Taxation & Estate Planning

Two IRS Agents Demand Past-Due Taxes From Car Wash Owner: 4 Cents (Plus $202.31 Interest and Penalties)

Posted on March 14, 2010
Sacramento Bee, IRS Visits Sacramento Carwash in Pursuit of 4 Cents: It was every businessperson's nightmare. Arriving at Harv's Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. "They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending," says Harv's owner, Aaron Zeff...

States May Delay Tax Refunds

Posted on March 14, 2010
Several states (Alabama, Hawaii, Kansas, New York, North Carolina) are considering delaying tax refund checks because of state budget shortfalls. ABC News, Check's in the Mail -- State Tax Officials Refute Worries of Refund Delays CBS News, Some States Delaying Tax Refund Payments USA Today, States May Hold Onto Tax...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on March 14, 2010
There is a bit of movement in this week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads, with a new #1 paper (which I highly recommend) and a paper returning to the list at #5: 1. [339 Downloads] Ten Estate Planning Advantages of Limited Liability Companies, by Paul L...

A Colorful Anti-Lawyer (and Anti-Law Professor) Rant

Posted on March 14, 2010
Here is a colorful rant against lawyers and law professors over the Wall Street Journal's suggestion that Harry Markopolos, who has written a best-selling book on his decade-long attempt to get the SEC to blow the whistle on Bernie Madoff?s billion-dollar Ponzi scheme, should be appointed chairman of the SEC:...

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MIT Announced Its Admissions Decisions Today (3.14) at 1:59 -- 3.14159

Posted on March 14, 2010
MIT released its undergraduate admission decisions today at 1:59 p.m. -- 3.14159! From Pi Day: Pi, Greek letter ( ), is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th...

Corporate Mobility in the European Union and Exit Taxes

Posted on March 13, 2010
Christiana Hji Panayi (Queen Mary University of London, School of Law) has published Corporate Mobility in the European Union and Exit Taxes, 63 Bull. for Int'l Tax'n 459 (2009). Here is the abstract: The author examines corporate mobility from a private international law perspective and an EC law perspective...

Roe: Delaware's Shrinking Half-Life

Posted on March 13, 2010
Mark J. Roe (Harvard) has published Delaware?s Shrinking Half-Life, 62 Stan. L. Rev. 125 (2009). Here is the abstract: A revisionist consensus among corporate law academics has begun to coalesce that, after a century of academic thinking to the contrary, states do not compete head-to-head on an ongoing basis for...

TIGTA Is Investigating 70 Jokes/Inappropriate Statements About the Attack on the Austin IRS Office

Posted on March 13, 2010
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration is investigating more than 70 threatening jokes or inappropriate statements made to IRS agents about the Feb. 18 attack on an IRS building in Austin, Texas. FederalTimes.com Washington Post

Amar & Johnson: U.S. News Should Include Diversity in its Law School Rankings

Posted on March 13, 2010
Vikram David Amar (Associate Dean, UC-Davis) & Kevin R. Johnson (Dean, UC-Davis), Why U.S. News and World Report Should Include A Diversity Index in its Ranking of Law Schools: 'Tis the season to be, if not jolly about, at least aware of, one of the most prominent law school rankings...

WSJ: Maryland 'Millionaire's Tax' Causes Decline in Revenue from Rich as 12% Flee the State

Posted on March 12, 2010
Wall Street Journal editorial, Maryland's Mobile Millionaires: Income Tax Rates Go Up, Rich Taxpayers Vanish: Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is the latest Democrat to demand a tax increase, this week proposing to raise the state's top marginal individual income tax rate to 4% from 3%...

Madison: The Tension Between Textualism and Substance-Over-Form Doctrines in Tax Law

Posted on March 12, 2010
Allen D. Madison (University of Navarra, School of Law) has posted The Tension between Textualism and Substance-Over-Form Doctrines in Tax Law, 43 Santa Clara L. Rev. 699 (2003), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article discusses the tension that exists between the recent textualist approach taken in the U...

O'Kelley Posts Tax Papers on SSRN

Posted on March 12, 2010
Charles R.T. O'Kelley (Seattle) has posted several of his tax papers on SSRN: The Parenting Tax Penalty: A Framework for Income Tax Reform, 64 Or. L. Rev. 375 (1986) Tax Policy for Post Liberal Society: A Flat Tax Inspired Redefinition of the Purpose and Ideal Structure of a Progressive Income...

Brooks: A Comment on Watersheds: Runoff from the Tax Code

Posted on March 12, 2010
Kim Brooks (McGill) has posted A Comment on Watersheds: Runoff from the Tax Code, 34 Vt. L. Rev. ___ (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The role of tax as an instrument of social and economic policy has recently come to the fore in debates about the environment...

WSJ: EU Court to Decide VAT Rate for Coin-Operated Porn Machine -- 'Cubicle Cinema' (6%) or 'Automated Recreation Device' (21%)

Posted on March 12, 2010
Wall Street Journal, A Peep at EU Tax Law. Read On. Really., by Charles Forelle: Your run-of-the-mill tax dispute is a dry affair. But now comes case C-3/09, Erotic Center BVBA v. Belgian State, before the European Court of Justice. The question at law: Can a peep-show purveyor enjoy the...

