14.7K
Downloads
204
Episodes
Tax Justice Warriors is a podcast that focuses on tax controversy, Low Income Taxpayer Clincs (LITCs), educating the public, news, and interviews about taxes. The host is Omeed Firouzi, a practice professor and director of the low income taxpayer clinic at Temple University Beasley School of Law. The producer is Zac Harvey.
Episodes
Tuesday May 23, 2023
Tuesday May 23, 2023
In this episode, I discussed what I learned at the ABA Tax Section May 2023 Meeting in Washington, D.C. I mentioned several important sessions I attended and how I had the chance to ask IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel a question during his closing plenary remarks.
This episode also includes interviews I conducted, at the conference, with two great colleagues and mentors, Leslie Book and Mandi Matlock. They both generously agreed to sit down with me on the final day of the conference to discuss their careers and their perspectives.
At Villanova Law, Professor Les Book, a nationally recognized scholar on tax procedure and coauthor of the Procedurally Taxing blog, teaches several tax courses and has experience in numerous roles there that include Director of the Federal Tax Clinic. I had the privilege of having Professor Book as my professor of Introduction to Federal Income Tax in my 3L spring semester at Villanova. Since then, he has helped me get to where I am today, including in receiving the ABA Tax Section Brunswick Public Service Fellowship.
Professor Mandi Matlock, who recently served as Interim Director of the Federal Tax Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, has worked as a low income taxpayer clinic attorney at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid for over two decades. In the meantime, she became a nationally renowned expert on tax and consumer law matters as she was of counsel to the National Consumer Law Center and was a Local Taxpayer Advocate in Austin, among other roles.
Wednesday Apr 26, 2023
Episode 187 - Reflections on the 2023 Tax Filing Season
Wednesday Apr 26, 2023
Wednesday Apr 26, 2023
In this episode, I break down the 2023 tax filing season as I offer reflections on how the $80 billion in additional funding for the IRS, from the Inflation Reduction Act, appears to have notably improved service for taxpayers and tax practitioners.
I also delve into the history of the fedreal refund statute of limitations as it is an issue that became salient when the IRS announced that July 17, 2023 is the refund deadline for unfiled 2019 returns. I briefly also discuss the new IRS strategic operating plan (regarding how the IRS will use their new funding); you can read the plan here.
Friday Mar 24, 2023
Episode 186 - Interview with Professor Keith Fogg
Friday Mar 24, 2023
Friday Mar 24, 2023
At the Annual Low Income Taxpayer Clinics Conference in Phoenix on December 7, 2022, I had the privilege of sitting down with Professor Keith Fogg, a mentor and colleague. Keith practiced at the IRS Office of Chief Counsel for over 30 years before he began an academic career in 2007 first running the Villanova Law Federal Tax Clinic and then running the Harvard Law Federal Tax Clinic from 2015 until his retirement in 2022.
Additionally, Keith cofounded the Procedurally Taxing blog (for which I have written several articles) that he still helps run and his name is often associated with the American Bar Association Tax Section's Effectively Representing Your Client Before the IRS ("The Fogg Manual"), as he has edited the manual's 5th, 6th, and 7th editions (I had the privilege of authoring the worker classification chapter for the 8th edition).
Wednesday Mar 08, 2023
Wednesday Mar 08, 2023
At the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Taxation Midyear Meeting in San Diego on February 10, 2023, I sat down with one of my mentors, former National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, a tax law titan and legend thanks to her nearly two decades of service leading the Taxpayer Advocate Service, and ABA Christine A. Brunswick Fellow Anna Gooch, an esteemed colleague and dedicated practitioner. We discussed their work at the Center for Taxpayer Rights, an organization Olson founded after she retired as the National Taxpayer Advocate.
For more information on the Brunswick Fellowship, a fellowship I benefited from in my first two years of practice, visit here.
Saturday Feb 25, 2023
Episode 184 - Interview with National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins
Saturday Feb 25, 2023
Saturday Feb 25, 2023
Omeed sits down here with National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins at the 2023 Annual Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) Grantee Conference in Phoenix, Arizona on December 8, 2022. Collins spoke about the difficulties taxpayers and tax practitioners faced with the IRS in 2022.
She also discussed how her office is working to address these problems. Since this interview was conducted, the LITC maximum grant, which was discussed here, has been temporarily increased from $100,000 to $200,000 per year, as described here on page 3 of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinics 2022 Program Report.
