Law Commons^™

Saving The Next Superman: An Alternative Approach To The Taxation Of Copyright Termination Rights, Benjamin Newell

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

How Federal Tax Expenditures That Support Housing Contribute To Economic Inequality, Henry Rose

Henry Rose

No abstract provided.

A Proposal For Integrating The Income And Transfer Taxation Of Trusts, Robert T. Danforth

Robert T. Danforth

Present law fails to integrate the income and transfer (i.e., estate and gift) taxation of trusts; a gratuitous transfer to a trust may be incomplete for income tax purposes (producing a so-called grantor trust, the income of which is taxed to the grantor), but complete for transfer tax purposes. Grantors create trusts that exploit two features of this tax law dichotomy: the grantor's income tax payments on trust income enhance the value of the trust by allowing it to appreciate in value income tax free; and present law provides no basis for subjecting this enhanced value to gift or estate …

The Family Llc: A New Approach To Insuring Dynastic Wealth, Evan Michael Purcell

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This Article introduces the taxpayer to the basic background principles needed to understand the inner workings of the investment, then provides a guide to drafting considerations for the family's attorney, and concludes with a general plan to maintain business legitimacy and take advantage of tax-favored status, while retaining the flexibility essential to combating the unexpected. Part II addresses the historically favored tax treatment of life insurance products, as well as relatively recent restrictive reforms. Part III addresses the background foundation of the LLC entity and surveys its skeletal structure. Part IV introduces a practical example of how to create an …

Untangling The Strings: Transfer Taxation Of Retained Interests And Powers, Matthew A. Reiber

Akron Law Review

This Article takes a more sanguine approach: it acknowledges the utility of certain portions of these provisions to a functioning transfer tax system, but ultimately concludes that the current statutory scheme is overbroad in reach, clumsy in application, and therefore should be replaced with a single, stand-alone provision. Such a provision would require inclusion of property irrevocably transferred during life in which (a) the transferor retains an economic interest in the property, such as the right to use the property or to receive the income generated by the property, (b) the transferor pays gift tax at the time of transfer …

Elaine Hightower Gagliardi On Proving Estate And Gift Tax Value: Evolving Lessons From Recent Cases, Elaine H. Gagliardi

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

The term, “fair market value,” proves one of the most litigated in the Federal estate and gift tax code. Value lies in the eyes of the appraiser, often resulting in wide disparities between the Service’s and taxpayer’s appraised values.2 The underlying assumptions, and at times the legal principles, on which an appraisal rests can vary greatly based on the particular asset and the appraisal method. The Tax Court claims wide latitude in deciding an asset’s value, reserving the right to draw from each appraisal submitted as it deems appropriate to arrive at ultimate value based on a preponderance of the …

The Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax And Sociological Shifts In Generational Length: Proposing A Generation-Inflation Index For Taxation, Alyssa A. Dirusso

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Planned Parenthood: Adult Adoption And The Right Of Adoptees To Inherit, Richard C. Ausness

ACTEC Law Journal

This Article is concerned with the effect of adult adoptions on the inheritance rights (in the broad sense of that term) of adult adoptees. The Article contends many adult adoption statutes assume the existence of a parent-child relationship in which the adopter is the "parent" and the adoptee is a "child" even though this is not true of all adult adoption cases. In addition, legislatures and courts frequently fail to differentiate between "quasi-familial" adoptions and "strategic" adoptions, particularly where inheritance rights are concerned.

Front Matter

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Medicaid Planning For Long-Term Care: California Style, John A. Miller, Vanessa S. Stroud

ACTEC Law Journal

California's Medicaid program, "Medi-Cal", differs significantly from programs in other states. This article sets out the major distinctions between California's program and other state programs as applied to long term care for disabled seniors. It illustrates the major planning techniques that are employed throughout the country and also those techniques that are available only in California.

Medicaid is the means tested, cooperative state and federal program that pays for much of the nursing home and other long term care in the United States. California's uneven implementation of federal legislation regulating Medicaid over the last several decades has created many challenges …

A Comment On Unification, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Grayson McCouch

This Article discusses recent proposals aimed at unifying the law of wills and nonprobate transfers. The author notes that default rules of construction present the strongest case for unification, but contends that distinctions between wills and nonprobate transfers remain important in the areas of formalities and restrictions affecting third-party rights. The author concludes that the policy goal should be to allow wills and nonprobate transfers to operate smoothly as complementary methods of deathtime wealth transmission.

