answer a questions

Responses to at least two classmates’ postings should be approximately 200 words and should be thoughtful, substantial, polite and more extensive than a simple “well done” phrase or “I agree.” Consider points of agreement, disagreement, assumptions, and value judgments. You will be able to respond to others after you submit your initial post. Your grade will be affected by how thoughtful your replies and initial questions are answered.

1)

Today I have two discussion topics to give my opinion about. The first question that we need to answer is Simon just received a 30- day letter from the IRS indicating a proposed assessment. Does he have to pay the additional tax? I would have to argue no, he does not have to pay the proposed tax. The second question is asking, what is the difference between primary and secondary authorities. Explain the role of each authority type in conducting tax research. Primary and secondary resources are very different to me. primary sources are from the source and secondary sources use the primary source to write their thoughts on a certain topic.

Currently, Simon does not need to pay the additional tax. He has the option to decline to pay and dispute the proposed changes requested by the IRS. He has the option to agree and pay the amount requested by the IRS or decline and request a conference with an appeals officer. I feel like even if he knew he had to pay a certain amount he could still buy time and just decline the proposal and that will give him time to come up with the amount due I the issue is money.

(Spilker,2020) A primary authority are official sources of the tax that work for the legislative, judicial, treasury and IRS. These are original documents and material from people who work for these branches and government agencies. Some examples are the internal revenue code and the U.S supreme court. (Spilker,2020) Secondary sources from people who did not work in these fields and use them as their sources when talking about anything to do with taxes that they want to inform you about from their point of view. Some examples are tax research articles, tax advisors. When you want to use a secondary source, you must be careful and verify their work to make sure it is accurate. You do not want to be misleading in your work and look bad when someone from the IRS decides to read your article on a certain issue going on at the IRS or an issue that is false.

These are my thoughts on what I think Simon should do and my definitions on what a primary and secondary authority is and how that helps in conducting tax research.

2) Simon can agree to the adjustment proposed in the 30-day letter, ignore the letter, or request an appeals conference with an independent appeals officer, but in all but one of the options (tax court), Simon would, at least initially, pay additional taxes. If Simon agrees to the proposed adjustment, he would indicate agreement by signing Form 870 and pay the taxes (Spilker et al., 2021). In an appeals conference, the appeals officer would review the problems in question and consider the likelihood of winning in litigation (Spilker et al., 2021). If they reach an agreement within that conference, Simon would sign the agreement and pay, but if they did not reach an agreement, or if Simon ignored the 30-day letter, Simon would receive a 90-day letter from the IRS (Spilker et al., 2021). This 90-day letter will result in Simon either petitioning a tax court or paying the taxes and filing a refund request with the IRS and a subsequent suit in a U.S. court (Spilker et al., 2021).

 

Primary authorities constitute the official sources for tax law as instituted by various organizations within the three branches of government, while secondary authorities offer simplified and topical interpretation of the primary authorities by experts within the field (Spilker et al., 2021). Since secondary authorities offer a summarized and topically-organized collection of information, they can be useful in preliminary research for forming a general understanding of a tax issue and for quickly identifying relevant primary authorities. However, secondary authorities should not be cited for research memos and implementation of tax law (Spilker et al., 2021). Rather, the tax researcher should verify her conclusion by evaluating primary authorities, perhaps even those referenced within the secondary authorities researched, and base final conclusions and implementation upon information found there (Spilker et al., 2021).