Since this interview was recorded, Collins and her office also presented the National Taxpayer Advocate Annual Report to Congress, which identified several problems at the IRS and issued recommendations. You can read the National Taxpayer Advocate 2022 Annual Report to Congress here.
Friday Oct 14, 2022
Farewell - IRS Office of Chief Counsel
Friday Oct 14, 2022
Friday Oct 14, 2022
From William Schmidt-
I am going from being a Clinic Director for Low Income Taxpayer Clinics to working for the Kansas City branch of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel (Small Business/Self-Employed) as a Tax Attorney. Today’s episode is a short one as I make my farewells.
In September, I finished working for the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic and legal aid worlds, where I worked for 6.5 years. I worked for over 5 years for Kansas Legal Services and almost 1.5 years for Legal Aid of Western Missouri. I am going to miss working with others that advocate for those who truly need it.
Both Kansas Legal Services and Legal Aid of Western Missouri are wonderful organizations that provide legal help to people in need. Through those organizations, I was able to provide tax, bankruptcy, consumer protection and other kinds of assistance through the years to low income taxpayers and other people in need.
The Low Income Taxpayer Clinic community is a group that I will miss greatly. Gatherings from the local to the national level brought friendly, helpful people willing to talk tax and assist newcomers. I made several friends through the LITC, the ABA and in the IRS that were trying to connect taxpayers with the right assistance.
I hope all of those organizations continue strong and you lend them support (if you're able) to bring help for those who need it.
I believe my 6.5 years within the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic world, writing regularly for Procedurally Taxing, podcasting for 180 episodes, presenting at conferences, teaching as an adjunct professor and more have led me to taking on this new experience. I look forward to working with others I know within the IRS and learning about IRS systems - I think this will be an interesting adventure!
The future of this podcast is a bit up in the air. I have asked a couple people to take over, but in the meantime it will be going on hiatus.
Best wishes to you and thank you for listening!
Friday Sep 02, 2022
Episode 182: The Broader Discussion of IRS Funding
Friday Sep 02, 2022
Friday Sep 02, 2022
If you have been following news from the Inflation Reduction Act, you probably heard news that the IRS received nearly $80 billion in funding over the next decade. There have been reactions of all kinds. In this episode, I look at how the funding is divided among the departments at the IRS. Some of the goals are examinations of high-income individuals, building back the staff from retirement and other departures, and modernizing the IRS computer systems. From there, I debunk some of the rumors regarding the IRS such as how they are building an army or arming their employees. The bottom line is that the IRS will follow the law and the rumors are false.
The Fear Over IRS Funding (procedurallytaxing.com)
Republican IRS fearmongering in Florida is getting scary (nbcnews.com)
Opinion | Inside the IRS ‘Pipeline’ used to process tax returns - Washington Post
Friday Aug 12, 2022
Episode 181: KC Current Events and IRS Funding
Friday Aug 12, 2022
Friday Aug 12, 2022
On this episode, an update on what is going on in Kansas City relating to tax issues. Also, a talk about the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and its funding of the IRS.
At the time of recording, the Act had passed the Senate. At the time of posting, it has also passed the House and is expected to go to President Biden to sign into law in the next week.
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Episode180: Workload Balancing
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Monday Jun 20, 2022
A short episode about balancing my workload between supervision and managing the tax clinic. In order to balance the workload, it is necessary to reduce the number of cases and I talk about what I am doing to get there.
Tuesday Jun 07, 2022
Episode 179: ABA 2022 May Tax Meeting Followup
Tuesday Jun 07, 2022
Tuesday Jun 07, 2022
On May 12 through 14, 2022, the American Bar Association Section of Taxation held the 2022 May Tax Meeting. It was a hybrid meeting, the first in-person meeting for the Section since 2020. Portions of the meeting were also broadcast virtually.
There was a large group gathered and it seemed that people were happy to be meeting in person again. William Schmidt attended the meeting and went to several of the committee presentations. This episode provides a recap of the events, including the panels that caused audience reactions, some Tax Court judges who attended, and a tip about getting food at a reception.
William was also on a Tax Court Practice and Procedure panel on Collection Due Process cases in the U.S. Tax Court and he provides an update on how that went.