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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Tax Law
I Dig It, But Congress Shouldn't Let Me: Closing The Idgt Loophole, Daniel L. Ricks
I Dig It, But Congress Shouldn't Let Me: Closing The Idgt Loophole, Daniel L. Ricks
ACTEC Law Journal
By combining three tools that independently are beneficial to taxpayers, clever estate planners have devised a transaction - the installment sale of discounted assets to an intentionally defective grantor trust - that saves their ultra-wealthy clients millions of dollars in estate and gift taxes. This transaction, which is a foundational part of many estate plans, takes advantage of rules that Congress never intended to be used in this way. Becasue the Internal Revenue Service has conceded its inability to challenge the transaction based on current law, any solution lies with Congress. This Article proposes an amendment to § 2036 that …
Legislating Morality: The Duty To The Tax System Reconsidered, Watson
Legislating Morality: The Duty To The Tax System Reconsidered, Watson
Scholarly Works
Four years ago, I presented a paper at a symposium on professionalism jointly sponsored by the University of Kansas Law School and the Kansas Bar Association. That paper espoused the view (contrary to what appears to be the popular view among tax scholars) that tax lawyers owe no special duty to the "tax system" other than to abide by the law and the applicable standards of professional conduct. During the four-year interim since my last visit to Kansas, however, we have witnessed the deleterious effect of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA '98) on IRS enforcement and …
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 …
Below Market Loans: From Abuse To Misuses – A Sports Illustration, Phillip J. Closius, Douglas K. Chapman
Below Market Loans: From Abuse To Misuses – A Sports Illustration, Phillip J. Closius, Douglas K. Chapman
All Faculty Scholarship
Below market loans have been traditionally used as substitutes for gifts, salaries, and dividends for the primary purpose of tax avoidance in the transfer of wealth. The Supreme Court's opinion in Dickman v. Commissioner subjected both demand and term loans in an intrafamilial setting to the federal gift tax. Congress, while subjecting all below market loans to either income or gift tax, applied different valuation formulas to term and demand loans and, in so doing, favored the use of demand loans as a salary substitute. This Article analyzes the current status of below market loans by examining their use in …
The Realization Requirement And Tax Avoidance, E. George Rudolph
The Realization Requirement And Tax Avoidance, E. George Rudolph
Michigan Law Review
Consider, for a moment, the plight of G. E. Hall. During 1947 Hall incurred a gambling debt to the Las Vegas Club variously estimated at between 145,000 and 478,000 dollars. The debt came into the sole ownership of one Binion, a partner in the club, and was eventually settled by Hall transferring to Binion an undivided one-half interest in certain cattle located in Arizona and Montana. Thereafter, Hall and Binion engaged in the ranching business as partners. At this point the Internal Revenue Service came forward with a claim that Hall, in the course of this disastrous chain of events, …
Federal Estate And Gift Taxation: A Review, Paul G. Kauper
Federal Estate And Gift Taxation: A Review, Paul G. Kauper
Michigan Law Review
Today's tax-encumbered citizen is not only aware that death and taxes are certain but also realizes that they walk hand-in-hand. At the most he may experience a sense of nostalgic grief over Pliny the Younger's argument that an inheritance tax "is an 'unnatural' tax, since it augments the grief and sorrow of the bereaved." He knows that as a matter of history Pliny's argument, however touching and delicate, has not deterred ways and means committees, intent on meeting revenue needs.
Taxation - Income Tax - Liability Of Settlors Of Irrevocable Short Term Trusts, Robert M. Warren
Taxation - Income Tax - Liability Of Settlors Of Irrevocable Short Term Trusts, Robert M. Warren
Michigan Law Review
In a recent significant decision the Supreme Court of the United States has declared that, under certain circumstances, income from irrevocable short-term trusts may be taxed to the settlor. This conclusion is contrary to the previously accepted notion that there was no authority for such a tax under existing provisions of the Revenue Act. In the light of this and other recent decisions the matter of taxation of income from short-term trusts assumes renewed significance.
Federal Gross Estate Tax-Constitutionality-Revocable Transfers By Way Of Trust
Federal Gross Estate Tax-Constitutionality-Revocable Transfers By Way Of Trust
Michigan Law Review
Five recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court, together with a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, have considerably changed some of the currently accepted theories regarding the taxability under the Federal Estate Tax of transfers reserving various degrees of control to donors, both with respect to what may be considered to be a sufficient reserved control and what the constitutional limits on the taxing power may be. Some perplexing questions have been settled by these decisions while others quite as vexing seem to have been raised and left for future determination.