Law Commons^™

A Resource Guide To Tax Law Careers, Robert H. Hu

Robert Hu

This Guide is designed to assist law students and attorneys in the pursuit of careers in tax law. It is also intended for librarians and career counselors to readily find tax law career information so that they can assist their clients effectively. It includes resources in both print (for example, books and articles) and electronic formats (for example, Web sites). Each item included has a brief annotation so that the user can quickly decide the relevancy and value of that item.

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

Robert Probasco

No abstract provided.

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.

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 …

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 …

Requirements For A Renewables Revolution, Felix Mormann

Felix Mormann

This Article identifies and analyzes the obstacles presently barring the rise of renewables, evaluates the role of the current policy favorite emission pricing, and offers design recommendations for a comprehensive U.S. renewables policy.

Successful climate change mitigation requires a timely shift to renewable sources of energy, such as sunlight, wind or tides, to decarbonize today’s high-carbon electricity sector. But market pull alone is not strong enough. This Article discusses the most widely cited economic barriers and identifies and evaluates additional obstacles related to the electricity sector’s regulatory framework.

Emission pricing is largely considered the most efficient policy to drive the …

Smarter Finance For Cleaner Energy: Open Up Master Limited Partnerships (Mlps) And Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) To Renewable Energy Investment, Felix Mormann, Dan Reicher

Felix Mormann

This policy proposal makes the case for opening Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) — both well-established investment structures — to renewable energy investment. MLPs and, more recently, REITs have a proven track record for promoting oil, gas, and other traditional energy sources. When extended to renewable energy projects these tools will help promote growth, move renewables closer to subsidy independence, and vastly broaden the base of investors in America’s energy economy.

Beyond Tax Credits: Smarter Tax Policy For A Cleaner, More Democratic Energy Future, Felix Mormann

Felix Mormann

Solar, wind, and other renewable energy technologies have the potential to mitigate climate change, secure America’s energy independence, and create millions of green jobs. In the absence of a price on carbon emissions, however, these long-term benefits will not be realized without near-term policy support for renewables. This Article assesses the efficiency of federal tax incentives for renewables and proposes policy reform to more cost-effectively promote renewable energy through capital markets and crowdfunding.

Federal support for renewable energy projects today comes primarily in the form of tax incentives such as accelerated depreciation and, critically, tax credits. Empirical evidence reveals that …

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

W. Edward "Ted" Afield

No abstract provided.

Creating A Tax Space For Social Enterprise, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

The Unreasonable Case For A Reasonable Compensation Standard In The Public Company Context: Why It Is Unreasonable To Insist On Reasonableness, Stuart G. Lazar

Stuart Lazar

There is no question that corporate executives are well paid. But does high executive compensation mean excessive or unreasonable compensation? And if so, what is the solution to curbing the problem of excessive executive pay? More specifically, should the Internal Revenue Code be used as a means for regulating the actions of public companies?

This Article briefly explores these issues. In Part I, this Article provides a narrative of the excessive compensation debate. Without drawing a conclusion as to whether executive compensation is reasonably set or excessive in nature, Part I summarizes the history of public outrage surrounding executive pay. …

Business Lobbying As An Informational Public Good: Can Tax Deductions For Lobbying Expenses Promote Transparency?, Michael Halberstam, Stuart G. Lazar

Stuart Lazar

The view that “lobbying is essentially an informational activity” has persistently served the suggestion that lobbying provides a public good by educating legislators about policy and the consequences of legislation. In this article, we link a proposed tax reform with a substantive disclosure requirement to promote the kind of “information subsidy” that serves the public interest, while mitigating – at least to some extent – the distortion that may result from the imbalance of financial resources on the business side and other institutional contraints identified in the literature. We argue that corporate lobbying should be encouraged – by allowing business …

Basr Partnership V. United States (Federal Circuit Amicus Brief), T. Keith Fogg

W. Edward "Ted" Afield

No abstract provided.

Advocating For Clients Whose Debts Were Assigned By The Irs To A Private Collection Agency, Michael Baillif, Robert D. Probasco, Miranda Rhyne

Robert Probasco

No abstract provided.

Advocating For Your Client In Trade And Business Expense Cases - Hobby Losses, Rosty Shiller, Robert D. Probasco, Miranda Rhyne

Robert Probasco

No abstract provided.

Medical Deduction Allowed For In-Home Personal Use, Danny A. Pannese

Danny Pannese

The Tax Court held that payments made to an elderly woman's providers of personal care that she required due to her diminished capacity qualified as long-term-care services and were therefore deductible under IRC § 213(d)(1)(C). Lillian Baral was diagnosed with dementia by her physician in 2004. The court agreed with Baral's estate that the amounts paid to the caregivers for their services were deductible as qualified long-term-care services. Baral was chronically ill, and the care was medically necessary to protect her from threats to her health and safety, as determined by her physician. The court also held the amounts paid …

Larson V. United States (Second Circuit Court Of Appeals Brief), T. Keith Fogg

W. Edward "Ted" Afield

No abstract provided.

