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Abstract:
Americans believe that undocumented immigrants are exploiting the United States' economy. The widespread belief is that illegal aliens cost more in government services than they contribute to the economy. This belief is undeniably false. [E]very empirical study of illegals' economic impact demonstrates the opposite . . .: undocumenteds actually contribute more to public coffers in taxes than they cost in social services. Moreover, undocumented immigrants contribute to the U.S. economy through their investments and consumption of goods and services; filling of millions of essential worker positions resulting in subsidiary job creation, increased productivity and lower costs of goods and services; and unrequited contributions to Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance programs. Eighty-five percent of eminent economists surveyed have concluded that undocumented immigrants have had a positive (seventy-four percent) or neutral (eleven percent) impact on the U.S. economy.

Undocumented immigrants, like all U.S. citizens and residents, are required to pay taxes. Despite the historic and strong American opposition to taxation without representation, undocumented immigrants (except in rare and unusual cases) have not enjoyed the right to vote on any local, state or federal tax or other matter for almost eighty years. Nevertheless, each year undocumented immigrants add billions of dollars in sales, excise, property, income and payroll taxes, including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes, to federal, state and local coffers. Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants go out of their way to file annual federal and state income tax returns.

Yet undocumented immigrants are barred from almost all government benefits, including food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, federal housing programs, Supplemental Security Income, Unemployment Insurance, Social Security, Medicare, and the earned income tax credit (EITC). Generally, the only benefits federally required for undocumented immigrants are emergency medical care, subject to financial and category eligibility, and elementary and secondary public education. Many undocumented immigrants will not even access these few critical government services because of their ever-present fear of government officials and deportation.

Undocumented immigrants living in the United States are subject to the same income tax laws as documented immigrants and U.S. citizens. However, because of their status most unauthorized workers pay a higher effective tax rate than similarly situated documented or U.S. citizens. Yet, these workers and their families use fewer government services than similarly situated documented immigrants or U.S. citizens. Moreover, unauthorized workers have been denied remedies by the U.S. Supreme Court under the National Labor Relations Act and may be challenged to receive protection under wage and hour, anti-discrimination and workers' compensation laws. As a result, undocumented immigrants provide a fiscal windfall and may be the most fiscally beneficial of all immigrants.

Despite their net positive contribution to public coffers, hundreds of thousands of immigrants enter the U.S. each year without documents because of impracticable quota and labor certification requirements. These immigration restrictions combined with the additional tax or tariff on undocumented immigrants are inconsistent with economically efficient immigration policy. Moreover, the high effective tax rate imposed on the poorest undocumented working families relative to their less unfortunate friends and neighbors is inconsistent with fundamental tax policy. This Article describes and analyzes the separate, unequal and unrepresented federal taxation of undocumented immigrants.

undocumented immigrants, tax, earned income tax credit, uniform definition of a child, child tax credit, immigration policy, tax policy, welfare

Abstract:
There is nothing certain about taxes or death. I beg your pardon Ben Franklin, but hear me out . . . . A glance at my resume presents a life journey including at least three different careers: tax accountant, tax lawyer and tax professor. While I have had different titles, in substance I have been doing the same thing for decades (albeit in a different form). And as we know substance rules over form, except when form rules over substance. Same daily excitement only different locations, I digress, which is what law professors do best.

As a law professor, I teach, but this summer I learned some valuable life lessons about death and taxes that I share in this Essay. While tax professionals deal with death and taxes on a routine basis in the abstract, few people really come to terms with a family member's terminal illness or even their own mortality. This Essay describes critical financial and estate planning steps that, while commonsense, are often neglected even by the most informed professionals. These numerous simple recommendations are certain to help you and your family and your clients to celebrate life (chai), rather than death, and taxes.

