The IRS has released the maximum value for employer provided vehicles for purposes of the special valuation rule found at Reg. §1.62-21(d) and (e) for 2019 in Notice 2019-34.

In Notice 2019-08 the IRS had announced that the agency planned to issue regulations that were going to greatly increase the limits for the cost of such vehicles to take into account changes made in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, setting the base value at $50,000 adjusted annually for inflation after 2018.

How much should an employee recognize as income when his/her employer provides the employee with tax preparation services?  That was the question addressed by Chief Counsel Advice 201810007.

The employer in this case had U.S. citizens that were given work assignments in various other countries, with employees also being relocated from time to time.  As is often the case in such situations, the employer decided to provide a “tax equalization” program.  Under such a program, the employer agrees to compensation employees in such a fashion that their after-tax income will not fluctuate as they move from taxing regime to taxing regime.

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Some provisions of the Internal Revenue Code aren’t referenced very often and even though they may have existed for years have never actually had a court analyze in depth.  One such provision in the Code was the subject in the case of Jones v. Commissioner, 146 TC No. 3.

Generally the expenses of employee are required to be deducted as an itemized deduction which poses several disadvantages vs. other business expenses which are deducted in computing adjusted gross income.  If the taxpayer must itemize a deduction, the deduction is subject to the 2% floor on miscellaneous itemized deductions before any benefit can be received and entirely nondeductible in computing the alternative minimum tax.

The IRS has released a number of inflation adjusted figures for 2016 that were added by the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 in Revenue Procedure 2016-14.  With the relatively low rate of inflation, adjustments either are zero or a relatively small amount for the affected items.

The limitation for §179 expensing for 2016 will remain at $500,000, but the phase-out starting point will rise by $10,000 to $2,010,000 in 2016.

For taxable years beginning in 2016 the monthly limitation under IRC §132(f)(2)(A) for qualified transit benefits will be $255.

For taxable years beginning in 2016 the limitation on the above the line deduction of expenses for elementary and secondary school teachers will remain at $250.

The Tax Court found that an individual who was covered by a union contract was nevertheless an independent contractor for federal tax purposes in the case of the Quintanilla v. Commissioner, TC Memo 2016-5.