Law Commons^™

Federal Taxation, Augustus N. Makris

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys certain federal tax cases decided by courts in the Eleventh Circuit in 2010. There were no significant decisions. The case of Ocmulgee Fields, Inc. v. Commissioner addressed the applicability of section 1031(f)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) to likekind exchanges. The case of United States v. Fort involved a partner who, in exchange for his interest in an acquired partnership, received shares of the acquiring corporation subject to certain restrictions. The issue was whether the restrictions permitted the partner to exclude the shares from gross income when received. The case of Southern Family Insurance Co. v. …

Three Cheers For Passthrough Taxation, Bradley T. Borden

Bradley T. Borden

This report addresses recent suggestions by the Obama administration, lawmakers, and others that some passthrough entities should be taxed as corporations. It argues that passthrough taxation is the correct regime, from a technical standpoint, for many business arrangements. Applying an entity tax to those structures would be inappropriate. The report argues that an entity tax would violate notions of equity by treating members of passthrough entities differently from individuals. Next it demonstrates that a tax on passthrough entities would shift a greater share of the tax burden to middle-income individuals. Finally, the report encourages the administration and lawmakers to increase …

Renovating? Donate Your Scrap And Get A Deduction, Shreyasee Patil

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

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

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Character And Source Of Income From Internet Business Activities, Andy Kim, Larissa Neumann, Idan Nester, Jim Fuller

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Summaries From The Tei-Sjsu Tax Policy Conference-- The State Of Tax Policy In California, Linda Yung, Tim Kelly, Sylvia Han, Vuong Luong, Brian Ross, Zhi Jun Lim, Victoria Lau

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Contemporary Tax Journal Volume 1, No. 2 ~ Summer 2011

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Repeal Of Federal Telephone Excise Tax, Sandra Peters

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Real Estate Professionals: Beware, Shreyasee Patil

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Repeal Of The Irc Section 199 Domestic Production Deduction, Jasmine Wu Ting

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Deference To Tax Agencies' Interpretation Of Their Regulations, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

This installment closes a loop begun in the last installment of this column. We have been exploring the degrees of deference accorded by the courts to interpretations and positions taken by state and local revenue agencies. The last installment examined conditional deference doctrines, that is, deference specific to particular situations or conditioned on the existence of particular conditions. That installment noted one line of conditional deference, applying to cases in which agencies are interpreting their own regulations. This is often called Auer deference, after one of the most prominent cases of the line. Because of the richness of the Auer …

Shapiro: Palimony And The Estate Tax, Wendy G. Gerzog

All Faculty Scholarship

In Estate of Shapiro, the Ninth Circuit held that an individual had a valid palimony claim under Nevada state law. However, the issue was whether the decedent’s estate qualified for a deduction for that claim under federal estate tax law.

The Ubs Case: The U.S. Attack On Swiss Banking Sovereignty, Beckett G. Cantley

Brigham Young University International Law & Management Review

No abstract provided.

Conditional Deference To Tax Authorities, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

Recent installments of this column have explored an important point of intersection between administrative law and tax law: the degree of deference that courts accord to rules, regulations, and statutory interpretation positions of state and -local revenue agencies. This column continues that exploration. It examines what I call “conditional deference,” that is, according deference to the agency only when particular, defined conditions are present.

The first part below sets the context by describing Skidmore and Mead, two leading federal conditional deference cases. The second part contrasts state conditional deference doctrines, with particular emphasis on the operation of those doctrines in …

Quoted In The Fort Worth Business Press On Fraudulent Tax Returns Surge, Robert D. Probasco

Robert Probasco

No abstract provided.

The U.S. Consumption Tax: Evolution, Not Revolution, Daniel Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

The article expresses the view that the current Internal Revenue Code has evolved into a hybrid income tax and consumption tax. It begins by explaining the difference between an income tax and a consumption tax and provides the backgrounds of the alternative forms of consumption tax: (1) consumed income, (2) yield exemption, and (3) point-of-sale taxation. Under the consumed income tax model of consumption tax, the individual taxpayer includes all items of income, both from labor and from capital, in its tax base, and then subtracts or deducts the portion of that income that he saves or invests. The resulting …

Government Precommitment To Tax Incentive Subsidies: The Impact Of United States V. Winstar Corp. On Retroactive Tax Legislation, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

No abstract provided.

