Taxation & Estate Planning

ABA Tax Section Submits Comment Letters

Posted on August 01, 2010
The ABA Tax Section has submitted these comment letters: Notice 2009-93 and the Pilot Program to Truncate Taxpayer ID Numbers on Payee Statements (July 22, 2010) Qualification of S Corporation Debt to Shareholders (July 26, 2010) Recommendations for the 2010-11 Treasury-IRS Guidance Priority List (July 28, 2010)

NY Times: Billionaire Brothers Long Suspected of Tax Evasion

Posted on August 01, 2010
New York Times, Billionaire Brothers Long Suspected of Tax Evasion, by Edward Wyatt: Sam and Charles Wyly have long cultivated an image as active philanthropists, funneling millions of dollars to arts groups, colleges, literacy programs and animal shelters...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on August 01, 2010
This week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads is the same as last week's: 1. [684 Downloads] Social Security Benefits Formula 101: A Practical Primer, by Francine J. Lipman (Chapman) & James E. Williamson (San Diego State University, College of Business Administration) 2...

Sander & Yakowitz: Grades, Not Law School Rank, Determines Future Salary

Posted on July 31, 2010
Richard Sander (UCLA) & Jane Yakowitz (Brooklyn) have posted The Secret of My Success: How Status, Prestige and School Performance Shape Legal Careers on SSRN. Here is the abstract:Rewards are distributed more unevenly within the legal profession than in virtually any other occupation...

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WSJ: Court Decision Returns IRS to Chief Victor in Son-of-BOSS Cases

Posted on July 31, 2010
Following up on Monday's post, 10th Circuit Reverses Taxpayer's Lone Victory in Son-of-BOSS Tax Shelter Case: Wall Street Journal, Court Decision Returns IRS To Chief Victor In Son-of-BOSS Cases, by Arden Dale: The Tenth Circuit on Friday reversed a decision on appeal from the U...

N.Y. Judge Calls Husband's Pre-Divorce Filing of Back Taxes 'Despicable'

Posted on July 31, 2010
New York Law Journal, N.Y. Judge Calls Husband's Pre-Divorce Filing of Back Taxes 'Despicable': A Suffolk County, N.Y., judge has ruled that a contractor's filing of amended tax returns claiming $1.6 million of additional income on the eve of his divorce trial was simply a malicious attempt to prevent his...

Dems, GOP Vie to be First to Repeal ObamaCare's 1099 Small Business Reporting Rule

Posted on July 31, 2010
Politico, Dems, GOP Maneuver on Repeal: House Democrats proposed repealing a piece of the health care overhaul Friday, a move designed to thwart Republican efforts to do the same thing and declare an early victory in their efforts to repeal the whole law...

Colbert on the Expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts

Posted on July 30, 2010
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cThe Word - Ownership Societywww.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes2010 ElectionFox News

ABA Issues Report on U.S. News Law School Rankings

Posted on July 30, 2010
A Special ABA Committee on the U.S. News and World Report Rankings sent this 4-page report (and 61-page annotated bibliography) to the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar: On February 17, 2010, ABA President Carolyn Lamm asked the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the...

Conviction

Posted on July 30, 2010
Below is the trailer for Conviction, scheduled to be released in October 2010. The movie tells the story of Betty Ann Waters: On May 12, 1983, Kenneth Waters was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder for the death of an Ayer, Massachusetts woman...

Bartlett: Keep the Bush Tax Cuts for Now

Posted on July 30, 2010
Bruce Bartlett (The Fiscal Times), Keep the Tax Cuts for Now: Congress could have used the expiration of the Bush tax cuts to reform the tax system, but extending the tax cuts may be the only viable option for now.

Inside the U.S. News Rankings

Posted on July 30, 2010

McGill Seeks to Fill Endowed Tax Chair

Posted on July 30, 2010
The Faculty of Law at McGill University is seeking to fill a fully-endowed tax chair, the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in the Law of Taxation: Associate Professor Kim Brooks was H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law from July 2007 to July 2010 [when she left to become Dean of...

Federal Tax Collections Plummeted $400b in FY 2009

Posted on July 30, 2010
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Trends in Compliance Activities Through Fiscal Year 2009 (2010-30-066), which reports that gross federal tax collections declined $400 billion in FY 2009 (to $2.35 trillion from $2...

Geithner?s GDP Whopper

Posted on July 30, 2010
FactCheck.org, Geithner?s GDP Whopper: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made a false claim about the size of government spending being proposed by the Obama administration. On NBC?s "Meet the Press" July 25, he said the president is proposing spending "as a share of our economy" that is "lower" than it was...

NY Times Debate: Legalizing (and Taxing) Internet Gambling

Posted on July 30, 2010
New York Times Room for Debate, Should Internet Gambling Be Legalized?: The House Financial Services Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would lift the ban on Internet gambling by authorizing the Treasury Department to license and regulate Web-based nonsports betting operators...

Rich and Famous Stay Hidden in IRS Probe

Posted on July 30, 2010
Dow Jones, Rich and Famous Stay Hidden in IRS Probe, by Arden Dale: The U.S. crackdown on hidden overseas bank accounts looks a little less aggressive when compared to what?s happening in some other countries. German authorities aren?t just suing for bank-account details?they have gone right in and seized them...

