Taxation & Estate Planning

Supreme Court: Challenge to Ohio's Tax System Must First be Brought in State Court

Posted on June 01, 2010
A unanimous Supreme Court today reversed the Sixth Circuit and held that "[u]nder the comity doctrine, a taxpayer?s complaint of allegedly discriminatory state taxation, even when framed as a request to increase a competitors's tax burden, must proceed originally in state court...

Supreme Court Grants Cert to Decide Whether Medical Residents Are Subject to FICA Taxes

Posted on June 01, 2010
The Supreme Court today granted certiorari (09-837) to review the Eighth Circuit's holding that medical residents who work more than 40 hours per week at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota are subject to employment taxes. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research v...

ABA Asks IRS to Withdraw Proposal Requiring Taxpayers to Report Uncertain Tax Positions

Posted on June 01, 2010
The ABA Committee on Government Affairs on Friday sent this letter to the IRS expressing its opposition to the proposals to require taxpayers to disclose uncertain tax positions to the IRS: On behalf of the ABA, I write to express our concerns regarding the proposals contained in IRS Announcement 2010-9,...

Memorial Day Tax Resources for U.S. Armed Forces (Plus Their Families & Employers)

Posted on May 31, 2010
Continuing a TaxProf Blog Memorial Day tradition (2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005), I want to pass along links to the Tax Information for Members of the U.S. Armed Forces material maintained on the IRS web site: The tax laws provide some special benefits for active members of the U...

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Andrew Beal Appeals Denial of $1.1b DAD Tax Shelter Losses

Posted on May 31, 2010
Following up on my prior post, Court Rejects $1.1b Tax Losses Claimed by Andrew Beal in DAD Tax Shelter (Southgate Masters Fund v. United States, No. 3:06-CV-2335-K (N.D. TX Aug. 18, 2009)): here are the opening briefs filed in the appeal to the Fifth Circuit: Taxpayer's Opening Brief (Mar...

Today's Law, Society, and Taxation Panel

Posted on May 30, 2010
Today's Law, Society, and Taxation panels at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting in Chicago: Issues in History and Taxation: Current issues in taxation are uniquely affected by the historical development of our current systems of taxation. Papers on this panel will discuss theoretical issues such as fiscal sociology...

Framing the FairTax

Posted on May 30, 2010
Peter R. Matejcak (J.D. 2011, Loyola-Chicago) has published Framing the FairTax for the American Consumer: Tax-inclusive? Tax-exclusive? Why Not Both?, 22 Loy. Consumer L. Rev. 391 (2010). Here is part of the Introduction: This note examines the confusion and conflicting tax rate presentation the American consumer faces while researching the...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on May 30, 2010
This week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads is the same as last week's: 1. [1469 Downloads] Pursuing a Tax LLM Degree: Why and When?, by Paul L. Caron (Cincinnati), Jennifer M. Kowal (Loyola-L.A.) & Katherine Pratt (Loyola-L.A.) 2. [456 Downloads] Pursuing a Tax LLM Degree: Where?,...

Bartlett: A Pox on Tax Expenditures

Posted on May 30, 2010
Bruce Bartlett (Forbes), Spending Through The Tax Code: It's As Bad As Direct Spending: Conservatives are united in their belief that government spends much too much and that spending ought to be cut sharply. But they almost universally ignore de facto spending through the Tax Code even though many tax...

Today's Law, Society, and Taxation Panels

Posted on May 29, 2010
Today's Law, Society, and Taxation panels at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting in Chicago: Line Drawing in Taxation: Taxation raises fundamental questions of line-drawing that must be addressed in the administration of every tax system. Papers in this panel will address a variety of line-drawing issues, ranging from...

Schnider: Are ISOs Dead Because of the AMT?

Posted on May 29, 2010
Bruce J. Shnider (Minnesota) has published Are Incentive Stock Options Dead?, 127 Tax Notes 913 (May 24, 2010): Because gain attributable to incentive stock options (ISOs) is subject to the alternative minimum tax, the apparent tax advantage is lost. As a result, companies may decide to use only non-ISOs...

The Promise and Dilemma of Conservation Easements

Posted on May 29, 2010
Zachary Bray (Munger, Tolles & Olson, Los Angeles) has published Reconciling Development and Natural Beauty: The Promise and Dilemma of Conservation Easements, 34 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 119 (2010). Here is the abstract: Local and regional private land trusts are among the most important and most numerous conservation actors in...

Conservation Easements in Private Practice

Posted on May 29, 2010
Shea B. Airey (J.D. 2009, South Carolina) has published Conservation Easements in Private Practice, 44 Real Prop. Tr. & Est. L.J. 745 (2010) (winning entry in the 2009-10 Real Property/Trust & Estate Law Student Writing Contest). Here is the abstract: This Article presents an overview of conservation easements that is...

Today's Law, Society & Taxation Panels

Posted on May 28, 2010
Today's Law, Society, and Taxation panels at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting in Chicago: Charities and Tax Exemption: The rules applying to charitable activities have been in great flux over the last decade. The interactions of private benefits with charitable purposes, the increase in corporate charitable behavior, and...

U.S. News Responds to SALT's Call for a Rankings Boycott

Posted on May 28, 2010
Following up on Tuesday's post, SALT Calls for U.S. News Rankings Boycott: Robert Morse, Director of Data Research at U.S. News, responds in Group Tries to Start Boycott of U.S. News Law School Rankings: Here?s the U.S. News take on this: SALT?s focus on the U...

