Tax Law Commons^™

To Have And To Hold: What Does Love (Of Money) Have To Do With Joint Tax Filing, Stephanie Mcmahon

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Wealthy taxpayers have always attempted to reduce their federal income taxes. Before 1948, when the United States had an individual-based system, one popular method was to shift income between spouses so that more of a husband's income could be reported by and taxed to his lower-income, and thus lower-tax-bracket, wife. Congress eliminated the reward for this tax-avoidance behavior in 1948 by nationalizing income splitting via the joint return. Today, there are proposals to return to an individual-based system. Evaluating the proposal for individual filing, this Article first explores the development of the income-splitting joint return as a historical guide to …

Recovery Of Interest On A Tax Underpayment Caused By A Tax Advisor's Negligence, Jacob L. Todres

Akron Tax Journal

In my view, this area is relatively straightforward. There are three views that have developed. Once the views are apprehended, it should be relatively easy for a court to choose which view to follow. By presenting and analyzing the three views, this area will be appropriately elucidated and subsequently given the thoughtful attention it warrants.

In Part II, I will focus upon each of the three views and explore the rationale for each view. In Part III, I will trace the development of each of the views, especially the minority view and more modem, intermediate view. The goal of this …

Recent Developments Concerning The Estate Tax Inclusion Of Transfers To A Family Limited Partnership, Brent B. Nicholson

Akron Tax Journal

After a brief examination of the statutory and regulatory background, this paper will summarize the significant cases prior to Shurtz, the significant cases in the last year, discuss the facts and holdings of Shurtz, and then outline the coordinates that have emerged to guide taxpayers

From The Great Depression To The Current Housing Crisis: What Code Section 108 Tells Us About Congress's Response To Economic Crisis, Monica D. Armstrong

Akron Tax Journal

This article will explore the development of section 108, using the three major economic crises mentioned above as a timeline. Part II discusses the judicial debate of whether gross income should include discharge of indebtedness. Part III discusses the development of the insolvency exception following the Supreme Court's decision in Kirby Lumber, which held that gross income includes discharge of indebtedness. More specifically, it provides a discussion of court decisions that carved out exceptions to Kirby Lumber to provide tax relief to struggling businesses impacted by the Great Depression. This part closes with a discussion of the codification of the …

Informal Claims For Refund - A Winding Road, William A. Neilson

Akron Tax Journal

In reviewing the manner in which courts have interpreted [the informal claim] doctrine, it appears that the doctrine can be more effective if steps are taken to create a definite set of rules for the doctrine's application, and if those rules are incorporated into the IRC or Treasury regulations. This Article, after briefly reviewing the history of the informal claim doctrine and its current form, will discuss the possibility of creating such rules.

The Case Against Strategic Tax Law Uncertainty, Leigh Osofsky

Articles

No abstract provided.

Keeping Republics Republican, Rob Atkinson

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Shifting The Paradigm By Bringing Tax Arbitrage To The Lower Income Separated Family: Why Should The Middle To Upper Class Family Have All The Fun?, Reginald Mombrun

Akron Tax Journal

The background for this article is, of course, the duty of parents to provide sustenance for their children, a duty that necessarily survives the break-up of the family. In this article, I continue to address the problems of the child support system, and I continue to take a holistic view of the problem. A fundamental concept of family law is that the system must do what is in the best interests of the child. Few people will disagree with the soundness of this fundamental concept. However, the problem lies with its application. Although counterintuitive, focusing solely on the child to …

The Liability-Offset Theory Of Peracchi, Bradley T. Borden, Douglas L. Longhofer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The "Current Monthly Income" Debate: Unemployment Compensation As A "Benefit Received Under The Social Security Act"?, 44 J. Marshall L. Rev. 801 (2011), Brent Wilson

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Don't Burst The Bubble: An Analysis Of The First-Time Homebuyer Credit And Its Use As An Economic Policy Tool, 45 J. Marshall L. Rev. 23 (2011), Sarah J. Webber

