Law Commons^™

"Substantial Justification" Further Defined By Phillips, Jerome S. Horvitz, Annette Hebble

Akron Tax Journal

The Tax Court in Phillips (referred to as Phillips II) has set helpful guidelines for making a determination of when the IRS has taken a position which is not substantially justified. This is one of the tests that must be satisfied before a court of proper jurisdiction can grant a motion for litigation costs pursuant to Section 7430. Phillips I also addresses the issue of settlement attempts, and whether they are needed to exhaust administrative remedies, which is a further requirement for Section 7430 treatment. The following discussion describes the legislative purpose of Section 7430 and its effectiveness in …

Car Depreciation, Georgia Maistros

Akron Tax Journal

Every businessperson is concerned about his or her taxable deductions. Depreciation is one of those deductions. Depreciation is the reasonable allowance deducted every year for the exhaustion and wear and tear as property becomes obsolete.' In 1988, there are many depreciation methods in use. A businessperson must be familiar with all of these methods in order to be able to be in full compliance with the tax law. The average businessperson is in awe of the tax code and will more than likely call up on a qualified tax professional to do his or her taxes. The accountant, CPA, or …

Transfer Or Redemption For A Withdrawing Partner: An Indifference Econometric Decision Model Built On The Position Improvement Equilibrium ("Pie") Concept, Jayprakash G. Patankar, Charles K. Moore, James W. Childs

Akron Tax Journal

The preferred way for a withdrawing partner to leave a partnership is normally thought to be by way of redemption under Internal Revenue Code Section 736 rather than as a transfer under Section 741 The advantage to the continuing partnership lies in the deductability of the payment to the withdrawing partner for goodwill. The withdrawing partner benefits from a higher exchange price, increased by the tax benefits of redemption treatment. However, the following three factors tilt the preference back toward a 741 transfer for both parties: individual obligation of portions of the exchange price, with additional basis, goodwill negotiations and …

The Ill Effects Of Mid - 1980s Tax Policy On Higher Education, J. Timothy Phillips, Robert A. Bullivant

Akron Tax Journal

This article will focus on the provisions of the 1984 and 1986 Acts that most directly affect higher education in an adverse way. While tax legislation in the early 1980s left higher education relatively unscathed, these two acts of the mid- 1980s had major detrimental effects on higher education.

This article will catalog and assess the impact on higher education of several tax law provisions enacted in the mid-1980s. It is the thesis of this article that the individual pieces of legislation are a de facto (and probably unwitting) educational policy that adversely affects higher education. This article will not …

Bankruptcy As An Alternative To The Statute Of Limitations For Relief From Overdue Income Taxes, Harold E. Wolfe Jr.

Akron Tax Journal

This article analyzes the situations in which a bankruptcy filing could be used as an alternative to the expiration of the statute of limitations on collections and sets forth various considerations that should be reviewed by the practitioner prior to a bankruptcy filing. Practitioners are cautioned that there are many collateral consequences resulting from a taxpayer's bankruptcy petition filing and each case must be analyzed carefully in light of the interplay of the Bankruptcy Code, the Internal Revenue Code and the sparse case law available in this area.

Some Legislative Implications Of The History Of The Judicial Interpretation Of Section 1221, Hans-Dieter Sprohge

Akron Tax Journal

This article consists of six sections. The first section briefly indicates the economic significance of the correct classification of property as either a capital or an excluded asset. In the second section, the definition of a capital asset and the list of properties specifically excluded from the definition are presented and analyzed. The analysis demonstrates how the present formulations of the definition of an excluded asset can be given a broad and a narrow interpretation. The third section discusses how the Corn Products decision was conventionally construed to be based on a broad interpretation of the definition of an excluded …

Complexity And Compliance Issues In The U.S. Tax System, Marie Rady

Akron Tax Journal

This article is a compilation of views about the current tax system. In addition, this article seeks to identify what we are or should be doing about the complexity and compliance problems inherent in our tax system, and offers approaches from various groups posed to alleviate some of the complexity and compliance problems.

Attacking The Tax Gap, Tom Weiksnar, Todd Van Valkenburg

Akron Tax Journal

Today a radio station played something extraordinary, an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) advertisement promoting taxes. "Help someone with their taxes, there is no telling what the returns may be." At last, after five years of American Bar Association (ABA) research, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA'86), and countless private studies, the IRS seems to be taking an affirmative step in dealing with tax noncompliance. Moreover, the IRS realizes the answer lies in the attitudes of the taxpayers, as well as in the collection system itself. This news is truly exciting.

Specific arenas of taxation like gift and estate tax, …

Family Attribution, Alan Sunukjian

Akron Tax Journal

The concept of attribution (constructive ownership) is one of the most difficult concepts to understand and correctly apply in tax law today. Attribution is the imposition of stock ownership upon an individual or entity from another individual or entity for taxation purposes. This concept is further complicated when the already attributed stock is reattributed to a third individual or entity.

Attribution is premised upon control. It is similar to the incidents of ownership doctrine found throughout the estate and gift tax code. Under this doctrine an insured party is presumed to have control over an insurance policy when he or …