Tax Law Commons^™

Taxation Of Sale And Leaseback Transactions - A General Review, Kenneth L. Stewart

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note first discusses in detail the operation of a sale and leaseback transaction and delineates its various uses. The Note next points out the tax and financial advantages and disadvantages of the sale and leaseback, sets forth the possible avenues of attack on the transaction by the Internal Revenue Service (Service), and describes the consequences of a successful attack by the Service. The final section of the Note analyzes the judicial treatment of sale and leaseback transactions for tax purposes, focusing both on the traditional tests used by the courts and on changes in the law brought about by …

The Changing Meaning Of "Gift": An Analysis Of The Tax Court's Decision In Carson V. Commissioner, Jeffrey Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article will focus on the Carson case in an effort to identify the emerging meaning, if any, of gift. Following a consideration of the factual background of the case in Part II, Part HI will analyze critically and in-depth each of the five Carson opinions in an effort to decipher the various currents at play and any common ground that may still be shared by a majority of the court. Finally, Part IV will consider the decision's likely consequences and the long-term prospects for a settled meaning for gift, one that is not only workable, as is the case …

Penalizing Bribery Of Foreign Officials Through The Tax Laws: A Case For Repealing Section 162 (C)(1), Christopher Alan Lewis

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Most commentary on these congressional attempts to use tax laws to control the ethics of overseas enterprises has centered either on the effectiveness of these provisions or on the burdens and difficulties involved with their implementation. This article, while discussing these issues, is concerned primarily with the conceptual justifications and the direct economic effects of these tax provisions. The article contends that section 162(c)(1) and the pertinent provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1976 are disguised penalties which often operate arbitrarily and unfairly and concludes that they should be repealed in favor of more equitable and effective deterrents.

Taxpayer Rights In Noncustodial Irs Investigations After Beckwith V. United States, Curtis L. Christensen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The recent Supreme Court decision in Beckwith v. United States, holding that Miranda does not extend to noncustodial tax investigations, has important implications with respect to the News Release doctrine and the involuntary consent grounds considered in motions to suppress evidence. This article will examine Beckwith and its potential significance with respect to these other doctrines, discussing the factors which the IRS and the courts should consider in order to assure fair treatment of taxpayers during investigations.

The Taxation Of Distributions From Qualified Employee Benefit Plans, Louis A. Mezzullo

University of Richmond Law Review

One of the most confusing aspects of employee benefit plans is the federal tax treatment of distributions to the participants of these plans and to the beneficiaries of deceased participants. The issues frequently involve not only income taxation, but estate and gift taxation as well. While the average practitioner may never be called upon to draft a pension or profit-sharing plan, he may be asked by his client about the consequences of the various alternative methods

of receiving a benefit from such a plan. Many employee benefit plans, particularly profit-sharing plans, offer a participant upon his retirement from the plan …

The "Elaborate Interweaving Of Jurisdiction:" Labor And Tax Administration And Enforcement Of Erisa And Beyond, John W. Lee

University of Richmond Law Review

On Labor Day 1974, President Ford signed into law~the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, commonly known by its acronym ERISA. The genesis of ERISA is found in a study released in 1965 by the President's Committee on Corporate Pension Fund and Other Private Retirement and Welfare Programs, titled "Public Policy and Private Pension Programs-A Report to the President on Private Employee Retirement Plans." The Committee had been established in 1962 by President Kennedy in recognition of the growth of the pension industry and the need for reform. The report made recommendations as to vesting; funding; termination insurance and …

Fisher V. United States, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Scope Of Disclosure Of Internal Revenue Communications And Information Files Under The Freedom Of Information Act, Peter R. Spanos

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will discuss the proper scope of disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act of the files and administrative and policy materials of the IRS, with particular attention to the following currently contested issues: (1) the extent to which IRS guideline documents and private letter rulings are subject to disclosure; (2) the proper scope of the FOIA exemption for "interagency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency" as applied to the IRS; and (3) the scope of the exemption for "investigatory records …

