Taxation & Estate Planning

Pennell: Wealth Transfer Taxation -- 'Transfer' Defined

Posted on August 11, 2010
Jeffrey N. Pennell (Emory) has published Wealth Transfer Taxation: 'Transfer' Defined, 128 Tax Notes 615 (Aug. 9, 2010). Here is the abstract: To be valid under the U.S. Constitution, the estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes must be imposed on the transfer of wealth...

NY Times: Museum Directors Enjoy Tax-Free Housing in Multi-Million Dollar Condos

Posted on August 11, 2010
New York Times, Plum Benefit to Cultural Post: Tax-Free Housing, by Kevin Flynn & Stephanie Strom: In addition to her $877,000 compensation package, Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History, lives rent free in a $5 million East Side apartment that the museum bought when she...

Kleinbard: Obama's Deficit Commission Must Take on 'Sacred Tax Cows'

Posted on August 11, 2010
Huffington Post, Sacred Tax Cows: It's Them or Us, by Edward D. Kleinbard (USC): The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is in a pickle. We can expect Republican members of the Commission to push for cuts in government spending but no new taxes, and Democratic members to argue...

President Obama Signs $10b of International Tax Increases

Posted on August 11, 2010
President Obama yesterday signed H.R. 1586, which creates a $10 billion fund to prevent teacher layoffs and provide a temporary increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, funded with corporate international tax changes. Bill White House Statement Joint Committee on Taxation, Technical Explanation of the Revenue Provisions of the Senate...

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Law Prof Sees More Plagiarism, Allows Do-Overs

Posted on August 11, 2010
ABA Journal, Law Prof Sees More Plagiarism, Allows Do-Overs: An adjunct law professor who has taught at three law schools says he has caught a half a dozen students who plagiarized parts of their papers, and the problem seems to be increasing. Donald C...

Duke Dean Levi: In Defense of Young Lawyers

Posted on August 11, 2010
National Law Journal, In Defense of Young Lawyers, by David F. Levi (Dean, Duke): The downturn in the legal economy has been hard on many new and young lawyers. They have faced lengthy deferrals and withdrawals of job offers, layoffs, shrinking job prospects and lower salaries...

Joint Tax Committee Releases Distributional Analysis of Dueling Bush Tax Cut Proposals

Posted on August 11, 2010
The Joint Committee on Taxation has released a distributional analysis (and subsequent correction) of Democratic and Republican proposals for dealing with the expiring Bush tax cuts.

NLJ: Christian Law School Planned in Louisiana

Posted on August 11, 2010
National Law Journal, Christian Law School Planned in Louisiana: Louisiana may soon have its fifth law school. Louisiana College, which is owned by Louisiana Baptist Convention, has announced plans to open the Judge Paul Pressler School of Law in Shreveport...

Luke: Henry Simons and the Economic Substance Doctrine

Posted on August 11, 2010
Charlene Luke (Florida) has posted What Would Henry Simons Do?: Using an Ideal to Shape and Explain the Economic Substance Doctrine, 10 Hous. Bus. & Tax J. ___ (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article discusses the potential results of injecting the Haig-Simons (H-S) income concept into the...

Dan Rostenkowski Dies at 82

Posted on August 11, 2010
Dan Rostenkowski, Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee during the Tax Reform Act of 1986, died today at the age of 82. From Dan Shaviro (NYU): I was on the Joint Committee of Taxation staff for the 1986 Tax Reform Act, during Rosty's tenure. Whatever else one says...

Dissent: 2d Circuit 'Turns § 2036 on its Head' in Reversing Tax Court

Posted on August 10, 2010
A divided Second Circuit yesterday reversed the Tax Court (T.C. Memo. 2006-225) and held that § 2036 did not apply to a mother's transfer of 49% of a Manhattan brownstown to her adult son after her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer even though she continued to live in the home with...

Forbes: Billionaire Leon Cooperman -- 'I Got Bad Tax Advice'

Posted on August 10, 2010
Forbes, Billionaire Leon Cooperman: I Got Bad Tax Advice, by William P. Barrett: Do you have trouble getting good tax advice? Billionaire hedge fund manager Leon G. Cooperman says he has the very same problem. Cooperman filed a U.S. Tax Court lawsuit last month after the IRS disallowed his deductions...

More on the Higher Education Bubble

Posted on August 10, 2010
Wall Street Journal: Student-Loan Debt Surpasses Credit Cards: Consumers now owe more on their student loans than their credit cards. Americans owe some $826.5 billion in revolving credit, according to June 2010 figures from the Federal Reserve. (Most of revolving credit is credit-card debt...

Average Personal Income Fell 1.8% in 2009

Posted on August 10, 2010
Wall Street Journal, U.S. Incomes Tumbled in 2009: Personal income took a hit in most of the U.S. last year with the only gains coming from government support, according to new data from the Commerce Department. Income declined in 223 metro areas last year, increased in 134 and was unchanged...

CRS: Form 1099 Reporting Requirements as Modified by ObamaCare

Posted on August 10, 2010
The Congressional Research Service has issued Form 1099 Information Reporting Requirements as Modified by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (R41359): Under § 6041, persons engaged in a trade or business who make payments totaling at least $600 to another person in a single year are required to file...

Charles Egerton Named ABA Tax Section Chair

Posted on August 10, 2010
The ABA announced today that Charles H. Egerton (Mead, Egerton, Bloodworth, Capouano & Bozarth, Orlando, FL) has been selected to chair the 22,000-menber ABA Tax Section. He will serve a one-year term, to be succeeded by William M. Paul of Covington & Burling (Washington, D...