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Charity In The 21st Century: Trending Toward Decay, Roger Colinvaux

Scholarly Articles

The Article argues that the federal tax law framework relating to charitable organizations is decaying. Through an overview of the historical development of the law relating to charity in the 20th century, the Article shows that the statutory law has passively accommodated significant growth of the charitable sector without demanding any rigor of the sector in the form of positive requirements or quantitative measures. This has led to growth without meaningful oversight – a recipe for problems. The Article then provides an overview of many of the scandals that engulfed the sector during the early 21st century and shows that …

Fundamentals Of Wealth Transfer Tax Planning, John A. Miller

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Role Of International Law And Practice In Addressing International Tax Issues In The Global Era, Charles H. Gustafson

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

The article discusses the role of international law and practice in deciphering complex international tax policy and administration issues as of July 2011. An August 2009 deal between the U.S. and Switzerland, known as the U.S.-Swiss Agreement, is also mentioned. The international law of jurisdiction is examined as it relates to the issue of double taxation.

Three Essays On Tax Salience: Market Salience And Political Salience, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This Article analyzes the literatures on how individuals understand taxation (i.e., tax salience). We evaluate how taxpayers respond to different presentations of tax prices both in their roles as market participants and as voters. We aim to combat naïve notions about tax salience that currently exert a pernicious influence on tax lawmaking. In particular, we argue that it is normatively desirable for governments to reduce tax salience with respect to market decision making, and that there is nothing objectionable about governments reducing tax salience with respect to political decision making.

Post-Wto China Tax Law System Reform And The Rule Of Law: Progress And Prospects, Tianlong Hu

SJD Dissertations

A close examination of China's accession commitments reveals that effective economic reform and trade liberalization call for substantiations from a matching legal infrastructure reform. For example, taxpayers' rights protection should be viewed in terms of broader political and civil rights reform. Indeed, a number of the values featured in the WTO principles and the rule of law framework encourage China's further integration into both the global trade network and the international human rights regime. This is particularly evident in the Chinese tax law context. WTO principles and the rule of law requirements must be introduced and evaluated together in tax …

The Political Pathway: When Will The Us Adopt A Vat?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Book Chapters

The reason the VAT is on the table is also stated in the referenced article by Orszag: "Although hardly anyone wants to admit it, we're not going to solve our budget deficit unless revenue is part of the equation." And while in the short term it may be possible to address the deficit by raising income tax rates(Orszag suggests letting all the Bush tax cuts expire in 2013}, in the long term it doesn't seem plausible that we can raise sufficient revenue that way to pay for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, interest on the national debt, and defense and some …

Taxation Of Unmined Coal In Kentucky, Jesse M. Parrish

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Business Vs Non-Business Bad Debts: Dagres Vs Commissioner Presents New Variations On An Old Theme, Erik M. Jensen

Faculty Publications

In Dagres v. Commissioner, decided in March 211, the Tax Court considered the distinction between business bad debts and nonbusiness bad debts. This article discusses the particulars of Dagres, which presented some unusual issues, and it describes more generally why the distinction matters to investors and how we are supposed to tell the two categories of debt apart.

Irs's Recent Uncertain Tax Positions Initiative: A Tangle Of Accounting, Tax And Privilege Issues, 9 Depaul Bus. & Comm. L.J. 401 (2011), Kathryn J. Kennedy

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Given the extremely limited source of resources available to the IRS in recent years, it's not surprising that it is exploring all sorts of avenues to increase its efficiency, particularly relying on corporate taxpayers to self report questionable tax positions. Under the banner of "corporate governance" and "transparency," the Service issued a series of proposals in 2010 requiring disclosure of uncertain tax positions ("UTPs") by corporate taxpayers. The Service essentially piggybacked on the recently imposed 2006 audit requirements that reserves be posted for contingent tax liabilities (i.e., tax positions that could later not be sustained, and therefore had to be …