Taxation & Estate Planning

NLJ: Law Profs Are Unhappy With Proposed Changes to Law School Accreditation Standards

Posted on November 08, 2010
National Law Journal, Clinicians and Others Unhappy With ABA's Standards Review Committee: The ABA's comprehensive review of law school accreditation standards is well underway, and it's generating plenty of disagreement among legal educators. The thorniest issues to emerge thus far ? defining the mission of law schools and measuring their...

Shaviro Presents Rethinking Foreign Tax Creditability Today at Rutgers-Camden

Posted on November 08, 2010
Daniel N. Shaviro (NYU) presents Rethinking Foreign Tax Creditability, 63 Nat'l Tax J. ___ (Dec. 2010), at Rutgers-Camden today as part of its Faculty Colloquium Series. Here is the abstract: International tax policy experts often mistakenly conflate two distinct margins: (1) the overall tax burden on outbound investment, and (2)...

Sandra Sperino Leaves Temple for Cincinnati

Posted on November 08, 2010
Sandra Sperino, an Assistant Professor of Law at Temple since 2008, has accepted a lateral position at Cincinnati (where she served as a VAP in 2007-08). Sandra is a spectacular young scholar and teacher, and an even better person -- we are thrilled that she has decided to rejoin us,...

Keyshawn Johnson on Tax Policy

Posted on November 08, 2010
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A New Tax Bracket for Millionaires?

Posted on November 08, 2010
Tax Policy Center, A New Tax Bracket for Millionaires?, by Rachel Johnson & Jim Nunns: The debate over extending the 2001?2003 tax cuts beyond 2010 has revolved around two options: extend all provisions for all taxpayers, and the president?s proposal to extend all provisions except those that apply only to...

Washington State Voters Reject Income Tax on 'Wealthy'

Posted on November 07, 2010
Washington State voters on Tuesday defeated, 65% to 35%, an initiative that would have imposed a state income tax on the "wealthy" -- >$200,000 (single), >$400,000 (married filing jointly). Bloomberg, Washington State Rejects Income Tax on Wealthiest Residents Business Week, WA Workers Send Anti-Tax Message on Initiatives National Review, Voters...

WSJ: Business Groups Back Estate Tax Compromise

Posted on November 07, 2010
Wall Street Journal, Business Groups Back Quick Compromise on Estate Tax, by Martin Vaughan: Business groups that oppose the federal estate tax say they are willing to back a short-term compromise with congressional Democrats, in order to avoid the tax returning to its highest level in 10 years...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on November 07, 2010
There is quite a bit of movement in this week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads, with new papers debuting on the list at #3, #4, and #5: 1. [234 Downloads] Benchmarks for Assessing the Potential Impact of a Natural Gas Severance Tax on the Pennsylvania Economy,...

Muchael Mundaca Answers Your Tax Questions

Posted on November 06, 2010
Michael F. Mundaca, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy, answers questions from readers of the Freakonomics blog. It will be interesting to read Mr. Mundaca's answer to this question: Google cuts its tax bill by over $1 billion per year by clearing most of its foreign profits through...

Goodwin: Using a Family Trust Company to Secure a Family Fortune

Posted on November 06, 2010
Iris J. Goodwin (Tennessee) has published How the Rich Stay Rich: Using a Family Trust Company to Secure a Family Fortune, 40 Seton Hall L. Rev. 467 (2010). Here is the abstract: This Article is about family trust companies and the role they play in preserving great fortunes...

IRS Looks Closely at Tax Issues of Closely Held Businesses

Posted on November 06, 2010
Dana L. Mark (Kaye Scholer, New York, NY) & Jeffrey A. Galant (Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone, Mineola, NY) have posted IRS Looks Closely at Tax Issues of Closely Held Businesses, 37 Est. Plan. 22 (Aug. 2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Recent courts of appeal decisions concerning closely-held...

Canadian Couple Who Gave $11.2m Lottery Winnings to Charity Would Have U.S. Tax Problem

Posted on November 06, 2010
An elderly couple in Nova Scotia has given to charity 98% of the $11.2 million they won in the July 14 Canadian lottery. (They kept 2% "for emergencies and to buy lottery tickets.") If the couple lived in the United States they would have a tax problem because the $11...

Estate Tax

Posted on November 06, 2010
New York Times op-ed, Estate Tax Issue Offers Quick Test for Congress, by Richard H. Thaler (University of Chicago, Booth School of Business): Consider three courses that Congress might take: Do nothing and go back to the 2001 exemption and rates. Make the 2009 rates and exemption permanent, an approach...

Tax Court Denies Charitable Deduction for Home Demolished by Fire Department in Training Exercise

Posted on November 05, 2010
The Tax Court yesterday held that held a married couple could not claim a charitable contribution deduction for a house that they donated to a local fire department for training purposes because they failed to prove that the fair market value of the house exceeded the benefit they received by...

Manhire: Is Chevron Dead in the Tax Court?

Posted on November 05, 2010
John T. Manhire, Jr. (Attorney Advisor, National Taxpayer Advocate) has posted Is Chevron Dead in the U.S. Tax Court (and Does It Matter)?: A Brief Study of Validation Rates from 1993 to 2010 on SSRN. Here is the abstract: For over twenty-five years, the Chevron Doctrine stood firm as the...

