Tax Law Commons^™

Summaries For The Fourth Annual Irs/Sjsu Small Business Tax Institute, Padmini Yalamarthi, Fan Wang, Jie Shen, Xuan Hong, Marla Hampton Cpa, Mba, Aaron Grey

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

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

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

When Is A Transfer Of Assets To A Controlled Corporation By Related Parties A Sale Or Contribution Of Capital?, Ophelia Ding

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Contemporary Tax Journal Volume 6, No. 1 – Summer/Fall 2016

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, Shilpa Balnadu

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Gamers Beware: Level 99 Boss...Taxes!, Fenny Lei

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions Under The Affordable Care Act, Xuan Hong

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Thoughts On Treasury's White Paper On Eu State Aid, Jeffrey M. Kadet

Articles

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on August 24 issued a White Paper that expresses its concerns about the European Commission’s efforts to apply the European Union’s State aid restrictions to multinational enterprises’ profit-shifting structures. This article comments on two aspects of the white paper that are technically correct, but require a little more explanation for readers to understand their significance. These two aspects are:

First, the article clarifies that the general comments that the White Paper makes about “call[ing] into question the ability of Member States to honor their bilateral tax treaties” might be true, but the specifics of …

Destination-Based Taxation In The House Republican Blueprint, Wei Cui

All Faculty Publications

The House Republican Task Force on Tax Reform released its Blueprint for tax reform in June 2016, at the center of which is a destination-based cash-flow tax (DBCFT) to replace the current federal income tax on corporations. The House GOP Blueprint represents the first time that the DBCFT has been promoted by political leaders. Initial commentators have stressed the capacity of such a tax (if adopted in the U.S.) to reduce U.S. companies’ incentives for international tax planning and profit shifting, and to allow the U.S. to “leapfrog to the front of the pack” in its tax competitiveness. This essay …

Lotteries As A Voluntary And "Painless" Tax In American Gaming Law And The Prospect Of Creating A Federal Lottery To Reduce The Federal Deficit In The Era Of Billion Dollar Jackpots, Stephen J. Leacock

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Elaine Gagliardi On Consistent Basis Reporting: Are Proposed Regulations Consistent With Congress’S Basis For Enactment?, Elaine H. Gagliardi

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

The first consistent basis returns became due June 30, 2016,2 almost one year after enactment of the filing requirement by Congress. The basis consistency rules only apply to persons filing and property reported on estate tax returns filed after July 31, 2015.3 As of the initial due date for filing Form 8971, its accompanying instructions conflicted with recently proposed regulations, leaving executors and their advisors to grapple with the ambiguities and differences.4 Comments on the proposed regulations generally call for revisions to make compliance less costly and, more importantly, reflective of the purpose underlying enactment of the basis consistency rule …

Qualified Residence Interest Deduction: A Win For Unmarried Co-Owners, Christine Manolakas

Nevada Law Journal

Despite the seemingly simple language of the statute, the interpretation of the home mortgage interest deduction has recently garnered much attention as the Internal Revenue Service and the courts grappled with its application to unmarried co-owners of a residence. In determining whether the indebtedness limitations apply on a “per-residence” or “per-taxpayer” basis, the Internal Revenue Service, the Tax Court, and the Ninth Circuit have conducted in-depth analysis of the language of the statute, the statute’s legislative history, implications of related tax provisions, social and policy concerns, and financial consequences, and have consulted almost every canon of statutory interpretation. This Article …

All Is Whale That Ends Whale? The Deficiencies In National Protection For Orca Whales In Captivity, Hillary T. Wise

Akron Law Review

With the severity of our Earth’s climate change crisis, this article endeavors to underline the critical need for environmental reformation. It is no secret that orca whales epitomize miraculous intelligence, gentility, and strength. As overwhelming as this crisis might be, there are very concrete steps that our legal system can take to begin protecting and making a difference for our whales and our Earth. It is my hope that this article can shed some light on what is at stake for these animals, and how we might move forward toward a sustainable, safe future for them.

