Taxation & Estate Planning

15 Million People Are on the Wrong Tax Code

Posted on August 16, 2010
Daily Telegraph, 15m People Are on the Wrong Tax Code: Millions of people continue to pay the incorrect amount of tax because they have been given the wrong tax code. ... The problem came to light in January, but HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has never publicly disclosed how many...

Sending a Child Off to College? Call Your Lawyer First.

Posted on August 15, 2010
Weekend Wall Street Journal, Packing for College, 2010 Style: As you help pack up the minifridge, laptop and extra-long twin sheets for your college freshman, you might consider a few other last-minute chores: ... Call your lawyer. Sending a child off to college for the first time is wrenching enough,...

Bill Gates Sr. Leads Push for Washington State Income Tax

Posted on August 15, 2010
Weekend Wall Street Journal editorial: Gates of Confiscation: Look Who Wants to Give Washington State an Income Tax: The battle between taxpayers and government unions will define the fiscal future of the 50 states, and the newest battlefield is Washington state...

That's Not a Tax Bill, THIS is a Tax Bill: Crocodile Dundee Star Paul Hogan Hit with £8m by Taxman

Posted on August 15, 2010
Daily Mail, That's Not a Tax Bill, THIS is a Tax Bill: Crocodile Dundee Star Paul Hogan Hit with £8m in Charges: Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan has been hit with an £8?million bill by the Australian taxman. He is accused of evading tax on more than £20?million in undeclared...

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Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on August 15, 2010
There is a bit of movement in this week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads, with a paper returning to the list at #5: 1. [874 Downloads] Social Security Benefits Formula 101: A Practical Primer, by Francine J. Lipman (Chapman) & James E. Williamson (San Diego State...

CBPP: Wealthy Would Benefit from Extension of 'Middle-Class' Bush Tax Cuts

Posted on August 14, 2010
Following up on yesterday's post, CNN: A Surprise Tax Cut for the (Almost) Rich: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, High-Income People Would Benefit Significantly From Extension of ?Middle-Class? Tax Cuts A fact generally overlooked in the debate over whether Congress should extend the high-income Bush tax cuts ? i...

Ave Maria Is Only Law School to Fail Financial Responsibility Test

Posted on August 14, 2010
Ave Maria is the only law school to fail the U.S. Department of Education's financial-responsibility test, based on its financial condition in the 2009 fiscal year. The Department assigns schools a composite score in three bands: -1.0 to +1.0 +1.0 to +1...

Property Tax Per Capita: 13 Highest Are Obama Blue States, 9 of 12 Lowest Are McCain Red States

Posted on August 14, 2010
Tax Foundation, State and Local Property Tax Collections Per Capita by State, Fiscal Year 2008: Rank State Property Tax Per Capita 1 DC $2,938 2 NJ $2,625 3 WY $2,385 4 CT $2,381 5 NH $2,317 6 NY $2,009 7 RI $1,957 8 VT $1,896 9 MA $1,789 10 IL...

Krugman: Absent Tax Increases, America Goes Dark

Posted on August 14, 2010
New York Times, Absent Tax Increases, America Goes Dark, by Paul Krugman: The lights are going out all over America ? literally. Colorado Springs has made headlines with its desperate attempt to save money by turning off a third of its streetlights, but similar things are either happening or being...

Soled: Requiem for Paper Information Statements

Posted on August 13, 2010
Jay A. Soled (Rutgers Business School) has published Requiem for Paper Information Statements, 128 Tax Notes 658 (Aug. 9, 2010). Here is the abstract: This article is a synopsis of a longer piece on the same topic. See Jay A. Soled, Call for the Gradual Phase-Out of All Paper Tax...

CRS: BP's Tax Deductions from the Gulf Oil Spill

Posted on August 13, 2010
The Congressional Research Service has issued Tax Deductible Expenses: The BP Case (R41365), by Molly F. Sherlock: Following the release of BP?s second quarter earning statement, which showed a $10 billion reduction in tax liability for oil-spill-related cleanup and expenses, media headlines have generated public concern, and in some cases...

German Millionaires Say Nein to Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge

Posted on August 13, 2010
Following up on my post earlier this month, Pledge to Give Away Half Gains Billionaire Adherents (Aug. 5, 2010): German Millionaires Criticize Gates' 'Giving Pledge': Germany's super-rich have rejected an invitation by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to join their 'Giving Pledge' to give away most of their fortune...

10 Ways to Know You Were Born to Be an Accountant

Posted on August 13, 2010
10 Ways to Know You Were Born to Be an Accountant: 4. You have an abnormal passion for tax law It bores everyone else, but your eyes light up when you see a new tax code. Because you enjoyed studying tax law in school, you have no problem continuously studying...

TIGTA: C Corp Filings Down, S Corp and Partnership Returns Up

Posted on August 13, 2010
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Filing Characteristics and Examination Results for Small Business Corporate Returns (2010-30-067): Between January 2005 and December 2009, the number of corporate returns processed annually by the IRS fell 7%, from almost 2...

Taxing Tenure

Posted on August 13, 2010
Let's Invent New Vindictive Forms of Taxation for Fun, by James Lileks: Why not treat tenure as wealth, and tax it accordingly? Take a college professor. (Please.) Calculate how much they'll make until retirement from their permanent job. Declare it wealth...

