Law Commons^™

The International Tax Environment And Simplification Of South African Tax Legislation: A Double-Edged Sword, Jinyan Li, Teresa Pidduck

Jinyan Li

In this paper, we examine the relationship between the international tax environment and legislative complexity in South Africa’s international tax system. We suggest that the international tax environment is a double-edged sword. It causes complexity in South Africa’s tax legislation as it largely responds to the needs of OECD countries and produces tax rules to deal with ‘sophisticated’ tax problems and taxpayers (such as multinational enterprises). When such rules are transplanted into South Africa, they are typically more complex than local rules dealing with local taxpayers. On the other hand, the international tax environment offers ideas for ‘scientific’ drafting of …

Demystifying Irs Transcripts, Robert D. Probasco, Nikki Mccain, Ann Garza

Robert Probasco

No abstract provided.

Comments On Suggested Change To Tax Court's Rules Of Practice And Procedure, Robert D. Probasco

Robert Probasco

Why The Charitable Deduction For Gifts To Educational Endowments Should Be Repealed, Herwig Schlunk

Herwig Schlunk

No abstract provided.

The Meaning Of Capital In The Twenty-First Century, Edward J. Mccaffery

Edward J McCaffery

America is on a path towards a level of both wealth and income inequality unparalleled in recorded history. Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century summarizes and conveys the work of Piketty and many co-authors, over many decades, looking at the structure of income and wealth inequality across many nations and centuries. This review essay builds on Piketty’s ambitions as well as his data, in order to put forth a better solution: one that accepts and even embraces the facts of unequal ownership of capital, but changes the social meaning of those facts to avoid the social harms that follow …

The Death Of The Income Tax (Or, The Rise Of America's Universal Wage Tax), Edward J. Mccaffery

Edward J McCaffery

In 1913, with whispers of progressive politics in the air, Americans ratified a Constitutional amendment allowing for a tax on “all incomes, from whatever source derived.”This set the stage for the individual income tax, a tax meant to fall on wealth and the wealthy. It was a small step, but it was a step. Capital and labor, wealth and wages, would each be paying the price of civilization. The corporate income and gift and estate taxes soon formed a troika of wealth taxes, though the individual income tax fell on upper-income wages as well.

Things changed. Over a century later, …

Taxing Wealth Seriously, Edward J. Mccaffery

Edward J McCaffery

The social and political problems of wealth inequality in America are severe and getting worse. A surprise is that the U.S. tax system, as is, is a significant cause of these problems, not a cure for them. The tax-law doctrines that allow those who already have financial wealth to live, luxuriously and tax-free, or to pass on their wealth tax-free to heirs, are simple. The applicable legal doctrines have been in place for nearly a century under the income tax, the primary social tool for addressing matters of economic inequality. The analytic pathways to reform are easy to see once …

It's Tax Not Trade (Stupid), Edward J. Mccaffery

Edward J McCaffery

Globalization, trade and other free market policies increase wealth. But the gains from trade are not being evenly spread among all citizens. People and politicians rage against foreigners. But it is the United States tax system, not trade, that ought to change, and wealthy Americans, not workers world-wide, who should be sharing the wealth. A nd it is the form of tax, not just its rate structure, that must reform, so that capital at last bears a meaningful share of the burden.

Groves V. United States (Seventh Circuit Court Of Appeals Brief), T. Keith Fogg

W. Edward "Ted" Afield

No abstract provided.

Behind The Curtain - What Happens After You File A Federal Tax Return, Robert D. Probasco

Robert Probasco

No abstract provided.

Surviving Irs Examinations And Appeals, Emily A. Parker, Robert D. Probasco

Robert Probasco

This article summarizes the statutory, regulatory and administrative rules and procedures that apply to IRS civil tax examinations and Appeals proceedings, including alternative dispute resolution procedures. The focus of this paper is on field examinations, rather than service center examinations, correspondence examinations, or office examinations. In addition, it attempts to answer some of the basic questions that taxpayers often ask their advisors and representatives when they are the subject of an IRS civil tax examination:

• Why was I selected by the IRS for audit?
• How long will this audit take?
• Why do the agents want all this information, documents, data, …

Tax Shelter Disclosure And Penalties: New Requirements, New Exposures, Mary A. Mcnulty, Robert D. Probasco

Robert Probasco

One of the primary weapons in the battle against tax shelters has been mandatory disclosure to the IRS. The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 built on this approach by clarifying and making consistent the various disclosure requirements and strengthening penalties for non-disclosure. To uncover abusive transactions, Congress drew the boundaries of disclosure so broadly that even legitimate tax planning transactions are covered. To understand the dangers in the new rules, one must look at the broad range of transactions covered, the participants covered, and the harsh penalties for nondisclosure.

