Tax Law Commons^™

The Eighth Amendment And Tax Evasion: Whether Fatca Non-Compliance Fines And Fbar Penalties Are Excessive, Tyler R. Murray

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

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

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Trade Act Of 1974-Countervailing Duties-Nonexcessive Remission Of Foreign Excise Tax On Products Imported Into The United States Does Not Constitute A Bounty Or Grant Requiring The Levy Of Countervailing Duties, Garry Seltzer

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of The United States Tax Laws On International Technology Transfer: An Overview And Some Suggestion For Minimizing The Bite, Marcus B. Finnegan, Robert E. Mccarthy

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Giving: Considerations For Regulation Of Cryptocurrency Donation Deductions, Ashley Pittman

Duke Law & Technology Review

This Issue Brief looks at the rapidly growing area of cryptocurrency donations to nonprofit organizations. Given the recent IRS guidance issued on taxation of Bitcoin, specifically its decision to treat cryptocurrencies as property, questions now arise as to how charitable contributions of the coins will be valued for tax deductions. Though Bitcoin resembles most other capital gain property, its volatility, general decline in value, anonymity, and potential for abuse require specific guidance on valuation and substantiation so as to handle its unique nature and prevent larger deductions for charitable contributions than those to which taxpayers are entitled.

Of More Than Usual Interest: The Taxing Problem Of Debt Principal, Charlene D. Luke

Seattle University Law Review

Leverage is an essential but often troubling component of the U.S. market. The financial crisis highlighted the risks and complexity of a leverage web that includes flesh-and-blood people from all walks of life and paper people from all corners of the business and investment world. In the tax area, the potentially problematic incentive effects of interest deductibility have long engaged a wide array of tax commentators and policymakers. While interest deductibility rightly receives widespread scrutiny, a more comprehensive approach to leverage is needed. This Article focuses on the surprisingly complicated tax treatment of cash (and cash equivalent) borrowings. This Article …

Curb Your Enthusiasm For Pigovian Taxes, Victor Fleischer

Vanderbilt Law Review

Pigovian (or "corrective") taxes have been proposed or enacted on dozens of harmful products and activities: carbon, gasoline, fat, sugar, guns, cigarettes, alcohol, traffic, zoning, executive pay, and financial transactions, among others. Academics of all political stripes are mystified by the public's inability to see the merits of using Pigovian taxes more frequently to address serious social harms, some even calling for the creation of a "Pigovian state." This academic enthusiasm for Pigovian taxes should be tempered. A Pigovian tax is easy to design-as a uniform excise tax-if one assumes that each individual causes the same amount of harm with …

Parting The Dark Money Sea: Exposing Politically Active Tax-Exempt Groups Through Fec-Irs Hybrid Enforcement, Carrie E. Miller

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Delegating Tax, James R. Hines Jr., Kyle D. Logue

Michigan Law Review

Congress delegates extensive and growing lawmaking authority to federal administrative agencies in areas other than taxation, but tightly limits the scope of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury regulatory discretion in the tax area, specifically not permitting these agencies to select or adjust tax rates. This Article questions why tax policy does and should differ from other policy areas in this respect, noting some of the potential policy benefits of delegation. Greater delegation of tax lawmaking authority would allow administrative agencies to apply their expertise to fiscal policy and afford timely adjustment to changing economic circumstances. Furthermore, delegation of the …

Improving The Legal Implementation Mechanisms For A Carbon Tax In China, Haifeng Deng

Pace Environmental Law Review

Within the framework of existing Chinese environmental laws, carbon taxation faces four main challenges: the contradiction of existing taxes, conflict with the carbon emissions trading system, necessary adjustments to the organizational structure of tax collection and management, and coordination with international trade rules. Implementing a carbon tax is a complete and systematic process containing three stages: introduction, collection, and impacts assessment. In order to address these problems, it is necessary to construct legal implementation mechanisms for carbon taxation in China. The legal mechanisms of implementing a carbon tax include a series of coordination and safeguard measures aimed at optimizing the …

Constitutional Law, Import-Export Clause: Non-Discriminatory, Fairly Apportioned Excise Tax Applied To Stevedoring Companies Loading And Unloading Goods In Imports And Export Transit Does Not Constitute An Import Or Duty Within The Prohibition Of The Import-Export Clause, Tony G. Mills

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Tax Incentives To Exportation: Alternatives To Disc, Timothy A. Peterson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Through The Antiboycott Morass To An Export Priority, Mark D. Menefee, Don Samuel

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Without Representation, No Taxation: Free Blacks, Taxes, And Tax Exemptions Between The Revolutionary And Civil Wars, Christopher J. Bryant

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Essay is the first general survey of the taxation of free Blacks in free and slave states between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. A few states treated all equally for tax purposes, but most states enacted taxation systems that subjected free Blacks to different requirements. Both free and slave states viewed free Blacks as an undesirable population, and this Essay posits that—within the relevant political constraints—states used taxes and tax exemptions to dissuade free Black immigration and limit the opportunities for free Blacks within their borders. This topic is salient for at least two reasons. First, the Essay sheds …

Dodging The Taxman: Why The Treasury’S Anti-Abuse Regulation Is Unconstitutional, Linda D. Jellum

University of Miami Law Review

To combat abusive tax shelters, the Department of the Treasury promulgated a general anti-abuse regulation applicable to all of subchapter K of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The Treasury targeted subchapter K because unique aspects of the partnership tax laws—including its aggregate-entity dichotomy—foster creative tax manipulation. In the anti-abuse regulation, the Treasury attempted to “codify” existing judicially-created anti-abuse doctrines, such as the business-purpose and economic-substance doctrines. Also, and more surprisingly, the Treasury directed those applying subchapter K to use a purposivist approach to interpretation and to reject textualism.