Interest Elements In Tax Planning, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

This article discusses how interest has been and is being used in tax planning. The tax planning techniques using interest include charging too little interest or none at all, recalssifying interest as principal and allocating interest among time periods to optimize the tax consequences to the parties. The issues raised by these tax planning techniques go to the heart of the tax system. They suggest inadequacies in the development of the case law and in conventional tax thinking. The unifying principal is the divergence between the possible tax consequences and the clear economic consequences of each of the transactions. The …

E Tax: The Flat Tax As An Electronic Credit Vat, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

The article builds on the Hall-Rabushka Flat Tax and proposes a consumption tax called the “E Tax,” which is an electronically collected credit invoice VAT. The Hall-Rabushka Flat Tax is a two-tier consumption tax that is based on a subtraction method VAT. The Hall-Rabushka nuance, however, allows a deduction for wages as if they were purchases of materials by the employer. Wage earners would be taxed on those wages at rates that could be set as graduated or flat, with or without a zero rate or bracket amount and with or without personal exemptions and deductions. Hall and Rabushka proposed …

Considering A Consumption Tax, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

A combination of electronic commerce and the "Flat Tax" could eliminate the IRS as we know it.

The Kingdom Of Pal: A Parable Of Tax Shelters And The Passive Activity Loss Rules, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

No abstract provided.

Nonrecourse Debt In Excess Of Fair Market Value: The Confluence Of Basis, Realization, Subchapter K And The Need For Consistency, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

No abstract provided.

Open Transaction Treatment For Deferred Payment Sales After The Installment Sales Act Of 1980, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

No abstract provided.

The Tax Treatment Of Limited Liability Companies: Law In Search Of Policy, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

No abstract provided.

E-Vat: An Electronically Collected Progressive Consumption Tax, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

This report proposes replacing the income tax with an electronic, progressive consumption tax that couples a credit-method VAT (modified for wages) with a progressive wage tax. I have called this proposal e-VAT (a convenient contraction for an electronic value added tax), because it is based on a business-level-credit VAT and can be collected automatically and electronically at the point of sale. The essential advantage of e-VAT over the Hall-Rabushka flat tax is that e-VAT’s use of a credit VAT as its foundation facilitates automatic and electronic collection of the tax. A credit VAT lends itself to electronic monitoring and auditing …

The Aches And Pains Of Transition To A Consumption Tax: Can We Get There From Here?, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

This article discusses probably the most significant obstacle to the adoption of a consumption tax: the negative effects on existing wealth that the transition from the income tax to most forms of a consumption tax would have. The Congressional Budget Office in its 1997 study posed the question, “How to Get There from Here.” The difficulty with transition and the changes in the tax law since the CBO study, however, prompt the more basic question: “Can we get there from here?” This article deals with this question by examining the effects of transition on existing wealth under a variety of …

To Praise The Amt Or To Bury It, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

The alternative minimum tax (AMT) has recently become a cause célèbre because many more taxpayers are now subject to it than originally envisioned at the time of its enactment in 1969 (and, indeed, than after any of its several modifications over the years). As such, it has been discussed and criticized in the press and by tax professionals and academics, most recently in Tax Notes by four former Internal Revenue Service commissioners who advocated scrapping it entirely. The criticism has questioned the wisdom of the inadvertent expansion of the AMT in coverage, that is, the number of taxpayers who will …

Tax Subsidies: One-Time Vs. Periodic An Economic Analysis Of The Tax Policy Alternatives, Daniel Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

No abstract provided.

The Passive Activity Loss Rules: Planning Considerations, Techniques, And A Foray Into Never-Never Land, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

No abstract provided.

Choice Of Entity For A Venture Capital Start-Up: The Myth Of Incorporation, Daniel S. Goldberg

Daniel S. Goldberg

No abstract provided.