IRS CONTINUES AUDITING CAPTIVE INSURANCE AND CONSERVATION EASEMENTS

During the early 2010s, the IRS started investigating captives for abusive transactions. In 2016, the IRS published Notice 2016-66 in which the agency advised that micro-captive insurance transactions have the potential for tax avoidance or evasion. The IRS filed suit against companies paying premiums to captives and won three major lawsuits starting in 2017. The Tax Court articulated four factors that indicate an arrangement constituting insurance: Insurance risk, Risk shifting to the insurer, Risk distribution, and Commonly accepted notions of insurance. In these three cases, the Tax Court concluded that contracts between the captives and defendant companies had not passed the risk. In 2019, the IRS offered settlements to companies paying premiums to captives, which the IRS reported were accepted by 80% of the companies receiving such notice. The IRS will audit all small captives. CONSERVATION EASEMENTS AUDITED As the Internal Revenue Service continues combatting abusive syndicated conservation easements, the agency today released additional information to help address questions related to the ongoing settlement initiative. Today the Internal Revenue Service Chief Counsel released Chief Counsel Notice 2021-001 PDF ("CC Notice"), which contains information regarding Chief Counsel's settlement initiative for certain pending Tax Court cases involving abusive syndicated conservation easement transactions described in IRS Notice 2017-10 PDF ("SCE transactions"). Prior coverage of the settlement initiative can be found in IRS news release IR-2020-196. Google Lance Wallach and your advisor, who do YOU think is better? 516-236-8440 WALLACHINC@GMAIL.COM