In this article, I demonstrate that the Treasury exceeded both its …

A Practitioner's Guide To United States Employment Taxation Of Nonresident Aliens Working In The United States, John L. Gornall Jr., John B. Copenhaver

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Schoppe V. Commissioner: The Federal Circuit Split Regarding The Application Of The Automatic Stay Provision Of 11 U.S.C. § 362(A)(1) To Appeals From The United States Tax Court, Nathaniel Tucker

Akron Law Review

Part II of this Note establishes the background of the automatic stay which exists in bankruptcy law under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(1). It examines the purpose of the automatic stay and how its scope is very broad and applicable to many different proceedings. Further, this part discusses how the automatic stay applies to tax deficiencies, and it examines the federal circuit court split regarding the applicability of the automatic stay to appeals from Tax Court. Part III presents a factual and procedural history of the most recent circuit court decision regarding this matter, Schoppe v. Commissioner, which the Tenth Circuit …

Distinguishing Deductible Repairs From Capitalized Improvements: An Expectations Approach To The New Repair Regulations, George Mundstock, Thomas J. Korge

Akron Law Review

This Article explores an economic model of the business use of assets that supports an expectations approach to distinguishing between immediately deductible repairs and capitalized improvements. Under an expectations approach, the classification of an activity as a repair or a capital improvement depends on the taxpayer’s reasonable expectation when first placing the depreciable property in service—whether, upon acquisition of the property, the taxpayer reasonably expected the activity to be required in the future to keep the property operating in its ordinarily efficient operating condition. Many of the rules provided by the new regulations are consistent with this approach. The inconsistent …

The Same Sex Marriage Tax Shelter: What's Love Got To Do With It?, Stephen T. Black

Akron Law Review

This Article examines how wide, and asks whether the tax planning opportunities post-Windsor threaten the stability of the tax system and the stability of marriage. Part II of this Article discusses the federal tax benefits married couples receive when treated as a single economic unit. In Part III, the Article examines the use of partnerships and marriages to attain tax benefits for the parties involved. Next, Part IV discusses the possibility of tax shelter opportunities through the use of multiparty marriages, which are now possible in light of the Windsor decision. Finally, Part V concludes.

Bogus Refunds & Bad Penalties: The Feckless And Fixable Refund Penalty System, Del Wright Jr.

Akron Law Review

This Article analyzes the problems with section 6676 as it currently applies and offers suggestions to change it. The Article begins by identifying the reasons section 6676 has been unable to accomplish its policy goals and then highlights problems on the horizon. It ends by suggesting legislative and regulatory changes that will ameliorate the problems with section 6676 and allow the law to accomplish the goals Congress sought to achieve through its enactment. Part II of this Article lays out the problems associated with erroneous claims for refund and past legislative attempts to deal with the problem, ultimately leading to …

Better Late Than Never: Incorporating Llcs Into Section 4943, Elaine Waterhouse Wilson

Akron Law Review

Part I of this Article traces the historical development of Code Section 4943 and the business entanglement issues that the Code Section was designed to combat. It then discusses developments in the law that occurred after the passage of Section 4943 that have implications for its structure, most importantly the introduction of the LLC. Part II describes the current statutory scheme of Section 4943, and the ambiguity in the manner in which it applies, and the practical problems and abuses that potentially arise from this ambiguity. In Part III, the Article reviews various options for clarifying the treatment of Section …

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 …

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.

"Trade Or Business": The Relevance Of A Deceptively Simple Income Tax Phrase To The Labor Code, Federal Statutes, And Private Equity Activity, Arthur Acevedo

Florida A & M University Law Review

Corporate law is premised upon two fundamental principles: the pooling of moneys for investment purposes and the privilege of limited liability. The pooling of money enables promoters and investors to efficiently amass and organize substantial sums for investment purposes. The privilege of limited liability assures investors that personal liability for the underlying invested activity is limited to the moneys invested. Limited liability is a sacrosanct principle and a quintessential investment assumption within the investment community. Private equity firms have successfully exploited these two policies. However, a decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeal casts a shadow of doubt on …

Taxing Honesty, Adam B. Thimmesch

West Virginia Law Review

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 …

The Master Limited Liability Partnerships Parity Act: Friend Or Foe?, Sonia J. Toson

Pace Environmental Law Review

In April of 2013, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware introduced legislation that seeks to level the playing field between renewable and non-renewable energy companies. Titled the “Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act” (MLPPA), the legislation would amend the federal tax code to allow renewable energy companies to form master limited partnerships and thereby gain valuable financing and tax advantages. This legislation would clear the way for the formation of master limited partnerships investing in renewable energy, which would have significant impact on clean energy production in the United States. This article discusses the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act and explores …

Tax Incidents Of Private Annuities, Richard L. Grant

Akron Law Review

One can best describe a private annuity by stating what it is not: It is not purchased from a commercial underwriter, but from a person, who, in the ordinary course of his business, does not write annuity contracts. It does not contain a secured promise to perform. In all other respects, the private annuity resembles commercial annuities in that the annuitant transfers cash or other property in exchange for a promise of the transferee (obligor) to make periodic payments of money either for a term of years or for the life of the annuitant. One writer' would fragment such a …