Taxation & Estate Planning

IRS Podcasts

Posted on January 13, 2009
The IRS announced today (IR-2009-4) that it has produced fifteen podcasts to assist taxpayers in the 2009 tax filing season, including: Year End Tax Tips Year End Tax Tips (Espanol) Undelivered Refunds & Stimulus Payments 2008 October 15 Deadlines Mileage...

WSJ: Estates of Pain

Posted on January 13, 2009
Following up on its front page story yesterday, Obama Plans to Keep Estate Tax: the Wall Street Journal today editorializes against President-elect Obama's plan to retain the estate tax with a $3.5 million exemption in Estates of Pain; The First...

Size Matters: Thomas Cooley's 2009 Law School Rankings

Posted on January 13, 2009
Thomas Cooley Law School has released the 10th annual edition of its law school rankings, Judging the Law Schools. The ranking is based on equal weights assigned to 32 objective variables, all but one of which are from the Official...

Morgan Stanley, GE Seek Renewal of Tax Break on Repatriation of Foreign Earnings

Posted on January 13, 2009
Bloomberg: Morgan Stanley, GE Want Tax Waiver on Loans From Offshore Units, by Ryan J. Donmoyer: Morgan Stanley, United Technologies Corp. and General Electric Co. are promoting a plan to Congress that would waive U.S. tax penalties on businesses that...

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More Tax Planning for Madoff Victims

Posted on January 13, 2009
Following up on my prior posts: Tax Law to Provide Bailout to Madoff's Victims (12/18/08) More on Tax Planning for Madoff Victims (12/30/08) Steven H. Sholk & Peter J. Ulrich (both of Gibbons, Newark) have published Federal Income Tax Treatment...

Bowen: Defending Against Discovery of Tax Returns

Posted on January 13, 2009
Nancy T. Bowen (Fulbright & Jaworski, Houston) has published Strategies for Defending Against Discovery Requests for Tax Returns, 122 Tax Notes 217 (Jan. 12, 2009). Here is the Conclusion: Tax returns contain a great deal of sensitive information that taxpayers...

Zelinsky: Abolish the Minimum Required Distribution Rules

Posted on January 13, 2009
Oxford University Press Blog: Abolish the Minimum Required Distribution Rules, by Edward Zelinsky (Cardozo): I propose a simple fate for the MRD rules: Abolish them permanently. The MRD rules make life unnecessarily complicated for older persons. The rules also discourage...

Carbon-Pricing as a Capitation Tax

Posted on January 13, 2009
Steven E. Stoft has posted Carbon-Pricing Revenues: Why Their Use Is, in Essence, Funded by a Capitation Tax on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Cap-and-trade and carbon-tax policies generate streams of tax revenue or of valuable permits. These represent the...

Texas A&M Faculty Protest $10k Bonuses Based on Student Evaluations

Posted on January 12, 2009
Texas A&M faculty are protesting plans to give $2,500 - $10,000 bonuses to the Top 15% of faculty solely on the basis of student evaluations: The chancellor of the Texas A&M University System wants to give bonuses worth up to...

GAO Issues Report Card on 2008 Filing Season

Posted on January 12, 2009
The Government Accountability Office today released IRS's 2008 Filing Season Generally Successful Despite Challenges, Although IRS Could Expand Enforcement During Returns Processing (GAO-09-146): IRS successfully processed 150 million returns and issued 105 million refunds for $246 billion as of September...

Supreme Court Denies Cert. in Vision Service Plan

Posted on January 12, 2009
The Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Vision Service Plan, Inc. v. United States, No. 08-164, cert. denied 1/12/09). Vision Service Plan had hired former Solicitor General (and current Pepperdine Dean) Kenneth Starr to press its case that the IRS's...

Foreign Direct Investment, Thin Capitalization, and the Interest Expense Deduction

Posted on January 12, 2009
Timothy Edgar (University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law), Jonathan Farrar (York University) & Amin Mawani (York University) have posted Foreign Direct Investment, Thin Capitalization, and the Interest Expense Deduction: A Policy Analysis, 57 Canadian Tax J...

IRS Agent, Fired for Wearing Knife to Work, Sues Claiming Religious Discrimination

Posted on January 12, 2009
WebCPA: Woman Sues IRS After She is Fired for Wearing Knife to Work, by Michael Cohn: An IRS has sued the IRS for firing her after she insisted on wearing a ceremonial knife on the job. The agent, Kawaljeet Kaur...

Obama Plans to Keep Estate Tax

Posted on January 12, 2009
Front page story in today's Wall Street Journal: Obama Plans to Keep Estate Tax, by Jonathan Weisman: President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders plan to move soon to block the estate tax from disappearing in 2010, suggesting the levy might...

