Law Commons^™

Selective Waiver And The Tax Practitioner Privilege, Amandeep S. Grewal

Andy Grewal

Congress blundered badly by defining the federally authorized tax practitioner privilege by cross-reference to the attorney-client privilege. The relationship between a client and a FATP is wholly different from that between a client and an attorney, and the application of attorney-client principles to the FATP privilege has given rise to confused judicial opinions.

This report attempts to stem the confusion with respect to one aspect of the FATP privilege. The proper application of the selective waiver doctrine to the FATP privilege remains an open question, though courts seem poised to reject it. They have rejected it numerous times in the …

Substance Over Form? Phantom Regulations And The Internal Revenue Code, Amandeep Grewal

Andy Grewal

This paper addresses the appropriate response to tax statutes that call for the issuance of regulations, but that have been ignored by the Secretary. The courts and the IRS have taken the unusual step of treating these statutes as self-executing, notwithstanding the absence of regulations, and have invoked phantom regulations to enforce the statutes. Several commentators have analyzed the Tax Court's and the IRS's approaches, but have focused mostly on cases interpreting delegations found in the Internal Revenue Code. Because those cases themselves are inconsistent, it is not possible to extract a clear rule from analysis of those cases alone. …

The Jec's Estate Tax Report: Myths And Legends, Neil H. Buchanan

Neil H. Buchanan

Advocates of estate tax repeal often assert that family-run businesses and farms are broken up when heirs are unable to pay the estate tax. This claim has never been proven, but a recent Joint Economic Committee report claims to demonstrate that it is true. I assess the arguments and evidence presented in the JEC report and find that there is nothing in it that proves that the estate tax breaks up family-run businesses and farms. In fact, the most credible source cited by the report suggests that families might have adequate liquid resources to pay the estate tax or even …

Editorial, Federal Tax Reform Has Gone By The Wayside, Michael Hussey

Michael Hussey

No abstract provided.

The Choose-Your-Charity Tax: A Way To Incentivize Greater Giving, Aaron S. Edlin

Aaron Edlin

Interpretative Theory And Tax Shelter Regulation, Brian D. Galle

Brian D. Galle

This Article responds to an important recent essay in the Columbia Law Review by Marvin Chirelstein and Larry Zelenak. Chirelstein and Zelenak propose a dramatic change in tactics in the way that the government attempts to combat tax shelters - that is, efforts by corporations and high-earning individuals to avoid tax by clever manipulations of the technical terms of the Tax Code. For the past seventy years or so, the IRS has responded to these manipulations by urging courts to read the tax statutes purposively, rather than literally, and thus to deny favorable tax treatment to business transactions entered into …

Determining Section 179 Property (Decision Tree, Logic Document), Thomas Geu

Thomas E. Geu

Released by CCH as an electronic Taxtool

The Eu Means Business: A Survey Of Legal Challenges And Opportunities, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

The article outlines European Union company law -- the SE, insider trading, taxation and related regulations and directives of the European Union and notes the parallels between U.S. and E.U. insider trading law - E.U. insider trading law has been clearly formed by U.S. law and does parallel it.

Has Congress Stopped Executives From Raiding The Bank? A Critical Analysis Of I.R.C. §409a, Michael Hussey

Michael Hussey

Is It Sometimes Good To Run Budget Deficits? If So, Should We Admit It (Out Loud)?, Neil H. Buchanan

Neil H. Buchanan

There are bad deficits and there are good deficits. What makes a fiscal deficit good or bad depends on both the context in which the deficit is run and the reason that the deficit is rising. The belief that it is unquestionably foolish to adopt policies that directly or indirectly increase the government's annual borrowing on the financial markets - which is what it means to run a budget deficit - is not the universal truth that the current conventional wisdom might imply. Budget deficits are potentially dangerous and must be monitored carefully, but they are not always, inevitably, completely, …