Estate Tax Repeal: Through The Looking Glass, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Grayson McCouch

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 promises dramatic reductions in income and estate taxes over a nine-year phase-in period, culminating in 2010 with complete repeal of the estate tax and introduction of a new carryover basis regime for inherited property. The Act's sunset provision automatically terminates these substantive changes at the end of 2010 and reinstates prior law for 2011 and subsequent years. In effect, the sunset provision transforms the large-scale tax cuts into a temporary measure and leaves open the question of whether to make those cuts permanent. Since the Act was signed into law, …

Who Killed The Rule Against Perpetuities?, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Grayson McCouch

This article examines the relationship between the federal wealth transfer taxes and the rule against perpetuities. The decline of the RAP is often attributed primarily to the GST tax amendments enacted in 1986. However, while perpetual trusts were available long before 1986, their estate tax avoidance possibilities were not widely used. Even after 1986, simple repeal of the RAP leaves perpetual trusts exposed to potential estate taxation. In addition, settlors should consider non-tax considerations in assessing the attractions of perpetual trusts.

The Moving Target Of Tax Reform, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Grayson McCouch

In 2000, Professor William Turnier proposed a package of three reforms to make the estate tax more “equitable” and “taxpayerfriendly.” All of his proposals—allowing a surviving spouse to inherit a deceased spouse’s unused exemption, replacing the state death tax credit with a deduction, and indexing the exemption for inflation—were eventually enacted. Today, the estate tax remains on the books, but changes in rates and exemptions have severely curtailed its role in the larger federal tax system. Income tax rate reductions for capital gains and dividends have further lightened the tax burden on capital income, and international pressure to reduce the …

Death Without Taxes?, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Karen Burke

In recent years the role of the estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer taxes within the federal tax system has become increasingly controversial. The future of the transfer taxes remains unsettled, despite recently enacted legislation that moves in the direction of repeal with a delayed effective date. This paper looks at transfer tax repeal in terms of its repercussions on the rest of the tax system, with special emphasis on the income tax treatment of property transferred by gift or bequest. Repeal of the transfer taxes would reduce the progressivity of the overall tax system, exacerbate existing inequities with respect to …

Estate Tax Repeal: Through The Looking Glass, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Karen Burke

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 promises dramatic reductions in income and estate taxes over a nine-year phase-in period, culminating in 2010 with complete repeal of the estate tax and introduction of a new carryover basis regime for inherited property. The Act's sunset provision automatically terminates these substantive changes at the end of 2010 and reinstates prior law for 2011 and subsequent years. In effect, the sunset provision transforms the large-scale tax cuts into a temporary measure and leaves open the question of whether to make those cuts permanent. Since the Act was signed into law, …

The Moving Target Of Tax Reform, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Karen Burke

In 2000, Professor William Turnier proposed a package of three reforms to make the estate tax more “equitable” and “taxpayerfriendly.” All of his proposals—allowing a surviving spouse to inherit a deceased spouse’s unused exemption, replacing the state death tax credit with a deduction, and indexing the exemption for inflation—were eventually enacted. Today, the estate tax remains on the books, but changes in rates and exemptions have severely curtailed its role in the larger federal tax system. Income tax rate reductions for capital gains and dividends have further lightened the tax burden on capital income, and international pressure to reduce the …

Contractual Wills: Misplaced Marital Loyalties: Eunsuing Litigation: Increased Federal Estate Taxes, Addison E. Dewey

Akron Law Review

A MYSTIFYING PLETHORA OF RECENT CASES indicates that husbands and and wives seem to be placing much more euphoric confidence in the judicial enforcement of their contractual wills than they do in unbargained-for assurances by the spouse that the provisions of such will never be changed. Many cases indicate that married couples feel that while mutual trust and confidence may be a revered tradition resulting from matrimonial bliss, they prefer to superimpose upon testamentary dispositions of their estates the common law concept of contract as an agreement which the courts will enforce. The repeated pattern of the various cases is …

Nontaxable Transfers; Interest-Free Loans; Crown V. Commissioner, Linda Haught Robb

Akron Law Review

"INTEREST-FREE FAMILY LOANS remain outside the purview of the federal estate and gift tax statutes despite the recent efforts of the Internal Revenue Service to convince the judiciary that, in such loans, the fair market value of the foregone interest is a gift. This is an extrapolation of the Service's efforts to find income to the recipient in other interest-free money situations. In light of the Service's limited activity in dealing with tax consequences of the interest-free loans, the Seventh Circuit's decision in Crown v. Commissioner' will be an important reference for estate and tax planning. Doubtlessly, the Service will …

