Taxation & Estate Planning

UC-Davis State & Local Tax Institute Kicks Off Today

Posted on June 15, 2009
The four-day nineteenth annual State & Local Taxation Summer Tax Institute kicks off today at UC-Davis. TaxProf Richard D. Ponp (UConn) is among the speakers.

CTJ: The Estate Tax -- Caviar, Cruises, and Cocaine

Posted on June 15, 2009
Citizens for Tax Justice has released Caviar, Cruises, and Cocaine: A new report from CTJ examines a duo of new "studies" claiming that repeal of the estate tax is crucial to our economy. The studies, which were commissioned by a foundation established to promote repeal of the estate tax, use...

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on June 15, 2009
Saturday: UCLA Body Parts Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Tax Evasion Tax Court Follows Murphy, Denies § 104 Exclusion for Settlement Proceeds of Reverse Discrimination Claim New Web Site for Christian Lawyers and Law Students Jensen: Would a Tax on AIG Bonus Recipients Really Be a 'Tax'? Sunday: Senate...

IRS Not Backing

Posted on June 15, 2009
Following up on my prior posts (here and here): today's Wall Street Journal editorializes against the IRS's recent notice on taxing employee cell phone usage: The IRS Phones Home: What's Next, a Tax on Each Sip of Office Coffee?: The IRS believes that some percentage of the costs incurred by...

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Galle: The Second-Best Efficiency of Non-Tax Local Redistribution

Posted on June 15, 2009
Brian D. Galle (Florida State) has posted The Second-Best Efficiency of Non-Tax Local Redistribution, 65 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. ___ (2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Essay, prepared as a contribution to the 2009 NYU Annual Survey of American Law Symposium on Preemption and Tort Law, takes...

Declining Faculty Productivity

Posted on June 15, 2009
Chronicle of Higher Education: Survey Identifies Trends at U.S. Colleges That Appear to Undermine Productivity of Scholars: The research output of faculty members at American colleges appears to be suffering at least in part as a result of declining financial support and scholars? unwillingness to engage in collaborations with their...

Mirkay: Reevaluating the 501(C)(3) Exemption of Religious Organizations that Discriminate

Posted on June 15, 2009
Nicholas A. Mirkay (Widener) has published Losing Our Religion: Reevaluating the 501(C)(3) Exemption of Religious Organizations that Discriminate,17 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 715 (2009). Here is the abstract: Religious organizations occupy an enviable legal stature in American society, receiving over 200 exemptions and other regulatory breaks in federal...

Is 8th Circuit 'Widely Seen as the Most Favorable Circuit for Taxpayers'?

Posted on June 15, 2009
Following up on Friday's post, 8th Cir.: Medical Residents Are Subject to FICA: today's Inside High Ed has a detailed report on the case, Setback for Academic Medical Centers, which includes this comment: [W]ith scores of medical schools and teaching hospitals in similar disputes with the IRS over the taxability...

Field Presents Should Partnership Tax Define "Merger" and "Division"?

Posted on June 14, 2009
Heather M. Field (UC-Davis) presented Should Partnership Tax Define "Merger" and "Division"? (And, If So, How?) last week at the AALS Workshop on Transactional Law. In addition, Evelyn Brody (Chicago-Kent) conducted a panel session on Non-Profits.

Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Mary Smith to Head DOJ Tax Division Over Fierce Republican Opposition

Posted on June 14, 2009
From The Blog of the Legal Times: Embattled Tax Nominee Advances on Party-Line Vote: Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted today to move ahead with the nomination of Mary Smith to head the Justice Department?s Tax Division, over Republican objections that Smith lacks significant relevant experience...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on June 14, 2009
This week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads is ths same as last week's list: 1. [314 Downloads]: Now You See it, Now You Don't: Exiting a Partnership and Making Gain Disappear, by Howard Abrams (Emory) 2. [251 Downloads]: Measuring Rates of Return for Lobbying Expenditures: An...

Jensen: Would a Tax on AIG Bonus Recipients Really Be a "Tax"?

Posted on June 13, 2009
Erik M. Jensen (Case Western) has posted Would a Tax on AIG Bonus Recipients Really Be a Tax?, 123 Tax Notes 1033 (May 25, 2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The proposals seem to have fallen by the wayside by mid-2009, but earlier in the year Congress seriously considered...

UCLA Body Parts Trafficker Sentenced to 10 Years for Tax Evasion

Posted on June 13, 2009
More fodder for the it always comes down to taxes file: a former mortuary worker convicted of carving up and selling cadavers donated to the UCLA medical school was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday and ordered to pay more than $1.7 million. Jurors last month had found Ernest...

Tax Court Follows Murphy, Denies § 104 Exclusion for Settlement Proceeds of Reverse Discrimination Claim

Posted on June 13, 2009
Kevin F. Hennessey, a white Air Force officer, lost his position in 1993 because of congressionally mandated personnel reductions in the Armed Forces. He received a $27,900 settlement in a class action lawsuit claiming that the Armed Forces improperly favored minorities and women in implementing the personnel reductions...

New Web Site for Christian Lawyers and Law Students

Posted on June 13, 2009
The Christian Legal Society and Regent University School of Law have launched Cross & Gavel, "a comprehensive online resource for lawyers and students who believe that faith is central to practice and study." From the Regent press release: "Cross & Gavel is not just designed to encourage our own (Regent)...

