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Full-Text Articles in Tax Law

Broad, Inflexible And Redundant?: Fixing The Anti-Avoidance Rule In Section 75a Finance Act 2003, Vincent Ooi Sep 2015

Broad, Inflexible And Redundant?: Fixing The Anti-Avoidance Rule In Section 75a Finance Act 2003, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Sections 75A - 75C of the Finance Act 2003 (‘the Sections’) were enacted with the intention of countering schemes that have the effect of reducing Stamp Duty Land Tax (‘SDLT’) liability. These sections were subjected to criticism right from the start, with practitioners noting its exceptionally broad scope and some going so far as to call it ‘fundamentally deficient’ and ‘almost unworkable in practice’. The recent decisions of the First-Tier Tribunal in Project Blue Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners (‘Project Blue FTT’) and its subsequent appeal to the Upper Tribunal in Project Blue Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners …


Lipstick, Light Beer, And Backloaded Savings Accounts, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch Aug 2015

Lipstick, Light Beer, And Backloaded Savings Accounts, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Grayson McCouch

The article addresses current proposals for expanding tax-preferred individual savings accounts and their implications for retirement security and tax policy. The authors argue that the yield-exempt approach embraced by the Bush Administration in its proposals is likely to generate enormous long-term revenue losses, exacerbate inequalities in income and wealth, and erode broad-based coverage under employer-sponsored retirement plans. In addition to these fiscal and distributional concerns, they conclude that the proposals pose a serious obstacle to fundamental tax reform.


The Moving Target Of Tax Reform, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch Aug 2015

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 …


A Conceptual Framework For The Regulation Of Cryptocurrencies, Omri Y. Marian Aug 2015

A Conceptual Framework For The Regulation Of Cryptocurrencies, Omri Y. Marian

Omri Y Marian

This Essay proposes a conceptual framework for the regulation of transactions involving cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies offer tremendous opportunities for innovation and development but are also uniquely suited to facilitate illicit behavior. The regulatory framework suggested herein is intended to support (or at least not impair) cryptocurrencies’ innovative potential. At the same time, it aims to disrupt cryptocurrencies’ criminal utility. To achieve these purposes, this Essay proposes a regulatory framework that imposes costs on the characteristics of cryptocurrencies that make them especially useful for criminal behavior (in particular, anonymity) but does not impose costs on characteristics that are at the core of …


Home-Country Effects Of Corporate Inversions, Omri Y. Marian Aug 2015

Home-Country Effects Of Corporate Inversions, Omri Y. Marian

Omri Y Marian

This Article develops a framework for the study of the unique effects of corporate inversions (meaning, a change in corporate residence for tax purposes) in the jurisdictions from which corporations invert ("home jurisdictions"). Currently, empirical literature on corporate inversions overstates its policy implications. It is frequently argued that in response to an uncompetitive tax environment, corporations may relocate their headquarters for tax purposes, which, in turn, may result in the loss of positive economic attributes in the home jurisdiction (such as capital expenditures, research and development activity, and high-quality jobs). The association of tax-residence relocation with the dislocation of meaningful …


Reconciling Tax Law And Securities Regulation, Omri Y. Marian Aug 2015

Reconciling Tax Law And Securities Regulation, Omri Y. Marian

Omri Y Marian

Issuers in registered securities offerings must disclose the expected tax consequences to investors investing in the offered securities (“nonfinancial tax disclosure”). This Article advances three arguments regarding nonfinancial tax disclosures. First, nonfinancial tax disclosure practice, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) has sanctioned it, does not fulfill its intended regulatory purposes. Currently, nonfinancial tax disclosures provide irrelevant information, sometimes fail to provide material information, create unnecessary transaction costs, and divert valuable administrative resources to the enforcement of largely-meaningless requirements. Second, the practical reason for this failure is the SEC and tax practitioners’ unsuccessful attempt to address investors’ heterogeneous …


The Relevance Games: Congress's Choices For Economic Substance Gamemakers, Charlene Luke Aug 2015

The Relevance Games: Congress's Choices For Economic Substance Gamemakers, Charlene Luke

Charlene Luke

Codification of the economic substance doctrine in 2010 ushered in a new phase in the debate regarding the meaning and reach of the doctrine. The main statutory hint as to the intended scope of the codified economic substance doctrine is ambiguous, providing, “The determination of whether the economic substance doctrine is relevant to a transaction shall be made in the same manner as if this subsection had never been enacted.” This Article argues that this language should be read in light of the codification history, which stretches back for over ten years before enactment. This history suggests that the relevance …


Repairing Inside Basis Adjustments, Karen C. Burke Aug 2015

Repairing Inside Basis Adjustments, Karen C. Burke

Karen Burke

Optional basis adjustments under Subchapter K have come under increased scrutiny as a result of tax shelter abuses involving partnerships. Recent legislation requires mandatory adjustments under sections 734(b) and 743(b) upon certain distributions of partnership property and transfers of partnership interests. These amendments were targeted at situations in which the failure to make such adjustments potentially gave rise to duplication of losses. While preventing loss duplication may be particularly urgent, these anti-tax-shelter measures represent a retreat from broader proposals calling for mandatory section 734(b) adjustments for both current and liquidating distributions. In a recent article, Professor Abrams criticizes the common …


