This week we look at a case dealing with the trust fund recovery penalty under §6672.  In the case of Richard A. Smith v. United States, 2009 TNT 30-6, CA10, (http://ca10.washburnlaw.edu/cases/2009/02/07-4210.pdf) the Tenth Circuit refused to overturn the holding in the US District Court of Utah that Mr. Smith was a responsible person, even though he had no ownership interest in the entity in question.  The case highlights the dangers for employees in accounting functions when the organization they work for begins to have cash flow problems, and payroll tax payments begin to be skipped.

The materials are available at http://www.edzollars.com/2009-02-23_Responsible.pdf .

The podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, located on the web at http://www.leimbergservices.com .

The new American Recovery Reinvestment Act of 2009 has a number of tax provisions, and this week's podcast looks at the small business net operating loss provisions of the Act.  This provision will require action for some taxpayers within 60 days after the bill is signed into law, as well as giving us a "sliding" window for when we start using a net operating loss for the year we elect to have it apply to.

The podcast materials are located at http://www.edzollars.com/2009-02-16_NOL.pdf .

The podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services at http://www.leimbergservices.com .

Housing problems are all over the news (and with some of our clients), but today's story is a housing problem of a different sort.  We look at a case where lots of things went wrong in building a taxpayers' dream home where the taxpayers attempted to claim a casualty loss on their tax return.  In the cases of Grief v. Commissioner and Bui v. Commissioner, TC Summary Opinion 2009-18, the Tax Court finds that this couple is not going to get any relief from the IRC.

The materials for this week's podcast can be downloaded at http://www.edzollars.com/2009-02-09_Casualty.pdf .

I also note in the podcast that I'm posting updates on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com) .  My Twitter name is "edzollars" and if you want to follow me there that's fine.

The podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, located on the web at http://www.leimbergservices.com .

What if a customer tells you they are going to reduce what they pay you for the work you just delivered to them because you owe them to fix for a bad job you did on an earlier contract?  If you are on the accrual basis, can you reduce your accrued receivable or record an expense if you are disputing that claim?  That is the issue being dealt with this week in the case of Trinity Industries v. Commissioner, 132 TC No. 2.

The written materials can be downloaded at http://www.edzollars.com/2009-02-02_Timing.pdf .

The podcast is sponsored by Leimberg Information Services, located on the web at http://www.leimbergservices.com .