Taxation & Estate Planning

SOI Releases 2007 Tax-Exempt Bond Data

Posted on September 17, 2009
The IRS's Statistics of Income Division yesterday released Tax-Exempt Bonds, 2007: Tables from the issue year 2007 tax-exempt bonds studies are now available. These tables are based on Forms 8038-G (Information Return for Tax-Exempt Governmental Obligations) and Forms 8038 (Information Return for Tax-Exempt Private Activity Bonds) filed with the IRS...

Judson: WSJ

Posted on September 17, 2009
Following up my post on the front-page Wall Street Journal article, Income Gap Shrinks in Slump at the Expense of the Wealthy: Bruce Judson responds in the Huffington Post, Economic Inequality: The Wall Street Journal Is Just Wrong: [T]he article says that economic inequality was never really a problem, and...

2010 Tax Rate Tables

Posted on September 17, 2009
CCH today released its projected 2010 federal tax brackets and tables, taking into account projected inflation adjustments (based on inlfation data released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Labor): Standard Deduction: No change -- $5,700 single/$11,400 joint (as in 2009) Personal Exemption: No change -- $3,650 (as in 2009) Gift...

Gerzog: Families for Tax Purposes: What About the Steps?

Posted on September 17, 2009
Wendy C. Gerzog (Baltimore) has published Families for Tax Purposes: What About the Steps?, 42 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 805 (2009). Here is the abstract: At least 4.4 million families in the U.S. are blended ones that include step-children and step-parents...

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Tax Breaks Fuel Sale of Chicago Cubs for $845m

Posted on September 17, 2009
Yahoo Sports, Buying Cubs Could be a Steal for Ricketts, by Josh Peter: A businessman has agreed to pay $845 million for the Chicago Cubs ... The Cubs pocket more than $2 million for each of their 81 regular-season home games, based on financial information Yahoo! Sports obtained from three...

NEJM Proposes Soda Tax to Curb Obesity

Posted on September 17, 2009
New England Journal of Medicine, The Public Health and Economic Benefits of Taxing Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has been linked to risks for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease; therefore, a compelling case can be made for the need for reduced consumption of these beverages...

SSRN Graduate Tax Faculty Rankings

Posted on September 16, 2009
Theodore P. Seto (Loyola-L.A.) has updated his rankings of the Top 15 Graduate Tax Faculties, as measured by the number of SSRN downloads (through 8/19/09): All-Time Downloads Recent Downloads 1 Michigan 26,128 Michigan 6777 2 Loyola ?L.A. 10,839 Loyola ?L...

Peer Reviewed Scholarship Marketplace

Posted on September 16, 2009
Following up on my prior post, South Carolina Law Review Launches Peer Review Project: Peer Reviewed Scholarship Marketplace (?PRSM?), a consortium of student-edited legal journals, exists to provide student-editors with peer evaluations of legal-scholarship manuscripts and to assure the publication of quality articles...

Tax Court OKs D.C. Facade Conservation Easements, But Reduces Charitable Deduction by 61%

Posted on September 16, 2009
The Tax Court yesterday approved charitable deductions for facade conservation easements on two homes located in Washington, D.C., but reduced the valuation. The taxpayer had valued the facade conservation easements at 11% and 13% of the $2.1 million fmv of the homes (within the 10% - 15% range specified on...

NLJ on the Tax Literacy Project

Posted on September 16, 2009
Following up on my prior post, Tax Literacy Project: the National Law Journal profiles Law Prof's Mission Is to Make Tax Policy Interesting: Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has received a lot of press for her "Our Courts" Web site, which uses interactive games to teach middle school...

TurboTax Tries to Kill California's ReadyReturn

Posted on September 16, 2009
The Los Angeles Times, California GOP Legislators Blocked 20 Bills After Demands Were Unmet: Republicans in the Senate blocked more than 20 bills -- all needing GOP votes to pass, many approved by the lower house with bipartisan or near-unanimous support -- to leverage a trio of unrelated demands...

Jon Stewart on the ACORN Tax Scandal

Posted on September 16, 2009
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c The Audacity of Hos www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Garbarino: A Research Agenda in Comparative Taxation

Posted on September 16, 2009
Carlo Garbarino (Bocconi University Law Department) has published An Evolutionary Approach to Comparative Taxation: Methods and Agenda for Research, 57 Am. J. Comp. L. 677 (2009). Here is the abstract: This paper discusses the methods of comparative taxation and provides an outline of an evolutionary approach to this new and...

Dexter: Tenure Buyouts -- Employment Death Taxes and Wages

Posted on September 16, 2009
Bobby L. Dexter (Chapman) has published Tenure Buyouts: Employment Death Taxes and the Curious Obesity of "Wages," 70 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 343 (2009). Here is the abstract: Prior to January of 1994, institutions of higher education could appeal to an exemption in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of...

Father and Daughter at the Ballpark

Posted on September 16, 2009
Check out the priceless scene at last night's Phillies-Nationals baseball game:

SSRN Tax Faculty Rankings

Posted on September 15, 2009
Theodore P. Seto (Loyola-L.A.) has updated his ranking of the Top 25 U.S. Law School Tax Faculties, as measured by the number of SSRN downloads (through 8/19/09): All-Time Downloads Recent Downloads 1 Michigan 26,128 Michigan 6777 2 Harvard 23,955 Illinois 4366 3 Illinois 15,724 UC-Davis 3976 4 Pennsylvania 14,560 Harvard...

