Tax Law Commons^™

Tax Shelters: Up Off The Canvas?, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

Recently, taxpayers prevailed at trial in two federal tax shelter cases: TIFD III-E Inc. v. United States, 2009 WL 3208650 (D. Conn. Oct. 7, 2009) (“Castle Harbour III”) and Consolidated Edison Co. v. United States, 2009 WL 3418533 (Fed. Cl. Oct. 21, 2009) (“Con Ed”). Doing full justice to these cases would require detailed descriptions of their facts, the arguments presented and the rationales in the opinions. I leave this work to the inevitable parsing and spinning in briefs in tax shelter cases to come and to more length commentary. See, e.g., Lee A. Sheppard, Con Ed’s Night of the …

Horse Cents: A Tax Guide For Homeowners Offering Their Homes For Rent During The World Equestrian Games, Meghan Jackson Tyson

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Deconstructing The Rules Of Corporate Tax, Rachelle Y. Holmes

Akron Tax Journal

While academics, practitioners, and the White House have proposed any number of reform measures to deal with the problems plaguing the U.S. corporate tax regime, their solutions involve varying structural and statutory changes, which are in fact extrinsic to the form of the underlying rules themselves. In contrast, this Article argues for an innate form of change to the U.S. corporate tax rules, which would fundamentally affect the way in which tax lawmakers actually draft tax rules and regulations. In particular, it argues that a systemic focus and commitment by lawmakers to a more principles-based approach to regulation would significantly …

Running From The United States Treasury: The Need To Reform The Taxation Of Multinational Corporations, 43 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1041 (2010), Jennifer Barton

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reforming 501(C)(3): Putting The Charity Back In The Charitable Deduction, Jennifer Mccrabb Black

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This paper seeks to lay out a proposal to redefine what it takes to receive tax-deductible donations. Part H of this paper will summarize the current state of the law as it applies to the charitable contribution deduction and the qualification for tax exemption under the Internal Revenue Code. Part III discusses the Charities Act 2006, a recent British act aimed at attempting to redefine charity for England and Wales by requiring organizations to prove that they provide a public benefit before receiving the benefits of being a charity. Part IV proposes additions and changes to the Internal Revenue Code …

Incremental International Tax Reform: A Review Of Selected Proposals, David L. Cameron, Philip F. Postlewaite

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Business people, tax practitioners, and legal academics generally agree that the United States' international tax regime is broken. Criticisms abound that the system is overly complicated, disadvantageous to American businesses competing in a global economy, and frequently subject to manipulation and abuse. In the recent past, individuals and groups across the political spectrum have proposed numerous reforms to address these problems, some of which seek simply to modify current requirements while others jettison the current system in favor of dramatic alternatives. Two of the more ambitious proposals regarding international tax reform have centered on implementing changes that would significantly modify …

Inversions Under Section 7874 Of The Internal Revenue Code: Flawed Legislation, Flawed Guidance, Jefferson P. Vanderwolk

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The Obama Administration's international tax proposals would, if enacted, be likely to increase the U.S. tax costs of many multinational groups that are owned by a U.S. entity. One possible response by the managers or owners of such a group would be to restructure the group via an inversion transaction so that the group would have a foreign corporate parent instead of a US parent entity. Inversions were in vogue in the late 1990s and the early years of this decade until Congress passed the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, adding section 7874 to the Internal Revenue Code. The …

Credit Vs. Exemption: A Comparative Study Of Double Tax Relief In The United States And Japan, Lawrence Lokken, Yoshimi Kitamura

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The overriding issue in international taxation is the problem of double taxation. Under the tax laws of most countries, income may be taxed on the basis of either residence or source. That is, a country may tax residents of the country on worldwide income and may tax nonresidents on income from sources within the country. Thus, if a resident of one country has income from a business activity or investment in another country, the person may be taxed on the income on a residence basis by its home country and on a source basis in the other country. Most countries …

U.S. International Tax System At A Crossroads, Barbara Angus, Tom Neubig, Eric Solomon, Mark Weinberger

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The current U.S. international tax system, the administration's international tax proposals, and other potential international tax reforms all have ramifications for U.S. businesses, American workers, and the U.S. economy that must be fully discussed and understood. This report focuses on some of the most important facts and perspectives that should be considered as part of that discussion. This process starts by asking, at a minimum, questions like these: (1) How have the dynamics of the global economy changed? (2) What role should differences between the U.S. tax system and those of other countries play in determining an advantageous international tax …

Transfer Pricing And Fin 48: Removing Uncertainty Through The Advanced Pricing Agreement Process, Christopher Capuzzi

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The increasing globalization of companies is indisputable, and the multinational enterprise offers many heuristic challenges. Among these are jurisdiction-specific taxation and accounting standards and principles. Enterprises often operate without regard to legal entity structures but rather along business lines. While entities may operate without regard to jurisdictional lines, local taxing and accounting regimes are steadfast on ensuring adherence to their respective principles. Chief among these is ensuring that there is a proper allocation of the tax base. The proper allocation of the tax base has long been at the forefront of concerns, so much so that normative transfer pricing principles …

International Tax Reform Should Begin At Home: Replace The Corporate Income Tax With A Territorial Expenditure, William B. Barker

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The present U.S. system of international taxation is riddled with problems because it does not satisfy critical principles of economics, justice, or common sense. It fails to accomplish the most important goals that an international system should achieve - that is, protecting the domestic tax base in a way that fosters domestic economic development and the creation of jobs. This paper explores alternatives to the present system to see if they do a better job. Some of the alternatives fail for the same reasons as the present system because they are predicated on the same outmoded theories. Some are clearly …

Sparks Nugget. State Tax Exemption Of Food Used By Casinos For Comped Meals, Steve Johnson

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

In their search for new sources of revenue, states have legalized and sought to tax many kinds of gaming. Forty-eight of the fifty states of the United States permit one or more types of legal gaming. An important technique in casino and some other types of gaming is giving “comps” – complimentary goods or services – to player-customers. A frequent type of comp is free meals on the casino premises or elsewhere. Gaming establishments also often give free meals to their employees.

