Taxation & Estate Planning

Moneyball Lives!

Posted on July 13, 2009
Following up on my prior post, Moneyball: The Movie: Sony Corp. has revived the Brad Pitt baseball film ?Moneyball? after hiring ?The West Wing? writer and producer Aaron Sorkin to rework the script, according to a person with knowledge of the situation...

VAT: No Solution for Health Care or Fiscal Woes

Posted on July 13, 2009
The Heritage Foundation has published Value-Added Tax: No Solution for Health Care or Fiscal Woes, by Curtis S. Dubay. Here is the Introduction: The value-added tax (VAT) is currently the topic of much conversation in Washington. With growing deficits and mounting government debt, many see it as the only viable...

Dean Announces New Admissions Policy at Illinois: Treat All Applicants Equally

Posted on July 13, 2009
National Law Journal: Illinois Law Dean Announces New Admission Policy, by Lynne Marek: University of Illinois College of Law Dean Bruce Smith, in an effort to counter a scandal that indicated that some applicants to the college were admitted with the help of influential people, said on Thursday that no...

Burke & McCouch: Carlisle -- A "Hollow Victory"?

Posted on July 13, 2009
Karen C. Burke (San Diego) & Grayson M.P. McCouch (San Diego) have posted Carlisle: A "Hollow Victory"?,124 Tax Notes 169 (July 13, 2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Arthur Andersen LLP v. Carlisle [No. 08?146, May 4, 2009)] is the first investor suit involving a failed Son-of-BOSS tax shelter...

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More on the Deductibility of Michael Jackson's Funeral Expenses

Posted on July 12, 2009
Following up on Thursday's post, Deductibility of Michael Jackson's Funeral Expenses, we note in the new edition of our casebook, Federal Wealth Transfer Taxation 505 (Foundation Press, 6th ed. 2009): In Estate of Davenport v. Commissioner, 92 T.C.M. 324 (2006), the Tax Court disallowed a claimed $3,639 deduction for a...

How Two Illinois Law Schools Choose Interim Deans

Posted on July 12, 2009
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin: SIU Taps Houdek to be Interim Dean, by Jerry Crimmins: The former director of the law library at the Southern Illinois University School of Law is now the school's interim dean. Frank G. Houdek's appointment was announced this week by the provost of Southern Illinois University...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on July 12, 2009
This week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads is the same as last week's list, with some minor reshuffling within the Top 5: 1. [438 Downloads] Now You See it, Now You Don't: Exiting a Partnership and Making Gain Disappear, by Howard Abrams (Emory) 2...

NY: Widow Cannot Sue Husband's Attorney for Estate Planning Malpractice

Posted on July 12, 2009
New York Law Journal: Widow Lacks Standing to Sue Husband's Lawyers Over Mishandled Will, Judge Finds, by Mark Fass: A widow who claims that the mishandling of her husband's will by his attorneys will cost her $9 million may not pursue a malpractice claim against them, a Manhattan judge has...

University of California Faculty Face 4%-10% Pay Cut

Posted on July 11, 2009
The latest chapter in Law Faculty Furloughs, Pay Cuts, Pay Freezes, and Hiring Freezes: L.A. Times, UC President Outlines Revised Budget-Cutting Proposal: Most University of California professors and staff would be forced to take between 11 and 26 unpaid furlough days a year -- cutting their paychecks between 4% and...

NYSBA Releases Tax Reports

Posted on July 11, 2009
The New York State Bar Association Tax Section has issued tax reports on: Proposed § 108(e)(8) and § 721 Regs on Partnership Debt-for-Equity Exchanges (No. 1184) Recommendations for 2009-2010 Tax Guidance Priority List (No. 1185)

House Wants 1%-3% Surtax on "Wealthy" to Pay for Health Care Reform

Posted on July 11, 2009
House Ways & Means Chairman Charles Rangel announced yesterday that the House will propose an income tax surcharge, effective in 2011, to pay for health care reform: 1% for married couples earning $350,000 - $500,000 2% for married couples earning $500,000 - $1,000,000 3% for married couples earning > $1,000,000...

Democrats for a Flat Tax?

Posted on July 11, 2009
Op-ed in the Weekend Wall Street Journal: Democrats For a Flat Tax?, by Joe Mathews: Karen Bass is an unlikely tax cutter. She's the Democratic speaker of the California State Assembly, a fierce defender of the labor movement, and an advocate for repealing a constitutional provision that requires that tax...

IRS Not Pursuing 18% of Taxpayers Who Owe >$1m in Taxes

Posted on July 11, 2009
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has released a report, Collection Actions Could Be Accelerated on Some Large Dollar Balance Due Accounts (2009-30-090): On December 22, 2007, there were 2,454 individual taxpayers in the IRS? potentially collectible inventory who each owed more than $1 million in taxes, penalties, and...

The Pope on Taxes

Posted on July 10, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI has released his encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, which focuses on the current economic crisis and includes this tax policy proposal: One possible approach to development aid would be to apply effectively what is known as fiscal subsidiarity, allowing citizens to decide how to allocate a portion of...

