IRS Scrambling To Attack Lease Strips

In recent years the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have often sought additional statutory and regulatory authority to deal with the growth of corporate tax shelters. In part, government officials have claimed that the proliferation of tax schemes occurs too quickly for the IRS and Treasury to respond. Compounding the problem, tax officials often do not respond adequately to those tax avoidance transactions they know about and have the power to stop. This article will focus on the ongoing attacks by the IRS and Treasury on lease strip transactions. The problems these transactions created and the inadequacy of the IRS's response demonstrates that tax officials need to devote more attention to the most efficient use of the authority they currently possess.