Taxation & Estate Planning

Doran: The Closed Rule

Posted on January 03, 2011
Tax Prof Michael Doran (Georgetown) has published The Closed Rule, 59 Emory L.J. 1363 (2010). Here is the abstract: The closed rule constitutes a critical component of managerial power in the contemporary House of Representatives and an increasingly important element of the legislative process...

Conway: Debt and Equity and Continuity of Interest

Posted on January 03, 2011
Meredith R. Conway (Suffolk) has published With or Without You: Debt and Equity and Continuity of Interest, 15 Stan. J.L. Bus. & Fin. 261 (2010). Here is the abstract: Continuity of interest is a judicially created doctrine designed to ensure that when holders of corporate interests in tax-free reorganizations exchange...

U.S. Bank Sues FDIC for Bad Tax Advice

Posted on January 03, 2011
The Blog of Legal Times, U.S. Bank: FDIC Should Cover Cost of Bad Tax Advice: U.S. Bank has filed a federal suit in Washington against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., alleging that the failed bank for which the FDIC was acting as receiver gave U...

Mankiw: How President Obama Can Get Along With the GOP on Taxes

Posted on January 03, 2011
New York Times op-ed, How to Break Bread With the Republicans, by N. Gregory Mankiw (Harvard University, Department of Economics): Dear President Obama: Sorry to bother you. I know you are busy. But I have the sense that you could use a few words of advice...

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NYU Prof, Paid $950/Hour by BP, Vouches for Fund Administrator Feinberg

Posted on January 03, 2011
Law.com, BP-Paid Law Professor Vouches for Feinberg on Gulf Spill Work: A law professor being paid $950 an hour with BP's money has declared that the czar of the $20 billion claims fund for Gulf oil spill victims is independent of the oil giant. Fund administrator Ken Feinberg said Thursday...

The Best Magazine Essays of 2010

Posted on January 02, 2011
New York Times, The Best Magazine Essays of 2010, by David Brooks: Sam Anderson, The James Franco Project (New York Magazine) Anne Applebaum, The Worst of the Madness (The New York Review of Books) Tyler Cowen, The Inequality That Matters (The American Interest) William Deresiewicz, Solitude and Leadership (The American...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on January 02, 2011
This week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads is the same as last week's list: 1. [523 Downloads] 2010 Federal Tax Update, by Samuel A. Donaldson (U. Washington) 2. [332 Downloads] Oy Yes, the Healthcare Penalty is Unconstitutional, by Steven J...

The Worker Misclassification Problem

Posted on January 02, 2011
Jason M. Goldstein (J.D. 2011, Miami) has published Note, Money Under the Bridge: The Worker Misclassification Problem, 5 Fla. A&M U. L. Rev. 107 (2009). Here is the abstract: Briefly, the article analyzes the current framework of employment classification in the United States; identifies substantial problems in classification practice, data...

Bakersfield: An Extended Statute of Limitations in Overstatement of Basis Cases

Posted on January 02, 2011
Bernard J. Audet, Jr. (J.D. 2011, Villanova) has published Note, One Case to Rule Them All: The Ninth Circuit in Bakersfield Applies Colony to Deny the IRS an Extended Statute of Limitations in Overstatement of Basis Cases. (Bakersfield Energy Partners, LP v...

Tax Reform Won?t Happen in 2011 (or 2012)

Posted on January 01, 2011
TaxVox Blog: Tax Reform Won?t Happen in 2011 (or 2012), by Howard Gleckman: Much as I hate to write these words, tax reform isn?t going to happen in the coming year, or even in the year after that. The bipartisan tax deal reached by President Obama and Congress earlier this...

Give It Back For Jobs: An Ivy League Epiphany

Posted on January 01, 2011
Following up on Monday's post, Law Prof Challenge: Give Your Bush Tax Cut Savings to Charity: Wall Street Journal, Ivy League Epiphany, by James Taranto: Think your taxes are too low? Protest by making them lower! We'd like to offer a last-minute nomination for the nitwittiest idea of the year:...

Marc Anthony Reportedly Settles $3.4m IRS Tax Lien

Posted on January 01, 2011
Singer Marc Anthony, husband of singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, announced on Friday that he has settled his outstanding $3.4 tax liability with the IRS. E! Online Fox News Hollywood.com Huffington Post MSNBC Newsday USA Today (Hat Tip: Alan Weiner...

Using Tax Law to Encourage Foreign Investment in U.S. Municipal Bonds

Posted on January 01, 2011
Patrick Manchester (J.D. Georgetown, 2010)) has published Note, Be Kind to Your Foreign Investor Friends, 98 Geo. L.J. 1823 (2010). Here is part of the Introduction: In this Note I will examine the § 103 tax exemption and the two types of Build America Bonds in order to determine which...

New Estate Tax Law Exposes 65,000 Small Businesses and Farms to Estate Tax

Posted on December 31, 2010
American Family Business Institute, Tax ?Compromise? Exposes 65,000 Small Businesses and Farms to Estate Taxes: With family businesses and farms accounting for a significant percentage of the ?wealth? of elderly Americans (those 65 years of age or older), the return of the estate tax starting on January 1st will force...