- Transactions Covered. The disclosure requirements apply to six categories …

Computing Interest On Overpayments And Underpayments: How Difficult Can It Be? Very!, Mary A. Mcnulty, David H. Boucher, Joseph M. Incorvaia, Robert D. Probasco

Robert Probasco

Taxpayers often assume that the difficult part of a tax dispute is resolving the tax liability and penalties, while interest computation is fairly straightforward. In the authors' experience, however, interest determinations are as subject to controversy and prone to error as tax liability determinations. The Article explores some of the areas that taxpayers should review carefully in the process of finalizing interest computations.

- Frequent Errors. The Article reviews twelve areas in which, even though the law is settled and the facts are usually clear, the Service's interest computations frequently include mistakes. Taxpayers need to be aware of these provisions, …

Much Uncertainty About Uncertain Tax Positions, Robert D. Probasco

Robert Probasco

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced in January 2010 a new initiative to require certain businesses to report “uncertain tax positions” on a new schedule filed with their annual tax returns. Draft schedules and instructions issued in April 2010 clarified some of the mechanical aspects of the new requirement but left many open issues and questions. The IRS proposal built on requirements by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in FASB Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes (“FIN 48”). The standard requires companies, in their financial statements, to reserve some of the benefits from any position taken …

Tefra-Partnership Refunds: Five Steps To Protect A Partner’S Rights, Mary A. Mcnulty, Robert D. Probasco, Carla C. Crapster

Robert Probasco

The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) established a unified procedure for determining the tax treatment of partnership items at the partnership level rather than the partner level. The TEFRA-partnership refund procedures differ from the refund claim procedures that apply to other taxpayers. For a TEFRA partnership, a refund claim is an administrative adjustment request (AAF) and a notice of deficiency is a notice of final partnership administrative adjustment (FPAA). Procedures for the assessment of additional tax attributable to partnership items have received much attention in recent years, but the procedures concerning refunds are complex and full …

Navigating Tefra Partnership Audits In Multi-Tiered Entity Structures, Mary A. Mcnulty, Robert D. Probasco, Lee S. Meyercord

Robert Probasco

The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) established a unified procedure for determining the tax treatment of partnership items at the partnership level rather than the partner level. Although these rules addressed a serious and real administrative problem in the assessment of partnership level deficiencies, they also created a complex process with many new problems and potential traps. One particularly unique set of challenges arises in the context of multi-tiered entities.

Multi-tiered entities are partnerships that have a partnership or other pass-through entity as a partner. The pass-through partner is commonly referred to as a “tier,” and …

Improving Tax Rules By Means-Testing: Bridging Wealth Inequality And "Ability To Pay", James M. Puckett

James Puckett

The federal income tax can and should do more to address wealth disparities and income inequality. The income tax does not directly count wealth, and the realization rule and basis "step-up" at death exclude substantial amounts of income for the wealthy. The Constitution limits Congress's ability to tax wealth. Despite these serious challenges, this Article considers how to potentially bridge the gap between wealth and the income tax. For example, asset-based phase-outs in the income tax should pass muster without apportionment, although their bite would necessarily be limited. The Article posits that the public would be more receptive to phase-outs …

Fading Into The Sunset: Solar And Wind Energy Get Give More Years Of Tax Credits With A Phase-Down, Felix Mormann

Felix Mormann

In the closing weeks of 2015, the solar and wind energy industries scored a major policy victory as Congress voted to extend the tax credits that have been a key driver of recent renewable energy deployment in the United States. Legislators reached a rare bipartisan compromise when renewable energy advocates agreed to lit the 40-year old export embargo on U.S. oil in exchange for an extra ive years of tax credit support for solar and wind energy. Renewable energy practitioners can now help their clients take advantage of these incentives for several more years and would be wise to do …

How May The United States Leverage Its Fatca Iga Bilateral Process To Incentivize Good Tax Administrations Among The World Of Black Hat And Grey Hat Governments? A Carrot & Stick Policy Proposal, William Byrnes

William H. Byrnes

Professor William Byrnes examines whether it is prudent for taxpayers to trust the governments of the 117 countries that scored a fifty or below on Transparency International’s corruption index. The complete information system invoked by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) encourages, even prolongs, the bad behavior of black hat governments by providing fuel (financial information) to feed the fire of corruption and suppression of rivals. Professor Byrnes recommends that the United States leverage a “carrot-stick” policy tool to incentivize bad actors to adopt best tax administration practices.

