Taxation-Federal Commons^™

Strategic Planning For The Closely Held Business -- Where To Go Beyond Bank Debt And Internal Growth, Arthur E. Cirulnick

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments In Federal Income Taxation, Ira B. Shepard

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Final Minimum Distribution Rules, Louis A. Mezzullo

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Employer Tax Liability For Employees' Tips: Fior D'Italia, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

Given Nevada's heavy concentration of businesses in which employees are tipped, lawyers here may be more than usually interested in a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court. On June 17, 2002, the Court decided United States v. Fior D'ltalia, Inc. By 6 to 3, the Court held that the IRS may use an “aggregate estimation” method to determine employers’ liability for Social Security (FICA) taxes imposed on their employees’ tip income. The decision is an important development in a controversy of long duration, but it is not the end of that controversy. This article …

Judicial Activism Is Not The Solution To The Attorney's Fee Problem, Brant J. Hellwig

Scholarly Articles

The report responds to criticism of the Tax Court's decision in Biehl v. Commissioner, in which the court determined that contingency fees paid to the taxpayer's attorney in employment litigation did not constitute an above-the-line deduction under section 62(a)(2)(A). The report examines the relevant statutes, regulations, and legislative history and concludes that the Tax Court reached the correct decision. Professor Hellwig further contends that had the Tax Court interpreted section 62(a)(2)(A) to grant above-the-line status to the attorney's fees in this case to avoid the disallowance of the miscelleaneous itemized deduction for attorney's fees under the alternative minimum tax, the …

Consolidated Groups Must Use A Separate Entity Approach When Reducing Tax Attributes In Bankruptcy, Natalie C. Khavulya-Maksin

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Craft Isn't Scary, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

In April 2002, the Supreme Court of the United States decided United States v. Craft. The Court held that the federal tax lien attaches to a tax-debtor spouse’s interest in property held in tenancy by the entirety even when the other spouse does not owe tax and state law provides that entireties property and interests cannot be reached by separate creditors of only one spouse.

Craft was correctly decided. The older, contrary view that Craft displaced was fundamentally at odds with federal tax collection analysis as laid out by the Court. In addition, the old view invited tax abuse and …

The Once And Future Property Tax: A Dialogue With My Younger Self, Edward A. Zelinsky

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

After Craft: Implementation Issues, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

Scientists often observe that answering one question about the world or universe causes many new questions to arise. Chess players understand that to win material in the opening or middle game is empty without playing the end game properly. Military commanders and their civilian superiors know that winning a battle is not an end in itself. They must then address what do with their victory, how to turn it to useful result. Having to confront these second-generation or follow-up problems clearly beats the alternatives (remaining ignorant or losing the game or battle), but initial success ushers in not immediate repose …

For Haven's Sake: Reflections On Inversion Transactions, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

This article discusses “inversion” transactions, in which a publicly traded U.S. corporation becomes a subsidiary of a newly established tax haven parent corporation. In the last three years, an increasing number of these transactions have been taking place, undeterred by the shareholderlevel tax imposed by the IRS on them in 1994. The article first discusses the reasons for the increasing popularity of the transactions and the tax goals they aim at achieving (primarily avoiding subpart F and U.S. earnings stripping). The article then discusses the tax policy implications of these transactions. In the short run, the article suggests that the …

Should Ambiguous Revenue Laws Be Interpreted In Favor Of Taxpayers?, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

There was a time when courts construed, or said that they construed, ambiguous federal tax statutes in favor of taxpayers. That time is long past. Or is it? This article examines whether, because of a recent Supreme Court case, the pro-taxpayer constructional preference may be resuscitated, and whether it should be.

Return To Sharecropping: Lawyers And Clients As Tenants And Landlords In The Tax Treatment Of Contingency Fees, Dean T. Howell

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly In Post-Drye Tax Lien Analysis, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Personal Deductions – An "Ideal" Or Just Another "Deal"?, Jeffrey H. Kahn

Scholarly Publications

The allowance of many personal deductions, such as the deduction for medical expenses or charitable contributions, has been criticized on the contention that such deductions are not appropriate elements of an income tax system, but rather are merely devices by which Congress has expended federal funds to further some nontax program or other goal. The tax revenues that are not collected because of these provisions have been characterized as “subsidies” or as camouflaged direct expenditures of the government. This view has attained such prominence that Congress requires the federal government to publish annually a “budget” that lists those tax provisions …

A Primer On The Taxation Of Executive Deferred Compensation Plans, 35 J. Marshall L. Rev. 487 (2002), Kathryn J. Kennedy

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Money From Heaven: Should Qualified Air Rights Donations Be Characterized As Interests In Land Or Buildings - Why Does It Matter , Daniel Markey

Cleveland State Law Review

Currently, the Internal Revenue Service (hereinafter I.R.S.) and the federal courts do not offer specific positive authority as to whether large amounts of easement value from donated air rights can be allocated against the capital account of "land" as opposed to a "building" on a given tract of real estate. A lack of authority in this area creates uncertainty in the real estate market. This uncertainty is not only with the payment of federal income, estate, and gift taxes, but it also has a ripple effect with the assessment of local property taxes. Most importantly, if a deal is on …

Why Tax The Rich? Efficiency, Equity, And Progressive Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Reviews

In Greek mythology, Atlas was a giant who carried the world on his shoulders. In Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Atlas represents the “ prime movers”—the talented few who bear the weight of the world’s economy.1 In the novel, the prime movers go on strike against the oppressive burden of excessive regulation and taxation, leaving the world in disarray and demonstrating how indispensable they are to the rest of us (the “second handers” ).