How Students Pay for College (Mom and Dad)

Posted on August 10, 2010
Sallie Mae released today How America Pays for College 2010: A National Study by Sallie Mae and Gallup: The report is the third annual Sallie Mae national study conducted by Gallup that examines how families of undergraduate students aged 18 to 24 finance the expenses associated with a higher education...

Liberty Law School Receives Full ABA Accreditation (the 201st Law School)

Posted on August 10, 2010
Liberty University School of Law received full accredition last week at the ABA's annual meeting in San Francisco, becoming the 201st ABA-approved law school (five other law school are provisionaly approved -- Charleston, Charlotte, Drexel, Elon, and LaVerne)...

Tiger Woods May Skip Ryder Cup Because of British Tax Law

Posted on August 10, 2010
Following up on last month's post, Usain Bolt Runs From the British Tax Man: Tiger Woos reportedly is considering skipping the Ryder Cup in October in England because he would face a 1 million pound ($1.57 million) tax bill under new British rules taxing foreign athletes not only on their...

It Costs $286k to Raise a Child (Before College!); Parent-Friendly Tax Laws Are Needed

Posted on August 10, 2010
Washington Post, America's Parent Trap, by Robert J. Samuelson: Among the government's most interesting reports is one -- published by the Agriculture Department -- that estimates what parents spend on their children. The latest version finds, not surprisingly, that the costs are steep...

Knoll & Mason: What is Tax Discrimination? The European Interpretation

Posted on August 10, 2010
Michael S. Knoll (Pennsylvania) & Ruth Mason (Connecticut) have posted What is Tax Discrimination? The European Interpretation on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Prohibitions of tax discrimination have long appeared in constitutions, tax treaties, trade treaties and other sources, but despite their ubiquity, little agreement exists as to how such...

California Legislature Asks IRS to Tax Same-Sex Couples the Same as Heterosexual Married Couples

Posted on August 10, 2010
The California legislature yesterday passed a resolution (AJR29) requesting the IRS to issue a ruling that same-sex spouses and domestic partners be taxed the same as heterosexual married couples (by requiring individuals in a same-sex marriage or domestic partnership to each report half of their community income on federal income...

Tax Court 'Misguided' in Accuracy-Related Penalty Decision Involving $800k PWC Flat-Fee Opinion

Posted on August 09, 2010
Following up on my prior posts: Tax Court Upholds $37m Penalty Against TP Who Relied on Tax Opinion Issued by PWC for $800k Flat Fee (Aug. 6, 2010) More on Tax Court's Approval of $37m Penalty Because of PWC's 'Tainted' Opinion (Given for $800k Flat Fee) (Aug...

College Students Don't Study Enough

Posted on August 09, 2010
Philip Babcock (UC-Santa Barbara, Department of Economics) & Mindy Marks (UC-Riverside, Department of Economics) have published Leisure College, USA: The Decline in Student Study Time. Here is the abstract: In 1961, the average full-time student at a four-year college in the United States studied about twenty-four hours per week, while...

Northeast and Midwest Snowbirds Flee to South to Escape High Taxes

Posted on August 09, 2010
Investment News, More Wealthy Migrate South to Avoid Tax Hikes; Specter of Higher Federal and State Burdens Hastens Exodus from North: For years, wealthy retirees from high-tax states in the Northeast and Midwest have been streaming to sunny, low-tax Florida...

Reynolds: Further Thoughts on the Higher Education (and Law School) Bubble

Posted on August 09, 2010
Glenn Reynolds (Tennessee), Further Thoughts on the Higher Education Bubble (Washington Examiner): Assume that I?m right, and that higher education -- both undergraduate and graduate, and including professional education like the law schools in which I teach -- is heading for a major correction...

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on August 09, 2010
Saturday: IRS Hits Haitian Presidential Candidate Wyclef Jean With $2.1m Tax Lien More on BP's $10 Billion Deduction From the Gulf Oil Spill More on the Tax Court's Approval of $37m Penalty Because of PWC's 'Tainted' Opinion (Given for $800k Flat Fee) More on the (Non)Deductibility of Medical Marijuana Sunday:...

TIGTA: IRS Lags in Efforts to Engage Preparer Community to Help Close Tax Gap

Posted on August 09, 2010
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration today released Plans Exist to Engage the Tax Preparer Community in Reducing the Tax Gap; However, Enhancements Are Needed (2010-30-061): The IRS could do more to encourage tax preparers to reduce the $345 billion Tax Gap...

Hubbard: Fairness and the Capital Tax Fetish

Posted on August 09, 2010
Glenn Hubbard (Dean, Columbia Business School), Fairness and the Capital Tax Fetish (Wall Street Journal op-ed): No serious economist thinks higher dividend and cap gains taxes are efficient ways to raise revenue. Why not limit deductions for high earners instead? There are at least four channels through which Mr...

More on 'Unemployed JD's' Hunger Strike

Posted on August 09, 2010
Following up on Friday's post, Unemployed J.D. Begins Hunger Strike Aimed at 10 Law Schools: ABA Journal, ?Unemployed JD? Says He?s on Day 5 of Hunger Strike to Spur Law School Reform Huffington Post, 'Unemployed JD' Goes on Hunger Strike to Protest Law Schools Huffington Post, Unemployed Law School Grad...

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