Tax Prof's Carbon Footprint

Posted on June 13, 2009
According to the Tax Foundation's calculator, my family's annual tax burden under the proposed cap and trade legislation would be $1,656 per year. See Who Pays for Climate Policy? New Estimates of the Household Burden and Economic Impact of a U.S. Cap-and-Trade System.

Tax Analysts Hosts Conference Today on Obama's International Tax Proposals

Posted on June 12, 2009
Tax Analysts hosts a program today on Obama's International Tax Proposals: Where Would They Take Us? at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Here are the speakers: Christopher Bergin (President and Publisher, Tax Analysts) Mark Weinberger (Global Vice Chairman ? Tax, Ernst & Young) Lee Sheppard (Contributing Editor, Tax...

Tax Shelters and Statutory Interpretation

Posted on June 12, 2009
Shannon Weeks McCormack (UC-Davis) has published Tax Shelters and Statutory Interpretation: A Much Needed Purposive Approach, 2009 U. Ill. L. Rev. 697. Here is the abstract: Few are unaware that the federal Tax Code and the accompanying Treasury Regulations provide a detailed, complex (and lengthy) set of rules...

WSJ: CEOs Defend Foreign Tax Breaks

Posted on June 12, 2009
In today's Wall Street Journal: CEOs Defend Foreign Tax Breaks As Health-Care Bill Looms, by Martin Vaughan: CEOs of multinational companies pressed House lawmakers this week not to raise taxes on their firms' foreign profits in order to fund a $1.2 trillion overhaul of the health system...

GAO Releases Study of Real Estate Tax Deduction

Posted on June 12, 2009
The Government Accountability Office today released Real Estate Tax Deduction: Taxpayers Face Challenges in Determining What Qualifies; Better Information Could Improve Compliance (GAO-09-521): The Joint Committee on Taxation identified improved taxpayer compliance with the real-estate tax deduction as a way to reduce the federal tax gap...

WSJ: IRS Targets Employer-Provided Cell Phones

Posted on June 12, 2009
Following up on Tuesday's post, today's Wall Street Journal has a front-page story, Tax Man's Target: The Mobile Phone: The use of company-issued mobile phones could trigger new federal income taxes on millions of Americans as a "fringe benefit." The IRS proposed employers assign 25% of an employee's annual phone...

WSJ: Democrats and the Health Tax Taboo

Posted on June 12, 2009
Op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal: Democrats and the Health Tax Taboo: The President Attacked McCain for Proposing a Benefits Tax, by Kimberly A. Strassel: Mr. Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman who is helping lead the Obama health effort, is still deciding what to include in the bill...

8th Cir.: Medical Residents Are Subject to FICA

Posted on June 12, 2009
The 8th Circuit today reversed two district court decisions and held that medical residents who work more than 40 hours per week at the Mayo Clinic and University of Minnesota are subject to employment taxes. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research v...

Conference on Comparative Tax Law and Culture

Posted on June 11, 2009
The three-day conference on Comparative Tax Law and Culture concludes today at the Monash University Prato Centre in Prato, Italy. The conference is sponsored by the Cegla Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the Law at Tel Aviv University and the Monash University Taxation Law and Policy Research Institute...

Fleischer: A Theory of Taxing Sovereign Wealth

Posted on June 11, 2009
Victor Fleischer (Colorado) has published A Theory of Taxing Sovereign Wealth, 84 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 440 (2009). Here is the abstract: Sovereign wealth funds enjoy an exemption from tax under § 892 of the tax code. This anachronistic provision offers an unconditional tax exemption when a foreign sovereign earns income...

Borden: The Aggregate-Plus Theory of Partnership Taxation

Posted on June 11, 2009
Bradley T. Borden (Washburn) has published The Aggregate-Plus Theory of Partnership Taxation, 43 Ga. L. Rev. 717 (2009). Here is the abstract: This Article presents a theory of partnership taxation. To provide context for the presentation, the Article examines the history and status of partnerships...

CBO: Did the 2008 Tax Rebates Stimulate Short-Term Growth?

Posted on June 11, 2009
The Congressional Budget Office has released Did the 2008 Tax Rebates Stimulate Short-Term Growth?: In preparing its economic forecast published in September 2008, CBO estimated that 40% of the tax rebates issued in the spring and summer under the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 would be spent within six months??raising...

ABA Tax Section Releases Comment Letters

Posted on June 11, 2009
The ABA Tax Section has released several comment letters: Recommendations for 2009-2010 Guidance Priority List Statement of Policy Regarding U.S. International Taxation Proposed Amendments to Circular 230 § 10.34 Temporary Cost Sharing Regulations

Joint Tax Committee: Obama's Tax Plan Falls $50b Short

Posted on June 11, 2009
The Joint Committee on Taxation today released Estimated Budget Effects of the Revenue Provisions Contained in the President?s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Proposal as Described by the Department of the Treasury (JCX-28-09). For press coverage, see: Associated Press: New Estimate Trims Obama Plan to Increase Taxes Bloomberg: Panel Says Obama...

Conference on Comparative Tax Law and Culture

Posted on June 10, 2009
The three-day conference on Comparative Tax Law and Culture continues today at the Monash University Prato Centre in Prato, Italy. The conference is sponsored by the Cegla Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the Law at Tel Aviv University and the Monash University Taxation Law and Policy Research Institute...

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