Law Commons^™

Administrative Procedures As Tax Enforcement Tools, Wei Cui, Jeff Hicks, Michael Wiebe

All Faculty Publications

We study how common administrative procedures affect firm tax evasion. We begin with the counter-intuitive observation that many firms bunch above, rather than below, large notches in China’s corporate income tax. Cross-sectional patterns suggest that administrative procedures in the prepayment and refund system served as de facto enforcement tools that prevented some firms from accessing the reduced tax rates below the notches. Following a regulatory reform that eliminated these procedures, bunching below the notches increased dramatically. The results imply a tradeoff between reducing administrative barriers and allowing much taxpayer non-compliance in low-compliance environments.

Administrative Concessions And The Efficient Taxation Of Digital Tokens In Singapore, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Tax authorities around the world have stepped-up enforcement activities on the taxation of digital tokens and begun providing more guidance to taxpayers. However, the relative novelty of the field means that there is likely to be considerable uncertainty as to the correct tax treatment, both on the part of taxpayers and tax authorities. This requires both parties to seek tax and legal advice that is often duplicative (in the sense that similar issues tend to keep coming up for different taxpayers) and bear the risk of taking an incorrect legal position. In some cases, the strict tax position under the …

Avoiding Scandals Through Tax Rulings Transparency, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In 2014, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists broke the “LuxLeaks” scandal, revealing numerous tax rulings that the press termed “sweetheart deals” granted to multinational companies. Many countries offer tax rulings because they provide certainty to taxpayers and the government on the tax consequences of a planned transaction. Yet, secrecy that is followed by leaks and criticism is a recurring aspect of these rulings, both in the United States and Europe. LuxLeaks, which revealed secret rulings from the small European country of Luxembourg, was international headline news. It helped trigger widespread reforms. Tax authorities, including those of European countries and …

Can Blockchain Revolutionize Tax Administration?, Orly Sulami Mazur

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Experts predict that the use of smart contracts and other applications of blockchain technology could revolutionize the manner in which we do business. Blockchain technology promises the elimination of middlemen, increased trust and transparency, and improved access to shared information and records. Thus, it is no surprise that companies and entrepreneurs are developing blockchain solutions for an array of markets, ranging from real estate to health care. But can this new technology revolutionize tax administration?

This Article is the first to consider blockchain technology’s role in addressing the shortcomings of our current administration system— namely, a large tax gap, high …

An Analysis Of The Slovenian Tax Administration Response During Covid-19: Between Normative Measures And Economic Reality, Polonca Kovač, Maja Klun

Economic and Business Review

Tax administration plays a key role in tax collection, striving for maximum public finance revenue, while at the same time protecting the rights of the taxpayers in tax procedures. The search for this balance is particularly relevant in times of crisis, as shown by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the first wave between March and June 2020. The article deals with the legal and economic aspects of work of the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (FARS) based on comparable data on tax measures in other countries, provided by international organizations such as IOTA and OECD, i.e. the EU. …

Blockchain Initiatives For Tax Administration, Young Ran Kim

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

A thriving body of literature discusses various legal issues related to blockchain, but often it mixes the discussion about blockchain with cryptocurrency. However, blockchain is not the same as cryptocurrency. Defined as a decentralized, immutable, peer-to-leer ledger technology, blockchain is a newly emerging data management system. The private sector—including the financial industry and supply chains—and the public sector—property records, public health, voting, and compliance, have all begun to utilize blockchain. Since more data is processed remotely, and thus digitally, the evolution of blockchain is gaining stronger momentum.

While scholarship on blockchain is growing, none of the scholarship has considered the …

Taxpayer Self-Inspections, Audits, And Optimal Tax Administration: Evidence From China, Wei Cui

All Faculty Publications

I document an important tax collection practice that is previously unknown to research on tax administration: mandatory taxpayer self-inspections. The practice emerged spontaneously across China in the 1990s and persists to this day despite having no basis in law. If taxpayers report additional liabilities after self-inspections, no penalties are imposed. Unlike tax amnesties, self-inspections are (i) backed up by the threat of government inspections with a significantly higher-than-normal audit probability, and (ii) used as a basic, routine revenue-generation technique. I show that self-inspections represent roughly 50% of the activity in China’s “tax inspection” (jicha) system and assume even greater importance …

The Province Of (Substantive) Legitimate Expectation In Nigeria's Tax Administration: A Law And Policy Evaluation, Okanga Ogbu Okanga

