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Articles 1 - 25 of 25
Full-Text Articles in Law
Tax Enforcement At The Intersection Of Social Welfare And Vulnerable Populations, Michelle Lyon Drumbl
Tax Enforcement At The Intersection Of Social Welfare And Vulnerable Populations, Michelle Lyon Drumbl
Scholarly Articles
This Essay engages with Professor Bernadette Atuahene’s theory of stategraft in the context of tax administration and the role that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plays in implementing certain social welfare benefits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Specifically, it considers whether the IRS’s denials of the EITC to those who might otherwise be eligible and entitled to it constitutes a wrongful taking by the state or a violation of basic human rights. While this Essay concludes that denials of the EITC generally do not fit within Atuahene’s definition of stategraft, it highlights two particularly problematic concerns with modern …
Fighting The Tax Gap: A Prime And Recent Example Of The Value Of Gao Oversight & Reporting, Josh Bill
Fighting The Tax Gap: A Prime And Recent Example Of The Value Of Gao Oversight & Reporting, Josh Bill
Upper Level Writing Requirement Research Papers
No abstract provided.
Taxing Bitcoin And Blockchains—What The Irs Told Us (And What It Didn’T), David J. Shakow
Taxing Bitcoin And Blockchains—What The Irs Told Us (And What It Didn’T), David J. Shakow
All Faculty Scholarship
The IRS recently issued its second description of how it will treat Bitcoin and other blockchain assets. Some of its analysis leaves open questions that invite further consideration, and important issues remain unresolved. Moreover, because the popular Bitcoin blockchain uses a "proof of work" consensus procedure, issues relating to the alternative "proof of stake" procedure have been neglected.
The Perfect Process Is The Enemy Of The Good Tax: Tax's Exceptional Regulatory Process, Stephanie Mcmahon
The Perfect Process Is The Enemy Of The Good Tax: Tax's Exceptional Regulatory Process, Stephanie Mcmahon
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
Many courts and academics critique existing tax exceptionalism or the ability of the federal income tax to be created, applied, or interpreted differently from other laws. Critics have successfully complained that the Treasury Department, and the IRS as a bureau of the Department, issues guidance implementing the Internal Revenue Code using different processes from those required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). At the same time, courts are increasing the level of deference given to this guidance to conform to that given other agencies. This article responds to these critics by urging they re-focus their attention on the objectives of …
Loving And Legitimacy: Irs Regulation Of Tax Return Preparation, Steve R. Johnson
Loving And Legitimacy: Irs Regulation Of Tax Return Preparation, Steve R. Johnson
Scholarly Publications
No abstract provided.
Electing Fairness: A Check-The-Box-Style Regime For Same-Sex Couples' Tax Filing Status, Jennifer Bird-Pollan
Electing Fairness: A Check-The-Box-Style Regime For Same-Sex Couples' Tax Filing Status, Jennifer Bird-Pollan
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
In the wake of the United States Supreme Court's decision regarding the Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor, tax lawyers and those interested in tax policy immediately wondered what consequences this change would have to the United States' federal tax laws. The Internal Revenue Service issued a Revenue Ruling explaining the position it took regarding the case, which answered many questions for taxpayers whose lives were affected by the decision. Because the IRS announced that it would recognize same-sex marriages based on the state of celebration of the marriage rather than the state of residence of …
Tax Court Find Stars Transaction Lacks Economic Substance, Robert D. Probasco, Lee S. Meyercord
Tax Court Find Stars Transaction Lacks Economic Substance, Robert D. Probasco, Lee S. Meyercord
Faculty Scholarship
In Bank of New York Mellon Corp. v. Commissioner, the Tax Court found that a structured trust advantaged repackaged securities (“STARS”) transaction entered into by BNY Mellon lacked economic substance, and disallowed foreign tax credits of $199 million as well as transactional expenses of $8 million. BNY Mellon is the first test case to emerge from the IRS’s attempts to disallow tax benefits to several financial institutions that participated in the STARS transaction.
The STARS transaction is one of a number of different transactions that the IRS refers to as “foreign tax credit generators.” These transactions generally rely on inconsistent …
Justice For All: Reimagining The Internal Revenue Service, David J. Herzig
Justice For All: Reimagining The Internal Revenue Service, David J. Herzig
Law Faculty Publications
The ability of the Internal Revenue Service to both collect the tax and enforce the initial determination of tax liability in a neutral and fair manner has been compromised by a February 2011 pronouncement issued by the Department of Justice stating that the President and the Department of Justice believe that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and that the Department of Justice will no longer defend the statute in courts. The pronouncement results in a disparate treatment of similar taxpayers based solely on the forum of litigation. Through this lens, I examine whether it is …
Navigating Tefra Partnership Audits In Multi-Tiered Entity Structures, Mary A. Mcnulty, Robert D. Probasco, Lee S. Meyercord
Navigating Tefra Partnership Audits In Multi-Tiered Entity Structures, Mary A. Mcnulty, Robert D. Probasco, Lee S. Meyercord
Faculty Scholarship
The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) established a unified procedure for determining the tax treatment of partnership items at the partnership level rather than the partner level. Although these rules addressed a serious and real administrative problem in the assessment of partnership level deficiencies, they also created a complex process with many new problems and potential traps. One particularly unique set of challenges arises in the context of multi-tiered entities.
