Inside This Issue
- U.S. taxpayers living, working abroad must file tax return by June 17
- Register for the 2024 IRS Nationwide Tax Forum
- Tax relief available for disaster area victims in Massachusetts; new deadline July 31
- IRS names new Chief Taxpayer Experience Officer
- Treasury, IRS and DOE announce opening of application portal for the low-income communities bonus credit program
- Treasury, IRS release proposed regulations on qualified clean electricity facilities and energy storage technologies
- Treasury, IRS issue correction to Notice 2024-41
- Upcoming webinars for tax practitioners
- News from the Justice Department’s Tax Division
- Technical Guidance
1. U.S. taxpayers living, working abroad must file tax return by June 17
Tax pros, if you have clients working and living outside of the U.S., remind them that they must file their 2023 federal income tax return by June 17. This deadline applies to both U.S. citizens and resident aliens abroad, including those with dual citizenship. Such citizens are allowed an automatic two-month extension to file their tax return and pay any amount due. A taxpayer qualifies for the June 17 extension to file and pay if:
- Their primary place of business or post of duty is outside of the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and they reside outside of both countries or
- They are serving in the military outside of the U.S. and Puerto Rico on the regular due date of their tax return.
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2. Register for the 2024 IRS Nationwide Tax Forum
Register today to attend an upcoming IRS Nationwide Tax Forum. This year, the IRS’s premier outreach and education program will take place in Chicago, Orlando, Baltimore, Dallas and San Diego. Each forum is a three-day event, running Tuesday through Thursday, with more than 40 continuing education seminars, networking opportunities and more.
The IRS encourages attendees to maximize their time at the forum by participating in special pre-forum events on Monday, including the annual filing season program refresher course and a special practice management session during which IRS association partners will provide advice and strategies on how to improve their individual tax businesses.
Visit IRSTaxForum.com for information on the program, accommodations and registration. Register now and take advantage of the Early Bird rate (available until 5 p.m. June 17). Attendees who register early will have their badges mailed to them prior to the forum.
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3. Tax relief available for disaster area victims in Massachusetts; new deadline July 31
Disaster-area taxpayers in parts of Massachusetts affected by severe storms and flooding that began on September 11 now have until July 31 to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make payments. The IRS is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Currently, this includes Bristol and Worcester counties. The same relief will be available to any other Massachusetts localities added later to the disaster area.
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4. IRS names new Chief Taxpayer Experience Officer
The IRS announced its new Chief Taxpayer Experience Officer, Fumino (Fumi) Tamaki. “The Chief Taxpayer Experience Officer plays a critical role at the agency and will pave the way for continuous improvements for taxpayers and the tax community across our key service delivery channels,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. “In this role, Fumi will work closely with IRS leaders and the transformation team to make improvements as well as with taxpayers and the tax community to develop capabilities to improve interactions in service and compliance.” In addition to identifying opportunities for ongoing improvements for taxpayers and the tax professional community, Tamaki will oversee the strategic direction for enhancing the agency’s taxpayer experience.
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5. Treasury, IRS and DOE announce opening of application portal for the low-income communities bonus credit program
The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program application portal has opened, as announced by the Treasury Department, IRS and Department of Energy (DOE). The portal is now open through June 27 for interested applicants.
Created by the Inflation Reduction Act, the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program provides a 10 or 20 percentage point increase to the energy investment credit for solar and wind facilities under five megawatts (AC) that apply for and receive an allocation of environmental justice solar and wind capacity limitation. Taxpayers who receive an allocation and properly place the facility in service may then claim the increased energy investment credit in the year that the facility is placed in service.
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6. Treasury, IRS release proposed regulations on qualified clean electricity facilities and energy storage technologies
The Treasury Department and the IRS issued proposed regulations for owners of qualified clean electricity facilities and energy storage technology that might wish to apply for applicable tax credits. The proposed regulations offer direction for specific types of facilities placed in service after 2024 and invite comments from the public on the proposed regulations. Additional information can be found on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 page on IRS.gov.
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7. Treasury, IRS issue correction to Notice 2024-41
The Treasury Department and the IRS released an amendment to Notice 2024-41. Notice 2024-41 modifies an existing safe harbor and provides a new elective safe harbor for determining domestic content bonus credit amounts. Text that was unintentionally omitted when the document was released is now included in the updated version. An earlier version of Notice 2024-41 was issued on May 16.
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8. Upcoming webinars for tax practitioners
The IRS offers the upcoming live webinar to the tax practitioner community:
- Tax Considerations for H-2A Visa Holders (Agricultural Workers) and Employers on June 6, at 2 p.m. ET. Earn up to 1 CE credit (Federal Tax). Certificates of completion are being offered.
For more information or to register, visit the Webinars for tax practitioners webpage.
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9. News from the Justice Department’s Tax Division
The Justice Department filed a civil injunction suit against Miami tax return preparers, Niclas Pierre and Elius Bessard, and their tax return preparation businesses, seeking to bar them from owning or operating a tax preparation business and preparing tax returns. The complaint alleges that Pierre and Bessard, through their companies, prepared more than 8,000 tax returns for customers. The two hid their fraudulent activity by not identifying themselves as the return preparer, and instead listed another person as the return preparer or listed no one at all. The defendants’ deceitful actions have cost the United States millions of dollars in lost tax revenue. The exact loss is difficult to estimate because of the complexity of their schemes and their failure to consistently identify themselves as the tax return preparers.
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10. Technical Guidance
Notice 2024-41 modifies the existing domestic content safe harbor in Notice 2023-38, provides a new elective safe harbor for determining the domestic content bonus credit amounts under sections 45, 45Y, 48 and 48E of the Internal Revenue Code, and requests comments regarding the new elective safe harbor to inform the development of any future updates.
Notice 2024-49 provides guidance on the registration requirements for the clean fuel production credit. A taxpayer must be registered as a producer of clean fuel at the time of production to be eligible to claim the clean fuel production credit.