estate planning, financial planning, estate taxes, retirement planning, death

Abstract:
Congress enacted the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) to preclude high income individuals from escaping their federal income tax liabilities by artful manipulation of certain tax provisions. In recent years, increasing numbers of moderate-income taxpayers have been subject to AMT. The problem has been especially acute for technology sector employees who exercised incentive stock options (ISOs) while the market was high, sold their stock after its value fell, and found themselves owing AMT they could not afford to pay. This Essay explains the complexity of ISOs and the AMT and argues that the AMT adjustment for ISOs should not be eliminated, but rather that other reforms should be enacted to target more appropriately the AMT. The proposed reforms should simplify tax treatment of ISOs and reduce the number of ISO exercisers who are subject unknowingly to AMT.

alternative minimum tax, tax policy, incentive stock options, employee compensation,

Abstract:
In October 2003, California experienced record-breaking wildfires. The devastation from this catastrophic disaster was pervasive and staggering. The raging fires instantly turned several thousand homes and businesses together with the everyday and precious stuff of life into ashes. Thousands of families lost everything except the clothes on their backs. While the nation and the survivors were amazed that few lives were lost, the rebuilding process was and continues to be overwhelming. In addition to the emotional, physical, and financial demands of rebuilding, the tax consequences can be costly, complicated and unforeseen.

This article provides a systematic primer of the tax consequences of a disaster and the relief provisions under the Internal Revenue Code. The format of the article follows a fictitious family through the tragedy of the 2003 Southern California wildfires. The events facing the family are derived from comprehensive government data, newspaper accounts and interviews of insurance agents, federal government representatives, victims of the fire and nonprofit relief workers. Through this format, the article provides a detailed outline of the many different issues facing the victims of any disaster and their tax implications. Tax issues from reimbursement for immediate shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment and other needs to longer-term requirements for replacing homes, businesses, and the multitude of lost contents are carefully explained and exemplified. While the article follows the California wildfires from the first day of the fires through the rebuilding process, the tax issues analyzed apply to any U.S. disaster, including hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and terrorism.

Disaster relief, casualty losses, casualty gains, net operating losses, involuntary conversions, presidentially declared disasters, disaster relief payments

Abstract:
Undocumented immigrants have little or no recourse for economic injustices they suffer through the U.S. tax system. Despite America's historically strong opposition to taxation without representation, undocumented immigrants have not enjoyed the right to vote on any local, state or federal tax for almost eighty years, except in rare and unusual cases. Furthermore, because of their precarious immigration and economic status undocumented immigrants are vulnerable to deportation and exploitation and are chilled from protesting any injustice. As a result they suffer economic injustices daily, which translate into lower prices for countless goods and services that are an everyday part of privileged life in America. The burden of speaking out loudly and clearly about these injustices therefore is ours.

This Essay describes two of too many economic injustices suffered by undocumented immigrant families including their high effective tax rate because they do not qualify for the poorly targeted EITC (even if every member of the family is legally working and present in the United States) and the burden of Social Security and Medicare taxes without the right to receive benefits.

earned income tax credit, Social Security taxes, welfare policy, Social Security taxes, undocumented immigrants, unauthorized workers

Abstract:
In 2008, the oldest of 78 million baby boomers will celebrate their 62nd birthdays. Before they blow out their birthday candles, they will have considered and likely decided whether to elect to take early Social Security retirement benefits (SSRBs). Recent and evolving changes in the normal retirement age under Social Security, Medicare premiums and increased exposure to income tax costs have reduced the net cash flow many senior boomers will enjoy from SSRBs. Because of the overall lack of transparency in the Social Security benefits formula and the complex interplay of continued work, Medicare, taxes, and the various timing-options, many boomers are unable to make informed decisions about critical retirement matters. This article presents these issues to assist in making informed retirement decisions.