401k and IRA Rollovers Provide Tax-Free Business Start-Up Funding

Posted on May 28, 2010
Bloomberg, Investors Tap Into 401(k) Money Tax-Free for Business Startups, by Amy Feldman: Hal Mottet, a Lake Oswego, Oregon, businessman bought a family-owned packaging company for $3.5 million in late 2007, and he and a partner financed 40% of the sales price with their retirement money...

GLAD Files Amended Complaint in Lawsuit Challenging Application of DOMA to Tax Code

Posted on May 28, 2010
Following up on my prior post, Lawsuit Challenges Application of DOMA to Tax Code: yesterday, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders issued a press release, GLAD Files Amended Complaint in DOMA Challenge: GLAD filed an amended complaint this week in our lawsuit challenging Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage...

Tax Prof Anne Alstott Leaves Harvard to Return to Yale

Posted on May 28, 2010
Tax Prof Anne Alstott, who moved from Yale to Harvard in 2008, is returning to Yale, effective July 1, 2011. From her Harvard web page: After graduating from law school in 1987, Professor Alstott spent three years as an associate at a Wall Street law firm and two years as...

What Do Americans Think About Taxes?

Posted on May 28, 2010
Karlyn Bowman (American Enterprise Institute) has published What Do Americans Think About Taxes? An Update, 127 Tax Notes 917 (May 24, 2010): This article ... examines changes in attitudes toward taxes and the deficit since President Obama took office...

Will the Estate Tax Rise From the Grave in 2011 (or Sooner)?

Posted on May 28, 2010
The Tax Foundation today released Federal Estate Tax: Will It Rise From the Grave in 2011 or Sooner?: The scheduled but nevertheless unexpected repeal of the federal estate tax in 2010 and the prospect of its reinstatement in 2011 bring debate over the estate tax, or ?death tax,? to the...

More on the Glum Employment Prospects for Law Grads

Posted on May 28, 2010
Following up on some recent posts: Did 16 Law Schools Commit Rankings Malpractice? (May 12, 2010) NALP Reports Class of 2009 Employed at 9 Months Data: 88.3% (May 20, 2010) U.S. News Responds to TaxProf Blog Post by Preventing Law Schools From Gaming Employed at Graduation Data (May 21, 2010)...

Today's Law, Society & Taxation Panels

Posted on May 27, 2010
Today's Law, Society, and Taxation panels at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting in Chicago: The Use of the Tax System to Subsidize and Change Behavior: Designing a tax system necessarily involves describing some activities as core to the system and others as peripheral or even accidental...

IRS Seeks Grant Applications for Low Income Taxpayer Clinics

Posted on May 27, 2010
The IRS announced today (IR-2010-66) that it is accepting grant applications for Low Income Taxpayer Clinics for the 2011 grant cycle (1/1/11 - 12/31/11): Applications will be accepted June 1, 2010, through July 9, 2010. Previous grant recipients will have the option to apply for up to three years of...

A 3-Year College Degree?

Posted on May 27, 2010
New York Times op-ed, A Degree in Three, by Stephen Joel Trachtenberg (President Emeritus, George Washington University) & Gerald Kauver (Professor, George Washington University): Over the next few weeks more than half a million students will graduate from American colleges, the vast majority with at least four years of campus...

"I Didn't Know What '$' Means" Fails as Tax Defense

Posted on May 27, 2010
From Business Day: Stephen Blackman tried explaining his failure to disclose more than $300,000 in income by claiming he didn't know what the "$" symbol meant. Sam Ellis, appearing for the Inland Revenue Department, said in a letter dated February 9, 2009, Blackman wrote he had not been paid by...

Christians: Networks, Norms and National Tax Policy

Posted on May 27, 2010
Allison Christians (Wisconsin) has published Networks, Norms and National Tax Policy, 9 Wash. U. Global Stud. L. Rev. 1 (2010). Here is the abstract: Global economic crisis demonstrates how critical it is for nations to determine ways to solve problems cooperatively...

Gird Your Loins: IRS 'Wealth Squads' Are on the Way

Posted on May 27, 2010
Forbes, IRS 'Wealth Squads' On The Way, by Donald C. Rocen (Miller & Chevalier, Washington, D.C.): Newly created exam teams will scrub wealthy taxpayers' hedge funds, trusts and foreign accounts. Those who by anyone?s measure would be considered wealthy, should be on notice: How you acquired and now maintain the...

WSJ: The Double Tax Whammy on Carried Interest

Posted on May 27, 2010
Lead editorial in today's Wall Street Journal, Congress Gets Mean: The Democratic Tax Bill's Double Whammy on Carried Interest: In the 1999 movie "Payback," Mel Gibson plays a small-time hood who ruthlessly takes on the mob to reclaim $70,000. At one point, he casually shoots holes in the luggage and...

Navot Presents Taxation of Compensatory Stock Options Under Tax Treaties at Hebrew University

Posted on May 27, 2010
Yuval Navot (Elieser Kaplan Law Offices, Tel Aviv) presents Taxation of Compensatory Stock Options Under Tax Treaties, 126 Tax Notes 325 (Jan. 18, 2010), at Hebrew University Law School as part of its Tax Law & Policy Colloquium. Here is the abstract: Tax treaties may not provide adequate protection against...

Faculty/Lawyer Dress Codes: No Flip Flops

Posted on May 27, 2010
I have previously blogged the issue of faculty dress codes: A Law School Dress Code? (Aug. 23, 2007) Jensen on Law School Attire: A Call for a Uniform Uniform Code (Oct. 19, 2007) A Tax Prof Dress Code? (May 19, 2008) Today's Above the Law reports on the Weil, Gotshal...

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