Michael Ablan Law Firm tax attorney

Michael Ablan Law Firm tax attorney Since 1974, attorney Michael Ablan served clients, now mostly VIRTUAL, or face to face by appointmen Meetings today are virtual. Request one at [email protected].

Since 1974, attorney Michael Ablan has served his clients throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota in tax, civil litigation & property litigation. He represents tax litigants throughout the nation, in audit defense, collection due process and trial in the United States Tax Court. The law firm uses experience, knowledge, with state-of-the-art technology to provide the most powerful, top-quality legal adv

ocacy. Confidential exchanges of information can occur exclusively by email if the client chooses. Attorney Michael Ablan promises to represent you vigorously and honestly. He is licensed in the United States Tax Court, United States Court of Appeals, Federal Courts, Wisconsin State Courts and Minnesota State Courts. The law firm offers flat fee initial consultations for a small fee. This includes tax controversies, tax audits and tax fraud defense, and additional legal services. Our constant client contact is unrivaled. Our preparation for cases is complete, effective and unparalleled. This is our unwavering philosophy with each and every case, no matter the size.

09/04/2023

The IRS has an Achilles’ heel! Yet it is not following proper procedure in addressing known exploited security vulnerabilities in its computer systems, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a report released Thursday.

08/07/2023

Bigger than the pharma? We will soon find out! The IRS and Treasury will issue proposed rules on a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that imposes taxes on drug companies that refuse to negotiate with Medicare over drug prices, including guidance on the breadth of the tax, the agencies said on Friday August 4, 2023.

08/04/2023

Easy Peasy: The Internal Revenue Service just announced on Wednesday that the taxpayer will be able to digitally process paper tax returns and taxpayers will be able to receive paperless correspondence by the start of the 2024 filing season.

08/02/2023

Home for Sale Find your Receipts! A taxpayer’s principal residence is a capital asset produces capital gain upon a sale (“exchange” is not discussed here). When selling your home remember that the tax code allows taxpayers to exclude a portion of such gain of up to $250,000 gain (or $500,000 for certain married taxpayers). The taxpayer has to have used the home as their principal residence for a period of at least two years in the last five.
Now here’s the tricky part. Most of us do not keep good records of our improvements to the home. Why? Because they have no tax impact until sale, unlike business property. Yet, the gain is calculated after the sale, by subtracting the basis from the sale price. The excess is realized gain. The higher the basis the less gain. Basis is the amount you paid for it plus improvements that prolong its useful life or adapt it to new uses. This typically is the first time you have a tax purpose for keeping the receipts. These types of improvements could include additions or a new heating/cooling system. My advice: start a file and save all receipts. see IRC 121 – Exclusion of Gain from Sale of Principal Residence

07/31/2023

The devil is in the detail. The IRS has been recently, at least in my cases, seeking supervisor approval before assessing penalties. Apparently, the law wasn’t specific enough and so they are going to hold a hearing in September on proposed regulations that would require an agency supervisor to sign off on penalties before they're included in pre-assessment notices subject to U.S. Tax Court review. I will keep you posted. These penalties are a deal breaker in many instances because the enormous financial burden definitely makes it nearly impossible to settle without appealing. In my experience, the compliance officers in field audits or office audits impose them without knowing the equities-defenses in the situation. These equities can dramatically change the penalties.

07/27/2023

Bye-bye butterfly! On June 20th Governor Evers signed into law 2023 Wisconsin Act 12 (the “Act”), which repeals the personal property tax that has long been an administrative burden for authorities and a source of confusion for taxpayers. This becomes effective January 1, 2024.

Under the former provisions, both real and personal property was (and is until January 2024) subject to tax unless otherwise exempted by law. Certain personal property might have been exempted based on factors such as its character, predominant use, legal classification, etc. Prior law proved cumbersome as local authorities attempted, first, to determine whether an exemption applied to the given property, and second, to ascertain the item’s current fair market value within a ten percent margin of accuracy. (2023 Wis. Act. 12 § 69 (creating Wis. Stat. § 70.015.)) Now, under the Act, only real property is subject to tax.