social security, Medicare, retirement, tax, baby boomers, work, aging

Abstract:
"Illegals do NOT pay taxes." As a law professor researching and writing about undocumented immigrants and their tax issues I see this comment in my email inbox and hear it during outreach efforts routinely. Every time I hear or read this or a similar comment, my whole body cringes. This short statement truly embodies the exploitation of the immigration debate. While this statement is often delivered from mainstream individuals, its origin can be traced to extremist rhetoric. Anti-immigrant and anti-Latino extremists have used outright bigotry to frame the immigration debate to advance their own supremacist agenda. By positioning themselves as legitimate advocates against illegal immigration in America these groups have broadened their base and mainstreamed their message. These groups "are frequently quoted in the media, have been called to testify before Congress, and often hold meetings with lawmakers and other public figures." As a result, in many American communities immigrants live in fear and suffer a toxic environment in which hateful rhetoric targeting immigrants has become an acceptable part of daily news and discourse. This Essay is an answer to this insidious vilification and arrant racism.

This Essay will debunk the short, but maladroit statement that "illegals do NOT pay taxes." First, calling a group of people "illegals" is hateful, "racially loaded, imprecise, and pejorative." Scholars, and children, understand that language and discourse can contribute to vile acts including crime, abuse and other social problems. Historical and current atrocities including the Holocaust, Darfur and the murder of Matthew Shepard are horrific examples of this intolerable truth. The term "illegals" is patently dehumanizing and inappropriate terminology, and its persistent use by extremists, as well as mainstream media and the general population, must stop now.

Second, as a low-income taxpayer and human rights advocate, I understand that pervasive misunderstanding regarding undocumented immigrants evinces the frustration and fear that many Americans feel about the challenging state of the U.S. and global economies. Restrictionists feed this frustration and fear with inflammatory propaganda about undocumented immigrants and our tax systems. Because of overwhelming complexity and lack of transparency in this system it is easy to misrepresent and distort the facts. As a result, some Americans believe the absolutely irrational and self-delusional assertion that undocumented immigrants do not pay any taxes. This gross falsehood is counterproductive for the speaker, the subject, and the U.S. and global economies.

Finally, as a tax professor I am charged with teaching tax and these comments broadcast loudly and boldly how misinformed Americans are about our tax systems. The well documented facts evidence that undocumented immigrants have paid hundreds of billions of dollars in American taxes to date. In most cases undocumented immigrants pay more in tax each year than similarly situated U.S. citizens. This additional tax, which is first exposed and labeled here as "the undocumented immigrant tax," is the subject of this Essay. This Essay will describe the depth and breadth of undocumented immigrants as a resource for tax payments made to government coffers across the country. The depth and breadth will be evinced by describing the myriad of different federal, state and local taxes undocumented immigrants are subject to and pay. But most notably this Essay will verify that not only do undocumented immigrants pay the same taxes that U.S. citizens and documented residents pay, but in addition they are subject to and pay what I am describing as "the undocumented immigrant tax." The undocumented immigrant tax is effectively an additional tax burden, a surtax or tariff on undocumented immigrants and their families. As a result, not only do undocumented immigrants pay taxes, but they bear a greater tax burden than similarly situated U.S. citizens and documented residents.

Undocumented immigrants, illegals, Hispanics, Latinos, immigrants, tax, earned income tax, refundable child tax credit, social security, payroll taxes, economic stimulus refund 2008

Abstract:
Conditions are ripe for harvesting tax benefits provided to private owners of forest land. As our exploding population paves more paradise, government agencies provide economic incentives to motivate private landowners to engage in conservation activities. With real estate values escalating to unprecedented highs and individual marginal income tax rates and stock market values continuing to decline, now may be a fruitful time to capture inflated real estate values and enhanced tax benefits. This article analyzes five different tax incentives that Congress enacted to encourage forest landowners to engage in conservation activities. The tax provisions presented and analyzed are the reforestation expenditure amortization deduction, the reforestation tax credit, preferential treatment for gains and losses from timber sales and the conservation easement. The article concludes with a hypothetical example of how these tax incentives can mitigate the differences between a private landowner's economic interests and the public goal of preservation.