Integrating The Tax Burdens Of The Federal Income And Payroll Taxes On Labor Income, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This 2002 article explores the increasing burden of federal income and payroll taxes on labor income and how those tax burdens might be integrated.

Simplifying And Rationalizing The Federal Income Tax Law Applicable To Transfers In Divorce, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This 2002 article explores the tax consequences of transfers in divorce and suggests how the tax consequences can be both simplified and rationalized. This article was written as an "Academic Adviser" to the Joint Committee on Taxation in connection with a study mandated by Congress on the overall state of the Federal tax system (June 2000 through April 2001) and was first published at JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION, STUDY OF THE OVERALL STATE OF THE FEDERAL TAX SYSTEM AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SIMPLIFICATION JCS-3-01, VOLUME III (ACADEMIC PAPERS), April, 2001, at 19.

Recent Developments In Federal Income Taxation: The Year 2001, Ira B. Shepard, Martin J. Mcmahon Jr.

UF Law Faculty Publications

This recent developments outline discusses, and provides context to understand the significance of, the most important judicial decisions and administrative rulings and regulations promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department during 2001 - and sometimes a little farther back in time if we find the item particularly humorous or outrageous. Most Treasury Regulations, however, are so complex that they cannot be discussed in detail and, anyway, only a devout masochist would read them all the way through; just the basic topic and fundamental principles are highlighted. Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code generally are not discussed except to …

Erwin Griswold's Tax Law – And Ours, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

It is a pleasure for me to be here today to deliver the Erwin N. Griswold Lecture. And it is an honor to follow those who have graced this lectern before me. They include important mentors to me. Several are close friends. Today, we are in a quiet interlude awaiting the next serious political debate about restructuring the nation's tax system. No fundamental tax policy concerns are at stake in the current disputes over economic stimulus or in the political huffing and puffing about postponing or accelerating the income tax rate cuts of the 2001 Act. Those arguments are concerned …

The Interaction Of Tax And Non-Tax Treaties, Robert A. Green

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This background note consists of two parts. Part one provides an overview of the extent to which tax matters are currently covered in non-tax treaties. This discussion focuses on the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT)/World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement and the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA) (which cover direct tax measures only to a limited extent) and the European Community (EC) treaty (which covers direct tax measures more broadly). Part two outlines the issues raised when tax matters are covered in non-tax treaties.

Even Before Enron: Banking Regulators, The Income Tax, The S&L Crisis, And Deceptive Accounting At The Supreme Court, Stephen B. Cohen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Years before the ENRON debacle, the Supreme Court heard a pair of cases involving dishonest financial accounting, Frank Lyon Co. v. U.S. and Cottage Savings Ass'n. v. Commissioner. In both cases, federal bank regulators had encouraged deceptive financial accounting, and the deceptive accounting became the basis for taxpayer claims. The Supreme Court, however, did not comment in either opinion on the deceptive character of the financial accounting that gave rise to tax litigation.

100 Million Unnecessary Returns: A Fresh Start For The U.S. Tax System, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

We are now in a quiet interlude awaiting the next serious political debate over the nation's tax system. No fundamental tax policy concerns were at stake in the 2002 disputes over economic stimulus or the political huffing and puffing about postponing or accelerating the income tax rate cuts of the 2001 Act. Those arguments were concerned principally with positioning Democratic and Republican candidates for the 2002 congressional election, not tax policy.

But the coming decade, with its paint-by-numbers phase-ins and phaseouts of 2001 Act tax changes, the tax cuts waiting to spring into effect, and the sunset of the entire …

Recent Developments In Federal Income Taxation, Ira B. Shepard

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Entity Theory As Myth In The Origins Of The Corporate Income Tax, Steven A. Bank

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why The Corporate Amt Should Be Retained, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

The corporate AMT is under attack. Repeal has been proposed by the White House, endorsed by the ABA/AICPA/TEI tax simplification project, and included in the stimulus bill passed by the House of Representatives. Repeal is supported on two principal grounds: That the corporate AMT increases complexity, and that it is pro-cyclical.

Secrecy In Law And Science, Jack B. Weinstein, Catherine Wimberly

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Discovery In Summary Assessment Proceedings, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

When the collection of tax could be imperiled by going through the usual deficiency procedures, the IRS may make a jeopardy assessment or a termination assessment (hereinafter sometimes called “summary assessment”) and proceed immediately to collection. To prevent the misuse of this power, section 7429 provides affected taxpayers expedited administrative and judicial review. The IRS has made tens of thousands of jeopardy and termination assessments over the years, and there are hundreds of court decisions in litigated section 7429 cases.

The unique nature of jeopardy and termination assessments makes section 7429 proceedings very different from typical tax litigation. This article …

Federal Tax Collection Controversies In The Era Of Drye, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

By “tax collection controversies,” I mean cases in which it has been established that the taxpayer owes additional taxes, those taxes remain unpaid, and the IRS is attempting to enforce collection out of the taxpayer’s assets. Such cases are numerous and involve attorneys in general legal practice as well as tax specialists. For example, the taxpayer may be your client for non-tax matters, and may expect you to handle her tax collection controversy as well. Or, your client may not be the taxpayer herself, but instead someone who co-owns property with the taxpayer. Your client expects you to make sure …