Senate Democrats to Propose Raising Taxes on Capital Gains, Dividends, and Interest to Fund Health Care Reform

Posted on July 10, 2009
Bloomberg reports that Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee are considering embracing a proposal put forth this week by Citizens for Tax Justice to applying the 1.45% Medicare tax to capital gains, dividends, and interest to fund health care reform, coupled with a 2...

Former BDO Seidman Pleads Guilty in Criminal Tax Shelter Case

Posted on July 10, 2009
Robert Greisman, a CPA and tax lawyer, former partner in BDO Seidman's Chicago office, pleaded guilty yesterday to three counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with tax shelter transactions marketd by his firm and the Jenkens & Gilchrist law firm...

Tax Protestors Ed and Elaine Brown Are Convicted on All Counts

Posted on July 10, 2009
I previously have blogged (here, here, here, here, and here) the case of tax protestors Ed and Elaine Brown who, after being convicted of evading $1.9 million in taxes on her dental practice, holed up in their New Hampshire mountaintop home for months, vowing to die fighting rather than surrender...

Roller Skating Babies

Posted on July 10, 2009

Adultery and Tax Planning

Posted on July 10, 2009
As Kay Bell points out, there is a tax angle to the sordid tale of Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who had an extra marital affair for eight months with Cynthia Hampton, a campaign staffer who is married to Douglas Hampton, Sen. Ensign's chief of staff. Sen...

Are Catholic Law Profs "Ministers"?

Posted on July 10, 2009
National Law Journal: Seeking to Avoid Termination Suit, Catholic Law School Claims Professors Are Ministers, by Tresa Baldas: Are Catholic law school professors really ministers? A Michigan trial judge will decide that next week in a controversial employment dispute involving Ave Maria School of Law, which is trying to declare...

Senate Holds Hearing Today on Wilkins Nomination to be IRS Chief Counsel

Posted on July 10, 2009
The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing today on the nomination of William J. Wilkins to be Chief Counsel for the IRS and Assistant General Counsel for the Department of Treasury. From the White House press release: William J. Wilkins of Washington, DC has been a partner in the Tax...

Wisconsin Orders Faculty Not to Work During 16-Day Furlough

Posted on July 10, 2009
From Ann Althouse: The Governor?s furlough mandate, established in response to the State?s projected budget shortfall, requires an effective cut in pay for all full-time, 12-month employees equivalent to 16 days over the two-year period July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2011...

More Fallout From DePaul's Firing of Dean Glen Weissenberger

Posted on July 10, 2009
I previously blogged one aspect of the fallout from DePaul's abrupt firing of Dean Glen Weissenberger: the postponement of its conference on Vanishing Act: Legal Education in a World Without Trials later this month to which 185 law school deans had been invited...

Treasury Department Releases Updated Tax Gap Report

Posted on July 09, 2009
The Treasury Department yesterday delivered an Update on Reducing the Federal Tax Gap and Improving Voluntary Compliance to Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus: Building on reports previously released, this report is intended to provide a comprehensive overview of efforts to close the tax gap...

Iowa President's Goal for New Law Dean: Improve U.S. News Ranking (From #26)

Posted on July 09, 2009
From a Des Moines Register interview with University of Iowa President Sally Mason: Q: I am an Iowa College of Law alum, and I am concerned about the path the school has taken the past few years, dropping out of the top 25 rankings and losing key members of the...

2009 IRS Research Conference Concludes Today at Georgetown

Posted on July 09, 2009
The 2009 IRS Research Conference concludes today at Georgetown. A list of today's panels, speakers and papers is here and below the fold: Issues Affecting High-Wealth Individuals Moderator: Anne Parker (Small Business/Self-Employed, IRS) Kevin Moore (Board of Governors, Federal Reserve), Barry Johnson & Lisa Schreiber (both of Research, Analysis, and...

Swiss to Block Release of UBS Client Data to U.S. in Tax Shelter Crackdown

Posted on July 09, 2009
Associated Press ataxingmatter Bloomberg Financial Times New York Times Wall Street Journal

Illinois "Clout" Commission Doesn't Buy Law School's Explanation

Posted on July 09, 2009
Law Librarian Blog has a detailed post on Chancellor Richard Herman's testimony before the Mikva Commission investigating the "clout" admissions practices at the University of Illinois and its law school, including this fascinating exchange: The Chicago Tribune reports Chancellor Herman tried to downplay disclosed email exchanges with then Dean Heidi...

Wells Fargo Redux:

Posted on July 09, 2009
Dow Jones: Sen Grassley Says IRS Defied Congress on Tax Credit, by Martin Vaughan: A senior Republican senator is questioning whether the IRS overstepped its authority in implementing a tax credit in economic stimulus legislation for home energy efficiency upgrades...

Tax Court: LLCs Not Subject to Limited Partnership Passive Loss Disallowance Rule

Posted on July 09, 2009
Section 469(h)(2) treats a limited partnership interest as presumptively passive for purposes of the passive loss rules, with the result that partnership losses cannot offset the limited partner's salary or investment income. In Garnett v. Commissioner, 132 T...

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