Abstract:
This article describes the significant S corporation shareholder basis limitations on pass-through losses. The article focuses on the Internal Revenue Service's (Service) and the courts' strict scrutiny and denial of S corporation shareholder basis when related party debt has been restructured to increase the amount of allowable pass-through losses. The Tax Court, in its recent decision in Culnen v. Commissioner, 79 T.C.M. (CCH) 1933 (2000), rev'd on other grounds, 89 A.F.T.R.2D (RIA) 383 (3d Cir. 2002), has made an affirmative statement that it will not automatically disallow an S corporation shareholder's basis when borrowed funds originate with a related entity. The court's analysis of the requirements for shareholder basis, however, is inconsistent with its analysis in prior decisions and the Service's absolute denial of basis with respect to related party debt restructurings. This article attempts to analyze and reconcile the Tax Court's opinion in Culnen, and Yates v. Commissioner, 82 T.C.M. (CCH) 805 (2001), a subsequent complementary case, with the preceding case law.

S corporation, loss limitations, related party, debt restructurings

Abstract:
Immigrants toil in sweatshops for torturously long days at sub-minimum wages, which may or may not be paid, with little meaningful recourse. Immigrant workers with and without authorization to work in the United States are disproportionately represented among the lowest earners. The average wage among all low-wage immigrant workers was $14,400 in 2001. Moreover, almost half of immigrant workers earned less than twice the minimum wage. These hard working individuals are living in poverty.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) lifts almost 20 million low-income working individuals out of poverty every year. Unfortunately, the EITC does not apply if a worker, her spouse, or her qualifying child does not have a Social Security number. Consequently, many low-income immigrant working families cannot qualify for the EITC. However, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) under certain circumstances may provide relief.

This Article begins with an explanation of the complex operation of the CTC. The operation of the CTC is examined by focusing the analysis on the different tax consequences for working poor families in which each member has a Social Security number (documented) and those in which at least one member does not have a Social Security number (undocumented). Next, the Article demonstrates how the CTC fails to ensure that undocumented, working poor families do not pay any taxes. Finally, the Article proposes a legislative reform for this onerous problem and encourages Congress to provide relief for all hard-working poor families.

Earned income tax credit, child tax credit, working poor, undocumented immigrants

Abstract:
The amount of S corporation entity level net operating losses that are allowed to pass through to S corporation shareholders is limited. Shareholders may increase these limits by properly structuring their debt especially shareholder guarantees of S corporation debt. This article focuses on critical shareholder missteps in the recent Tax Court and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals cases of T.F. Grojean. Because of inadequate tax planning the Grojeans' S corporation pass-through losses were not allowed. The article concludes with a summary of lessons S corporation shareholders can learn from the Grojeans' missteps.

S corporation loss limitations, shareholder debt guarantees

Abstract:
The Brookings Institute and the Progressive Policy Institute have collaborated in a study analyzing the shift of earned income tax credit (EITC) benefits away from the working poor, their families and neighborhoods. The study determined that approximately $1.75 billion of the $30 billion in 1999 EITC was shifted from targeted individuals to paid tax preparers and affiliated national banks. This article analyzes the problem of diminishing EITC benefits for the working poor and presents possible solutions to preserve our nation's largest and most effective anti-poverty program. The proposed solutions include (1) simplification of applicable tax provisions; (2) an offsetting tax preparation tax credit; (3) a revised government-private industry preparer partnership providing free Internet tax preparation and filing services; and (4) government-supported volunteer income tax assistance clinics open all year to assist low-income individuals with tax preparation, filing, correspondence and other financial education and banking assistance.

