Taxation & Estate Planning

Kleinbard: The Tax Penalty in ObamaCare Is Constitutional

Posted on August 18, 2010
Edward D. Kleinbard (USC) has published Constitutional Kreplach, 128 Tax Notes 755 (Aug. 16, 2010). Here is the abstract: Recent federal healthcare legislation mandated that every ??applicable individual?? maintain healthcare insurance and it imposed (in new § 5000A(b)) a penalty to enforce that mandate...

Blackstone Billionaire Compares Obama Tax Policies to Nazis

Posted on August 18, 2010
The Guardian, Blackstone Billionaire Is Sorry for Nazi Jab Against Obama's Tax Policies: The billionaire Blackstone private equity boss Stephen Schwarzman, who is among Wall Street's most visceral proponents of the free market, has been obliged to apologise after comparing Barack Obama's tax policies to the Nazi advance across Europe...

Infanti: Documenting Family for Tax Purposes

Posted on August 18, 2010
Anthony Infanti (Pittsburgh) has posted Inequitable Administration: Documenting Family for Tax Purposes on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Family can bring us joy, and it can bring us grief. It can also bring us tax benefits and tax detriments. Often, as a means of ensuring compliance with Internal Revenue Code...

New Issue of Wealth Strategies Journal

Posted on August 18, 2010
The online Wealth Strategies Journal offers these articles: Advice for Americans with Undisclosed Accounts at UBS and Other Foreign Banks as IRS Lifts Cloak of Swiss Bank Secrecy Another "Bad Facts" Victory for the IRS in Estate of Erickson Estate Analyst: A Billionaire's Free Pass Estate Analyst: Avoiding Estate Planning...

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Prof Banned From Starbucks for Refusing to Use Chain's Lingo When Ordering

Posted on August 18, 2010
New York Post, Grammar Stickler: Starbucks Booted Me: Starbucks' strange vernacular finally drove a customer nuts. Lynne Rosenthal, a college English professor from Manhattan, said three cops forcibly ejected her from an Upper West Side Starbucks yesterday morning after she got into a dispute with a counterperson -- make that...

Wood: Gay Divorce Is Bigger Tax Issue Than Gay Marriage

Posted on August 18, 2010
Forbes, Gay or Straight, Marriage Matters--For Taxes, by Robert W. Wood (Woord & Porter, San Francisco): It may sound myopic, but as a tax lawyer for 30 years, I tend to think of taxes first in all things. Even marriage. The gay marriage debate raises big issues, but I find...

Court: Internet Church Is Not a 'Church' for Tax Purposes

Posted on August 18, 2010
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday ruled that the Foundation of Human Understanding, a 47 year old § 501(c)(3) nonprofit church that conducts weekly Internet and radio services, is not a church for § 170 purposes. Foundation of Human Understanding v...

Vainisi: A Victory for S Corp and QSub Banks

Posted on August 18, 2010
Sarah E. McNally (Godfrey & Kahn, Milwaukee) has published Vainisi v. Commissioner: A Tax Victory for S Corporation and QSub Banks, 127 Banking L.J. 501 (2010). Here is the abstract: The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in Vainisi v. Commissioner, [599 F...

Avi-Yonah: Tax Convergence and Globalization

Posted on August 18, 2010
Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan) has posted Tax Convergence and Globalization on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper addresses three questions: Is there evidence that the tax systems of different countries have converged (i.e., become more similar) in the period 1980-2010? If so, what is the explanation for this convergence?...

2011 U.S.

Posted on August 17, 2010
At 12:01 this morning, U.S. News & World Report released its 2011 College Rankings. Here are the Top 25 National Universities (along with their 2008-2010 rankings): 2011 Rank School 2010 Rank 2009 Rank 2008 Rank 1 Harvard 1 1 2 2 Princeton 1 2 1 3 Yale 3 3 3...

Joint Tax Committee Releases Description of Revenue Provisions in the President?s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Proposal

Posted on August 17, 2010
The Joint Committee on Taxation yesterday released Description of Revenue Provisions Contained in the President?s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Proposal (JCS-2-10) (521 pages): This document ... provides a description and analysis of the tax provisions that are included in the President?s fiscal year 2011 budget proposal, as submitted to the...

Pierce: Lessons from Ten Empirical Studies of Judicial Review of Agency Actions

Posted on August 17, 2010
Richard J. Pierce, Jr. (George Washington) has posted What Do the Studies of Judicial Review of Agency Actions Mean?, 62 Adm. L. Rev. 367 (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In this essay, I discuss the meaning of ten empirical studies of judicial review of agency actions that have...

China's Rich Have $1.5 Trillion in Hidden Income

Posted on August 17, 2010
The Straits Times, China's Rich Have $1.5 Trillion in Hidden Income: China's households hide as much as 9.3 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion) of income that is not reported in official figures, with 80% accrued by the wealthiest people, a study showed. The money, much of it likely 'illegal or quasi-illegal,'...

Wells: Adopting the More Likely Than Not Standard for Tax Returns

Posted on August 17, 2010
Bret Wells (Houston) has posted Adopting the More Likely Than Not Standard for Tax Returns, 127 Tax Notes 451 (April 26, 2010), on SSRN. Here is part of the abstract: Under current law, a taxpayer may generally take a tax return position without penalty or disclosure if there is substantial...