Cui: Business Tax: China?s Quasi-VAT

Posted on March 12, 2010
Wei Cui (China University of Political Science and Law) has posted Business Tax: China?s Quasi-VAT, International VAT Monitor, No. 4, pp. 291-95, 2009, on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Recent VAT reform in China has created a new focus on the Chinese business tax (BT), as the BT currently covers...

The Year's Top 10 Published Law Professors

Posted on March 12, 2010
Business Insider's Law Review, The Year's Top 10 Published Law Professors: One of the greatest responsibilities, or at least requirements, of being a renowned law professor is publishing. Whether there should be so much import placed on authoring discussion papers is debatable ? some argue that professors should be more...

Buchanan: The IRS Is the Most Trustworthy Agency in the Country

Posted on March 12, 2010
Neil H. Buchanan (George Washington), Is the IRS the Most Trustworthy Agency in the Country? Even Republicans Seem to Think So: [M]y claim here is that, if one looks carefully at the role that the IRS is repeatedly asked to play in our society, it is evident that politicians across...

85% Top Income Tax Rate Needed to Close Deficit

Posted on March 12, 2010
The Tax Foundation has published Can Income Tax Hikes Close the Deficit?: Using the Tax Foundation's Microsimulation Model to analyze the deficits projected by the President's Budget, we can project how much revenue a broad-based increase in federal income tax rates would generate...

Tax Foundation: 52 Million (36%) of Tax Returns Pay Zero Income Tax

Posted on March 11, 2010
The Tax Foundation has published Record Numbers of People Paying No Income Tax; Over 50 Million "Nonpayers" Include Families Making over $50,000: A record number of the 142 million tax returns filed in 2008 resulted in no tax payment, according to a Tax Foundation analysis of IRS data...

Tax Prof Administrative Appointments at the University of Washington

Posted on March 11, 2010
Congratulations to two Tax Profs at the University of Washington School of Law (who also are authors of books (International Tax, Tax Crimes) in our LexisNexis Graduate Tax Series): Samuel A. Donaldson (left), Professor of Law and Director of the Graduate Tax Program, has been named Associate Dean, effective July...

Fleischer: Regulatory Arbitrage

Posted on March 11, 2010
Victor Fleischer (Colorado) has posted Regulatory Arbitrage on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Most of us share a vague intuition that the rich, sophisticated, well-advised, and politically connected somehow game the system to avoid regulatory burdens the rest of us comply with...

Tax Prof Finalists for Mercer Deanship

Posted on March 11, 2010
Tax Profs I. Richard Gershon (Former Dean, Charleston) (left) and Christopher M. Pietruszkiewicz (Vice Chancellor for Business and Financial Affairs and J.Y. Sanders Professor of Law, LSU) (right) are two of the six finalists for the Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University deanship.

VanderWolk Posts Tax Papers on SSRN

Posted on March 11, 2010
Jefferson P. VanderWolk (Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong) has posted several of his tax papers on SSRN: Recent Hong Kong Tax Cases: Cause for Alarm, 57 Tax Notes Int'l 37 (Feb. 1, 2010) Green Tax Measures for Hong Kong: A Policy Proposal, in Green Taxation in East...

Logue & Vettori: Narrowing the Tax Gap Through Presumptive Taxation

Posted on March 11, 2010
Kyle D. Logue (Michigan) & Gustavo Vettori (LL.M. 2009, Michigan) have posted Narrowing the Tax Gap Through Presumptive Taxation on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article highlights the primary tax enforcement problem in the United States, that of noncompliant small and medium-sized businesses (?SMBs?), and it explores the possibility...

Commentary on Rep. Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future Act

Posted on March 11, 2010
Commentary on H.R. 4529, Roadmap for America's Future Act of 2010: The Atlantic, Paul Ryan's Plan is a Trojan Horse for Conservatism Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Ryan Budget's Radical Priorities Provides Largest Tax Cuts in History for Wealthy, Raises Middle Class Taxes, Ends Guaranteed Medicare, Privatizes Social...

Larry Kudlow: How High Will Tax Rates Go?

Posted on March 11, 2010

2009 IRS Data Book

Posted on March 11, 2010
The IRS today released the 2009 IRS Data Book, which contains a wealth of statistical information for the IRS's Oct. 1, 2008 - Sept. 30, 2009 fiscal year. Here are the statistical tables: Returns Filed, Taxes Collected, and Refunds Issued Table A. First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit for Homes Purchased in...

Weisbach Presents Trade and Carbon Taxes Today at NYU

Posted on March 11, 2010
David A. Weisbach (Chicago) presents Trade and Carbon Taxes at NYU today as part of its Colloquium Series on Tax Policy and Public Finance. The co-convenors of the colloquium are Daniel Shaviro (NYU) & Mihir Desai (Harvard Business School). Here is the abstract: We examine the impact of carbon leakage...

Trusts & Estates: Six Articles of Interest to Estate Planners

Posted on March 10, 2010
Along the lines of the article by Bridget J. Crawford (Pace), Law Review Articles You Should've Read (but Probably Didn't) in 2009, 126 Tax Notes 397 (Jan. 18, 2010): the February 2010 issue of Trusts & Estates reviewed six articles of interest to estate planners that were published in student-edited...

Camp: What Good Is the National Taxpayer Advocate?

Posted on March 10, 2010
Bryan T. Camp (Texas Tech) has posted What Good Is the National Taxpayer Advocate?, 126 Tax Notes 1243 (Mar. 8, 2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article examines the history and operation of the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), a component of the IRS...

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