Taxation & Estate Planning

Using the Tax Code to Resolve Disputes Over Nazi-Looted Art

Posted on July 10, 2010
Joseph F. Sawka (J.D. 2010, Miiami) has published Reconciling Policy and Equity: The Ability of the Internal Revenue Code to Resolve Disputes Regarding Nazi-Looted Art, 17 Int'l & Comp. L.Q. 91 (2010). Here is the abstract: During World War II, the Nazi regime plundered numerous amounts of cultural property and...

More on the Tax Advantages of LeBron James' Move to Miami

Posted on July 10, 2010
Following up on Thursday's post, The Impact of Taxes on LeBron James' Decision: Weekend Wall Street Journal editorial, LeBron's Tax Holiday; Another Reason to Play in Miami: We come not to praise or bury LeBron James, but only to note that by moving to Miami he's going to save a...

Farmer: Change, Sadly, Is Inevitable

Posted on July 10, 2010
John J. Farmer, Jr. (Dean, Rutgers-Newark), Change, Sadly, Is Inevitable (Newark Star-Ledger): [N]atural catastrophes are mirrored in the transformations of our own lives. Most of us lead several lives in the span of our years, each demarcated by what we?ve lost...

SoCal Tax Profs

Posted on July 10, 2010
Thanks to Tax Profs Francine Lipman (Chapman) and Richard Winchester (Thomas Jefferson) for the wonderful lunch today in Pacific Beach. In addition to seeing Francine's spectacular condos (that's not a typo) and celebrating Richard's well-deserved award of tenure, it was nice to catch up on each other's work, schools, and...

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Tax Court Recharacterizes Nonrecourse Loan of Stock as Sale

Posted on July 09, 2010
A divided Tax Court yesterday recharacterized a purported nonrecourse loan of 90% of the value of 990 IBM shares as a sale of the stock. Calloway v. Commissioner, 135 T.C. No. 3 (July 8, 2010). In a stinging concurrence, Judge Holmes stated: "The majority (admittedly at the Commissioner?s behest) instead...

Company Files 37,375 Bad W-2 Forms

Posted on July 09, 2010
CNSNews.com, One Business Filed 37,375 Bad W-2 Forms?and Is Getting Away With It: A single employer filed 37,375 W-2 forms in tax year 2005 on which the Social Security Number and the name did not match. These ?no-match? W-2 forms often?but not always?represent an illegal-alien worker fraudulently using someone else?s...

Johnson: How to Raise $1 Trillion Without a VAT or a Rate Hike

Posted on July 09, 2010
Calvin H. Johnson (Texas) has posted How to Raise $1 Trillion Without a VAT or a Rate Hike, 128 Tax Notes 101 (July 5, 2010), on his faculty website. Here is the abstract: There is an impending crisis in which revenue is needed to contain the federal deficit, now projected...

UC-Berkeley Dean Edley: The Feds Should Bailout the States

Posted on July 09, 2010
Christopher Edley Jr. (Dean, UC-Berkeley) has published an op-ed in the New York Times, Let Treasury Rescue the States: [T]he best booster shot for this recovery and the next would be to allow states to borrow from the Treasury during recessions. We did this for Wall Street and Detroit, fending...

Brooks: A Feminist Analysis of International Tax

Posted on July 09, 2010
Kim Brooks (Dean, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University) has published Global Distributive Justice: The Potential for a Feminist Analysis of International Tax Revenue Allocation, 21 Can. J. Women & L. 267 (2009). Here is the abstract: This article has a modest aim -- to engage feminists and progressive international...

More on Does the New 10% Tanning Tax Discriminate Against Whites?

Posted on July 09, 2010
Following up on my previous post, Does New 10% Tanning Tax Discriminate Against Whites? (Mar. 25, 2010): Frank Pasquale (Seton Hall), Disparate Impact and the Tanning Tax: Washington Post, 'Tan Tax' Discussions Include Allegations of Reverse Racism: "When an article about the fallout from the tax ? which took effect...

Raising Taxes Leads to More Economic Growth, Part 2

Posted on July 09, 2010
Following up on my recent posts: Raising Taxes Leads to More Economic Growth and Private Investment (June 29, 2010) High Taxes Lead to Happiness (July 7, 2010) Presimetrics Blog, Tax Burdens and Economic Growth ? Answering the Objections: [L]ower tax burdens are not correlated with more rapid economic growth...

Cain: DOMA and the Internal Revenue Code

Posted on July 09, 2010
Patricia A. Cain (Santa Clara) offers her views on yesterday's decision in Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, No. 09-10309 (D. Mass. July 8, 2010), for TaxProf Blog readers in DOMA and the Internal Revenue Code: The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) provides that under federal law, same-sex marriages will...

IRS Releases 2008 Individual Income Tax Return Data

Posted on July 09, 2010
The IRS's Statistics of Income Division today released Individual Income Tax Returns 2008 (Publication 1304): This report contains data on sources of income, adjusted gross income, exemptions, deductions, taxable income, income tax, modified income tax, tax credits, self-employment tax, and tax payments...

National Taxpayer Advocate Releases Report to Congress

Posted on July 08, 2010
National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson yesterday released (IR-2010-83) her mid-year repoert to Congress, Fiscal Year 2011 Objectives. Forbes, Will Bad History Repeat With Congress And The IRS? Wall Street Journal, U.S. Business Faces Burden From New IRS Rules?Report Wall Street Journal Blog, Taxpayer Advocate Warns on New IRS Duties...