Multi-tiered entities are partnerships that have a partnership or other pass-through entity as a partner. The pass-through partner is commonly referred to as a “tier,” and …
The Great American Tax Novel, Lawrence A. Zelenak
The Great American Tax Novel, Lawrence A. Zelenak
Faculty Scholarship
Reviewing, David Foster Wallace. The Pale King (Michael Pietsch ed., 2011)
Much Uncertainty About Uncertain Tax Positions, Robert D. Probasco
Much Uncertainty About Uncertain Tax Positions, Robert D. Probasco
Faculty Scholarship
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced in January 2010 a new initiative to require certain businesses to report “uncertain tax positions” on a new schedule filed with their annual tax returns. Draft schedules and instructions issued in April 2010 clarified some of the mechanical aspects of the new requirement but left many open issues and questions. The IRS proposal built on requirements by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in FASB Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes (“FIN 48”). The standard requires companies, in their financial statements, to reserve some of the benefits from any position taken …
Thinking About Conflicting Gravitational Pulls Litcs: The Academy And The Irs, Nancy S. Abramowitz
Thinking About Conflicting Gravitational Pulls Litcs: The Academy And The Irs, Nancy S. Abramowitz
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
This article addresses the tension between educational and public service goals in the immediate term for tax clinics receiving funding from the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (“LITC”) program under Internal Revenue Code §7526. The author expresses concern that the LITC Program Office will over emphasize the “number-of-taxpayers served” factor in program evaluation, thereby putting academic clinics at a distinct disadvantage in seeking and/or retaining program funds. By imposing these types of “productivity” measures, there is a tendency to force that particular type of activity, thereby significantly disrupting what otherwise might be a better or different educational model for the use …
Professor Janet Spragens: In Memory Of A Friend, In Celebration Of An Idea, Nancy S. Abramowitz
Professor Janet Spragens: In Memory Of A Friend, In Celebration Of An Idea, Nancy S. Abramowitz
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
This article is a tribute to the career and contributions of Professor Janet Spragens, who created the Federal Tax Clinic at the American University, Washington College of Law (WCL). During testimony before the historic Internal Revenue Service Restructuring Commission, Prof. Spragens advised the Commission to create better education of the public and greater availability of free advocacy for low-income taxpayers through federal funding of more clinics. In its landmark legislation of 1998, Congress responded to this testimony with the enactment of 26 U.S.C. §7526, which authorized a program to fund academic and pro bono clinics working to educate non-native English …
Optimal Tax Compliance And Penalties When The Law Is Uncertain, Kyle D. Logue
Optimal Tax Compliance And Penalties When The Law Is Uncertain, Kyle D. Logue
Articles
This article examines the optimal level of tax compliance and the optimal penalty for noncompliance in circumstances in which the substance of the tax law is uncertain - that is, when the precise application of the Internal Revenue Code to a particular situation is not clear. In such situations, a number of interesting questions arise. This article will consider two of them. First, as a normative matter, how certain should taxpayers be before they rely on a particular interpretation of a substantively uncertain tax rule? If a particular position is not clearly prohibited but neither is it clearly allowed, what …
Can The Irs Silence Religious Organizations, Meghan J. Ryan
Can The Irs Silence Religious Organizations, Meghan J. Ryan
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
In the years following the 2004 presidential election, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Internal Revenue Service threatened revoking the tax-exempt status of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena because during a 2004 sermon, a church rector stated that he opposed the Vietnam and Gulf wars and that Jesus would have disapproved of the Bush Administration's preemptive war doctrine. The rector did not tell his parishioners who to support in the 2004 election, however. This threat of revoking an organization's tax-exempt status is just one example of the IRS's recent and unprecedented aggressiveness in seeking out violations of …
Tax Practice In A Circular Revolution: A Review Of Pli's Circular 230 Deskbook, Bridget J. Crawford
Tax Practice In A Circular Revolution: A Review Of Pli's Circular 230 Deskbook, Bridget J. Crawford
All Faculty Scholarship
This short review essay evaluates the Practicing Law Institute's Circular 230 Deskbook by Jonathan G. Blattmachr, Mitchell M. Gans and Damien Rios. For attorneys, accountants and others who "practice" before the IRS, the Circular 230 Deskbook is a masterful analysis and an important guide to the Internal Revenue Service's labyrinthine rules and regulations governing tax penalties, reportable transactions and the conduct of tax practitioners. Most tax attorneys and accountants have reacted to the recent changes to Circular 230 by appending banner notices to all written communications. Without fully understanding the underlying rules, however, a practitioner cannot be sure that a …
