Code Section 6707A
| Code Section | Effective Date | Name of Act | Name of Provision | 10yr Revenue Estimate ($millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6707A | *12/31/2006 | The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 | Limitation on penalty for failure to disclose certain information | -176 |
* Notes on Effective Date
The provision applies to all penalties assessed under section 6707A after December 31, 2006.
Limitation on penalty for failure to disclose certain information
Explanation of Provision
The provision changes the general rule for determining the amount of the applicable penalty to achieve proportionality between the penalty and the tax savings that were the object of the transaction, retains the current penalty amounts as the maximum penalty that may be imposed, and establishes a minimum penalty.
First, it provides a general rule that a participant in a reportable transaction who fails to disclose the reportable transaction as required under section 6011 is subject to a penalty equal to 75 percent of the reduction in tax reported on the participant’s income tax return as a result of participation in the transaction, or that would result if the transaction were respected for federal tax purposes. Regardless of the amount determined under the general rule, the penalty for each such failure may not exceed certain maximum amounts. The maximum annual penalty that a taxpayer may incur for failing to disclose a particular reportable transaction other than a listed transaction is $10,000 in the case of a natural person and $50,000 for all other persons. The maximum annual penalty that a taxpayer may incur for failing to disclose a listed
transaction is $100,000 in the case of a natural person and $200,000 for all other persons.
The provision also establishes a minimum penalty with respect to failure to disclose a reportable or listed transaction. That minimum penalty is $5,000 for natural persons and $10,000 for all other persons.
The following examples illustrate the operation of the maximum and minimum penalties with respect to a partnership or a corporation. First, assume that two individuals participate in a listed transaction through a partnership formed for that purpose. Both partners, as well as the partnership, are required to disclose the transaction. All fail to do so. The failure by the partnership to disclose its participation in a listed or otherwise reportable transaction is subject to the minimum penalty of $10,000, because income tax liability is not incurred at the partnership level nor reported on a partnership return. The individual partners in such partnership who also failed to comply with the reporting requirements of section 6011 are each subject to a penalty of no less than $5,000 and no more than $100,000, based on the reduction in tax reported on their respective returns.
In the second example, assume that a corporation participates in a single listed transaction over the course of three taxable years. The decrease in tax shown on the corporate returns is $1 million in the first year, $100,000 in the second year, and $10,000 in the third year. If the corporation fails to disclose the listed transaction in all three years, the corporation is subject to three separate penalties:
a penalty of $200,000 in the first year (as a result of the cap on penalties), a $75,000 penalty in the second year (computed under the general rule) and a $10,000 penalty in the third year (as a result of the minimum penalty) for total penalties of $285,000.
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