Rejecting Charity: Why The Irs Denies Tax Exemption To 501(C)(3) Applicants, Terri Lynn Helge

Terri L. Helge

New charitable organizations generally must file an application for exemption (Form 1023) and await approval from the Internal Revenue Service. Unfortunately, the criteria the Internal Revenue Service uses to evaluate applications has not always been transparent. If an application is approved, the Internal Revenue Service determination letter and the application for exemption are required to be made publicly available and can be requested from the Internal Revenue Service or the organization itself. Prior to 2004, in the case of denials, neither the application nor the Internal Revenue Service’s correspondence setting forth its rationale for the denial were made publicly available. …

Taxing Under The Influence? : Corruption And U.S. State Beer Taxes, Per G. Fredriksson, Stephan Gohmann, Khawaja Mamun

Per Fredriksson

This article examines the effect of state level corruption on state beer taxes in the United States. Our lobby group model predicts that corruption reduces the beer tax, but this effect is conditional on the level of alcohol-related vehicle deaths. Using a panel of state level data from 1982 to 2001, we find that increased corruption is associated with lower state beer tax rates. The magnitude of the effect, however, declines with increases in alcohol-related traffic deaths. Our findings suggest that future empirical work estimating the effect of alcohol taxes on alcohol-related traffic fatalities should treat alcohol taxes as endogenous.

Borenstein V. Commissioner (Second Circuit Court Of Appeals Brief), T. Keith Fogg

W. Edward "Ted" Afield

No abstract provided.

Full Faith And Credit, Choice Of Laws, And Extraterritorial Regulation Of Corporate Transactions, Gregory S. Sergienko

Greg Sergienko

In a federal system in which each state may enact laws providing for the chartering and governance of corporations and in which corporations can and do conduct business in more than one state, several states may claim an interest in regulating the conduct of a given corporation. The enactment of state laws that are intended to restrict hostile corporate takeovers and that purport to extend to foreign corporations is one example of this phenomenon. "Typically, any of a number of jurisdictional links might trigger the application of such an anti-takeover statute: the target's being incorporated in the state, its having …

We Believe In Being Honest: Dependency Exemptions For Lds Missionaries, Annalee Hickman Moser

Annalee Hickman

No abstract provided.

Scoping Out The Uncertain Simplification (Complication?) Effects Of Vats, Bats, And Consumed Income Taxes, J. Clifton Fleming Jr.

J. Clifton Fleming, Jr.

No abstract provided.

R&D Tax Incentives--Growth Panacea Or Budget Trojan Horse?, Stephen E. Shay, J. Clifton Fleming Jr., Robert J. Peroni

J. Clifton Fleming, Jr.

No abstract provided.

Reinvigorating Tax Expenditure Analysis And Its International Dimension, J. Clifton Fleming Jr., Robert J. Peroni

J. Clifton Fleming, Jr.

Tax expenditure analysis (TEA) was rigorously criticized from its inception and continues to draw negative reviews. Notwithstanding this criticism, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requires the President's annual budget submission to contain a list of tax expenditures, and Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation has produced its own tax expenditure list each year since 1972. Although TEA has not restrained or reversed the growth of tax expenditures, TEA continues to play a major role in tax policy debates to the chagrin of its detractors. The persistence of TEA in a hostile environment suggests that it has meaningful …

A Timely Proposal To Eliminate The Student Loan Interest Deduction, Victoria J. Haneman

Victoria J. Haneman

No abstract provided.

Celebrating The Centennial Of The Income War Tax Act, 1917: The Future By The Light Of 100 Candles, Jinyan Li, J. Scott Wilkie

Jinyan Li

No abstract provided.

Source Of Income And Canadian International Taxation, Jinyan Li, J. Scott Wilkie

Jinyan Li

No abstract provided.