Post by Sapphire Capital on Oct 29, 2008 20:45:58 GMT 4
Corporations accept LILO/SILO settlements
Source: Catherine Snowdon, Boston
More than two thirds of the US corporations that received LILO/SILO settlement offers have accepted them.
Douglas Shulman, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made the announcement at the Tax Executives Institute's annual conference in Boston.
"Those accepting the offer had more than 80% of the total number of LILO and SILO leases. These leases involved about 80% of the dollars in dispute and will require the corporations to concede billions of dollars in tax deferrals," he said
He went on to warn that further settlements of the size could be anticipated.
"I believe that broad settlement initiatives are a vital tool for good tax administration. The LILO/SILO settlement initiative is the latest in a series of efforts to detect, deter and resolve corporate tax shelters."
The economic struggles were also a focus for the commissioner who came to the topic when discussing closing the tax gap (the amount between taxes owed and the amount collected in the US,) as a way of shrinking the budget deficit.
"Looking forward to next year, I believe there will be increased pressure on the IRS to collect more money that is legally owed to the government."
Taking into account the fact that corporations are also feeling the effects of the financial turmoil, Shulman went on to reassure the audience of senior in-house tax professionals that the IRS did understand their plight.
Ensuring proper information reporting will be a part of IRS efforts to close the tax gap as will the compliance assurance program (CAP). The objective of the program is to assist taxpayers in settling issues before filing a return, by conducting real time audits.
"Although we are still working out some of the kinks and concerns that we have had in the pilot stage, I believe CAP breaks down the whole enforcement paradigm," said Shulman. "If executed correctly, it provides certainty and clarity to corporate taxpayers who then don't have to worry about audits and contingent liabilities on their balances."
To ensure the efforts are maintained, Shulman said growing the IRS workforce is one of his top priorities.
"One of my first actions was creating the workforce of tomorrow task force to ensure that five years from now we have the leadership and workforce ready for the next 15 years."
Source: Catherine Snowdon, Boston
More than two thirds of the US corporations that received LILO/SILO settlement offers have accepted them.
Douglas Shulman, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made the announcement at the Tax Executives Institute's annual conference in Boston.
"Those accepting the offer had more than 80% of the total number of LILO and SILO leases. These leases involved about 80% of the dollars in dispute and will require the corporations to concede billions of dollars in tax deferrals," he said
He went on to warn that further settlements of the size could be anticipated.
"I believe that broad settlement initiatives are a vital tool for good tax administration. The LILO/SILO settlement initiative is the latest in a series of efforts to detect, deter and resolve corporate tax shelters."
The economic struggles were also a focus for the commissioner who came to the topic when discussing closing the tax gap (the amount between taxes owed and the amount collected in the US,) as a way of shrinking the budget deficit.
"Looking forward to next year, I believe there will be increased pressure on the IRS to collect more money that is legally owed to the government."
Taking into account the fact that corporations are also feeling the effects of the financial turmoil, Shulman went on to reassure the audience of senior in-house tax professionals that the IRS did understand their plight.
Ensuring proper information reporting will be a part of IRS efforts to close the tax gap as will the compliance assurance program (CAP). The objective of the program is to assist taxpayers in settling issues before filing a return, by conducting real time audits.
"Although we are still working out some of the kinks and concerns that we have had in the pilot stage, I believe CAP breaks down the whole enforcement paradigm," said Shulman. "If executed correctly, it provides certainty and clarity to corporate taxpayers who then don't have to worry about audits and contingent liabilities on their balances."
To ensure the efforts are maintained, Shulman said growing the IRS workforce is one of his top priorities.
"One of my first actions was creating the workforce of tomorrow task force to ensure that five years from now we have the leadership and workforce ready for the next 15 years."