07/20/2023

Equity strikes again! The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, reversing the US Tax Court, today held that the 90-day time limit under section 6213(a) to file a deficiency petition is not a jurisdictional deadline(Jurisdictional deadlines are typically fatal if missed), and instead are subject to equitable tolling. The case is: Culp v. Commissioner, No. 22-1789 (3rd Cir. July 19, 2023). Reversing long time precedent, it found that because Congress did not clearly state that section 6213(a)’s timeline is jurisdictional.

07/03/2023

A different standard when the shoe is on the other foot: A Brooklyn doctor was acquitted in a $85 million Medicare fraud scheme. She filed a motion for the legal fees and expenses she incurred because she claims the government knew, by the IRS’ own witnesses that she was unaware of the scheme but arrested and prosecuted her anyway. In her motion, she argued that the Hyde Amendment allows a court to grant sanctions if the government's position is found to be "vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith." Under a different law, the IRS argues this for penalties against taxpayers, all the time.

The New York District Court found that the government did not act frivolously or in bad faith by pressing charges and taking her to trial. Apparently what’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander.

Greed loses again! A unanimous US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman to recoup some money...
05/29/2023

Greed loses again! A unanimous US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman to recoup some money after the county kept her entire home equity when it sold her condominium over a small unpaid tax bill.

The justices ruled that Hennepin County, Minnesota violated the constitutional rights of the woman, Geraldine Tyler, by taking her property without paying “just compensation.”

“The County had the power to sell Tyler’s home to recover the unpaid property taxes. But it could not use the toehold of the tax debt to confiscate more property than was due,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the Court.

Minnesota, and the other states in red allow home-equity taking like this, and allows them to keep the excess money, and the states in gold permit it under certain circumstances, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation, a not-for-profit publica not-for-profit public interest law firm focused on property rights.

At least 8,950 homes were sold because of unpaid taxes and the former owners received little or nothing in those states between 2014 and 2021, according to Pacific Legal.

05/16/2023

Audited on the color of your skin! Stanford University (SIEPR’s Daniel Ho co-led a research team) did a great service spotting racial bias by IRS. Black taxpayers are 3 to 5 times more likely to be audited. The IRS vows to take action. The IRS said on Monday an initial review of its auditing process confirms the results of a Stanford study showing that Black taxpayers are audited at disproportionately higher rates than other racial groups.

In a letter to Congress dated May 15, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel pledged to be “laser-focused” on the racial disparities identified in the study and to make needed changes before the next tax filing season.

05/10/2023

Who can you trust? A former Internal Revenue Service worker convicted of falsifying tax returns for clients of her tax-preparation business was sentenced to 4 ½ years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $192,000 in restitution, according to a Fresno, California federal court. From 2012 through 2016, Lee, in her role as a tax preparer, put materially false information on customers’ tax returns without their knowledge or consent and submitted the returns to the IRS. As part of the scheme, Lee obtained the identification of multiple individuals and falsely listed these individuals as child care providers on multiple customers’ tax returns without their knowledge or consent. Lee also underreported her own income related to the payments she received for tax preparation services on her personal tax returns for tax years 2013, 2014, and 2015.

05/05/2023

Losers can be winners! On Thursday a Minnesota was granted nearly $192,000 in gambling losses for 2019 because the Tax Court was able to estimate he lost at least that much based on records from casinos at which he played that year, the court said.

Yes, you may deduct gambling losses but only if you itemize your deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040) and keep a record of your winnings and losses. The amount of gambling losses you can deduct can never exceed the winnings you report as income. For example, if you have $5,000 in winnings but $8,000 in losses, your deduction is limited to $5,000. You could not write off the remaining $3,000, or carry it forward to future years. It's important to keep track of all official documents you receive as part of your gambling experience at a casino or sportsbook, or another licensed venue. This documentation may include, but isn't limited to: Form W-2G (issued by the payer)

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