Tax Consequences of the Mother of All Yard Sale Bargains ($200 Million for $45)

Posted on July 29, 2010
New York Daily News, What a Deal! Photographer Ansel Adams' Work Uncovered at a Yard Sale: Rick Norsigian made one of the best yard sale deals ever. Ten years ago, the California painter bought two boxes of photographic plates for $45, after he bargained the owner down from $75...

Drinking, Driving, and Deducting: TP Takes Casualty Loss for Car He Wrecked

Posted on July 29, 2010
Following up on my prior posts: Tax Court Allows Driver Cited for DUI in Accident to Deduct Car Damage as Casualty Loss Because He 'Only' Blew a .09 (Dec. 11, 2009) Tax Court Lets DUI Driver Write Off Car Damage (Dec. 16, 2009) Drinking and Driving: Taxpayer Allowed to Take...

Chris Tucker Owes $15.2m in Taxes

Posted on July 29, 2010
TMZ reports that actor Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) owes back taxes of $11.6 million to the IRS and $3.6 million to California, caused in part by bad real estate investments. Other celebrity tax troubles: Wes Bentley, actor (American Beauty), $125,617 lRS tax lien, $78,266 California tax lien Dave Bing, Detroit...

Forbes: The Ten Richest U.S. Presidents

Posted on July 29, 2010
Forbes, The Ten Richest Presidents: Who were the nation's 10 richest presidents? Here's our best assessment taking into account a number of factors, including absolute wealth in office (some nearly went bust afterward) and, to help adjust for two centuries of both inflation and economic growth, comparative wealth within the...

Sen. Kerry & Yacht-Gate: Learned Hand's Perspective

Posted on July 29, 2010
Following up on my prior posts: Sen. John Kerry Skips Town on Sails Tax (July 23, 2010) Sen. Kerry Sails Around the Tax Issue (July 27, 2010) Sen. Kerry Abandons (Tax-Dodge) Ship, Agrees to Pay $500k MA Tax on Yacht (July 28, 2010) Boston Globe op-ed, Keelhauling Kerry, by Jeff...

Becoming a Law Professor: A Candidate's Guide

Posted on July 29, 2010
Brannon P. Denning (Cumberland), Marcia L. McCormick (St. Louis) & Jeffrey M. Lipshaw (Suffolk) have posted the Introduction and Table of Contents from their forthcoming book, Becoming a Law Professor: A Candidate's Guide (ABA, 2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This is the Table of Contents and the Introduction...

Johnson: It's Hard to Predict the Future, Especially About Taxes

Posted on July 29, 2010
Following up on last week's post, WSJ: Washington's Tax Oracles and Revenue Estimates (July 21, 2010): Calvin H. Johnson (Texas) has published a letter to the editor in today's Wall Street Journal, It's Hard to Predict the Future, Especially About Taxes: I think that the Journal is on to something...

A Faculty Critique of University Budget Cuts

Posted on July 29, 2010
Eva von Dassow, a professor of Classic and Near Eastern Studies, reacts to proposed budget cuts at the University of Minnesota: For more, see Inside Higher Ed.

ATR: Obama's Broken Tax Pledge

Posted on July 29, 2010
Americans for Tax Reform, Gibbs Misleads Public on Obama?s Broken Tax Pledge: White House spokesman Robert Gibbs seems to have forgotten that his boss has already broken his central campaign promise ? a ?firm pledge? that ?no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax...

A Multinational Analysis of Tax Rates and Economic Activity

Posted on July 29, 2010
Lawrence C. Smith Jr. (Louisiana Tech University, Department of Economics), L. Murphy Smith (Texas A&M University, Mays Business School) & William C. Gruben (Texas A&M International University, A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business) have posted A Multinational Analysis of Tax Rates and Economic Activity on SSRN...

House Ethics Subcommittee Charges Rep. Rangel With 13 Counts

Posted on July 29, 2010
A subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee today adopted 13 counts against former Ways & Means Chair Charles Rangel (D-NY): Subcommittee Statement of Alleged Violation (41 pages) Statement of Charles Rangel in Response (32 pages) Press and blogosphere coverage: Associated Press Blog of Legal Times Bloomberg New York Daily News...

More on the ABA's Proposal to Dilute Law Faculty Tenure

Posted on July 28, 2010
Following up on my prior posts: ABA Considers Dramatic Changes This Weekend in Law School Accreditation Standards, Including Dilution of Tenure (July 25, 2010) Law School Tenure in Danger? (July 26, 2010) Press and blogosphere coverage: ABA Journal, ABA Committee Proposal to Eliminate ?Tenure? Word Raises Law Profs? Ire Above...

IRS Pursues Billionaire McCombs for $45m in Variable Prepaid Forward Contracts Case

Posted on July 28, 2010
Following up on last week's post, Tax Court Rejects Billionaire Anschutz's Use of Variable Prepaid Forward Contracts to Avoid $144m Capital Gain: Forbes, IRS Demands $45 Million From Billionaire McCombs, by Janet Novack: The IRS is demanding $45 million in back 2002 and 2003 taxes from San Antonio billionaire Billy...

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