70% of Economists Favor Extension of Bush Tax Cuts to Those Making >250k/Year

Posted on August 13, 2010
Wall Street Journal, Economists Want Policy Makers to Back Off Now: Economists are getting more pessimistic about the strength of the U.S. recovery, but they don't think policy makers should do anything more to support it, according to the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey...

Students Betting on Their Grades

Posted on August 13, 2010
Inside Higher Ed, Bettor Grades: Student affairs experts have said that gambling is an unhealthy habit among college students, especially in the age of online poker. But what about if instead of a virtual hands, the students were betting on their ability to meet or exceed a certain grade? One...

Paul O?Connor Named President of Tax Executives Institute

Posted on August 13, 2010
Paul O?Connor, Vice President, Taxes, for Millipore Corporation in Billerica, Massachusetts, has been elected the President of Tax Executives Institute (TEI), effective August 10. (Millipore Corporation is a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany...

CNN: A Surprise Tax Cut for the (Almost) Rich

Posted on August 13, 2010
CNN, A Surprise Tax Cut for the (Almost) Rich: Worried about your taxes going up next year? They might for some high earners. But some not-quite-rich taxpayers could end up with a surprise tax cut. If the Bush tax cuts expire for the nation's top earners, people making a pinch...

Law Firm Tax Rankings: Skadden Is #1

Posted on August 12, 2010
Here are the Top Law Firm Tax Rankings, which give equal weight to the Chambers (based on interviews with lawyers and clients) and Vault (based on surveys of associates at the Top 165 law firms) law firm tax rankings: Rank Firm Chambers Vault 1 Skadden 1 1 2 McDermott Will...

District Court: First Amendment Prohibits Complete Ban on Lawyer-'Huckster's' Rendering of Tax Advice

Posted on August 12, 2010
A U.S. district court held that completely barring a tax lawyer who promoted abusive tax shelters from offering tax advice would violate the First Amendment. Instead, the court enjoined the lawyer from advising on certain tax plans, required him to seek IRS approval before advising on other tax strategies, and...

Gambling Taxes: Philosophy, Constitution and Horizontal Equity

Posted on August 12, 2010
William N. Thompson (UNLV) has published Gambling Taxes: The Philosophy, the Constitution and Horizontal Equity, 17 Vill. Sports & Ent. L.J. 389 (2010).

Shu-Yi Oei Posts Tax Papers on SSRN

Posted on August 12, 2010
Shu-Yi Oei (Tulane) has posted two tax papers on SSRN: Context Matters: The Recharacterization of Leases in Bankruptcy and Tax Law, 82 Am. Bankr. L.J. 635 (2008) A Structural Critique of Trader Taxation, 8 Fla. Tax Rev. 1013 (2008)

CRS: Official Scores Underestimate Revenues from Planned Capital Gains Tax Hikes

Posted on August 12, 2010
The Congressional Research Service has issued Capital Gains Tax Options: Behavioral Responses and Revenues (R41364), by Jane G. Gravelle: Among the expiring Bush tax cut provisions is a lower 15% rate for long-term capital gains and dividends, with a 0% rate for taxpayers with ordinary tax rates of 15% or...

Grewal: Legislative Entrenchment Rules in the Tax Law

Posted on August 12, 2010
Andy Grewal (Arizona State) has posted Legislative Entrenchment Rules in the Tax Law, 62 Admin. L. Rev. ___ (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Can one Congress tie the hands of a future Congress? At its heart, that?s the issue posed by legislative entrenchment rules...

Tax Strategy Patents -- A Tax Lawyer's View

Posted on August 12, 2010
Wolfgang Schoen (Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition & Tax Law) has posted Tax Strategy Patents -- A Tax Lawyer's View on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Strategic tax planning in the U. S. is currently under attack not only from tax law and tax authorities, but also from...

Lowering the Bar: Is Law School Becoming a Fool?s Errand?

Posted on August 12, 2010
John Yoo (UC-Berkeley), Glenn Reynolds (Tennessee), and Richard Epstein (Chicago) discuss: Are law schools creating a new generation law fools? Is the bar exam the best measure of a lawyer? Are the best law schools even worth the money? Above the Law

New Yorker: Time to Raise Taxes on the 'Very, Very Rich'

Posted on August 12, 2010
The New Yorker, Soak The Very, Very Rich, by James Surowiecki: The fight on Capitol Hill over whether to extend the Bush tax cuts is about many things: deficit reduction, economic stimulus, supply-side ideology. But at its core is a simple question: who counts as rich? The Obama Administration?s answer...

Unintended Victim of Carried Interest Bill: Corporate Joint Ventures

Posted on August 12, 2010
Dow Jones, Fund Manager Tax Change Could Snag Corporate Joint Ventures, by Martin Vaughan: A proposed tax hike aimed at Wall Street fund managers could snare some of the largest U.S. public companies that operate joint ventures, tax advisers and lobbyists say...

NY Times:

Posted on August 12, 2010
New York Times, Will Congress Ease 1099 Requirements in Health Care Bill?: In their last week of summer legislating, Republicans and Democrats alike ? on both ends of Capitol Hill ? made gestures toward repealing a new tax-reporting requirement, raising hopes among small-business advocates who have lobbied fiercely against the...

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