Panayi Presents Reverse Subsidiarity and EU Tax Law Today at NYU

Posted on November 05, 2010
Christiana Panayi (Queen Mary University of London) presents Reverse Subsidiarity and EU Tax Law: Can Member States be Left to their Own Devices?, 3 British Tax Rev. 261 (2010), at NYU today as the International Tax Program Lecture. Here is the abstract: This article examines cross-border loss relief for group...

36th Annual Notre Dame Tax & Estate Planning Institute

Posted on November 05, 2010
Tax Prof speakers at last week's 36th Annual Notre Dame Tax & Estate Planning Institute: Lad Boyle (South Carolina), The Beneficiary Defective Irrevocable Trust? Lad Boyle (South Carolina), Choice of Grantor Trust Powers and Financial Impact of Grantor Trusts Lad Boyle (South Carolina), Construing Wills and Trusts in 2010 When...

Crimm & Weiner: Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit

Posted on November 05, 2010
Nina J. Crimm (St. John's) & Laurence H. Winer (Arizona State) have published Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit Provocative First Amendment Conflicts (Oxford University Press, 2011): In Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit, Nina J. Crimm and Laurence H. Winer examine the provocative mix of religion, politics, and taxes involved in...

Recession Blamed for 'Historic' Decline in Law Firm Diversity

Posted on November 05, 2010
National Law Journal, Recession Blamed for 'Historic' Decline in Law Firm Diversity: There's no getting around it: Law firm diversity took a hit during the past year after a long period of steady, if small, gains. The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) released its latest diversity statistics on Thursday,...

Miller: How U.S. Tax Law Encourages Investment in Offshore Tax Havens

Posted on November 05, 2010
David S. Miller (Cadwalader, New York) has posted Unintended Consequences: How U.S. Tax Law Encourages Investment in Offshore Tax Havens on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Internal Revenue Code is riddled with features that allow U.S. taxpayers to reduce their federal tax liability by operating through tax haven companies...

Zelinsky: Oklahoma?s Amazon Statute

Posted on November 05, 2010
Edward A. Zelinsky (Cardozo) has posted The Paradoxes of Oklahoma?s Amazon Statute: Weak Duties, Expansive Coverage, Often Superfluous, Constitutionally Infirm, 58 State Tax Notes 241 (Oct. 25, 2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Oklahoma?s new Amazon law is a paradoxical statute...

Jones: Partners' Interest in the P'ship

Posted on November 04, 2010
Darryll K. Jones (Florida A&M) has published Partners' Interest in the P'ship: An Existentialist's View, 129 Tax Notes 603 (Nov. 1, 2010): Jones argues that the partners? interest in the partnership standard is not an unknowable concept and that those who assert otherwise are engaging in jurisprudential existentialism...

Law Prof Blog Traffic Rankings

Posted on November 04, 2010
Below are the updated quarterly traffic rankings (page views and visitors) of the Top 35 blogs edited by law professors with publicly available SiteMeters for the most recent 12-month period (Oct. 1, 2009 - Sept. 30, 2010), as well as the percentage change in traffic from the prior 12-month period:...

DOJ Sues Former Seyfarth Shaw Partner Over DAD & DAT Tax Shelters

Posted on November 04, 2010
The Department of Justice yesterday issued this press release: The United States has asked a federal court in Chicago to permanently bar John E. Rogers, a Chicago tax lawyer and former partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, from promoting tax shelters that allegedly use distressed Brazilian debt to illegally lower customers'...

TIGTA Releases FY 2011 Audit Plan

Posted on November 04, 2010
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released its FY 2011 Audit Plan: The Office of Audit FY 2011 Annual Audit Plan communicates TIGTA?s audit priorities to the IRS, Congress, and other interested parties. Many of the activities described in the Annual Audit Plan address the fundamental goals related...

Scholarship, Teaching, and Theories of Play

Posted on November 04, 2010
Bryan L. Adamson, Marilyn Berger, Lisa Ellen Brodoff, Anne M. Enquist, Paula Lustbader & John Mitchell (all of Seattle) have posted Can the Professor Come Out and Play? -- Scholarship, Teaching, and Theories of Play, 58 J. Legal Educ. 481 (2008), on SSRN...

Avi-Yonah Presents Corporate Tax Integration and the Debt/Equity Distinction Today at Columbia

Posted on November 04, 2010
Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan) presents Corporate Tax Integration and the Debt/Equity Distinction: The Case for Dividend Deduction at Columbia today as part of its Tax Policy Colloquium Series. Here is the Conclusion: Now that the US is about to revert to the classical system of taxing corporations and their shareholders, it...

Zelenak Presents The Return-Based Mass Income Tax at W&L

Posted on November 04, 2010
Lawrence Zelenak (Duke) presented Learning to Love the Form 1040: Two Cheers for the Return-Based Mass Income Tax at Washington & Lee as part of its Faculty Workshop Series. Here is the abstract: Since its introduction during World War II, the return-based mass income tax has played a central role...

Dividends, Share Repurchases, and Tax Incentives

Posted on November 04, 2010
Jennifer Blouin (University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School), Jana Raedy (University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School) & Douglas Shackelford (University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School) have posted Dividends, Share Repurchases, and Tax Clienteles: Evidence from the 2003 Reductions in Shareholder Taxes on NBER...

Henderson Forms Company to Apply Moneyball Principles to Law Firms

Posted on November 03, 2010
From the American Lawyer: Can Bill Henderson, the one-man idea factory and Indiana law professor, do for the study of law firms what Indiana's most famous academic, Alfred Kinsey, did for the study of sex? ... Henderson and a small group of like-minded analyst-practitioners, including Anthony Kearns, an Australian risk-management...

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