Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XXV

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There are at least two ways to teach the casualty loss deduction. One is to cover the core concepts. The other is to examine not only the fu...
Monday, July 30, 2007

Two Years In a Row: BlawgWorld and MauledAgain

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For the second year in a row, MauledAgain has been featured in the latest Blawgworld. Take a look at BlawgWorld 2007 . This honor follows th...
Sunday, July 29, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XXIV

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Teaching J.D. students about the deduction for taxes is less challenging than teaching most of the other topics. Essentially, the Internal R...
Friday, July 27, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XXIII

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Once upon a time, when I was first teaching the course, I used three minutes to teach the interest deduction. Interest was deductible, with ...
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XXII

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The provision permitting deductions related to for-profit activities, to use a loosely-formulated succinct description, is fairly easy to co...
Monday, July 23, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XXI

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Six specific trade or business deductions receive more than passing mention in the course. Two of these are left to the students to learn o...
Saturday, July 21, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XX

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Finally, usually 2 or 3 classes behind schedule, we reach deductions. After a brief overview of the four groups of deductions, I jump into t...
Thursday, July 19, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XIX

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The gross income segment concludes with a close look at the tax consequences of alimony, child support, and property settlements. It is not ...
Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XVIII

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Because the taxation of damages depends on what the damages represent, it makes sense to leave this discussion to near the end of the gross ...
Sunday, July 15, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XVII

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When it comes to teaching the taxation of investment income, I let the students teach themselves the two easiest topics, and use classroom t...
Friday, July 13, 2007

I Doubt I Agree, But I'm Not Complaining

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OK, so I don't interrupt my blog series on designing the introductory J.D. income tax courses to comment on the recent change-of-heart i...

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XVI

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There are dozens of nonrecognition provisions in the Code. Many would require several classes to study in detail. Putting all of them, or ev...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XV

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Only 25 minutes are budgeted for a study of section 121, the exclusion of gain from the disposition of a property owned and used as a princi...
Monday, July 09, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XIV

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Once the employment issues have been explored, an almost abrupt shift occurs. The tax consequences of property dispositions takes center sta...
Saturday, July 07, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XIII

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The next subtopic within the employment topic that I choose to include in the course is one that generates complaints from students and crit...
Thursday, July 05, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XII

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After dealing with the section 132 general fringe benefit provision, I spend about 30 minutes on the Code section applicable to employer-pro...
Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part XI

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Most people who have been employed know that fringe benefits are an important consideration in selecting among jobs. Some people take jobs f...
Sunday, July 01, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part X

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After examining the several serendipitous transactions selected for close study, the course changes tack and focuses on employment. The topi...
Friday, June 29, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part IX

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Although not every instance of debt cancellation is a serendipity, many are, and thus I deal with this issue as the last of those in the “Se...
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part VIII

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There are a variety of interesting tax issues implicit in the tax treatment of scholarships. I include them in the “Serendipities” batch eve...
Monday, June 25, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part VII

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Continuing with serendipitous transactions, I devote about half of a 50-minute class to the tax consequences of receiving a prize or award. ...
Saturday, June 23, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part VI

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After using the gross income exclusion applicable to gifts to introduce the students to the notion that a simple rule doesn’t necessarily an...
Thursday, June 21, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part V

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Surely there’s no one right way to sequence the various income exclusion and inclusion provisions in the Code, or those that one selects to ...
Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part IV

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When it is time to turn to analysis of substantive federal income tax law, almost every teacher, if not all of us, begins with gross income....
Sunday, June 17, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part III

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It is difficult for students to appreciate the context in which cases, rulings, and other tax law sources are developed without understandin...
Friday, June 15, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part II

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One of the important questions faced by someone teaching the basic tax course is how to introduce students to the many sources of tax law. M...
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Structuring the Basic Tax Course: Part I

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Today I begin a series describing how and why I have structured the basic tax course that I teach in the way that I do. This is Part I becau...
Monday, June 11, 2007

A Glimpse Into Law Student Attitudes

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A recent Law School Survey of Student Engagement turned up some interesting data. When asked if they had participated in a clinical or pro ...
Friday, June 08, 2007

An Unconstitutional Tax Assessment System

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The headline, County Judge Rules Pa. Assessment Law Unconstitutional is enough to get any tax practitioner's or tax law professor's...
Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Of What Value Are Opinions?

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Paul Caron's highlighting of Scott Jaschik's article in Inside Higher Ed, "Could RateMyProfessors.com Be Right?" enticed...
Monday, June 04, 2007

Business Tax "Breaks" Funded by Students?

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When I teach the depreciation and asset expensing deductions in the basic federal income tax course, I purposefully do more than discuss the...
Thursday, May 31, 2007

It's Nice to Get Attention

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OK, I confess. It's nice to get attention. More particularly, it's nice to see my work getting attention. So here's an incomplet...
Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Tax Ideas Without Details: Useful?

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Senator Clinton gave a speech today. It's a long one, but surely I am not one to criticize on that score. She covered a wide swath of ...
Monday, May 28, 2007

Memorial Day: How Important are Taxes Really?

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The other day as I was reading an article about the Ardennes Offensive, or as it is also known, the Battle of the Bulge, my attention turned...