Court Denies Tax Lawyer's $100,000 Medical Expense Deduction for Prostitutes and Porn

Posted on September 15, 2009
Via Joe Kristan: The Tax Court yesterday denied a New York tax lawyer's claimed $100,000+ medical expense deduction for the costs of prostitutes and pornographic material. Halby v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2009-204 (Sept. 14, 2009): During 2004 and 2005 petitioner frequented prostitutes in New York...

FedEx to Challenge IRS Characterization of its Drivers as Employees, Not Independent Contractors

Posted on September 15, 2009
Following up on my prior posts: FedEx Drivers Are Employees, Not Independent Contractors FedEx Defends Treatment of its Drivers as Independent Contractors, Not Employees What Can Brown Do To You: UPS Tax Lawyer Drops Dime on FedEx, Prompts Ohio to Reclassify Drivers as Employees, Resulting in $654k Tax Liability According...

Five Major Research Universities Commit to Open-Access Publishing

Posted on September 15, 2009
Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, and the University of California at Berkeley yesterday agreed to this Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity which commits each school to "the timely establishment of durable mechanisms for underwriting reasonable publication charges for articles written by its faculty and published in fee-based open-access journals and for...

IRS Improves Computer Security After Loss/Theft of 500 Laptops

Posted on September 15, 2009
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report yesterday noting that after the loss of nearly 500 laptop computers, the IRS has improved its procedures for protecting confidential taxpayer data and guarding against the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information if laptops are lost or stolen in the future...

Bostick Named Benefits Tax Counsel

Posted on September 15, 2009
George H. Bostick (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, Washington, D.C.) has been named Benefits Tax Counsel at the U.S. Treasury Department, effective September 14: The Office of the Benefits Tax Counsel develops and reviews policy, legislation, regulations, and revenue rulings dealing with all aspects of employee benefits taxation and related matters...

Behavioral Economics and Tax Policy

Posted on September 15, 2009
William Congdon (Research Director, The Brookings Institution), Jeffrey Kling (Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution) & Sendhil Mullainathan (Harvard University, Department of Economics) have published Behavioral Economics and Tax Policy. Here is the abstract: Behavioral economics is changing our understanding of how economic policy operates, including tax policy...

TIGTA Recommends That IRS Seek Mandatory e-Filing of Individual Tax Returns by Paid Preparers

Posted on September 15, 2009
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration issued a press release today, New TIGTA Audit Encourages Mandatory e-Filing by Preparers: The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) today publicly released an audit report recommending that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seek mandatory e-filing of individual tax returns prepared by...

Tax Foundation: NY's 'Amazon Tax' Is Unconstitutional and Unwise

Posted on September 15, 2009
The Tax Foundation today released a new report, "Amazon Tax" Unconstitutional and Unwise: On September 9, 2009, the Tax Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief ("friend of the court") in the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, in the case of Amazon...

A Tax LL.M. as "Recession Insurance"?

Posted on September 15, 2009
Following up on yesterday's post, USC Launches Graduate Tax Program: the National Law Journal reports that USC Will Market Tax LL.M as Recession Insurance: The new tax LL.M. is designed to attract working professionals who plan to specialize, particularly in light of the tight job market, [Dean Robert] Rasmussen said...

Eric Solomon, Karen Gilbreath-Sowell Join Ernst & Young

Posted on September 15, 2009
The Wall Street Journal reports that two former senior U.S. Treasury Department tax officials are joining Ernst & Young: Eric Solomon (right), former Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, will be director of the firm's National Tax Department. Karen Gilbreath-Sowell, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, will be co-director of...

USC Launches Graduate Tax Program

Posted on September 14, 2009
The University of Southern California Gould School of Law announced on Friday that it is starting a graduate tax program: Some of the nation?s most esteemed tax scholars teach at USC Law, creating an ideal setting for a new tax program, [USC Law Dean Robert] Rasmussen added...

LSU Seeks to Hire Tax Prof

Posted on September 14, 2009
Tax Prof Christopher M. Pietruszkiewicz, Vice Chancellor for Business and Financial Affairs and J.Y. Sanders Professor of Law, reports that LSU is seeking to hire an entry-level or lateral Tax Prof: As the LSU Law Center mourns the loss of its dedicated scholar and teacher, Professor Susan Kalinka, we are...

Recent Trends in Top Income Shares in the U.S.

Posted on September 14, 2009
Richard V. Burkhauser (Cornell University, Department of Policy Analysis & Management), Shuaizhang Feng (Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School and the Program in Science Technology and Environmental Policy), Stephen P. Jenkins (University of Essex, Institute for Social and Economic Research) & Jeff Larrimore (Cornell University, Department of Economics) have posted Recent...

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on September 14, 2009
Saturday: Fact-Checking the Tax Treatment of Cash for Clunkers Should Casebook Authors Give a Rebate to Their Students? Karjala Posts Tax Papers on SSRN Institute Releases The Role of Rankings in Higher Ed Policymaking Sunday: Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads Ford Plots to Preserve $19b Tax Loss U...

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