Contributions, Distributions, And Assumption Of Liabilities: Confronting Economic Reality, Karen C. Burke Aug 2015

Contributions, Distributions, And Assumption Of Liabilities: Confronting Economic Reality, Karen C. Burke

Karen Burke

To combat a relatively arcane international tax-shelter abuse, Congress recently amended Code sections 357 and 362 governing contributions of encumbered property to a corporation. This Article offers a critical assessment of the recent amendments to the liability assumption rules of section 357 and corresponding basis provisions of section 362. Part I explores the divergence between the former liability assumption rules and the "economic benefit" doctrine of the section 1001 regulations. Part II focuses on the technical definition of assumption of recourse and nonrecourse liabilities under amended section 357(d). Part III examines the corollary basis provisions of section 362, as modified …


Exculpatory Liabilities And Partnership Nonrecourse Allocations, Karen C. Burke Aug 2015

Exculpatory Liabilities And Partnership Nonrecourse Allocations, Karen C. Burke

Karen Burke

The rise of limited liability companies (LLCs) classified as partnerships for federal income tax purposes challenges traditional assumptions concerning the treatment of recourse and nonrecourse liabilities under Subchapter K. The complex rules of sections 704(b) and 752 give little attention to liabilities that are recourse to the entity under section 1001 but for which no member bears the economic risk of loss under section 752. In comparison to traditional general or limited partnerships, however, LLCs are much more likely to incur such "exculpatory" liabilities because of the limited liability shield under state law. Although exculpatory liabilities are functionally quite similar …


The Sound And Fury Of Carried Interest Reform, Karen C. Burke Aug 2015

The Sound And Fury Of Carried Interest Reform, Karen C. Burke

Karen Burke

Of all the proposals advanced in recent years to reform Subchapter K, the part of the Internal Revenue Code governing partnership tax, perhaps none has generated more acrimony and confusion than the pending carried interest legislation contained in proposed § 710. While reformers have framed the issue of taxing the compensatory portion of a service partner's return as ordinary income in terms of distributive justice, critics have been quick to invoke the rhetoric of class warfare to fend off reform. In the most elementary terms, the carried interest legislation would tax some (but not all) of a service partner's share …


Lipstick, Light Beer, And Backloaded Savings Accounts, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch Aug 2015

Lipstick, Light Beer, And Backloaded Savings Accounts, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

Karen Burke

The article addresses current proposals for expanding tax-preferred individual savings accounts and their implications for retirement security and tax policy. The authors argue that the yield-exempt approach embraced by the Bush Administration in its proposals is likely to generate enormous long-term revenue losses, exacerbate inequalities in income and wealth, and erode broad-based coverage under employer-sponsored retirement plans. In addition to these fiscal and distributional concerns, they conclude that the proposals pose a serious obstacle to fundamental tax reform.


Taxing Hot Asset Shifts, Karen C. Burke Aug 2015

Taxing Hot Asset Shifts, Karen C. Burke

Karen Burke

The Article comments on I.R.S. Notice 2006-14 which proposes to simplify and rationalize the collapsible partnership rules of section 751(b). It concludes that the proposed hot asset sale approach represents much needed improvement of section 751(b) but suggests that the Treasury should also consider more fundamental reform that would treat a nonprorata current distribution as a partial liquidation. The Article also explores the relationship between sections 734(b) and 751(b), focusing on the 1954 ALI proposals and Professor Andrews' more recent proposals concerning hot asset distributions and mandatory basis adjustments. The Article is an outgrowth of the author's work as a …


The Moving Target Of Tax Reform, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch Aug 2015

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 …


Who Wins Residential Property Tax Appeals?, Randall K. Johnson Jan 2015

Who Wins Residential Property Tax Appeals?, Randall K. Johnson

Faculty Works

This article explains who wins residential property tax appeals in Cook County, Illinois. It does so by collecting and combining public sector data, which has been recently released by the Cook County Assessor. The article then uses this data to compute three statistics. Lastly, it contextualizes each statistic in order to determine if some townships, or groups of townships, win more appeals than expected.


King V. Burwell And The Rise Of The Administrative State, Ronald D. Rotunda Dec 2014

King V. Burwell And The Rise Of The Administrative State, Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a complex law totaling nearly a thousand pages in length. The litigation now before the Supreme Court in King v. Burwell presents, on the surface, a simple issue of statutory interpretation. However, that surface has a very thin veneer. If the Court allows administrators carte blanche to change the very words of a statute, we will have come a long way towards governance by bureaucrats. Over the years, Congress has delegated many of its powers, but it has never delegated the power to raise taxes or spend tax subsidies in ways …