Taxation-Federal Commons^™

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

Nevada Law Journal

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 …

Federal Taxation, Robert Beard, Gregory S. Lucas

Mercer Law Review

In the year 2015, the federal courts in the United States Court of Appeals for Eleventh Circuit's appellate jurisdiction addressed an issue of first impression involving tax credits for research expenditures, interpreted new Supreme Court precedent on the enforcement of summonses issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and applied state law doctrines of transferee liability in the context of "Midco" tax shelters. This Article surveys those decisions.

Permitting Abused Spouses To Claim The Earned Income Tax Credit In Separate Returns, Fred B. Brown

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Pension De-Risking, Paul M. Secunda, Brendan S. Maher

Faculty Scholarship

The United States is facing a retirement crisis, in significant part because defined benefit pension plans have been replaced by defined contribution retirement plans that, whatever their theoretical merit, have left significant numbers of workers unprepared for retirement. A troubling example of the continuing movement away from defined benefit plans is a new phenomenon euphemistically called “pension de-risking.”

Recent years have been marked by high-profile companies engaging in various actions designed to reduce the company’s exposure to pension funding risk (hence the term “pension de-risking”). Some de-risking strategies convert a federally-guaranteed pension into a more risky private annuity. Other approaches …

Proposed Regulatory Change Of Treatment Of A Guaranteed Payment From A Partnership To A Partner, Douglas A. Kahn

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

A partnership pays no federal income tax. Instead, its income, deductions, and credits are allocated among its partners at the end of its taxable year. A partnership’s distribution of cash or property in kind to a partner will be characterized as one of three distinct transactions, each of which has its own tax consequences.

Taxing Sales Of Depreciable Assets, James R. Hines Jr.

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

Investors in depreciable assets used in a trade or business claim depreciation deductions following investment, and upon sale or other disposition of their assets are taxed on gain or loss equal to differences between amounts realized and adjusted basis. The taxation of these realized gains and losses is asymmetric: losses are deductible against ordinary income, whereas a portion of the gain on sales of personal property, and virtually all gains on sales of real property, are taxed at more favorable capital gain tax rates. Evidence from U.S. tax returns in 2012 indicates that the aggregate annual magnitude of the tax …

What We Talk About When We Talk About Tax Complexity, Andrea Monroe

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

I learned most of what I know about being a lawyer, a teacher, and a scholar from Professor Douglas Kahn. For four months in the spring of 1997, Doug mesmerized and terrified me in the class that I feared would be my academic downfall—Partnership Taxation. In the years that followed, Doug has been a mentor and friend, encouraging and supporting me at every stage of my professional career. And my experience is not unique: Doug has inspired generations of law students in just the same way. There is no adequate way to thank Doug for everything he has given to …

Book Review: International Tax Planning. By Barry Spitz. London, England: Butterworth & Co. Ltd., 1972. Pp. Xxiii, 159. $12.15 (U.S.)., Donald O. Clark

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The Taxation Of Fringe Benefits, Jay A. Soled, Kathleen Delaney Thomas

Washington Law Review

The receipt of workplace fringe benefits has become increasingly ubiquitous. As a result of their employment, employees often receive a cornucopia of fringe benefits, including frequent-flier miles, hotel rewards points, rental car preferred status, office supply dollar coupons, cellular telephone use, home internet service, and, in some instances, even free lunches, massages, and dance lessons. Technological advances and workforce globalization are important contributory factors to the popularity of what were, until the turn of this century, previously unknown fringe benefits. In years past, taxpayers could readily turn to the Internal Revenue Code to ascertain the income tax effects and reporting …

Early Termination Of A Trust, Jeffrey H. Kahn, Douglas A. Kahn

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

The Enigma Of Wynne, Edward A. Zelinsky

William & Mary Business Law Review

The five-justice Wynne majority used that case to make a major statement about the dormant Commerce Clause. In many respects, Wynne is an enigma that perpetuates an inherent problem of the Court’s dormant Commerce Clause doctrine: the Court declares some ill-defined taxes as unconstitutionally discriminatory because they encourage in-state investment, while other economically equivalent taxes and government programs that similarly encourage intrastate economic activity are apparently acceptable under the dormant Commerce Clause.