TIGTA: IRS Did Not Comply With Stimulus Act's Procurement Requirements

Posted on August 17, 2010
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Additional Actions Are Needed to Ensure Readiness to Comply With the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Procurement Requirements (2010-11-071): The IRS received an appropriation of $203 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) funds...

Justice O'Connor

Posted on August 17, 2010
Daily Business Review, O'Connor, 11th Circuit Panel Side With Tax Preparer Against IRS: Tax preparers also are under increasing scrutiny [by the IRS]. Nobody knows this better than Abelardo Ernest Cruz, who found the IRS aiming to shut down his Miami tax preparation service for good...

Georgia State Seeks to Hire Tax Prof

Posted on August 17, 2010
The Georgia State University College of Law seeks to fill a tenure-track tax position beginning in the Fall of 2011: We seek candidates who specialize in tax law and who intend to have a teaching focus on transactional aspects of federal taxation, but whose tax research interest could extend to...

Call for Tax Papers: Central States Law Schools Association

Posted on August 17, 2010
The Central States Law Schools Association has issued a call for papers for its Annual Conference on September 24-25, 2010 at the University of North Dakota School of Law in Grand Forks, North Dakota: The purpose of CSLSA is to foster scholarly exchanges among law faculty across legal disciplines...

Five Things Every Plaintiffs Attorney Should Know About Tax Law

Posted on August 17, 2010
Law.com, 5 Things Every Plaintiffs Attorney Should Know About Tax Law: While tax law may seem dull and irrelevant to most attorneys' day-to-day practice, in order to better serve their individual clients, plaintiffs attorneys should always keep the following five basic tax laws in mind, and advise their clients accordingly...

Ordower: U.S. Experience With Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters

Posted on August 17, 2010
Henry M. Ordower (St. Louis) has posted United States of America Experience with and Administrative Practice Concerning Mutual Assistance in Tax Affairs on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This report was part of the project for the 2009 meeting of the European Association of Tax Law Professors in Santiago de...

How Important Is a School's Ranking?

Posted on August 16, 2010
PreLaw, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 22-30 (Aug. 2010), How Important Is a School's Ranking, by Jack Crittenden & Karen Dybis: Every spring, law students, professors and deans run to the newstand to find out where their school ranks compared to other law schools...

Johnston: Nanny Tax Evasion Geows Bigger and Bigger

Posted on August 16, 2010
David Cay Johnston has published Nanny Tax Evasion Geows Bigger and Bigger, 128 Tax Notes 783 (Aug. 16, 2010): Johnston critiques new research into why household employment tax evasion is getting worse and takes a look at the latest development in refund anticipation loans...

Tulane Seeks to Hire Tax Prof

Posted on August 16, 2010
Tulane University Law School seeks to fill a tenured or tenure-track tax position to begin in Fall 2011. Please submit applications to the chair of the Faculty Appointments Committee, Ronald J. Scalise Jr., A.D. Freeman Associate Professor of Civil Law.

Avi-Yonah: The Redemption Puzzle

Posted on August 16, 2010
Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan) has posted The Redemption Puzzle on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Following the adoption of partial integration in 2003, there was only a modest increase in dividends during the period 2004-7, from about 300 to about 500 (if 1987 levels are set at 100)...

Should the ABA Accredit Foreign Law Schools?

Posted on August 16, 2010
The ABA is seeking comments, by October 15, 2010, on a proposal that the Council will consider at its December 4, 2010 meeting to allow the accreditation of foreign law schools: Report of the Special Committee on International Issues (July 15, 2009) Report of the Special Committee on Foreign Law...

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on August 16, 2010
Saturday: Property Tax Per Capita: 13 Highest Are Obama Blue States, 9 of 12 Lowest Are McCain Red States Krugman: Absent Tax Increases, America Goes Dark CBPP: Wealthy Would Benefit from Extension of 'Middle-Class' Bush Tax Cuts Ave Maria Is Only Law School to Fail Financial Responsibility Test Sunday: That's...

Shavell: Corrective Taxation Versus Liability

Posted on August 16, 2010
Steven M. Shavell (Harvard) has posted Corrective Taxation Versus Liability on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Taxation and liability are compared here as means of controlling harmful externalities. It is emphasized that liability has an advantage over taxation: inefficiency of incentives arises under taxation when, as would be typical, it...

NY Times Debate: The Professors Who Won't Retire

Posted on August 16, 2010
New York Times Room for Debate, The Professors Who Won't Retire: If tenured professors are retiring later, with some working well into their 70's and beyond, does that block the career paths of their brilliant young students? A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education examined the effects of...

Irate Law School Grads Say They Were Misled About Job Prospects

Posted on August 16, 2010
Newark Star-Ledger, Irate Law School Grads Say They Were Misled About Job Prospects: The angry rants first surfaced last summer on an anonymous New Jersey blog. Law school is a ?scam,? the blogger wrote. Administrators are greedy ?charlatans? who could not care less about education, and students are but ?hapless...

Ending Surprise Estate Tax Liens on Real Property

Posted on August 16, 2010
Chad J. Pomeroy (Fabian & Clendenin, Salt Lake City) has posted Ending Surprise Liens on Real Property, 11 Nev. L.J. ___ (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Academics, law makers, and the general public have long believed that "secret liens" are problematic...

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