Getting Back To The "Grassroots" Of Tax Administration: Because "We The People" Long For A Gathering Of American Eagles To Restore Trust In The Internal Revenue Service With A Rebuild Irs Initiative, Frank Wolpe

Akron Law Review

Like America, our Internal Revenue Service is a work in progress. Yet, for best results, it’s better to avoid thinking too much about what it is or is not! Instead, let’s think more about what the IRS ought to be! This Article thusly offers a realistic path forward with new choices for a local presence, which once again makes it taxpayer/customer-centric. For more effective tax administration, it also offers a return to something that inexcusably went missing in 1998: senior-executive “on-site oversight” of field operations.

If today’s Internal Revenue Service can be fairly described as an exploding volcano …

The Quagmire Of Mortgage Short Sale Transactions Under Current Homeownership Tax Policy In A Time Of Crisis, Tracie R. Porter

Akron Law Review

The 2007 financial crisis continues to loom over homeowners who own underwater properties. What owning underwater property means for homeowners is that the home’s current market value is less than the mortgage balance, making it impossible to sell or refinance the home without the lender’s approval. The quagmire of financial indebtedness created by current tax laws and policy related to Mortgage Short Sale Transactions, or MSSTs, for homeowners creates an onerous tax liability on taxpayers selling underwater properties. The government and lenders, through various programs implemented to help distressed homeowners with underwater properties, created a belief among homeowners that MSSTs …

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

Akron Law Review

On March 26, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Northwestern University’s scholarship football players were employees of the institution and could unionize and bargain collectively. From a federal income tax perspective, the significance of the NLRB decision—at that time—was that it could redefine the principle that select student-athletes are no longer unpaid amateurs receiving qualified scholarships, but instead are employees of their institutions, earning scholarship funds in exchange for services rendered as college athletes. Accordingly, a crucial question arising from the NLRB holding was whether the Internal Revenue Service could logically continue to treat qualified scholarships received …

Vatcoin: The Gcc's Cryptotaxcurrency, Richard Thompson Ainsworth, Musaad Alwohaibi, Mike Cheetham

Faculty Scholarship

Bitcoin is the world’s first peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. VATCoin is similar, but it is used in tax compliance. Both Bitcoin and VATCoin are distributive ledger applications built upon blockchain technology. Bitcoin’s ledger is public; VATCoin’s is private. If adopted, VATCoin could well become the world’s first government-mandated cryptotaxcurrency. Unlike Bitcoin, VATCoin will not be a speculative currency. It is always fixed to the home currency.

This paper proposes that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) adopt VATCoin in its VAT Framework. The GCC is expected to have multiple 5% VATs in place by January 1, 2018. There is an ample amount of …

Vat In The Gcc - Missing Trader Frauds, Richard Thompson Ainsworth, Musaad Alwohaibi

Faculty Scholarship

All VATs are susceptible to missing trader (MT) fraud. VATs adopted in an economic community are particularly more susceptible. The EU, for example, loses in excess of €100b annually to this fraud. Given the anticipated adoption of a European-style credit-invoice VAT in the GCC by January 1, 2018, this paper offers a technology-based solution involving the real-time tracking of taxable transactions with centrally collected (securely encrypted) data flows that are risk-analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI).

Treasury Should Exclude Income From Discharge Of Student Loans, John R. Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

There are several ways that a student loan borrower can have a federal student loan discharged. In some cases, that cancellation of student debt creates taxable income, but in others it does not. This Article argues that taxing cancellation of student debt undermines the purposes of loan discharge and income-driven repayment programs like IBR and PAYE. This Article further argues that, if Congress does not act to provide a clear exclusion, Treasury has sufficient statutory and common law authority to exclude that income, and that it should do so.

Increasing Charitable Contributions Through The Use Of Trusts, Philip P. Martin, Jr., Joseph A. Sinclitico

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Quis Custodiet: Disestablishment And Standing To Sue, Thomas J. O'Toole

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Australia's Maal And Dpt On Internet-Based Businesses, Antony Ting, Tommaso Faccio, Jeffrey M. Kadet

Articles

Australia has received considerable attention as a result of its unilateral actions to discourage multinational profit shifting. Those actions include the 2015 enactment of the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law and the Australian Treasury’s May 2016 proposal for a diverted profits tax. This article considers how those actions might affect non-Australian multinational entities that conduct internet platform services for, and earn revenues from, Australian customers if those MNEs take no action. It also reviews structural alternatives.