Wynne is thus more important than the immediate situation it addresses, and will have consequences beyond the immediate circumstances it addresses. A decision as enigmatic as it is …

Words Of Wisdom From The Founding Fathers: Why The Internal Revenue Service Should Let Churches Be, Sophia Benavides

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

Part I of this comment will explore the foundations of the First Amendment, as the Constitution is a framework on which the United States continues to rest. An examination of the events contributing and leading to the drafting of the Constitution will illuminate the rationale behind the tenets put forth by the Founding Fathers. More specifically, this comment will devote emphasis to the Founding Fathers’ objectives regarding the state in relation to religion. This emphasis will provide insight into the perspective of the Founders at the time of drafting the First Amendment. Furthermore, this section will illustrate how the separation …

Registered Savings Plans And The Making Of Middle Class Canada: Toward A Performative Theory Of Tax Policy, Lisa Philipps

Articles & Book Chapters

Politicians across Canada’s political spectrum strive to position themselves as defenders of the middle class, and tax policy is a prime vehicle for making this pitch. Any tax reform proposal can be examined critically to evaluate its likely distributional impacts and how well these map onto specific definitions of the middle class. This article attempts, however, a different project. Drawing on the ideas of Judith Butler, it analyzes instead how tax policy produces middle-class identity through the very process of claiming to advance middle-class interests. The case study for this purpose is the rise of tax incentives for saving as …

Tax Treaties-Reciprocal Exchange Of Information-Summons Power Contained In Irc Section 7602 May Be Used To Obtain Information From Domestic Sources For Use By Canadian Authorities In Investigating The Canadian Tax Liability Of A Canadian Company, Tim J. Floyd

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Is An American Value Added Tax Inevitable?, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Bringing Continuity To Cryptocurrency: Commercial Law As A Guide To The Asset Categorization Of Bitcoin, Evan Hewitt

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will undertake to analyze bitcoin under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)—two important sources of commercial law—to see whether any existing asset categories adequately protect bitcoin’s commercial viability. This Note will demonstrate that although commercial law dictates that bitcoin should—nay must—be regulated as a currency in order to sustain its existence, the very definition of currency seems to preclude that from happening. Therefore, this Note will recommend that we experiment with a new type of asset that receives currency-like treatment, specifically designed for cryptocurrencies, under which bitcoin can be categorized in order to …

Consolidation Of Educational Tax Credits, Michael Hynson

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Irs Developments And Examination Strategies, Aaron Grey

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Contemporary Tax Journal Volume 5, No. 2 – Winter 2016

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Federal Estate Tax, Rachita Kothari

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

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

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

A Panel Discussion Of Recent Developments In State Tax Reform, Leonel Renteria

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Contemporary Tax Journal’S Interview Of Eli Dicker, Shruti Raja

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Cloud Activities And Issues Under Irc Sections 41 And 199, Marina Pinato

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

When Should Bitcoin Be Subject To Fbar?, Arash Kiadeh

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Altera Case: Tax Ramifications Of Stock-Based Compensation, Sandhya Dharani

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

To Win Or Not To Win! Article On Prize And Awards, Shilpa Balnadu

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Repeal The Alternative Minimum Tax, Branden Wilson

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Redefining “Peril”—Abating The Interest On A Tax Deficiency For Good Faith Reliance On Irs Publications, Brady Cox

Pepperdine Law Review

Many taxpayers rely on guidance materials the IRS provides in order to comprehend the United States Tax Code and pay an accurate tax. However, many, if not all, of these taxpayers would likely be startled to learn that their reliance on these IRS guidance materials is perilous. That is, that reliance upon these guidance materials will not support a taxpayer’s tax treatment decisions if the IRS decides that the decisions were incorrect under substantive law. However, because the courts have not decisively concluded which financial consequences a taxpayer faces or escapes by relying on informal IRS guidance, “peril” remains undefined. …