Tax Law Commons^™

R&D Tax Incentives--Growth Panacea Or Budget Trojan Horse?, Stephen E. Shay, J. Clifton Fleming Jr., Robert J. Peroni

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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

Michelle L. Drumbl

None available.

Country By Country Reporting And Corporate Privacy: Some Unanswered Questions, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

Corporate privacy is an oxymoron. Individuals have a right to privacy, which the Supreme Court has recognized at least since Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). Warren and Brandeis’ famous defense of the right to privacy (1890) clearly applied only to individuals, because only individuals have the kind of feelings that are affected by invasions of privacy. Corporations are legal entities, and the concept of privacy does not apply to them, as the Supreme Court held in 1906. Thus, any objection to making corporate tax returns public cannot rest on the right to privacy. In fact, corporate returns were made public in …

Federal Tax Update (Powerpoint), Stephen L. Owen

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

We Believe In Being Honest: Dependency Exemptions For Lds Missionaries, Annalee Hickman Moser

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

The Mapmaker’S Dilemma In Evaluating High-End Inequality, Daniel Shaviro

University of Miami Law Review

The last thirty years have witnessed rising income and wealth concentration among the top 0.1% of the population, leading to intense political debate regarding how, if at all, policymakers should respond. Often, this debate emphasizes the tools of public economics, and in particular optimal income taxation. However, while these tools can help us in evaluating the issues raised by high-end inequality, their extreme reductionism—which, in other settings, often offers significant analytic payoffs—here proves to have serious drawbacks. This Article addresses what we do and don’t learn from the optimal income tax literature regarding high-end inequality, and what other inputs might …

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

W. Edward "Ted" Afield

No abstract provided.

Confidence Schemes: Theft Loss Deductions, Restitution, And Public Policy, Steven F. Friedell

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Article focuses on some of these problems in the field of federal income tax. It suggests that when part of the IRC appears to direct a particular outcome, courts are prone to error when they override that command by imposing a penalty based on the judges’ moral condemnation of a party’s behavior. It would be better for courts to employ the statute’s intrinsic set of public policies to guide their decision making. In some instances, the results will not change because of other overlooked provisions in the statute. However, adherence to the legislature’s balance of conflicting interests will …

Rejecting Charity: Why The Irs Denies Tax Exemption To 501(C)(3) Applicants, Terri Lynn Helge

Faculty Scholarship

New charitable organizations generally must file an application for exemption (Form 1023) and await approval from the Internal Revenue Service. Unfortunately, the criteria the Internal Revenue Service uses to evaluate applications has not always been transparent. If an application is approved, the Internal Revenue Service determination letter and the application for exemption are required to be made publicly available and can be requested from the Internal Revenue Service or the organization itself. Prior to 2004, in the case of denials, neither the application nor the Internal Revenue Service’s correspondence setting forth its rationale for the denial were made publicly available. …

Front Matter (Letter From The Editor, Masthead, Etc.)

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions Under The Affordable Care Act, Xuan Hong

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Gamers Beware: Level 99 Boss...Taxes!, Fenny Lei

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Contemporary Tax Journal Volume 6, No. 1 – Summer/Fall 2016

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Summaries For The Fourth Annual Irs/Sjsu Small Business Tax Institute, Padmini Yalamarthi, Fan Wang, Jie Shen, Xuan Hong, Marla Hampton Cpa, Mba, Aaron Grey

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, Shilpa Balnadu

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

When Is A Transfer Of Assets To A Controlled Corporation By Related Parties A Sale Or Contribution Of Capital?, Ophelia Ding

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Qualified Residence Interest Deduction: A Win For Unmarried Co-Owners, Christine Manolakas

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Elaine Gagliardi On Consistent Basis Reporting: Are Proposed Regulations Consistent With Congress’S Basis For Enactment?, Elaine H. Gagliardi

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

The first consistent basis returns became due June 30, 2016,2 almost one year after enactment of the filing requirement by Congress. The basis consistency rules only apply to persons filing and property reported on estate tax returns filed after July 31, 2015.3 As of the initial due date for filing Form 8971, its accompanying instructions conflicted with recently proposed regulations, leaving executors and their advisors to grapple with the ambiguities and differences.4 Comments on the proposed regulations generally call for revisions to make compliance less costly and, more importantly, reflective of the purpose underlying enactment of the basis consistency rule …

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.

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 …

Book Review: International Tax Planning. By Barry Spitz. London, England: Butterworth & Co. Ltd., 1972. Pp. Xxiii, 159. $12.15 (U.S.)., Donald O. Clark

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

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

Robert Probasco

No abstract provided.

Early Termination Of A Trust, Jeffrey H. Kahn, Douglas A. Kahn

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

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 …

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

Articles & Book Chapters

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 …

Tax Treaties-Reciprocal Exchange Of Information-Summons Power Contained In Irc Section 7602 May Be Used To Obtain Information From Domestic Sources For Use By Canadian Authorities In Investigating The Canadian Tax Liability Of A Canadian Company, Tim J. Floyd

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Is An American Value Added Tax Inevitable?, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

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 …

Bringing Continuity To Cryptocurrency: Commercial Law As A Guide To The Asset Categorization Of Bitcoin, Evan Hewitt

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will undertake to analyze bitcoin under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)—two important sources of commercial law—to see whether any existing asset categories adequately protect bitcoin’s commercial viability. This Note will demonstrate that although commercial law dictates that bitcoin should—nay must—be regulated as a currency in order to sustain its existence, the very definition of currency seems to preclude that from happening. Therefore, this Note will recommend that we experiment with a new type of asset that receives currency-like treatment, specifically designed for cryptocurrencies, under which bitcoin can be categorized in order to …

Front Matter (Letter From The Editor, Masthead, Etc.)

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.