LLM Theses

The interplay between tax administration and legitimate expectation has been the subject of debate and scholarship in many jurisdictions. Questions around how much discretion tax authorities should be allowed and whether courts should uphold the (substantive) legitimate expectations of taxpayers – by implication, bind the tax authority – when the tax authority reverses itself on a guidance, promise, position, etc. feature prominently in this conundrum. In Nigeria, the disposition of both the tax authority and the court appears to lean towards outright dismissal of legitimate expectation. Put differently, it seems that the tax authority does not consider itself bound by …

Legal Nature Of Tax Liabilities As A Result Of Tax Administration, I. Ergashev

Review of law sciences

This article explores the theoretical and practical aspects of the legal nature of tax liability as a result of tax administration. Suggestions for improving tax legislation have been developed.

Cash On The Table? Imperfect Take-Up Of Tax Incentives And Firm Investment Behavior, Wei Cui, Jeffrey Hicks, Jing Xing

All Faculty Publications

We investigate whether tax incentives are effective in stimulating private investment in less developed countries, by exploiting the introduction of accelerated depreciation for fixed assets investment in China as a natural experiment. In contrast to the large positive impact of similar tax incentives in the U.S. and U.K. found in recent studies, accelerated depreciation appeared ineffective in stimulating Chinese firms’ investment. Using confidential corporate tax returns from a large province, we find that firms fail to claim the tax benefits on over 80 percent of eligible investments. Firms’ take-up of the tax incentive is significantly influenced by their taxable positions …

The Perspective Of Improvement Of Legal Mechanisms Of Extending Information-Communication Technology In Tax Administration, I.A. Ergashev

Review of law sciences

this article studies the theoretical and practical aspects of the use of information technology in improving the legal mechanisms of tax administration. Proposals are given on further improvement of electronic document circulation between the bodies and organizations that provide information on the occurrence of taxpayers' obligations.

Tax Monitoring As A New Form Of Tax Control, I. Turaboev, M. Berdikulov

Review of law sciences

This article considers a new tax audit, which includes tax monitoring, its features, use and reviews of foreign scientists.

Irs Reform: Politics As Usual?, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The IRS is still reeling from accusations that it "targeted" Tea Party and other non-profit organizations. Although multiple government investigations found no politically motivated behavior-only mismanagement-Congressional hearings were quite inflammatory. Congress recently followed up those hearings with a set of IRS reforms. Congress's approach is reminiscent of the late 1990s, when highly publicized Congressional hearings regarding alleged abuses by the IRS resulted in a major IRS reform and restructuring, although the allegations subsequently were largely debunked. This Article argues that the recent allegations against the IRS also were overblown. It looks to the aftermath of the 1998 IRS reform, which …

Leveling The International Playing Field With The Marketplace Fairness Act, Richard Thompson Ainsworth, Boryana Madzharova

Faculty Scholarship

Quill v. North Dakota unbalanced the American retail market with its preference for out-of-state over in-state sellers. The preference under Quill is that sellers without physical presence in a state cannot be compelled to collect the sales tax. If the buyer does not voluntarily remit the complementary use tax, the purchase is effectively tax-free. As a result, Quill is seen as facilitating tax avoidance and driving business to sellers who have no in-state nexus, notably e-businesses. Revenue losses are estimated in excess of $10 billion per year.

The reach of the Quill decision is international. Preferred sellers can reside just …

Unpacking The Force Of Law, Kristin E. Hickman

Vanderbilt Law Review

In its 2011 decision in Mayo Foundation for Education and Research v. United States,' the Supreme Court rejected tax exceptionalism, holding that the general administrative law standards articulated in United States v. Mead Corp. and Chevron USA Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. govern judicial review of U.S. Department of the Treasury ("Treasury") regulations. In so doing, the Court admonished, "[W]e are not inclined to carve out an approach to administrative review good for tax law only." A few months later, the D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc in Cohen v. United States, reinforced the policy of administrative law uniformity …

Some Realism About Responsive Tax Administration, Leigh Osofsky

Articles

No abstract provided.

Perverse Incentives Arising From The Tax Provisions Of Healthcare Reform: Why Further Reforms Are Needed To Prevent Avoidable Costs To Low- And Moderate-Income Workers, David Gamage

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Called “Obamacare” by some, the Affordable Care Act (or “ACA”) is the most extensive reform to the American healthcare system since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. The ACA promises many improvements to American health care. While recognizing the importance of these improvements, this Article focuses on how the ACA’s tax provisions will create avoidable costs for low- and moderate-income workers.