Tax News Roundup

Posted on January 12, 2009
Are You Paying Too Much in Estimated Taxes? (Dow Jones), by Arden Dale Business Seeks Tax Break in Stimulus (Wall Street Journal), by Darrell A. Hughes California & Colorado: Why Procedural Restrictions on Revenue-Raising Lead to Disaster (Citizens for Tax...

An Evaluation of Obama?s Tax and Stimulus Plans

Posted on January 12, 2009
Roberton Williams (Urban Institute) has published President-Elect Obama?s Tax and Stimulus Plans on the Tax Policy Center website. Here is the abstract: During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama proposed a comprehensive tax plan that would raise taxes on high-income taxpayers,...

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on January 12, 2009
Saturday: The Path to Victory in the Classroom Laptop War? ABA Tax Section Midyear Meeting Tax Profs Speaking at Today's AALS Annual Meeting Sunday: Deloitte Tax Lawyer Busted for Sex Blackmail Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads Gerzog Posts Tax Papers...

Deloitte Tax Lawyer Busted for Sex Blackmail

Posted on January 11, 2009
From the New York Post: A hotshot tax attorney was busted for allegedly trying to blackmail a former lover into sending him nude photos by threatening to give her husband, neighbors and relatives what he claimed was a raunchy DVD...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on January 11, 2009
There is a bit of movement in this week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads, with a new paper debuting on the list at #5: 1. [256 Downloads] Private Equity Management Fee Conversions, by Gregg D. Polsky...

Gerzog Posts Tax Papers on SSRN

Posted on January 11, 2009
Wendy Gerzog (Baltimore) has posted two tax papers on SSRN: On Public Policy Grounds, a Limited Tax Credit for Child Support and Alimony, 11 Am. J. Tax Pol'y, 321 (1994) The Marriage Penalty: The Working Couple's Dilemma, 47 Fordham L....

The Path to Victory in the Classroom Laptop War?

Posted on January 10, 2009
In my AALS talk this week, I again made the case for using technology to create an active learning environment in the classroom. I drew on two aspects of the just-released LSSSE data from 29,000 law students at 85 law...

ABA Tax Section Midyear Meeting

Posted on January 10, 2009
The ABA Tax Section Midyear Meeting concludes today in New Orleans. A list of Tax Profs with speaking roles today, and their topics, is below the fold: 7:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.: Tax Practice Management 7:30 a.m.: Section 6694 Regs...

Tax Profs Speaking at Today's AALS Annual Meeting

Posted on January 10, 2009
The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) hosts its annual breakfast meeting this morning at 7:15 a.m. at the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego. Excutive Director John Mayer will regale us with the latest word on CALI's innovative projects...

Does the Golson Rule Hurt the Poor?

Posted on January 09, 2009
Carlton Smith (Cardozo) has posted Does the Tax Court's Use of its Golsen Rule in Unappealable Small Tax Cases Hurt the Poor?, 11 J. Tax Prac. & Pro. ___ (2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The U.S. Tax Court...

Piccolo Posts Tax Papers on SSRN

Posted on January 09, 2009
David Piccolo (York University, Osgoode Hall Law School) has posted three tax papers on SSRN: A Guide to Using Pension Income Splitting Pension Income Splitting: An Imperfect Solution to an Unclear Problem Rethinking Employment Insurance: The Case for Funding Employment...

ABA Tax Section Midyear Meeting

Posted on January 09, 2009
The ABA Tax Section Midyear Meeting continues today in New Orleans. A highlight today is the luncheon honoring Elizabeth Copeland (Oppenheimer Blend Harrison & Tate, San Antonio) as the Janet Spragens Pro Bono Award recipient. A list of Tax Profs...

Tax Profs Speaking at Today's AALS Annual Meeting

Posted on January 09, 2009
Several Tax Profs are speaking today at the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego: AALS Site Evaluators Workshop (8:30 a.m.): David A. Brennen (Georgia; AALS Deputy Director) (moderator) Open Source Program: The Business of Tax Patents: At the Crossroads of...

NY Times: Law Deans Personally Call Admitted Applicants

Posted on January 09, 2009
New York Times: The Dean Is on the Line, by Victoria Goldman: "Let me be the first to congratulate you." That?s Michael J. States?s greeting to applicants after they?ve been accepted at the University of North Carolina School of Law....

The Best Accounting Firms to Work For

Posted on January 09, 2009
Accounting Today has released a list of The Best Accounting Firms to Work For. The magazine ranks sixty firms in three categories: Small Firms (15-24 employees) Midsized Firms (25-249 employees) Large Firms (> 250 employees)

Alarie: Lipson v. Canada and GAAR

Posted on January 08, 2009
Ben Alarie (Toronto) blogs on today's important tax decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, Lipson v. Canada, 2009 SCC 1 (Can. Jan. 8, 2008): The Court was sharply divided, 4-3, in favour of dismissing the taxpayer's appeal from the...

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