust understanding of the facts is critical.