This course discusses recent judicial and administrative tax decisions impacting corporations, pass-through entities, and individuals. A brief review of the judicial and administrative tax system includes a discussion of which court a taxpayer should use when an administrative remedy cannot be reached after an IRS audit.

A review of salient court cases includes the following topics:

  • What is included in the definition of gross income, including Constructive Dividends, and Cancelation of Debt Income
  • What is an activity engaged in for profit
  • What is a “pre-opening” or “start-up” expense
  • Limits on business expense deductions under IRC Sections 162, 274(d) and 262
  • Limits on charitable contribution deductions
  • Trust fund tax penalties, including determining who is a “responsible person” for paying federal employment taxes
  • Tax credits, including the Energy and Research Credit and the Research and Development (R&D) credit
  • Tax Administration issues including “innocent spouse” relief, relief from joint and several liability on a married filing jointly tax return, and reimbursement of reasonable litigation costs
  • Tax penalties including the Foreign Bank and Financial Account (FBAR) reporting penalty, the accuracy-related penalty, the gross valuation misstatement penalty, and the fraud penalty

This course also discusses how to avoid/minimize common mistakes made when filing a tax return.

Learning Objectives
  • Identify and understand how the court system works when appealing an unfavorable IRS audit determination, and how the IRS administers the tax laws.
  • Explore and understand the definition of gross income.
  • Discover and understand the limitations on deducting expenses from gross income.
  • Identify and understand the requirements for claiming a charitable contribution deduction.
  • Explore the role of penalties in the administration of our tax laws and the liability of a “responsible person” for unpaid trust fund taxes.
Last updated/reviewed: March 8, 2024
22 Reviews (113 ratings)

Reviews

1
Anonymous Author
Greatly disappointed in this presentation - If you speak of a difficult concept and decline or fail at making it simple or clear, then you haven't been presenting as an educator. You've basically stepped onto a podium whereby you are using your position at the IRS as a basis for regurgitating information that you don't sound very comfortable with making clear to others.

4
Anonymous Author
The course provided different information than I was expecting. I thought it would be a review of changes to the 1040, 1120, etc. Instead, it reviewed various tax cases that occurred during the year. The information it provided seemed thorough--it just wasn't what I was expecting from a Tax Update class.

4
Member's Profile
Not my favorite subject, but will taught. I learned about which courts different types of tax suits should be taken up in. I also learned about charitable contribution rules and different taxable events common in business. I enjoyed the instructors personality and knowledge.

3
Anonymous Author
The course title is a little deceptive here. I was hoping for more of an actual update on 2021 federal tax laws, but it was more of an overall review of tax compliance based heavily on tax cases. Good presentation, just hoping for something different based on the title.

4
Member's Profile
I read reviews first so knew it was about 2021 tax court cases, but the name of the course is misleading. It was overall a good look into how the courts decide and their structure -- that's what I got out of it more so than updated tax law changes.

5
Anonymous Author
Very informative. I highly recommend taking this course as a refresher on some really important topics. I especially appreciated the deep dive into treatment of offshore accounts. It's not something I deal with much so it was very interesting.

5
Anonymous Author
There were many examples of court case decisions and some good explanations of what the decisions actually mean. The different cases provided helped to show how the same portion of the law related to slightly different cases.

3
Anonymous Author
There information did not seem like an "update" course, but rather court cases, penalties, etc. Seems like the course name should be different. I was expecting changes for 2021, not information that is already known.

5
Anonymous Author
Course was informative. I felt that the material made sense and was mostly based on things I did not know before. It was easy to follow considering some prior experience in taxation issues.

5
Member's Profile
This was the best course because it directly relates to my practice. I love the actual tax cases and using them to shed light on the tax concepts. The instructor was clear.

4
Member's Profile
Great examples. Would like more detail in the take-aways. Some commentary notes to go with the slides would be helpful - or maybe I should have just taken better notes...

5
Member's Profile
Good examples of various recent court cases. Provides overview of different administrative processes. Also provides examples of various types of penalties.

5
Anonymous Author
A long, but necessary course. The information is rather dry, but that may be my own dislike of tax accounting.

3
Anonymous Author
While the examples were detailed, I was hoping for a more holistic overview of the changes in taxes for 2021.

5
Member's Profile
Presenter did a good job of analyzing and explaining the tax court cases that occurred in 2021.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course . It was very clear but i little hard to understand in my opiniĆ³n.

5
Anonymous Author
2021 federal tax update provides overview of recent changes in tax law

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent course and content. Very informative! I recommend it!

5
Member's Profile
brief but helpful. slides are detailed and well documented.

4
Member's Profile
good. neeed the update. have to keep typing to get my cert

3
Anonymous Author
the 2021 federal tax update was a good refersher course

3
Member's Profile
Mostly consisted of reading slides regarding cases.

Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Foundational

No advanced preparation or prerequisites are required for this course.

Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
  Introduction to 2021TaxUpdate2:56
PART 1
  Federal Judicial System3:30
  Federal Tax Administration System7:32
PART 2
  Gross Income19:24
  Deductions from Gross Income16:19
  Deductions from Adjusted Gross Income10:20
  Trust Fund Tax Penalties9:52
  Tax Administration15:10
  Penalties15:48
  Conclusion3:00
CONTINUOUS PLAY
  2021 Federal Tax Update1:50:36
SUPPORTING MATERIAL
  Slides: 2021 Federal Tax UpdatePDF
  2021 Federal Tax Update Glossary/ IndexPDF
REVIEW AND TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONSquiz
 FINAL EXAMexam