Tax Filing Experiences And Withholding Preferences Of Low- And Moderate-Income Households Preliminary Evidence From A New Survey, Michael S. Barr, Jane Dokko
Tax Filing Experiences And Withholding Preferences Of Low- And Moderate-Income Households Preliminary Evidence From A New Survey, Michael S. Barr, Jane Dokko
Other Publications
The United States Federal income tax code has an enormous potential to shape the economic and financial decisions of taxpaying households. Tax rates, compliance laws, and the withholding system create incentives, as do the methods by which the Treasury collects tax receipts and disburses tax refunds. The role of third party service providers in this incentive structure is less well understood, even though tax preparation firms play important roles in our tax system. Nationally, more than half of taxpayers use paid preparers to submit their tax returns. Low- and moderate-income (LMI) households are among those who use the paid tax …
Tax Shelter Disclosure And Penalties: New Requirements, New Exposures, Mary A. Mcnulty, Robert D. Probasco
Tax Shelter Disclosure And Penalties: New Requirements, New Exposures, Mary A. Mcnulty, Robert D. Probasco
Faculty Scholarship
One of the primary weapons in the battle against tax shelters has been mandatory disclosure to the IRS. The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 built on this approach by clarifying and making consistent the various disclosure requirements and strengthening penalties for non-disclosure. To uncover abusive transactions, Congress drew the boundaries of disclosure so broadly that even legitimate tax planning transactions are covered. To understand the dangers in the new rules, one must look at the broad range of transactions covered, the participants covered, and the harsh penalties for nondisclosure.
- Transactions Covered. The disclosure requirements apply to six categories …
Options To Acquire Partnership Interests: Can The Tax Law Keep Pace?, Walter D. Schwidetzky
Options To Acquire Partnership Interests: Can The Tax Law Keep Pace?, Walter D. Schwidetzky
All Faculty Scholarship
It has become increasingly common for partnerships to issue options that give the holder the right to acquire an interest in the partnership for a set price. The holder of the option will exercise it if he feels that the partnership interest to be acquired is worth more than the exercise price. There is a dearth of authority on the federal tax treatment of option transactions, and the Service has recently asked for guidance from the tax bar as to what approach it should take. This article focuses on one piece of the partnership option puzzle, options to acquire partnership …
Employer Tax Liability For Employees' Tips: Fior D'Italia, Steve R. Johnson
Employer Tax Liability For Employees' Tips: Fior D'Italia, Steve R. Johnson
Scholarly Publications
Given Nevada's heavy concentration of businesses in which employees are tipped, lawyers here may be more than usually interested in a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court. On June 17, 2002, the Court decided United States v. Fior D'ltalia, Inc. By 6 to 3, the Court held that the IRS may use an “aggregate estimation” method to determine employers’ liability for Social Security (FICA) taxes imposed on their employees’ tip income. The decision is an important development in a controversy of long duration, but it is not the end of that controversy. This article …
Why Tax The Rich? Efficiency, Equity, And Progressive Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Why Tax The Rich? Efficiency, Equity, And Progressive Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Reviews
In Greek mythology, Atlas was a giant who carried the world on his shoulders. In Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Atlas represents the “ prime movers”—the talented few who bear the weight of the world’s economy.1 In the novel, the prime movers go on strike against the oppressive burden of excessive regulation and taxation, leaving the world in disarray and demonstrating how indispensable they are to the rest of us (the “second handers” ).
Tax Lawyers, Ethical Obligations, And The Duty To The System, Watson
Tax Lawyers, Ethical Obligations, And The Duty To The System, Watson
Scholarly Works
Perhaps the most elusive area of law is that of legal ethics. While the term itself is easy to define,' the subject all but defies codification because ethics, or morals (the terms are interchangeable), cannot be encapsulated by or in law. This is because law, in general, contains its own standard of validity on which there is usually clear societal consensus. For example, murder, rape, and theft are morally repugnant universally. Hence, punishment for any of these offenses does not impinge upon religious or individual autonomy because there is no ethical freedom to choose whether or not to engage in …
Fog, Fairness, And The Federal Fisc: Tenancy-By-The-Entireties Interests And The Federal Tax Lien, Steve R. Johnson
Fog, Fairness, And The Federal Fisc: Tenancy-By-The-Entireties Interests And The Federal Tax Lien, Steve R. Johnson
Articles by Maurer Faculty
No abstract provided.
The Federal Circuit's 1985 Tax Cases: The Exercise Of Equity, William S. Blatt
The Federal Circuit's 1985 Tax Cases: The Exercise Of Equity, William S. Blatt
Articles
No abstract provided.
Fisher V. United States, Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Fisher V. United States, Lewis F. Powell Jr.
Supreme Court Case Files
No abstract provided.