Taxation & Estate Planning

Subscribing to TaxProf Blog

Posted on April 01, 2009
In response to several requests, we have made some enhancements to make TaxProf Blog more useful to our readers. We now offer two ways for you to have TaxProf Blog content automatically delivered to your computer, cell phone, or mobile...

Annual Law Teaching Conference: Why Tax Rules -- Teaching Students about Clients? Biggest Moments through Tax

Posted on March 31, 2009
The annual Institute for Law Teaching & Learning Summer Conference takes place on June 23-24, 2009 at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington. The conference theme this year is Implementing Best Practices and Educating Lawyers: Teaching Skills and...

House Holds Hearing Today on Banking Secrecy Practices and Wealthy American Taxpayers

Posted on March 31, 2009
The Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures of the House Ways & Means Committee holds a hearing today on Banking Secrecy Practices and Wealthy American Taxpayers. From the hearing advisory: The hearing will focus on limitations of the withholding taxes imposed...

Burke & McCouch: COBRA Strikes Back: Anatomy of a Tax Shelter

Posted on March 31, 2009
Karen C. Burke (San Diego) & Grayson M.P. McCouch (San Diego) have published COBRA Strikes Back: Anatomy of a Tax Shelter, 62 Tax Law. 59 (2008). Here is the abstract: Paul Daugerdas gained notoriety for himself and his erstwhile firm,...

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Desai: Taxing the Overseas Activities of Multinational Firms

Posted on March 31, 2009
Mihir A. Desai (Harvard Business School) has posted Securing Jobs or the New Protectionism?: Taxing the Overseas Activities of Multinational Firms on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Tax policy toward American multinational firms would appear to be approaching a crossroads...

WSJ: Night of the Living Death Tax

Posted on March 31, 2009
Wall Street Journal editorial: Night of the Living Death Tax; Obama's Budget Quietly Resurrects It in 2010: Lawrence Summers, President Obama's chief economic adviser, declared recently that "Let's be very clear: There are no, no tax increases this year...

HHS Nominee Kathleen Sebelius Pays $7k in Back Taxes

Posted on March 31, 2009
In advance of her Senate confirmation hearing, Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius has corrected three years of tax returns and paid more than $7,000 in back taxes after finding several "unintentional errors" involving deductions for charitable contributions, mortgage...

Tax Freedom Day Is April 13

Posted on March 31, 2009
The Tax Foundation announced today that Tax Freedom Day -- the date on which Americans will have worked long enough to have earned enough money to pay this year's tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels -- will...

WSJ: IRS Challenges AIG-HP Tax Deal

Posted on March 31, 2009
Wall Street Journal: AIG-HP Tax Deal Challenged by IRS, by Jesse Drucker: The IRS is challenging tax benefits received by Hewlett-Packard Co. from an offshore transaction it purchased from American International Group Inc., court records show. The dispute centers on...

Avi-Yonah's Testimony on Offshore Tax Havens

Posted on March 31, 2009
Following up on this morning's post on today's House hearing on Banking Secrecy Practices and Wealthy American Taxpayers: here is a 6-minute clip of the testimony by Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan):

Law School 100 Ranking

Posted on March 30, 2009
With the law school world anxiously awaiting the April 23 release of the new U.S. News rankings, a reader sent along a link to the revised The Law School 100: The Best Law Schools in the United States (2009-1010). Although...

Tax Reform 2.0

Posted on March 30, 2009
Rosanne Altshuler (Rutgers University, Department of Economics; Co-director, Tax Policy Center) notes a curious aspect of President Obama's naming of the new tax reform task force chaired by Paul Volcker: the web site of President Bush's 2005 tax reform panel...

Marion Barry Owes $277k in Back Taxes; Government Seeks Revocation of His Probation

Posted on March 30, 2009
In a scathing pretrial memorandum, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor alleges that former D.C. Mayor (and current D.C. Council member) Marion Barry owes more than $277,000 in unpaid federal taxes, penalties, and interest. In addition, the memorandum alleges that Barry...

Tax Court Judicial Conference

Posted on March 30, 2009
The three-day Tax Court Judicial Conference kicks off today. Tax Prof speakers include: Keith Fogg (Villanova) Kristin Hickman (Minnesota) Diana Leyden (UConn) Ted Sims (Boston University)

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on March 30, 2009
Saturday: 10th Circuit Denies $300k Charitable Deduction Claimed by Timothy McVeigh's Lawyer for Donation of Work Papers to University of Texas NYSBA Issues Report on Remedying Documentary Noncompliance by § 409A Plans Sin Taxes Disproportionately Hurt Minorities Sunday: Obama Names...