Revenue Act Of 1978, Merlin G. Briner

Akron Law Review

"THE REVENUE ACT OF 1978 is a continuation of Federal Income Tax Developments: 1978 which appeared in the Fall, 1978 issue of the AKRON LAW REVIEW. This survey examines the substantive changes in federal tax law resulting from the passage of the Revenue Act of 1978 and other legislation. This author has again engaged the most able assistance of several members of the AKRON LAW REVIEW. Without their substantial contributions and complete dedication, this article would not have been possible. Special appreciation is extended to Linda Robison for her dedicated efforts."

Individual, Couple Or Family? The Unit Of Taxation For Transfer Tax Purposes: A Shifting Focus, Anne-Marie Rhodes

Akron Law Review

This paper examines the shifting focus of the transfer tax system from the perspectives of the articulated primary purpose for the taxes and the appropriate unit of taxation given that purpose. The historical progression shows that as a sense of purpose became less clear, the unit of taxation similarly became less focused.

United States Trust Co. V. I.R.S., Scott D. Brackett

Akron Law Review

During the course of its administration, an estate may receive income that is subject to federal income tax. When, and if, an estate receives such income the executor is faced with the task of filing the estate's income tax return along with a number of related considerations. One of the more important considerations is the allocation of the burden of such tax between the beneficiaries of the estate and the estate itself.

Subchapter J of the Internal Revenue Code provides the mechanism to allocate that burden between the beneficiaries and the estate. Generally, Subchapter J attempts to allocate the tax …

The Taxation Of Cause-Related Marketing, Terri Lynn Helge

Terri L. Helge

With the economy in turmoil, charitable organizations are looking to nontraditional sources of financing to supplement contributions and fee-based revenues. One potentially lucrative source of revenue stems from cause-related marketing. Cause-related marketing is the public association of a for-profit company with a charitable organization to promote the company’s product or service in order to raise money for the charitable organization. Introduced almost twenty-five years ago, cause-related marketing has now become a $1 billion a year industry. Cause-related marketing has evolved beyond mere use of a charitable organization’s name to an apparent union for the purpose of promoting products that carry …

Taxation Expatrition: Will The Fast Act Stop Wealthy Americans From Leaving The United States?, Beckett G. Cantley

Akron Law Review

In the wake of September 11, 2001, several influential lawmakers have sought to pass tax legislation that would reduce the tax benefits that may result from an American citizen expatriating to a foreign nation. According to these congressional critics, certain wealthy American citizens are willing to relinquish their United States citizenship to save taxes (“tax expatriates”). The last major attempt to prevent tax expatriation was undertaken in 1995 when Internal Revenue Code (“I.R.C.”) § 877 was enacted. Several congressional critics have charged that I.R.C. § 877 is being easily circumvented by tax expatriates and their advisors. To stem the tide …

The Contemporary Tax Journal Volume 5, No. 1 – Spring/Summer 2015

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

An Introduction To Conservation Easements In The United States: A Simple Concept And A Complicated Mosaic Of Law, Nancy Mclaughlin, Federico Cheever

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

The idea of a conservation easement – restrictions on the development and use of land designed to protect the land’s conservation or historic values – can be relatively easily understood. More significant and more challenging is the complex body of state and federal laws that shapes the creation, funding, tax treatment, enforcement, modification, and termination of conservation easements.

The explosion in the number of conservation easements over the past four decades has made them one of the most popular land protection mechanisms in the United States. The National Conservation Easement Database estimates that the total number of acres encumbered by …

Tax Planning: Foreign Investment In United States Real Property, William H. Newton Iii

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Tax Reform Proposals On A Gift Tax On The Transfer Of Property By Nonresidents, Daze Swift Lee

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This Note raises taxation issues pertaining to a gift tax on the transfer of property by nonresidents under current United States tax rules. It further illustrates patterns and trends to evade a gift tax using transaction maneuvers. These issues are defined in three categories: a gift tax on the transfer of property situated only within the United States by a nonresident, no gift tax on the transfer of intangible assets, and transferee liability. In response to such issues, this Note calls for corresponding proposals to resolve gift taxation problems. It proposes that a gift tax should be imposed on the …

Annual Survey Of Developments In International Trade Law: 1984, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Family Values: An Evaluation Of Internal Revenue Code Sections 2703 And 2704(B), David Berke

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.