This Article argues that – once key tax-related provisions of the ACA come into effect in 2014 – the ACA will create perverse incentives with respect to a number of important decisions affecting low- and moderate-income Americans, …

Tax Law, James Thurston

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Can The Internal Revenue Service Be Held Accountable For Its Administrative Conduct? The I.R.C. Section 7430 Fee Recovery Controversy, Dani Michele Miller

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Irs Duty Of Consistency: The Failure Of Common Law Making And A Proposed Statutory Solution, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

The IRS should endeavor to treat similarly-situated taxpayers similarly, but does this aspiration rise to the level of a judicially enforceable duty? If the IRS takes a position on Taxpayer B that is correct under the law but is inconsistent with a position the IRS took on similarly-situated Taxpayer A, should the IRS’s position on Taxpayer B fail simply because of the inconsistency? These questions implicate important themes, such as fairness, the rule of law, separation of powers, administrative exigencies, the role of common law making in a highly positivistic system, and the sustainability of legal regimes.

A constitutional standard …

United States Of America Experience With And Administrative Practice Concerning Mutual Assistance In Tax Affairs, Henry Ordower

All Faculty Scholarship

This report was part of the project for the 2009 meeting of the European Association of Tax Law Professors in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The general reporter for the project was Professor Dr. Roman Seer, Ruhr Universität, Bochum, Germany. The report identifies and discusses United States cooperation with the member states of the European Union through treaties and other agreements on matters of sharing tax and taxpayer information and assisting in assembling tax information and collecting tax revenue. The United States report responds to questions that the general reporter posed and provides additional information concerning United States tax procedure.

International Taxation Of Electronic Commerce, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

This article submits proposals for taxing the digital economy on the basis of the benefits and single tax principles.

Managing Change: Reflections On Innovation In The Public Sector, Ira A. Jackson, Jane P. O'Hern

New England Journal of Public Policy

In January 1983, when Governor Michael S. Dukakis appointed Ira Jackson as commissioner of revenue, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was facing an estimated $300 million deficit. The state was also suffering from a severe loss of public confidence in the integrity of its tax administration. His first and most urgent priority being the restoration of that confidence, Commissioner Jackson implemented a three-part strategy to improve voluntary compliance with the tax laws: raising the stakes for evaders, treating honest taxpayers as customers rather than victims, and changing public attitudes about tax evasion. Productivity gains and innovative procedures at the Department of …

Future Issues Facing Boston: The Assessing Department, Janet L. Hunkel

John M. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies Publications

Taxpayers' opinions of municipal government often focus on the property tax. Taxpayers are stingy, and they are critical as to whether their money is purchasing competent services. For citizens to have faith that government is democratic, taxes must be equitable — everyone must pay their fair share. For government to function efficiently, tax administration must be efficient in order to support city services.

The property tax is a complex, difficult tax to administer; it is vulnerable to misuse. However, there have been recent, dramatic changes to the tax laws. Municipal government in Massachusetts now has the political and legal wherewithall …

Federal Tax Administration And The Small Taxpayer, L. Hart Wright

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The actual or supposed complexity of substantive federal tax law has generated two unresolved administrative by-products of peculiar importance in the case of small taxpayers. In each of these circumstances the Internal Revenue Service (and in one, the Congress) has tended to default on its programmatic responsibility to facilitate payment by small taxpayers of no less and no more than they owe under the tax law. For too long and to too large an extent, these taxpayers, although completely bewildered and devoid of self-confidence in the conduct of their tax affairs, have had to fend for themselves, both at return …

Book Review - Taxation. Comparative Conflict Resolution Procedures In Taxation: Analytic Comparative Study By L. Hart Wright (Et. Al.), William D. Popkin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Comparative Conflict Resolution Procedures In Taxation: An Analytic Comparative Study, L. Hart Wright, Jean Van Houtte, Pierre Kerlan, Helmut Debatin, James Arthur Johnstone, H. Schuttevaer, Elizabeth G. Brown

Michigan Legal Studies Series

Tax administrators in well developed countries rarely have either occasion or opportunity to compare experiences or exchange opinions regarding procedures and practices utilized in administering complicated tax laws. Moreover, there is little comparative literature on the subject. Even the tax institutes which are internationally oriented usually focus on substantive tax principles, not procedures and practices. Hopefully, therefore, administrators in highly developed countries will find useful this analytic comparison of practices and procedures through which six of their number resolve disputable income tax questions -administratively and judicially.

Concern for tax administrators in well developed countries, however, was not the prime motivation …

Tax Problems Involved In Administration, Byron E. Bronston

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.