EITC, working poor, refund anticipation loans, tax preparers

Abstract:
Selecting the best age to begin social security benefits is an important election for lower-income individuals. These individuals are especially vulnerable to the timing and magnitude of critical cash flow. Unfortunately, the decision models and measures being used by individuals to analyze financial decisions, including the social security benefits timing decision, often are the same measures that have been developed to guide large business organizations in their financial decisions. Because of significant differences in economic flexibility, size, life cycle, mission, goals, as well as other attributes, large organization models may not fit the needs of lower-income individuals. However, lower-income individuals do need to focus on key strategic measures when making financial decisions. Therefore, new measures specifically designed to meet the unique needs of lower-income individuals should be developed. This paper illustrates one approach by measuring the quality-value of marginal social security benefit dollars for lower-income retirees and their families.

Social Security benefits, low-income beneficiaries

Abstract:
As a general rule, when the standard deduction is greater than a taxpayer's itemized deductions, claiming the larger standard deduction for regular income tax purposes will generate a lower tax liability. However, if the taxpayer is subject to the alternative minimum tax (AMT) the decision to take the standard deduction in lieu of itemizing her deductions could cost unnecessary tax dollars. An additional set of calculations is necessary to determine the most tax favorable alternative under the AMT. The additional calculations answer the question of whether the taxpayer's tax liability would be reduced by electing to itemize her deduction even though the total is less than the standard deduction. Tax professionals must include this additional analysis in their AMT planning strategies or risk imposing unnecessary tax dollars on their clients.

Congress could resolve this obscure issue by amending the AMT provisions to ensure that the tax-minimizing alternative would be practically automatic. Both the government and the growing number of AMT taxpayers would benefit from reducing the number of alternatives requiring numerous obscure tax calculations, burdensome tax compliance and administrative complexity. The most favorable tax alternative should be the same under the regular income tax and the AMT systems. A recent projection estimates that by 2010, the AMT will affect thirty-three million taxpayers or one-third of all taxpayers. Much of this increase is in middle class households with income levels of less than $100,000. This group of taxpayers will then account for more than fifty percent of AMT taxpayers compared to less than ten percent today. As a result, all taxpayers must include AMT issues in their routine tax planning decisions. Simplifying AMT calculations to make the tax and tax elections more transparent would help to ensure that no one pays more tax than the law requires.

Alternative minimum tax, standard deduction, election to itemize deductions

Abstract:
With the recent decrease in interest rates, many real estate owners are taking the opportunity to improve their financial position by refinancing existing mortgages at the new lower rates. This most recent movement to restructure debt raises an interesting tax question: Will the refinancing of an existing installment sale debt instrument at a lower interest rate, either by changing the terms of the original instrument or by substituting a new debt instrument in place of the original, trigger immediate recognition of the balance of the previously deferred gain for income tax purposes?

installment obligations, refinancing debt, tax policy, gain recognition on debt structuring

Abstract:
Federal employment strategies for people with disabilities do not seem to be working. Scholars argue that the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar legislation that exemplify the disability theory of integrationism with the goal of integrating people with disabilities into mainstream employment cannot succeed. Society cannot eradicate barriers to employment for people with disabilities simply by the integrationist modest approach of reasonable accommodation. A post-integrationist approach may be required to provide legitimate equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

In December 2002, the General Accounting Office released its report on its study of three federal business tax incentives to encourage employment of people with disabilities. This Article evaluates this federal employment strategy using post-integrationist theory. The Article proposes significant legislative modifications to empower these tax provisions and the Earned Income Tax Credit to enable work for people with disabilities.

People with disabilities, work opportunity credit, barrier removal deduction, disabled access credit, earned income tax credit

Abstract:
The contemporary American concept of stewardship has been criticized for failing to meet the needs of modern society. Critics say that the concept of stewardship is missing or dead in America. This paper proposes that before we speculate on the demise of stewardship in the not too distant future we consider its historical evolution. This paper uses a cross-national approach to trace the concept of stewardship within its socihistorical context from 13th century England to the modern American corporation. By identifying how stewardship has evolved differently in America than it did in England, the authors conclude that stewardship is alive and viable in America in its own unique form. Questions regarding whether the American concept of stewardship can survive in this form or how it might evolve in the future are left to future research. However, since accounting is stewardship driven researchers looking for a coherent legal/accounting theory of stewardship may find that evolutionary changes in the social and legal concepts of stewardship subsequently lead to changes in accounting theory and procedure.

