No Retroactive Accounting Change for Capital One

Business Sale Not Illegal Tax Shelter

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Andre M. Davis, Taxation

Four former owners of a trucking business who sold their stake to a company that in turn sold it to another buyer, without following through on an agreement to pay taxes the former owners owed on the sale proceeds, do not have to pay the back taxes to the IRS; the 4th Circuit upholds a [...]

More whistleblowers reporting suspected tax fraud to the IRS

By Sylvia Hsieh
Published: June 4, 2012
Tags: Employment, Taxation

Lawyers have seen an uptick in people reporting employers, financial companies or high-worth individuals for ripping off the U.S. Treasury. Under a relatively new and lesser known whistleblower law, anyone can report suspected tax fraud to the IRS, and if the government prosecutes the case and recovers unpaid taxes, the individual shares in the recovery. [...]

Franchise Wins Tax Refund

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 8, 2012
Tags: Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr., Richmond Circuit Court, Taxation, Virginia Circuit Courts

A Richmond Circuit Court grants summary judgment for corporate taxpayer Wendy’s, the national franchise restaurant chain, in its suit seeking a refund of income tax paid from 2004 to 2007. Unlike federal tax law, Virginia tax law does not allow taxpayers, including corporate ones, deductions for certain intangible expenses and costs. Virginia tax law, under [...]

Office Building Assessment Upheld

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 2, 2012
Tags: Judge Louis Allen Sherman, Norfolk Circuit Court, Taxation, Virginia Circuit Courts

Petitioners challenging a city’s tax assessment of two properties, including an office building, did not present sufficient evidence to establish the fair market value of the office building, but simply advanced a theory of highest and best use of the property by converting it into speculative investor-owner multi-tenant space, and the Norfolk Circuit Court grants [...]

Court Corrects Country Club Assessment

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 22, 2012
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jane Marum Roush, Taxation, Virginia Circuit Courts

A country club wins its case to correct four years of tax assessments on its 231-acre golf course in the city of Fairfax, as the city used a disfavored “development cost” approach to assess the property at $65 to $69 million; the Fairfax Circuit Court orders a correction of the assessment to value the property [...]

Association Pays Tax for Beach Club Income

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, Taxation

A tax-exempt subdivision association must pay taxes on net income from two parking lots and a beach club that benefit the private interests of association members rather than the general public; the 4th Circuit affirms the Tax Court judgment, as the income is not “substantially related” to the association purpose of promoting social welfare, but [...]

City Can’t Tax Bank for RRHA Property

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr., Supreme Court of Virginia, Taxation

A municipal corporation does not have the authority to tax a bank as a non-exempt entity for the interest owned by a housing authority – an exempt entity – in property owned by the bank and the housing authority as tenants in common, and the Supreme Court of Virginia upholds a trial court decision for [...]

Appraiser & Engineer May Testify

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 13, 2012
Tags: Judge Jane Marum Roush, Taxation, Virginia Circuit Courts

In plaintiff Army-Navy Country Club’s suit seeking correction of alleged erroneous tax assessments for 2007-2010 of its 231-acre golf course in Fairfax City, the Fairfax Circuit Court denies the country club’s motion to exclude testimony of the city’s expert witnesses, a licensed appraiser and an engineer. The appraiser will opine the highest and best use [...]

Default Judgment Against Franchisee Vacated

By Deborah Elkins
Published: December 15, 2011
Tags: Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, Taxation, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Norfolk U.S. District Court accepts a magistrate judge’s recommendation and grants defendant’s motion to vacate a default judgment against a defendant who allegedly abandoned her Liberty Tax Service franchise but continued to operate in Ohio in violation of her franchise agreement with plaintiff. The court finds defendant met her burden to meet the three-prong [...]