Faced with a wave of fraudulent claims, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has ordered an immediate stop to the processing of all claims for the federal Employee Retention Credit (ERC). As a pandemic-era economic relief program, the ERC was only available for the 2020 and 2021 tax years, but until recently, eligible businesses that did not claim the ERC during these tax years could do so retroactively.Read More

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) are targeting taxpayers and promoters for the use of abusive trusts. The IRS identified various types of abusive trust schemes on its 2023 “Dirty Dozen” list, and the DOJ recently announced the indictments of two individuals who are charged with “instruct[ing]clients to assign their income to a series of sham trusts to make it appear as if the income was no longer owned or controlled by the client.”Read More

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other federal agencies are continuing to target COVID-19 pandemic fraud in 2023. This includes primarily (though not exclusively) fraud under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Employee Retention Credit (ERC) program. As Boston tax lawyer Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains, allegations in these cases can take a variety of forms—and they can expose targets to civil or criminal prosecution depending on the circumstances involved.Read More

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is cracking down on U.S. taxpayers who move to Puerto Rico—and who move their businesses to Puerto Rico—in order to avoid federal tax liability. While Puerto Rico Act 60 (formerly Acts 20 and 22) allows individuals and businesses that reside in the U.S. territory to achieve substantial tax savings, the IRS is focusing on individuals and businesses that claim the benefits of Puerto Rico Act 60 without meeting the law’s requirements.Read More

The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is a refundable tax credit available to eligible businesses for the 2020 and 2021 tax years. While the ERC was intended as a COVID-19 pandemic relief measure, businesses can still claim the credit retroactively in 2023.Read More