General Course Information: TA 319 Spring 2015 Federal Tax Procedure Instructor Information Kirk Paxson, Esq., J.D., LL.M. (Tax) Core Adjunct Professor, School of Taxation, Southern California Office Address: 725 S. Figueroa St., Suite 1550, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Telephone Numbers: office (213) 894-3027x170 cell (213) 321-1241 E-mail:kpaxson@ggu.edu Course Description This is a survey course in the procedural aspects of dealings between taxpayers and their representatives and the Internal Revenue Service, the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility, the IRS Chief Counsel's Office and the Department of Justice Tax Division. It will assist you to understand and prepare to handle practical issues involving your and your clients' or employer's duties, powers, responsibilities, liabilities, privileges, and ethical obligations arising in federal tax practice, including access to information; IRS examinations and appeals; deficiency assessments; interest on underpayments and overpayments; penalties (civil and criminal) against taxpayers, their representatives, and tax return preparers; statutes of limitations on assessment and collection of taxes and penalties and criminal tax prosecutions; and refund and collection of federal income, estate and gift taxes. Course Objectives After completing this course, students will be able to: Understand the organization of the IRS and the roles played by the IRS Oversight Board and the Tax Division of the Department of Justice in the administration of the nation's tax laws. Know the legal and ethical duties and responsibilities of tax professionals and the scheme of regulation of tax practitioners and tax return preparers. Be familiar with the Service's ability and means to gather information from and about taxpayers and the means to acquire information that the Service has regarding you or your client or employer-taxpayers. Understand the processes by which the IRS selects returns for examination and know how to handle practical issues involving IRS examinations of your and your clients' or employer's tax returns. Understand the administrative appeals process within the IRS and know how to represent taxpayers contemplating and during such appeals. Be familiar with the statutory limitations on the period within which the IRS may make deficiency assessments of tax and know how to use those limitations to the benefit of taxpayers who you represent before the Service and to deal with those substantive and procedural questions involving mitigation of the statute of limitations on assessments of deficiencies and refunds of income taxes that may arise. Be familiar with the process by which federal taxes are assessed and the significance of assessment and how to deal with notices of proposed assessments in your federal income tax practices. Understand the procedure whereby a taxpayer may obtain a refund of tax previously paid and know how to avoid the problems and avail of the benefits that the statute of limitations on refunds may raise. Be familiar with the statutory scheme for the computation, payment and collection
of interest on deficiencies and overpayments of tax and some of the exceptions to and anomalies in that statutory scheme. Understand and handle practical issues involving civil and criminal penalties against taxpayers. Be familiar with the Internal Revenue Service's powers and duties in collecting assessed taxes and know how to deal with practical issues involving the Service's attempts to collect assessed taxes. Prerequisites: TA 318 and TA 329 Required Texts The following materials are required for the course: TA 319 Golden Gate University Printed Materials (Most Recent Version), School of Taxation Federal Taxation Practice and Procedure, Misey (Current Edition) Internal Revenue Code (current edition) Income Tax Regulations (current edition) Book Store To purchase course books and materials from GGU's official online bookstore click the Portal button on your navigation bar, then click the Bookstore link on the right side of the page. Grading Policy Each student's grade will be based upon overall performance in two areas: class participation and examinations. They are weighted as follows: Class Participation 10% Midterm 40% Final 50% Total 100% Specific requirements for each of these areas are provided below. Class Participation: Students are required to attend class. The class participation portion of your grade will be measured by the effectiveness of your participation. Effective class participation requires that the student attend class. Examinations: You will have two exams. The midterm will be in class and the final will be take-home. The midterm will have 15 questions and the final will consist of 25 questions, requiring short answers.
Timely Completion of Assignments/Exams: The mid-term must be completed by the date specified. The mid-term will be handed out during Week 2 and will be due on Week 4. The final will be handed out during Week 4 and will be due 1 week after the completion of class. Generally, no late work will be accepted without prior instructor approval. Course Topics Week 1 Course Introduction Organization of the Internal Revenue Service Regulation of tax practitioners and return preparers Reading assignment: Tabs 1 & 2. Week 2 Access to Tax Information Examination of return Appeals and settlement Statute of limitations on assessment DISTRIBUTE TAKE HOME MIDTERM Reading assignment: Tabs 3-6. Week 3 Statute of limitations on assessment (continued) Mitigation of statute of limitations on assessment Assessment of tax deficiencies and Tax Court procedure Reading assignment: Tabs 6 8. Week 4 Refund procedure and statute of limitations on refund Interest Civil and Criminal Tax Penalties TAKE HOME MIDTERM DUE DISTRIBUTE THE FINAL Reading assignment: Tabs 9 11. Week 5 Collection Reading assignment: Tab 12 Office Hours
I am available daily via email and you can always reach me by phone. See syllabus instructor information for contact information. Administrative Policies I shall administer the course in accordance with Golden Gate University policies and procedures. They can be found in the Golden Gate University Bulletin (hereafter the Bulletin ). Below you will find an explanation of how I will apply these rules to some of the more commonly encountered problems. Exceptions to these rules will be made only in extraordinary situations. Academic Integrity. I shall abide by the University's Standards on Academic Integrity. (See the Bulletin for a complete exposition of these rules.) Any students found guilty of cheating or plagiarism will be punished in accordance with University guidelines. Because there are only three things that count toward your grade -- class participation, your midterm and your final -- the opportunities for academic dishonesty are limited. Anyone caught cheating on the midterm or final will suffer the sanctions permitted under University policy. Your midterm and final are take-home exams. You will have two weeks within which to complete each exam. Since I am in no position to prevent students from talking to one another during these exam periods, I do not prohibit them from doing so. The work you hand in must be your own. If, in my reading of your exams, it appears to me that two or more students are handing in the same work either in whole or in part -- i.e., the same or substantially identical language, format and/or analysis are used appropriate consequences will result. Withdrawals and Incompletes. Students wishing to withdraw from, or take an incomplete in the course must do so in accordance with the University's policies on withdrawals and incompletes. Instructor's Biography Kirk Paxson is the Deputy Division Counsel Tax Exempt and Government Entities for the Internal Revenue Service s Office of Chief Counsel. He supervises the IRS Counsel Attorneys responsible for advising the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TEGE) Division in the areas of Employee Plans (including Executive Compensation and Health and Welfare), Exempt Organizations, Tax Exempt Bonds, Indian Tribal Governments and Federal, State and Local Government issues. In addition,tege attorneys advise the IRS on unemployment tax issues. Since joining Chief Counsel in 1995, Mr. Paxson has taught numerous Continuing Professional Education courses to IRS lawyers and accountants. In addition to his position with Chief Counsel, Mr. Paxson was the Director of Golden Gate University s School of Taxation for Southern California from 2000-2012. He also has been an Adjunct Professor for Golden Gate University s School of Taxation since September 1997. He teaches Tax Research and Decision Making, and Federal Tax Procedure at the Los Angeles Campus and Federal Tax Procedure at the San Francisco main Campus. In 2001 Mr. Paxson received Golden Gate s Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award for teaching. Prior to joining Golden Gate University's School of Taxation, Mr. Paxson was an Adjunct Professor of Law for Golden Gate University's LL.M. (Tax) program in San Francisco. There, he taught Comparative Tax Systems and Tax Research and Decision Making. Mr. Paxson has an LL.M. (Taxation) from Golden Gate University School of Law, a J.D. from Seattle University School of Law, and a B.A. from Stanford University.
DISCLAIMER: Although Mr. Paxson is employed by the IRS, the opinions he expresses in this course are his alone and not that of the Internal Revenue Service or the Office of Chief Counsel.