Taxation & Estate Planning

TIGTA Releases Tax Reports

Posted on August 12, 2008
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has released a number of tax reports: Procedures Were Not Always Followed When Resolving Alternative Minimum Tax Discrepancies (2008-40-146) Evaluation of Planning Efforts for the Issuance of Economic Stimulus Payments (2008-40-149) Control Weaknesses...

Kumar: Acquiring Partnership Interests in a Like-Kind Exchange

Posted on August 12, 2008
Zal Kumar (Klehr, Harrison, Harvey, Branzburg & Ellers, Philadelphia) has published Acquiring Partnership Interests in a Like-Kind Exchange, 120 Tax Notes 573 (Aug. 11, 2008). Here is the part of the Introduction: It takes a leap of faith to acquire....

Soled: Tax Shelter Malpractice Cases and Their Implications for Tax Compliance

Posted on August 12, 2008
Jay A. Soled (Rutgers Business School) has posted Tax Shelter Malpractice Cases and Their Implications for Tax Compliance on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In malpractice lawsuits, taxpayers prevailed in courtrooms, around arbitration tables, and in settlement negotiations against peddlers...

WaPo: Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit

Posted on August 12, 2008
Washington Post: Obama Tax Plan Would Balloon Deficit; Analysis Finds Democrat's Promise to Cut Taxes Without Adding to Debt Relies on Bush Fiscal Policy, by Lori Montgomery: On the campaign trail, Sen. Barack Obama bashes President Bush for "reckless" economic...

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TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on August 11, 2008
Saturday: Burke: Collapsible Real Estate Partnership Proposal Congress Passes $60k Law School Loan Forgiveness Program for Prosecutors and Public Defenders Infanti: Tax As Urban Legend Cowan: Taxing and Regulating College and University Endowment Income Sunday: Nonpartisan Group Accuses McCain of...

People Who E-File Their Tax Returns Are More Likely to Cheat

Posted on August 11, 2008
Canadian Press: People Who e-File Taxes More Likely to Cheat: Report: Canadians who file their income-tax returns electronically are more likely to cheat, a newly released report suggests. An internal analysis by the Canada Revenue Agency found individuals who sent...

Tax Ben Stein's Money

Posted on August 11, 2008
Sunday New York Times op-ed: A Familiar Tax Tune, but It?s Not Mine, by Ben Stein: A few days ago, I saw Senator John McCain on television saying something I had heard a few times before. Basically, he said that...

IRS Commissioner Names J. Richard (Dick) Harvey Jr. Special Advisor

Posted on August 11, 2008
IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman today named J. Richard (Dick) Harvey Jr. of PricewaterhouseCoopers senior advisor to the commissioner. Harvey will assume his post September 2. From IR-2008-95: Harvey joined Price Waterhouse in 1978 in its audit practice and transferred to...

Lawsky: Probably? Understanding Tax Law's Uncertainty

Posted on August 11, 2008
Sarah B. Lawsky (George Washington) has posted Probably? Understanding Tax Law's Uncertainty, 157 U. Pa. L. Rev. ___ (2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article analyzes the meaning of probability statements in tax law and in scholarship addressing...

Burke & McCouch: Stobie Creek: Too Good to Be True?

Posted on August 11, 2008
Karen C. Burke (San Diego) & Grayson M.P. McCouch (San Diego) have posted Stobie Creek: Too Good to Be True? on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Is a tax shelter that purports to eliminate more than $200 million of gain,...

Emily Houh and Betsy Malloy Awarded Professorships at Cincinnati

Posted on August 11, 2008
Congratulations to my friends and colleagues Emily Houh (left) and Betsy Malloy (right), who have been awarded well-deserved professorships at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. From the Dean's announcement: Dean Louis D. Bilionis has announced the award of...

Death of Earl F. Davis

Posted on August 11, 2008
Earl F. Davis, a retired faculty member at the University of Georgia's J.M. Tull School of Accounting for thirty years, died on August 8 at the age of 82. From the obituary: He graduated from Boston University with a BS...

Nonpartisan Group Accuses McCain of Mulitple Distortions of Obama's Tax Record

Posted on August 10, 2008
The non-partisan FactCheck.org has released a report charging that John McCain has released three new ads with multiple false and misleading claims about Barack Obama's tax proposals: A TV spot claims Obama once voted for a tax increase "on people...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on August 10, 2008
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 #3: 1. [280 Downloads] The Coming Showdown Over University Endowments: Enlisting the Donors,...

Jensen: Law School Attire: A Call for a Uniform Uniform Code

Posted on August 10, 2008
Tax Prof Erik M. Jensen (Case Western) has published Law School Attire: A Call for a Uniform Uniform Code, 33 Okla. City U. L. Rev. 419 (2007). Here is the abstract: Law professors dress scruffily, and we need to do...