stewardship, corporate goverance, accounting theory, accounting procedures, accounting history

Abstract:
Since the 1986 enactment of IRC § 469, which places significant restrictions on how deductions, losses, and credits from a passive activity can be used to offset income from another activity, rental real estate ventures have lost much of their appeal to taxpayers seeking ways to shelter their active and portfolio incomes. However, the 1993 enactment of IRC § 467(c)(7), along with the related final regulations, may allow certain taxpayers, in addition to the real estate professionals specifically targeted by Congress for this relief, to once again offset rental real estate losses against their other taxable income. This article explains and explores these issues.

passive loss rules, tax shelter, rental real estate, real estate professionals, real property trades or businesses

Abstract:
For years accountants have argued that nonattorney tax preparers' communications with their clients should be protected by the same privilege that applies to attorney-client communications. Accountants argue that without such privileged confidentiality, clients might be reluctant to disclose information that tax practitioners must have to properly prepare their clients' tax returns. Accountants also believe that to properly represent their clients in tax controversies, their accountant-client communications must be protected. Without such privilege, nonattorney tax practitioners are often hesitant to probe into areas that should be analyzed, because of their legitimate concerns that their accountant-client communications are not protected. On the other side of the debate, extending the attorney-client privilege to non-lawyers has generally been, and was recently opposed by the American Bar Association. During the summer of 1998, Congress ended this debate when it passed and President Clinton signed into law the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998. New Section 7525 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, extends the attorney-client privilege to CPAs and enrolled agents and actuaries in certain federal noncriminal tax matters for communications made after July 22, 1998. Specifically, the new accountant-client privilege extends to taxpayers confidentiality protection for "tax advice" given by CPAs and enrolled agents and actuaries in matters before the IRS or in cases before a federal court in which a federal tax is involved. While tax practitioners may have initially believed that they made significant strides in their quest for protection for their client communications, the new accountant-client privilege is limited and significantly narrower than the attorney-client privilege. This article explores and explains the privilege and its meaningful limitations.

accountant-client privilege, privilege, accountant-client communications

Abstract:
This article provides a primer on tax relief for victims of natural disasters, including specific legislation in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

disaster relief, tax policy, casualty losses, casualty gains

Abstract:
In this article, the authors examine the present administrative system for the earned income tax credit (EITC) especially the refinements resulting from enactment of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA). After describing the problems created by the complexities of the new EITC, the authors conclude that the present system is not working well. They propose that Congress reform the law so that the credit can be used to reduce an employee's liability for Social Security taxes, and refund any excess credit through an addition to take-home pay. The authors believe that the proposed EITC could be administered through employers' payroll systems, thus eliminating the necessity of filing tax returns for many taxpayers who otherwise would not be required to file. They conclude that another benefit may result from this proposal: The impetus and staging for a system that would ultimately transfer the responsibility for income tax collection and refunds for many individuals with uncomplicated incomes from the taxpayer to more impartial providers of the income, i.e., employers, banks, etc. Congress could eliminate the filing requirement for many taxpayers who have no income other than wages.

earned income tax credit, working poor, low-income taxpayers

Abstract:
Substance usually rules over form, but form is a very necessary and critical component of any tax practice. This maxim is especially true when taxpayers claim tax deductions for the FMV of their noncash charitable contributions. As the recent Tax Court decision in Hewitt v. Commissioner, 109 T.C. 258 (1997), and that decision's subsequent affirmation, 166 F.3d 332, 98-2 U.S.T.C. (CCH) P50,880 (4th Cir. 1998), demonstrate, taxpayers must follow very detailed and technical rules to substantiate deductions for charitable contributions of property. The Internal Revenue Service and the courts have confirmed that unless taxpayers (and their tax attorneys) follow the letter of the law, their noncash charitable contribution deductions may be limited to the taxpayers' cost basis in the property. Tax attorneys should use this clearly stated position to support and not undermine their clients' noncash charitable deductions.

