Law Commons^™

When Helpers Hurt: Protecting Taxpayers From Preparers, Michelle L. Drumbl

Michelle L. Drumbl

None available.

Nonprofits, Politics, And Privacy, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

No abstract provided.

Borenstein V. Commissioner (U.S. Tax Court Brief), T. Keith Fogg

W. Edward "Ted" Afield

No abstract provided.

Determining An Individual's Federal Income Tax Liability When The Tax Benefit Rule Applies: A Fifty-Year Checkup Brings A New Prescription For Calculating Gross, Adjusted Gross, And Taxable Incomes, Matthew J. Barrett

Matthew J. Barrett

The tax benefit rule should be described to indicate that it applies to credits and exclusions besides deductions, and deduction recoveries should be reported in the same location as was affected initially. The recovery should not affect gross income, for the purpose of tax equity. The recovery should rather affect either taxable income or adjusted gross income. The IRS and the courts should adopt this new description and principles.

A Quiet Faith? Taxes, Politics, And The Privatization Of Religion, Richard W. Garnett

Richard W Garnett

The government exempts religious associations from taxation and, in return, restricts their putatively political expression and activities. This exemption-and-restriction scheme invites government to interpret and categorize the means by which religious communities live out their vocations and engage the world. But government is neither well-suited nor to be trusted with this kind of line-drawing. What's more, this invitation is dangerous to authentically religious consciousness and associations. When government communicates and enforces its own view of the nature of religion - i.e., that it is a private matter - and of its proper place - i.e., in the private sphere, not …

Registered Savings Plans And The Making Of Middle Class Canada: Toward A Performative Theory Of Tax Policy, Lisa Philipps

Lisa Philipps

Politicians across Canada’s political spectrum strive to position themselves as defenders of the middle class, and tax policy is a prime vehicle for making this pitch. Any tax reform proposal can be examined critically to evaluate its likely distributional impacts and how well these map onto specific definitions of the middle class. This article attempts, however, a different project. Drawing on the ideas of Judith Butler, it analyzes instead how tax policy produces middle-class identity through the very process of claiming to advance middle-class interests. The case study for this purpose is the rise of tax incentives for saving as …

Quoted In Daily Tax Report On Dow's Tax Penalty Loss, Robert D. Probasco

Robert Probasco

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Tax Priorities: Marriage Neutrality, Children, And Contemporary Families, James M. Puckett

James Puckett

Tax scholarship has long struggled with whether married taxpayers should be taxed differently from unmarried taxpayers. Currently, married taxpayers are subject to different tax rates than unmarried taxpayers, and may file a joint tax return. A married couple may pay a higher or lower amount of tax than an unmarried couple with the same total income, and a single person generally pays more tax on a given income than a married couple with a single earner with the same income. These outcomes are difficult to reconcile with a commitment to income tax progressivity, which in theory requires that higher incomes …

Embracing The Queen Of Hearts: Deference To Retroactive Tax Rules, James M. Puckett

James Puckett

The Supreme Court’s decision in Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research v. United States underscored the importance of a uniform approach to judicial review of administrative action; accordingly, the Court clarified that tax administration is generally subject to the same review as other kinds of administrative action by other federal agencies. Tax guidance from the IRS and Treasury Department serves an important role in clarifying the tax law so that taxpayers may report their tax liability accurately and plan their affairs. Meanwhile, aggressive attempts by a relatively small number of taxpayers to avoid tax liability by exploiting arguable ambiguities …

Location, Location, Location: Using Cost Of Living To Achieve Tax Equity, James M. Puckett

James Puckett

All other things being equal, the federal income tax ignores whether the taxpayer lives in a relatively affordable or expensive location. This approach can lead to unfairness; moreover, special deductions for the taxpayer’s actual living expenses, such as home mortgage interest and state and local taxes, do not solve the problem. Tax law scholars have generally been quick to dismiss the equity issues based on assumptions about taxpayer mobility. The existing literature would tax comparable workers equally, regardless of salary and living costs. This approach would unfairly equate differently situated workers. This Article questions the assumption of taxpayer mobility, considers …

Agency Activism As A New Way Of Life: Administrative Modification Of The Internal Revenue Code Through Limited Issue Focused Examinations, W Edward Afield

W. Edward "Ted" Afield

In the name of increasing efficiency and better utilizing limited resources, the IRS has begun to adopt audit policies that overly favor taxpayers and greatly hinder the IRS’s ability to perform thorough audits. Highlighting this trend is a relatively new audit technique used by the Large to Mid-Size Business Division (LMSB), known as the Limited Issue Focused Examination (LIFE) Process. Under LIFE, the LMSB has attempted to involve taxpayers in the audit process by sharing responsibility for timely completion of the audit and has attempted to streamline the audit by reducing the scope of issues examined and applying materiality thresholds …

Special Economic Zones In The United States: From Colonial Charters, To Foreign-Trade Zones, Toward Ussezs, Tom W. Bell

Tom W. Bell

An Obituary Of The Federal Estate Tax, M C. Mirow, Bruce A. Mcgovern

M. C. Mirow

The authors adopt the genre of the obituary to discuss the development and present condition of the Federal Estate Tax. Using this form of descriptive narrative, the authors present a concise summary of the most important changes in the tax over the past eighty-five years.

Doma Implications For Employee Benefit Plans: Round 3, 150 Tax Notes 101 (2016), Kathryn Kennedy

Kathryn J. Kennedy

This article is the third in a series on the implications for employee benefit plans of the Supreme Court’s decisions on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and state bans on same-sex marriage. In this article, Kennedy highlights the effect Obergefell v. Hodges will have on employee benefit plans.

Quoted In Daily Tax Report On Stars, Robert D. Probasco

Robert Probasco

No abstract provided.

The United States Tax Court - A Court For All Parties, T. Keith Fogg

T. Keith Fogg

Fragmented Oversight Of Nonprofits In The United States: Does It Work? Can It Work?, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer