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Reducing Information Gaps To Reduce The Tax Gap: When Is Information Reporting Warranted?, Leandra Lederman Jan 2010

Reducing Information Gaps To Reduce The Tax Gap: When Is Information Reporting Warranted?, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A core problem for enforcement of tax laws is asymmetric information. The taxpayer knows the facts regarding the relevant transactions it engages in during the year-or at least has ready access to that information. The government is forced to play catch-up, obtaining that information either from the taxpayer or from third parties. Information reporting is routinely used to address this information gap. The government obtains information about the taxpayer's tax situation from a third party and-equally important-the taxpayer knows that the government has received that information. This fosters taxpayer honesty. Information reporting is not a panacea, however. It imposes costs …


The Second Circuit Reaffirms The Efficacy Of Restrictive Stock Agreements To Control Estate Tax Valuation, Edmund W. Pavenstedt Nov 1952

The Second Circuit Reaffirms The Efficacy Of Restrictive Stock Agreements To Control Estate Tax Valuation, Edmund W. Pavenstedt

Michigan Law Review

Owners of close corporations have for many years entered into agreements with each other requiring a stockholder who wishes to dispose of his holdings first to offer them to his fellow stockholders or to the corporation and, in the case of death, granting to the survivors or the corporation an option to buy the shares from the decedent's estate. Such agreements either fix a price per share or contain a formula or a provision for appraisal under which such price is to be determined. About twenty years ago two leading cases both decided by the United States Court of Appeals …


Taxation-Federal Estate Tax-Transfers Of Life Insurance In Contemplation Of Death, Ralph E. Hunt S. Ed. Apr 1949

Taxation-Federal Estate Tax-Transfers Of Life Insurance In Contemplation Of Death, Ralph E. Hunt S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Insurance policies on the life of a decedent are ordinarily included in his gross estate according to the provisions of section 811 (g) of the Internal Revenue Code. Where the policy is payable to a beneficiary other than the executor, it is taxable under section 811(g)(2): (1) if the decedent paid premiums on the policy, in proportion to the amount of premiums paid by him in relation to the total premiums paid, or (2) if the decedent possessed at his death any of the incidents of ownership. However, these provisions are not exclusive; even though section 811 (g) is inapplicable, …


The Church And Spiegel Cases: A Reinterpretation Of The "Possession Or Enjoyment" Clause Of I.R.C. 811 ©, William J. Schrenk Jr., Richard V. Wellman Mar 1949

The Church And Spiegel Cases: A Reinterpretation Of The "Possession Or Enjoyment" Clause Of I.R.C. 811 ©, William J. Schrenk Jr., Richard V. Wellman

Michigan Law Review

Although federal tax statutes have provided for over thirty years that "transfers intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after death" shall be included in the grantor's gross estate for estate tax purposes attempts to define precisely the scope of this language have not been outstanding for their success. In two recent decisions by the Supreme Court, Commissioner v. Church and Spiegel v. Commissioner, a further attempt at clarification has been made.


Taxation - Annuity Contracts - Federal Estate Tax, Charles J. O'Laughlin Apr 1942

Taxation - Annuity Contracts - Federal Estate Tax, Charles J. O'Laughlin

Michigan Law Review

The decedent purchased several single-premium annuity contracts, the annuity payments to be made to her for life, and after her death to a designated second annuitant for life. The Board of Tax Appeals ruled that the policy should not be taxed as a transfer to take effect at death. Held, on appeal, the interest passing to the second anuitant at the death of the decedent should be included in decedent's gross estate under the federal estate tax, since it falls within the provision taxing transfers intended to take effect in possession and enjoyment at or after the death of …


The Impact Of The Law Of Powers Upon Our Internal Revenue Laws, Montgomery B. Angell Jun 1941

The Impact Of The Law Of Powers Upon Our Internal Revenue Laws, Montgomery B. Angell

Michigan Law Review

An interesting difference in view has arisen recently in the halls of the Harvard Law School on the use of powers of appointment under the federal estate tax act. One view is that the chief efficacy today of the power of appointment lies in its capacity for use in tax evasion, which should be corrected. The other view is that there is a salutary tendency toward using sensible and flexible powers of appointment, which should be encouraged in meeting changing and difficult family situations, but which would be checked were the former view accepted. Thus we find here the age-old …


Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Intangible Satisfaction From Gift As Income To The Donor, Walter B. Connolly Jan 1941

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Intangible Satisfaction From Gift As Income To The Donor, Walter B. Connolly

Michigan Law Review

Respondent, the owner of negotiable bonds, detached from them negotiable interest coupons shortly before their due date and delivered them as a gift to his son, who in the same year collected them at maturity. The commissioner of internal revenue ruled that the interest payments were taxable to the respondent donor. The circuit court of appeals reversed the order of the board of tax appeals sustaining the tax. Held, the commissioner was correct in including such interest payments in the taxable income of the donor. Helvering v. Horst, (U.S. 1940) 61 S. Ct. 144.


Taxation - Inheritance And Estate Taxes - Powers Of Appointment, William L. Howland Dec 1940

Taxation - Inheritance And Estate Taxes - Powers Of Appointment, William L. Howland

Michigan Law Review

From time immemorial, problems arising from the creation and exercise of powers of appointment have proven enigmatic to the judiciary. These problems are not decadent but still possess an abundance of vitality. The increased complexity of statutes imposing death taxes has tended to foment litigation. These two fertile sources of intricate problems, in combination, have borne the apprehended fruits. The taxation of powers of appointment has created problems of infinite variety, harassing alike the attorney, the judge and the legislator. The questions involved are not simply of academic or theoretical importance. Under our modern death tax statutes the questions are …


Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Subscriptions To Charitable And Educational Institutions As Deductions From Gross Estate, Charles E. Nadeau Nov 1938

Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Subscriptions To Charitable And Educational Institutions As Deductions From Gross Estate, Charles E. Nadeau

Michigan Law Review

Decedent had promised to contribute funds to numerous educational, religious, and charitable institutions. Some of these pledges were conditioned on pledges of third parties to perform certain duties or to furnish subscriptions to equal amounts. In several instances the institutions, on fullfillment of the conditions, acted in reliance on these promises in a manner that made them enforceable against the estate under the state law. The executor had paid some of these claims. In affirming the Board of Tax Appeals the court held that pledges, though later satisfied by the executor, cannot be deducted from the gross estate as "transfers" …


Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Claims Arising Out Of An Antenuptial Agreement As Deductions From Gross Estate, Charles E. Nadeau Jun 1938

Taxation - Federal Estate Tax - Claims Arising Out Of An Antenuptial Agreement As Deductions From Gross Estate, Charles E. Nadeau

Michigan Law Review

An antenuptial agreement provided that in the event the wife survived her husband she would receive $50,000 in lieu of her dower rights. After his death the executors paid this sum, and then sought to deduct it from the gross estate as a claim against the estate. In affirming the Board of Tax Appeals the court held that marriage and relinquishment of dower were not "an adequate and full consideration in money or money's worth" and hence the claims were not deductible under the Revenue Act of 1926. Empire Trust Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, (C. C. A. …


Taxation - Tenancies By The Entirety - Retroactive Application Of The Federal Estate Tax Laws Mar 1932

Taxation - Tenancies By The Entirety - Retroactive Application Of The Federal Estate Tax Laws

Michigan Law Review

H and W became tenants by the entirety in certain lands in 1917. H died in 1925. A federal estate tax was collected under section 302 of the Revenue Act of 1924, 43 Stat. 253, 304, which provides that the gross value of the decedent's estate subject to tax shall include all property "to the extent of the interest therein held . . . as tenants by the entirety by the decedent and spouse," with certain exceptions. The same provision appeared in the 1916 and successive revenue acts without material change. W protested the levy on the ground that Congress …