IRS eyes payroll tax avoidance tactics via S corporations

Payroll tax collection continues to vex the Internal Revenue Service despite several court cases that have resulted in rulings favorable for the IRS regarding unreasonably low compensation. A recent high profile case was David E. Watson, P.C. v. United States on which the Eighth Circuit ruled in 2012. Watson was an indirect partner in a CPA firm, practicing through an S corporation that paid him $24,000 of salary per year and between $175,000 and $203,000 in profit distributions. The court adjusted his compensation to $93,000.

It isn’t hard to see why shareholders of S corporations attempt to justify wage levels below what the IRS considers “reasonable compensation” (assuming the understated compensation is below the FICA wage base). Both the S corporation and employee save the 7.65% FICA and Medicare taxes on the wages not reported.

IRS finds widespread noncompliance by colleges and universities

The IRS published its final report concerning its Colleges and Universities Compliance Project, finding compliance issues related to unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) and compensation practices. The IRS conducted the study to find out why colleges and universities had so much unrelated business activity but owed so little tax and to examine their compensation practices. The IRS examined tax returns from 34 colleges and universities it selected from among 400 it surveyed by questionnaire. The examined schools were divided almost evenly between private and public institutions, with about two-thirds reporting enrollments greater than 15,000 students.

Unrelated business taxable income. An exempt organization, including exempt colleges and universities, must pay tax on income from an unrelated trade or business, defined as an activity not substantially related to the accomplishment of the organization’s exempt purposes, even if the income from the business is used to support those purposes. Losses from one activity can offset income from another; however, continuing losses can indicate a lack of profit motive, which would disqualify the activity’s losses from the netting process.

The IRS found that UBTI was underreported at 90% of the institutions examined, with a total understatement of more than $90 million from 30 unrelated activities. The majority of the activities with unreported UBTI were fitness and recreation centers, sports camps, advertising, facility rentals, arenas, and golf courses. Nearly half of the institutions had adjustments to UBTI from advertising and/or facility rentals, and about one-third had adjustments from fitness and recreation centers and sports camps, arenas, and/or golf courses. The report identified four primary reasons for understated UBTI: (1) lack of profit motive, (2) improper expense allocation, (3) misclassification of certain activities as exempt, and (4) miscalculated or unsubstantiated net operating losses.

Former H&R Block Manager Sentenced to Year in Prison for Identity Theft

Dubose, the former manager of an H&R Block outlet, pleaded guilty in March to one count of wire fraud and one count of filing false claims with the Internal Revenue Service. The court sentenced him to 12 months and one day on each count of the conviction, to be served concurrently

According to documents filed with the court, while working as a manager of an H&R Block Preparation store in Van Nuys, Calif., Dubose used his access to H&R Block records to obtain the personal identifying information, including the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, of H&R Block clients. Dubose then used the information to create and submit to the IRS at least 12 false and unauthorized 2011 tax returns, generating fraudulent tax refunds of at least $48,593.

Consumers:  please choose CPA instead of going to these places.