Charitable Remainder Trusts: Some Considerations To Draftsmanship, Harold G. Wren

University of Richmond Law Review

The Tax Reform Act of 1969 limited the charitable deduction for remainder interests for the purposes of income, estate and gift taxes to three specific forms: the annuity trust, the unitrust, or a gift to a pooled-income fund. This article will not deal with the details of a pooled-income fund, commonly established by a public charity to make it possible for a donor of a relatively small gift to do what we shall discover the wealthy donor can do by way of a charitable remainder trust. Since estate planners are primarily concerned with the drafting of trusts for donors of …

Couch V. United States, Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

The Irs Program To Up-Date Published Rulings, Harold T. Swartz

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federal Tax Rulings: Procedure And Policy, Saul C. Belz

Vanderbilt Law Review

The rulings program of the Internal Revenue Service was designed to meet the need for predictability of the tax consequences of any given financial transaction. Though the rulings program is not particularly important to the average taxpayer, it has become increasingly crucial both to the financial community and to the Service itself. As the tax laws become more complex, and tax risks become increasingly important to the success of business ventures, the need for confirmation before entering into a transaction is intensified. Thus parties to a transaction will generally request a ruling...

"whenever the answer is uncertain or when the …

The Realization Requirement And Tax Avoidance, E. George Rudolph

Michigan Law Review

Consider, for a moment, the plight of G. E. Hall. During 1947 Hall incurred a gambling debt to the Las Vegas Club variously estimated at between 145,000 and 478,000 dollars. The debt came into the sole ownership of one Binion, a partner in the club, and was eventually settled by Hall transferring to Binion an undivided one-half interest in certain cattle located in Arizona and Montana. Thereafter, Hall and Binion engaged in the ranching business as partners. At this point the Internal Revenue Service came forward with a claim that Hall, in the course of this disastrous chain of events, …

Lawyers And The Professional Association Act, Ellsworth Wiltshire

University of Richmond Law Review

The Professional Association Act passed by the recent Gen- eral Assembly of Virginia becomes effective as Chapter 277 of the Acts of 1962 on June 29, 1962. It permits three or more individuals authorized to practice in Virginia any one of the following named professions to form an association, which will be a legal entity separate from the associates comprising it: "architecture, professional engineering, land surveying, certified public accounting, dentistry, optometry, practice of the healing arts, and veterinary medicine, surgery and law".

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Published Opinions Of The New Tax Officialdom: A Review, David G. Hill S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

President John F. Kennedy has appointed as his principal tax officials two men who have long been on record as proponents of tax reform. This comment is a collection and, to a small extent, an analysis of the opinions found in their published statements on taxation. Stanley S. Surrey, fifty-year-old Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy, first served with the Treasury Department in 1937. He was Tax Legislative Counsel from 1942 to 1947 and later served as Special Counsel to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Administration of the Revenue Laws. He also has served as Reporter …

Tax Accrual Accounting For Contested Items (Without The Benefit Of I.R.C. Sections 452 And 462), Harrop A. Freeman

Michigan Law Review

A spate of cases in 1956-1957 has required us to examine again the tax handling of accrual accounting in an attempt to find some way through the judicial morass. This study is concerned primarily with proper income and expense accrual reporting in cases in which some form of controversy exists or may exist between the taxpayer and another party concerning the item to be accrued.

Federal Income Taxes And The Civil Fraud Penalty, Raymond Whiteaker

Vanderbilt Law Review

The drive against tax evaders is now in full swing after a complete reorganization of the Internal Revenue Service, and the new Commissioner has promised an efficient enforcement of all revenue laws. Although the effective administration of the federal income tax rests primarily upon the willingness of the taxpayer voluntarily to disclose his correct income, Congress has provided certain civil and criminal penalties to punish those who have not fulfilled their obligations to the United States Treasury. This article will deal only with the administration and operation of the civil fraud penalty.

The most severe civil penalty that may be …