CPA Disbarred for Relying on Client's Data

Posted on July 08, 2010
The IRS has announced (IR-2010-82) that it has disbarred CPA Tim W. Kaskey for practice before the IRS for failing to exercise due diligence to determine the correctness of data supplied to him in preparing tax returns for a corporation and its husband and wife shareholders...

IRS Backs Down on Tax Treatment of Retirement Community Entrance Fees

Posted on July 08, 2010
Following up on my prior posts: IRS Seeks to Treat Nursing Home Entrance Fees as Taxable Pre-Paid Rent, Not Tax-Free Interest-Free Loans (June 4, 2010) Tax Court Petition in Nursing Home Entrance Fee Case (June 4, 2010) Amy S. Elliott, IRS Backs Down in Standoff on Retirement Community Fee Taxation,...

Madoff: Inherited Wealth Shouldn't Get a Free Pass on Taxes

Posted on July 08, 2010
Ray D. Madoff (Bostion College) has published an op-ed in the L.A. Times, Inherited Wealth Shouldn't Get a Free Pass on Taxes: Dan Duncan is reportedly the first billionaire to die during the one year since 1916 in which there is no estate tax in place...

The IRS Is Hiring

Posted on July 08, 2010
The IRS has announced (IR-2010-81) the availability of a YouTube channel and revised IRS Careers Website to assist recent graduates in finding employment at the IRS.

The "Stickiest" Law Prof Blogs

Posted on July 08, 2010
Following up on yesterday's post, Law Prof Blog Rankings: as others have pointed out, raw traffic numbers (visitors and page views) are only one of the measures of the influence of blogs. "Stickiness' -- the amount of time readers spend on a blog -- also is an important metric...

The Tax Lawyer Publishes New Issue

Posted on July 08, 2010
The Tax Lawyer has published Vol. 63, No. 3 (Spring 2010): In Memoriam: Steven C. Salch, 63 Tax Law. 223 (2010) Nina E. Olson (National Taxpayer Advocate), 2010 Erwin N. Griswold Lecture Before the American College of Tax Counsel: Taking the Bull by Its Horns: Some Thoughts on Constitutional Due...

Hickman Files Amicus Brief in En Banc D.C. Circuit Telephone Excise Tax Case

Posted on July 08, 2010
Following up on my prior posts on the D.C. Circuit's remarkable opinion in Cohen v. Commissioner, No. 08-5088 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 7, 2009): D.C. Circuit Slams IRS, Opens Door to Billions of Dollars Telephone Excise Tax Refunds (Aug. 7, 2009) Hickman: D.C...

Gompertz: Lawsuit Challenges Income Tax Preferences for Clergy

Posted on July 08, 2010
Following up on my prior post, District Court Allows 1st Amendment Challenge to § 107 Parsonage Allowance to Proceed to Trial (May 24, 2010), Michael L. Gompertz (a retired IRS attorney) has published Lawsuit Challenges Income Tax Preferences for Clergy, 128 Tax Notes 81 (July 5, 2010)...

Tax Court: Nonprofit Formed to Distribute Donor's Sperm Is Not a Qualified Charity

Posted on July 08, 2010
The Tax Court yesterday held that a nonprofit formed to provide the donor's sperm free of charge to applicants approved by the donor did not qualify for tax exempt status. Free Fertility Foundation v. Commissioner, 135 T.C. No. 2 (July 7. 2010): William C...

District Court: DOMA § 3 Unconstitutionally Prohibits Same-Sex Couples From Fling Joint Tax Returns

Posted on July 08, 2010
The federal district court in Massachusetts today held unconstitutional the application of section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act to deny certain federal marriage-based benefits that are available to similarly-situated heterosexual couples, including the ability to file joint federal income tax returns...

The Impact of Taxes on Lebron James' Decision

Posted on July 08, 2010
Business & Media Institute, LeBronomics: Could High Taxes Influence James' Team Decision?: While sports reporters have sought agents and teammates for the inside scoop on where NBA superstar free agent LeBron James will sign, there?s another person who may know The King?s next move: his accountant...

Forbes: Was Tax Lawyer the Real MVP of Saints' Super Bowl?

Posted on July 07, 2010
Forbes, Did Tax Ploy Help Saints Win Super Bowl?: Did the New Orleans Saints have some accounting help as they marched in to their Super Bowl win this year over the Indianapolis Colts? In a just-filed U.S. Tax Court lawsuit [New Orleans Louisiana Saints Master Limited Partnership LLC v...

High Taxes Lead to Happiness

Posted on July 07, 2010
MarketWatch: The Happiest Taxes on Earth: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says people in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are the most content with their lives. The three ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the OECD's rankings of "life satisfaction," or happiness...

'When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Lawyer'

Posted on July 07, 2010
From the Legally Red episode of the 2003 ABC Family The Brendan Leonard Show:

Steven Colbert on Loyola-L.A.'s Retroactive Grade Inflation

Posted on July 07, 2010
The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c I's on Edjukashun - Loyola, Texas Textbooks & Wal-Mart www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News Loyola-L.A. Retroactively Inflates Grades (Apr. 1, 2010) NY Times on Law School Grade Inflation (June 22, 2010) (Hat Tip: Brian Speiss...

National Tax Journal Publishes New Issue

Posted on July 07, 2010
The National Tax Journal has published Vol. 63, No. 2 (June 2010): Jean Marie Abraham & Roger Feldman (both of University of Minnesota, Department of Healthcare Management), What Will Happen if Employers Drop Health Insurance? A Simulation of Employees' Willingness to Purchase Insurance in the Individual Market, 63 Nat'l Tax...

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