Hickman: IRB Guidance: The No Man?s Land of Tax Code Interpretation

Posted on March 30, 2009
Kristin E. Hickman (Minnesota) has posted IRB Guidance: The No Man?s Land of Tax Code Interpretation, 2009 Mich. St. L. Rev. ___ (symposium), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Symposium Essay compares current patterns and practices surrounding IRS utilization...

Kahn: The Transfer of a Compensatory Partnership Interest

Posted on March 30, 2009
Douglas A. Kahn (Michigan) has published The Proper Tax Treatment of the Transfer of a Compensatory Partnership Interest, 62 Tax Law. 1 (2008). Here is the Introduction: If a person receives property as payment for services, whether for past or...

Kysar: Earmark Rules and Statutory Interpretation

Posted on March 30, 2009
Rebecca M. Kysar (Brooklyn) has published Listening to Congress: Earmark Rules and Statutory Interpretation, 94 Cornell L. Rev. 519 (2009). Here is the abstract: In the wake of recent scandals involving lobbying and special interest spending on Capitol Hill, each...

Tax Lawyer Sings Ballad of Timothy Geithner

Posted on March 30, 2009
Tennessee Tax Lawyer Anne M. McKinney sings her Ballad of Timothy Geithner, which has attracted almost 500,000 views on YouTube:

Obama Names Elizabeth Garrett Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy

Posted on March 29, 2009
President Obama yesterday announced three senior Treasury Department nominees: Tax Prof Elizabeth Garrett (University Vice President for Academic Planning and Budget; Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, Political Science, and Policy, Planning, and Development, University of...

CRS: Bill of Attainder is Biggest Constitutional Hurdle for AIG Bonus Tax

Posted on March 29, 2009
The Congressional Research Service has issued a report on the AIG bonus tax, Retroactive Taxation of Executive Bonuses: Constitutionality of H.R. 1586 and S. 651 (R40466) (Mar. 25, 2009). Here is part of the Summary: This report analyzes the constitutionality...

Wesley Snipes Responds to Government's Opposition to His Motion to Leave U.S. for 5 Months Pending Appeal of Tax Conviction

Posted on March 29, 2009
Last week, I blogged the Government's opposition to Wesley Snipes' motion seeking permission to travel to Nambia from April 5 to April 29 (to film the movie Gallowwalker) and to Italy from May 4 to August 15 (to film the...

The Tax Justice Digest

Posted on March 29, 2009
This week's Tax Justice Digest from Citizens for Tax Justice includes these reports: New Report from CTJ: Poor Pay More and Rich Pay Less Under House GOP Plan that Costs $300 Billion More Annually than the President's Plan Wrong Tool...

IRS Releases 2007 Individual Income Tax Return Data

Posted on March 29, 2009
The IRS on Friday released 2007 Individual Income Tax Returns Preliminary Data: Some highlights from the release of data from the forthcoming spring 2009 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin (IRS Publication 1136) shows that for tax year 2007,....

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on March 29, 2009
This week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads is the same as last week's: 1. [268 Downloads]: Reverse Piercing: A Single Member LLC Paradox, by Carter G. Bishop (Suffolk) 2. [199 Downloads]: Combating Global Climate Change: Why...

NYSBA Issues Report on Remedying Documentary Noncompliance by § 409A Plans

Posted on March 28, 2009
The New York State Bar Association Tax Section has released a report on Remedying Documentary Noncompliance by Section 409A Plans in Response to Notice 2008-113 (No. 1180): Notice 2008-113, 2008-51 I.R.B. 1305 (Dec. 22, 2008), requests comments on the possibility...

Sin Taxes DIsproportionately Hurt Minorities

Posted on March 28, 2009
Rachel E. Morse (J.D. 2009, Boston College) has published Note, Resisting the Path of Least Resistance: Why the Texas ?Pole Tax? and the New Class of Modern Sin Taxes are Bad Policy, 29 B.C. Third World L.J. 189 (2009). Here...

10th Circuit Denies $300k Charitable Deduction Claimed by Timothy McVeigh's Lawyer for Donation of Work Papers to University of Texas

Posted on March 28, 2009
I previously blogged the Tax Court's denial of a $300,000 charitable deduction claimed by Leslie Stephen Jones, lead counsel for the defense of Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, for...

Stimulus Bait-and-Switch: Federal Tax Changes Will Reduce State Tax Coffers

Posted on March 27, 2009
Associated Press: States Could Lose Billions in Taxes to Stimulus: President Barack Obama told the nation's governors in February that the states' $229 billion share of the federal stimulus package "will ensure that you don't need to make cuts to...

CB&PP: Obama's Tax Policy Will Not Hurt Small Business

Posted on March 27, 2009
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has published History Contradicts Claim That President's Budget Would Harm Small Business Job Creation, by Jason Levitis & Chuck Marr: Critics have claimed that President Obama?s proposal to roll back tax cuts for...

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