2025 Dirty Dozen List

Compliance, Current Events

Starting in 2002, and every year since, the IRS has published its list of the top tax scams that taxpayers should be aware of, known as the Dirty Dozen. Parker Durham and I have discussed the IRS’s Dirty Dozen list in prior years.[1] Recently, the IRS released its Dirty Dozen list for 2025.[2] While last…
Read More

The 2024 Dirty Dozen – The IRS’s Annual Warning

Compliance, Current Events, Employment Tax, Income Tax, Regulatory, Tax, Tax Controversy

Every year, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) releases its “Dirty Dozen.” The Dirty Dozen, as written previously about by my colleague, Devin Mills,[1] is a list of twelve prevalent scams the IRS bodes taxpayers to be weary of during tax season, as they “put taxpayers, businesses, and the tax professional community at risk of losing…
Read More

Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum Debunks Tax Avoidance Scheme Using Trust

Chief Counsel Advice, Compliance, Estate Planning, Fiduciaries, Income Tax, Regulatory, Tax

In a recent Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum[1] (“CCM”), the office of the IRS Chief Counsel debunks the income taxation, or lack thereof, found in promotional materials promoting a structure known as a “Non-grantor, irrevocable, complex, discretionary, spendthrift trust”, with a note that the structure may be referred to by several other similar but slightly different…
Read More

Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts – An Excellent Tool, but Not a Gain Eraser

Cases, Charitable Giving, Estate Planning, Fiduciaries, Income Tax, Tax, Tax Controversy, Tax Court

Charitable remainder annuity trusts, or CRATS, are excellent estate planning vehicles and provide a litany of benefits to those who implement them, but as Devin Mills discussed in his recent article on the 2023 IRS Dirty Dozen list, the IRS considers CRATS as one of the legitimate tax strategies that are often abused by taxpayers.[1]…
Read More

IRS Demands iTunes Cards? Beware the Dirty Dozen!

Charitable Giving, Compliance, Current Events, Income Tax, Tax, Tax Controversy

In January of 2002 the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued a press release highlighting a dozen different tax scams and encouraged taxpayers to “maintain national vigilance.”[1] This list was dubbed the “Dirty Dozen,” and the IRS has continued to issue similar press releases containing updated lists of purported tax scams for taxpayers to be on…
Read More

Directions