Taxing Wealth Seriously, Edward J. Mccaffery

Edward J McCaffery

The "Estate Planning" Interviewer, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

Professor Shaffer's article The "Estate Planning" Interviewer is the Introduction: Part II, in J.K. Lasser's Estate Tax Techniques on pages INT-25 to INT-51

Citizens Abroad And Social Cohesion At Home: Refocusing A Cross-Border Tax Policy Debate, Michael S. Kirsch

Michael Kirsch

Over the past decade, a number of scholars have addressed the United States’ continuing use of citizenship as a jurisdictional basis upon which to tax the foreign-source income of individuals in the modern international setting. Some writers, including myself, have defended this citizenship-based taxation (“CBT”), while others have rejected it and proposed some form of residence-based taxation (“RBT”) for citizens.This Article considers the competing normative arguments raised in this context, and attempts to distill the strengths and weaknesses of each. In so doing, it attempts to highlight the most important factors upon which the debate hinges, and illustrates the importance …

Labor Law Obstacles To The Collective Negotiation And Implementation Of Employee Stock Ownership Plans: A Response To Henry Hansmann And Other "Survivalists", Jeffrey M. Hirsch

Jeffrey M. Hirsch

No abstract provided.

Borenstein V. Commissioner (U.S. Tax Court Brief), T. Keith Fogg

W. Edward "Ted" Afield

No abstract provided.

Northwestern, O'Bannon And The Future: Cultivating A New Era For Taxing Qualified Scholarships, Kathryn Kisska-Schulze, Adam Epstein

Adam Epstein

A Good Old Habit, Or Just An Old One? Preferential Tax Treatment For Reorganizations, Yariv Brauner

Yariv Brauner

This article proposes to repeal the preferential tax treatment of certain merger and acquisition transactions known as "reorganizations," and tax them like all other sales or exchanges. In the last 80 years this preference has been a cornerstone of our tax system. It is also one of the most stable rules in the tax code. Nevertheless, its normative justification is weak, and has never been rigorously debated in the legal literature. This article rejects the stated rationale for this rules - that such transactions trigger insufficient realization and therefore it is both unfair and impractical to currently tax them. It …

Of More Than Usual Interest: The Taxing Problem Of Debt Principal, Charlene Luke

Charlene Luke

Leverage is an essential but often troubling component of the U.S. market. The financial crisis highlighted the risks and complexity of a leverage web that includes flesh-and-blood people from all walks of life and paper people from all corners of the business and investment world. In the tax area, the potentially problematic incentive effects of interest deductibility have long engaged a wide array of tax commentators and policymakers. While interest deductibility rightly receives widespread scrutiny, a more comprehensive approach to leverage is needed. This Article focuses on the surprisingly complicated tax treatment of cash (and cash equivalent) borrowings. This Article …

Rethinking Tax Priorities: Marriage Neutrality, Children, And Contemporary Families, James M. Puckett

James Puckett

Tax scholarship has long struggled with whether married taxpayers should be taxed differently from unmarried taxpayers. Currently, married taxpayers are subject to different tax rates than unmarried taxpayers, and may file a joint tax return. A married couple may pay a higher or lower amount of tax than an unmarried couple with the same total income, and a single person generally pays more tax on a given income than a married couple with a single earner with the same income. These outcomes are difficult to reconcile with a commitment to income tax progressivity, which in theory requires that higher incomes …

Structural Tax Exceptionalism, James M. Puckett

James Puckett

This Article argues that it is misleading to declare the death of tax exceptionalism and that structural tax exceptionalism may have important benefits. Part II provides a brief historical overview of the rise of federal agency administration of statutes and especially tax laws. The history trends to detract from anti-tax and anti-agency rhetoric that counsel disempowering the Treasury Department and other administrative agencies from comprehensively enforcing laws and making policy in their relevant domains. Part III analyzes how the Code's structure for tax administration differs from the APA template for administrative agencies. Part IV deconstructs these differences, drawing from general …

Bastardy And The Statute Of Wills: Interpreting A Sixteenth-Century Statute With Cases And Readings, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

The Statute of Wills of 1540 created a tax loophole for transfers of property to illegitimate children. Assessments for wardships that would normally be imposed on certain transfers of land to children could be effectively avoided by establishing that the donee was illegitimate, and therefore a stranger to the donor for the purposes of the statute. English lawyers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries educated their colleagues about this newly available loophole. In the inns of court, lawyers discussed the statutory provisions and recent revenue cases from the Court of Wards. This article sets out the loophole, examines how the …

The Meaning Of Capital In The 21st Century, Edward Mccaffery

Edward J McCaffery