Comps have been controversial for federal income tax purposes. A recent Nevada case, Sparks Nugget, and related cases …

Avoiding Misuse Of Donor Advised Funds, Michael J. Hussey

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article presents a proposal for further modifying donor advised funds to retain most of their hallmark flexibility and ease of use while drawing them into line with other charitable giving vehicles that put contributed funds to use for active charitable purposes. This Article argues that using individual retirement accounts as an underlying legal model for donor advised funds will address Congress's concerns regarding the appropriateness of the income tax deductions for contributions to donor advised funds while allowing donor advised funds to retain much of their hallmark flexibility and ease of operation.

Is The United States Tax Court Exempt From Administrative Law Jurisprudence When Acting As A Reviewing Court , Diane L. Fahey

Cleveland State Law Review

Commentators have argued that the Tax Court should fill in the gaps in its statutory authority for collection due process appeals by turning to traditional administrative law jurisprudence, including the APA, which suggestion the Tax Court has resisted despite the fact that the federal district court did so. The majority of the Tax Court insists that it has never been subject to administrative law jurisprudence or the APA, nor could it be. Most of the courts of appeals that have considered the issue have held that the Tax Court is bound by the APA and traditional administrative law jurisprudence when …

The Single Member Limited Liability Company As Disregarded Entity: Now You See It, Now You Don’T, Daniel S. Kleinberger

Faculty Scholarship

The power and complexity of the single member limited liability company (“SMLLC”) comes from a conceptual contradiction: the conflation of owner and organization for tax purposes and the separation of owner and entity for non-tax, state law purposes. The contraction has significant practical consequences, which this article explores and illustrates, considering: • The SMLLC in federal court (single member not permitted to represent the LLC) • The IRS’s tortuous path to determining whether an SMLLC’s sole member is liable for the SMLLC’s unpaid employment taxes (yes; yes vindicated by the courts; then no, as a matter of policy) • Transfer …

Taxing Structured Settlements, Brant J. Hellwig, Gregg D. Polsky

Faculty Publications

Congress has granted a tax subsidy to physically injured tort plaintiffs who enter into structured settlements. The subsidy allows these plaintiffs to exempt the investment yield imbedded within the structured settlement from federal income taxation. The apparent purpose of the subsidy is to encourage physically injured plaintiffs to invest, rather than presently consume, their litigation recoveries. Although the statutory subsidy by its terms is available only to physically injured tort plaintiffs, a growing structured settlement industry now contends that the same tax benefit of yield exemption is available to plaintiffs' lawyers and nonphysically injured tort plaintiffs under general, common-law tax …

President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board: Suggested Considerations In Fundamental Reform Of The United States Tax Treatment Of Income From Cross Border Trade And Investment, Robert H. Dilworth

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board ("PERAB") has as part of its mandated inquiry the reform of the U.S. tax treatment of income from cross border trade and investment. This paper sets forth a short set of recommendations as to tax reform methodology and some substantive proposals. Tax reform should not "start over," or undertake significant changes, without a fairly detailed understanding of what the present regime actually does, or does not do, and identifying the relationship (if any) between the various existing provisions and whatever "the problem" is perceived to be. The present architecture results from the striking of …

Commentary: The Federalization Of Nonprofit Regulation And Its Discontents, James J. Fishman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Internal Revenue Service, at the instigation of the Senate Finance committee-the Service's primary congressional overseer-has commenced a corporate governance initiative by issuing announcements and guidelines, as well as providing educational advice as to how charities' internal affairs should be ordered. The Service also has revised the Form 990 Annual Information Return, a publicly available document, so that it contains mandatory corporate governance questions.2 Nonprofit organizations traditionally have been creatures of state law and overseen by state agencies and regulators.3 What is unique about the corporate governance initiative is the Service's admission that it lacks express statutory authority for this …

Taking The Good With The Bad: Recognizing The Negative Externalities Created By Charities And Their Implications For The Charitable Deduction, Shannon Weeks Mccormack

Articles

The tax code allows taxpayers to deduct amounts donated to an extremely broad variety of organizations deemed to create societal benefits — that is, positive externalities. But many organizations that may receive tax-deductible contributions also cause harms. Both the tax code and subsidy theory, one of the most utilized scholarly theories developed to analyze the deduction from an economic and morally neutral perspective, fail to properly account for these negative externalities. In order to do so, one needs to look beyond the economic models utilized by subsidy theorists. For instance, there should be some limit to the types of harms …

The Times They Are Not A-Changin': Reforming The Charitable Split-Interest Rules (Again), Wendy G. Gerzog

All Faculty Scholarship

The article reviews the history of the tax treatment of charitable split interest gifts, explains the inequities that Congress both cured and generated in its 1969 reforms, and proposes solutions that are consistent with the goals of the 1969 legislation. The article discusses variations in the 1969 definition of a charitable split interest, which, because of the enacted statutory language, applies in instances where there is no abuse potential. The inequity produced by that definition penalizes the donor and flouts the rationale behind the 1969 legislation. By contrast, the creation of some required statutory forms of charitable split interests in …