Canada Drops Corporate Tax Rate to 16.5%, Less Than Half the U.S. Rate

Posted on December 31, 2010
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Wall Street Journal, Canada Slashes Business Levies

Journal of Taxation of Investments Publishes New Issue

Posted on December 31, 2010
The Journal of Taxation of Investments has published its Winter 2011 issue (Vol. 28, No. 2), with these articles: Bradley T. Borden (Brooklyn Law School), Tax Issues for Real Estate Investors Considering a Mortgage Defeasance as Part of a Section 1031 Exchange Law, 28 J...

An Attorney-Client Privilege for Embattled Tax Practitioners

Posted on December 31, 2010
William H. Volz (Wayne State) & Theresa Ellis (Garrison LawHouse, Dearborn, MI) have published An Attorney-Client Privilege for Embattled Tax Practitioners: A Legislative Response to Uncertain Legal Counsel, 38 Hofstra L. Rev. 213 (2009). Here is the abstract: Nearly five hundred years of judicial decision-making has created evidentiary privileges where...

National Tax Journal Publishes New Issue

Posted on December 30, 2010
The National Tax Journal has published Vol. 63, No. 4 (Part 2), Mobility and Taxes (Dec. 2010): Joel Slemrod (University of Michigan, Ross School of Business), Location, (Real) Location, (Tax) Location: An Essay on Mobility's Place in Optimal Taxation, 63 Nat'l Tax J...

2 Former Jenkens & Gilchrist Partners to be Tried in Tax-Shelter Case

Posted on December 30, 2010
ABA Journal, 2 Former Jenkens & Gilchrist Partners on Track for Trial in Tax-Shelter Case: Rejecting an argument that the conduct of two former partners of the now-shuttered Jenkens & Gilchrist and three other non-law firm defendants lacked requisite willfulness, a federal judge has denied a motion to dismiss and...

Posner, Becker Debate Economic Effects of Obama-GOP Tax Act

Posted on December 30, 2010
Richard Posner, The Tax Deal: A Second Stimulus?: It is nevertheless possible to defend the new Act on two grounds. The first, and I think less important, is that it indicates the possibility of compromise between the Obama Administration and the resurgent, and increasingly conservative and assertive, Republican Party, though...

Joint Tax Committee Releases Tax Expenditure Estimates for 2010-14

Posted on December 22, 2010
The Joint Committee on Taxation yesterday released Estimates of Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 2010-2014 (JCS-3-10): Part I of this report contains a discussion of the concept of tax expenditures. Part II is a discussion of the measurement of tax expenditures...

2011 Princeton Review Rankings v. U.S. News Rankings

Posted on December 22, 2010
Yesterday, I blogged the Princeton Review's Top 50 Law Schools, based on data I extracted from the individual profiles of the 172 law schools in the 2011 edition of Best 172 Law Schools (with the University of Cincinnati College of Law again on the cover)...

Deutsche Bank Admits Guilt, Pays $553.6m Fine, in Tax Shelter Case

Posted on December 22, 2010
Deutsche Bank yesterday agreed to pay a $553.6 million fine and admit criminal wrongdoing in connection with selling fifteen different tax shelters to 2,100 customers. U.S. Attorney Press Release Bloomberg New York Times Wall Street Journal WSJ Law Blog

Christmas Gifts for that Special Tax Person

Posted on December 22, 2010
Tax neckties: What Did You Bring Me? zazzle eBay, eBay, Bonanza

Kentucky Seeks to Fill Endowed Visiting Professorship

Posted on December 22, 2010
The University of Kentucky College of Law seeks applications and nominations for the James and Mary Lassiter Endowed Distinguished Visiting Professor for one semester of the 2011-12 academic year: The Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in his or her field and is...

Stark: The Federal Role in State Tax Reform

Posted on December 22, 2010
Kirk Stark (UCLA) has posted The Federal Role in State Tax Reform, 30 Va. tax Rev. ___ (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: During the most recent economic downturn, state and local governments have experienced fiscal imbalances of a magnitude not seen since the Great Depression...

Census Data: Population Flocks to States Without an Income Tax

Posted on December 22, 2010
The U.S. Census Bureau yesterday released results of the 2010 Census. Washington Examiner, Census: Fast Growth in States With No Income Tax, by Michael Barone: [Population] growth tends to be stronger where taxes are lower. Seven of the nine states that do not levy an income tax grew faster than...

Katz & Sanchirico: Should Loser be Required to Pay Winner's Attorneys' Fees?

Posted on December 22, 2010
Avery W. Katz (Columbia) & Chris William Sanchirico (Pennsylvania) have posted Fee Shifting in Litigation: Survey and Assessment on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Should the party who loses in litigation be forced to pay the legal fees of the winner? This paper surveys the economic literature regarding the effects...

Assessing the U.S. Settlement in the UBS Tax Shelter Case

Posted on December 22, 2010
Laura Szarmach (J.D. 2011, Cornell) has published Note, Piercing the Veil of Bank Secrecy? Assessing the United States? Settlement in the UBS Case, 43 Cornell Int'l L.J. 409 (2010). Here is the Conclusion: The IRS had some reason to celebrate the settlement of the protracted UBS summons enforcement case...

2011 Princeton Review Top 50 Law Schools

Posted on December 21, 2010
I previously blogged the lists of the Top 10 law schools in eleven categories posted on Princeton Review's web site in connection with its publication of the 2011 edition of Best 172 Law Schools (with the University of Cincinnati College of Law again on the cover)...

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