As will be seen from the example set out in the article, the Australian royalty withholding tax is a major portion of the possible tax increases …

Profit-Shifting Structures: Making Ethical Judgments Objectively, Part 2, Jeffrey M. Kadet, David Koontz

Articles

MNCs and their advisors have seemingly taken ethics out of the mix when considering the profit-shifting tax structures they have so prolifically and enthusiastically implemented over the past several decades. There may be a variety of reasons for this. First, U.S. tax law is a self-assessment system, meaning that in most cases taxpayers compute and pay tax without advance approval of their tax positions from the IRS. No third party technical test or propriety standard has to be passed on the front end for any tax strategy or structure. Second, direct personal benefits accrue to management and advisors from implementing …

Perspectives - Susanna Fodor Of Scarola Malone Zubatov, James Hagy, Alicia Langone

Rooftops Project

In a recent visit with the Rooftops Project's Alicia Langone and Professor James Hagy, construction lawyer Susanna Fodor offers views on the tenant improvement process when a not-for-profit organization selects space to lease and on routine repair and renovation projects for properties a not-for-profit may own.

Perspectives - Marty Festenstein Of Nelson, James Hagy, Jennessy Angie Rivera

Rooftops Project

Interior Design Professional Marty Festenstein shares insights on the design process for tenant spaces with Professor James Hagy and Rooftops Project team member Jennsessey Rivera.

Perspectives - Emmy Award-Winning Producer And Director Thomas Kaufman, James Hagy, Colin Pearce

Rooftops Project

What makes an effective message when asking for donations to a capital project using video and streaming media? Professor James Hagy and Rooftops Team member Colin Pearce asked Emmy Award-winning producer and director Tom Kaufman after screening his remarkable two-minute video for the Playtime Project, the goal of which was to fund construction of a children’s playground for a large homeless shelter in a converted, former general hospital in the District of Columbia.

The Luxembourg Effect: Patent Boxes And The Limits Of International Cooperation, Lilian V. Faulhaber

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article uses patent boxes, which reduce taxes on income from patents and other IP assets, to illustrate the fact that the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice has a longer reach than has previously been recognized. This article argues that, along with having effects within the European Union, the ECJ’s decisions can also have effects on countries outside of the EU. In the direct tax context, the ECJ’s jurisprudence has hampered the ability of both EU and non-EU countries to police international tax avoidance.

In 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) proposed restrictions on patent …

Profit-Shifting Structures: Making Ethical Judgments Objectively, Part 1, Jeffrey M. Kadet, David Koontz

Articles

MNCs and their advisors have seemingly taken ethics out of the mix when considering the profit-shifting tax structures they have so prolifically and enthusiastically implemented over the past several decades. There may be a variety of reasons for this. First, U.S. tax law is a self-assessment system, meaning that in most cases taxpayers compute and pay tax without advance approval of their tax positions from the IRS. No third party technical test or propriety standard has to be passed on the front end for any tax strategy or structure. Second, direct personal benefits accrue to management and advisors from implementing …

Taxation As Insurance, John R. Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A central yet often overlooked aspect of an income tax is that it acts as insurance against the risk of low income. Because a person’s payments to government are a function of income, he can be assured that in a time of low income, his tax payments will decrease and transfers will increase, while the standard benefits of governments continue to flow. Because everyone, no matter how successful, faces some risk of lost income, that assurance provides us an insurance benefit, even if our income never actually drops.

International Tax Implications Of The Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development Proposal To Neutralize Hybrid Mismatch Arrangements, Dean Harris

Catholic University Law Review

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has developed a sixteen part plan titled Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). This comment focuses on the second part of that plan; Neutralizing Hybrid Mismatch Arrangements. Mismatches have become a useful tool for corporations to achieve double non-taxation in various jurisdictions. The comment begins by laying the groundwork of what a hybrid mismatch arrangement is and the current problems and complications with them in international tax. Next, this comment addresses various jurisdictional approaches to mismatches, including: Ireland, The United Kingdom, The United States, and Denmark. The paper moves forward onto a …