Author: Editor

Pardon us; no relief in sight; down on the farm; and other highlights of recent tax cases.San Francisco: Winery co-owner Brian Fleury, 64, of Napa County, California, has pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false return.Fleury and his spouse owned the winery Metropolitan Wines and several vineyards in Napa Valley. For tax years 2014 through 2018, Fleury underreported Metropolitan’s income to his tax preparer. Fleury directed some customers to pay with checks directly to Fleury instead of to Metropolitan and wrote or told his employees to “off the books,” on some of these customers’ invoices. Fleury…

The Internal Revenue Service has been facing staffing and budget cutbacks that threaten its ability to carry out its responsibilities, which include overseeing the troubled nonprofit hospital sector.The report, released earlier this month by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration in response to a request in 2023 from four senators, found that “vague and outdated guidance” is creating challenges for oversight of tax-exempt hospitals. TIGTA noted that the Affordable Care Act requires the IRS to evaluate the community benefit activities of tax-exempt hospitals at least once every three years. In response, the IRS created a group to conduct compliance…