Taxation-Federal Commons^™

Rejecting Charity: Why The Irs Denies Tax Exemption To 501(C)(3) Applicants, Terri Lynn Helge

Faculty Scholarship

New charitable organizations generally must file an application for exemption (Form 1023) and await approval from the Internal Revenue Service. Unfortunately, the criteria the Internal Revenue Service uses to evaluate applications has not always been transparent. If an application is approved, the Internal Revenue Service determination letter and the application for exemption are required to be made publicly available and can be requested from the Internal Revenue Service or the organization itself. Prior to 2004, in the case of denials, neither the application nor the Internal Revenue Service’s correspondence setting forth its rationale for the denial were made publicly available. …

Not Too Separate Or Unequal: Marriage Penalty Relief After Obergefell, Mitchell L. Engler, Edward D. Stein

Articles

Joint tax returns have generated controversy for many years. Married couples with the same joint income pay the same tax under our current system regardless of the earnings distribution between the spouses. This approach primarily rests on the idea that married couples share resources and operate as a single economic unit. Critics typically challenge this assumption and lament how marriage might significantly change a couple's taxes. Depending on their earnings breakdown, a couple's taxes could be reduced (a marital bonus for uneven-earners) or increased (a marital penalty for even-earners). These possibilities exist because the joint brackets are typically larger-but not …

Summaries For The Fourth Annual Irs/Sjsu Small Business Tax Institute, Padmini Yalamarthi, Fan Wang, Jie Shen, Xuan Hong, Marla Hampton Cpa, Mba, Aaron Grey

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

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

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

When Is A Transfer Of Assets To A Controlled Corporation By Related Parties A Sale Or Contribution Of Capital?, Ophelia Ding

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Contemporary Tax Journal Volume 6, No. 1 – Summer/Fall 2016

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, Shilpa Balnadu

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Gamers Beware: Level 99 Boss...Taxes!, Fenny Lei

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions Under The Affordable Care Act, Xuan Hong

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

The Contemporary Tax Journal's Interview Of Dr. Susan Martin, Shilpa Balnadu

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

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 …