Tax Prof Ted Seto to Join Boycott of AALS Annual Meeting

Posted on August 10, 2008
I previously blogged (here and here) the threatened boycott of next January's AALS annual meeting in San Diego because of the hotel owner's $125,000 contribution in support of a ballot initiative to ban gay marriage in California. Tax Prof Ted...

Blattmachr: Reducing Estate and Trust Litigation Through Disclosure, in Terrorem Clauses, Mediation and Arbitration

Posted on August 10, 2008
Jonathan G. Blattmachr (Millbank, New York) has published Reducing Estate and Trust Litigation Through Disclosure, in Terrorem Clauses, Mediation and Arbitration, 9 Cardozo J. Conflict Resol. 237 (2008). Here is the Introduction: This Article discusses how litigation relating to the...

Cowan: Taxing and Regulating College and University Endowment Income

Posted on August 09, 2008
Mark J. Cowan (Boise State University, College of Business and Economics) has published Taxing and Regulating College and University Endowment Income: The Literature's Perspective, 34 J.C.& U.L. 507 (2008). Here is the abstract: College and university endowments have reported outstanding...

Burke: Collapsible Real Estate Partnership Proposal

Posted on August 09, 2008
Karen C. Burke (San Diego) has posted her Shelf Project proposal, Collapsible Real Estate Partnership Proposal, 120 Tax Notes ___ (Aug. 11, 2008), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Professor Burke proposes extending the look-through rules of under § 1(h)(9)...

Congress Passes $60k Law School Loan Forgiveness Program for Prosecutors and Public Defenders

Posted on August 09, 2008
National Law Journal: Proposed Student Loan Repayment Program for Law Grads Goes to Bush for Signature, by Marcia Coyle: A proposed student loan repayment program for law school graduates who commit to service as state or local prosecutors, or state,...

Infanti: Tax As Urban Legend

Posted on August 09, 2008
Anthony C. Infanti (Pittsburgh) has published Tax As Urban Legend, 24 Harv. BlackLetter L.J. 229 (2008) (reviewing Robin L. Einhorn, American Taxation, American Slavery). Here is the abstract: In this essay, I review UC-Berkeley history professor Robin Einhorn's book, American...

Kaplan: A Guide to Starting Social Security Benefits

Posted on August 08, 2008
Richard J. Kaplan (Illinois) has posted A Guide to Starting Social Security Benefits, J. Retirement Plan. 35, July-Aug. 2008, on SSRN. Here is the abstract: When a person should begin taking Social Security retirement benefits is a critical question for...

Tax Court Rejects Taxpayer's Reliance on "Short-Lived" Murphy Decision

Posted on August 08, 2008
The Tax Court yesterday rejected a married couple's reliance on Murphy v. IRS, 460 F.3d 79 (D.C. Cir. 2006), and held that the couple could not exclude from income under § 104(a)(2) a $41,000 settlement received in a wrongful termination...

Does Professor Quality Matter?

Posted on August 08, 2008
Scott E. Carrell (Dartmouth College) & James E. West (U.S. Air Force Academy) have posted Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professors on SSRN. Here is the abstract: It is difficult to measure teaching quality...

Tax Analysts Interview with Dan Berman, New Director of BU Grad Tax Program

Posted on August 08, 2008
I previously blogged Boston University's appointment of international tax lawyer Daniel M. Berman (Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner, Washington, D.C.) as Director of its Graduate Tax Program and Professor of the Practice of Tax Law, effective July 1, 2008...

Ryan: Can the IRS Silence Religious Organizations?

Posted on August 08, 2008
Meghan J. Ryan (Minnesota) has posted Can the IRS Silence Religious Organizations? 40 Ind. L. Rev. 73 (2007), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the years following the 2004 presidential election, the Los Angeles Times reported that the IRS...

Ten Highest and Lowest Tax States

Posted on August 08, 2008
The Tax Foundation has released State-Local Tax Burdens Dip As Income Growth Outpaces Tax Growth, which computes each state's combined state-local tax burden, taking into account taxes paid out of state. Here are the ten highest tax states: New Jersey:...

ABA Section of Legal Education Considers Special Reports Today on Outcome Measures, Security of Position, and Transparency

Posted on August 08, 2008
The ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar today will consider reports from three special committees at the Annual Meeting in New York: Outcome Measures Committee Interim Report (May 12, 2008) Comments: Clinical Legal Education Association (Aug...

The Black Academic?s Guide to Winning Tenure ? Without Losing Your Soul

Posted on August 08, 2008
Today's Inside Higher Ed has an interview with one of the co-authors of The Black Academic?s Guide to Winning Tenure ? Without Losing Your Soul (Lynne Rienner, 2008), by Kerry Ann Rockquemore & Tracey Laszloffy: [The book offers] both empathy...

Gillette: Law School Faculty as Free Agents

Posted on August 07, 2008
Clayton P. Gillette (NYU) has published Law School Faculty as Free Agents, 17 J. Contemp. Legal Issues 213 (2008). Here is the abstract: The phenomenon of law professors changing jobs from one law school faculty to another - faculty free...

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