donations, tax policy, charitable contributions, itemized deductions, substantiation rules

Abstract:
In this article, the author proposes a simple statutory solution to an inequity in the disaster relief provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Using two hypothetical taxpayers, the paper demonstrates that similarly situated disaster-struck taxpayers may not be treated equally. She then analyzes the Service's position in this area, including a discussion of case law in which she focuses on the interactions between sections 1033 and 1034. The author then reviews legislative history to discern Congress's intent when it enacted section 1034. Finally, in her conclusion, the author sets forth a simple statutory amendment to remedy this inequity.

disaster relief, residence, tax policy

Abstract:
In this article, the authors reply to Professor Robert Moore's economic analysis of several proposals to redesign the earned income tax credit (EITC). (See Tax Notes, July 5, 1993, p. 105.) Moore suggested that the proposed design changes could result in severe work disincentives. Using the new expanded EITC in their examples, the authors demonstrate that the targeted taxpayers, because of lack of information and choice in the workplace, may not react to the EITC in the way economic models predict.

working poor, earned income tax credit, work incentives, work disincentives

Abstract:
A revenue procedure issued by the IRS may enable real estate managers and owners who have not fully enjoyed the depreciation benefits allowed by tax laws to avail of windfall tax deductions. Revenue Procedure 96-31 allows taxpayers who have made claims lower than the allowable depreciation in previous tax years to automatically change their accounting method for depreciation without user fees. The procedure not only authorizes an automatic change from an impermissible depreciation method or life to a permissible method or life, but also grants the taxpayer the right to subtract the full amount of the difference between the depreciation originally claimed and the amount allowed under an impermissible depreciation method or life.

Revenue Procedure 96-31

Abstract:
This article illustrates the concepts and the calculations of refundable interest on estate tax overpayments as well as the concepts and the calculations of interest payable on estate tax liabilities.

estate tax overpayment, interest on estate taxes, estate tax due

Abstract:
Fifty-three percent of workers worldwide surveyed in 2008 reported they would rather work and earn less, but have a happy stress-free fulfilling life. For the 78 million baby boomers and their pre- and post-boom colleagues this desire has resulted in a phenomenon that has been labeled "encore jobs," This essay describes opportunities for fulfillment for tax lawyers, young and not so young, as volunteers and fellows.

community assistance, pro bono, volunteer, taxation, low-income, poverty law, fulfillment, encore careers, encore jobs

Abstract:
The final regulations under IRC Sec. 469(c)(7) provide guidance on the rental real estate activities of taxpayers engaged in real property trades or business as defined by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Bill of 1993. The final regulations do not provide an explicit definition of the phrase "trade or business," but rather state that a taxpayer's real property trades or businesses can be identified using any reasonable method. Because of such ambiguity, rental real estate may become an attractive tax shelter for some investors. The lack of a specific definition of a trade of business may give an opportunity for those in fringe real estate businesses to become real estate operators. Some taxpayers may also be able to characterize their real estate rental losses as non-passive.

rental real estate, tax shelter, real estate professionals

Abstract:
Sergeant Horvath: This time the mission IS a man. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Almost two million men and women serve the United States as enlisted personnel in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force. This essay will examine certain tax provisions unique to members of the armed forces and suggest a sweeping procedural change to save Private Ryan's tax refund. The proposed change is structured to better serve the unique demographics of the targeted taxpayers. A threshold issue when designing a tax benefit should be "Who is the targeted taxpayer?" Thus, the essay begins with a review of the demographics of this population to ascertain Private Ryan's typical tax profile. The essay concludes with a proposal to better serve those that serve.

members of the armed services, military, enlisted soldiers, tax policy, taxation, earned income tax credit, working poor taxpayers, tax compliance, tax systems, simple returns, ReadyReturn