Friday, August 29, 2014

Principal Residence Principles

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A recent Tax Court decision, Oxford v. Comr. , T. C. Summ. Op. 2014-80, delivers an interest insight into the intersection of the first-time...
Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Bridges, Tunnels, Privatization, and Taxes

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Not quite a year ago, in Tolls, Taxes, and User Fees in a Public-Private Context , I wrote about a decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia...
Monday, August 25, 2014

The Lap Dance Tax Dance Marathon

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Earlier this month, in Philadelphia Lap Dance Tax Effort Bumped Up to Court, Which Grinds It Down , I continued the saga of the attempt by P...
Friday, August 22, 2014

Collecting Taxes Requires Funding

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Though the report of the U.S. Treasury Inspector General on the collection of the medical device tax carries a July 17 date, it was issued ...
Wednesday, August 20, 2014

“Give Us a Tax Break and We’ll Do Nice Things.” Not.

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Almost two years ago, in Public Financing of Private Sports Enterprises: Good for the Private, Bad for the Public , I pointed to the fiasco ...
Monday, August 18, 2014

Campaign Promises of Cheap Gasoline and No Taxes

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Last week, on a visit to my son and daughter-in-law in Rhode Island, we drove past a campaign billboard on which the candidate’s promise was...
Friday, August 15, 2014

Tax Is More Than Numbers: Words Matter

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A recent case, Chapel v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2014-151, illustrates why the “tax is numbers” mentality that convinces too many law students to ...
Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Spinning the Inversion

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Now that public attention is being turned to the corporate inversion tax-savings scheme, the spin doctors are coming out in full force. Noth...
Monday, August 11, 2014

Employee or Independent Contractor Issue Stripped Down

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My recent post on the latest developments in the attempt by Philadelphia to subject lap dances to the amusement tax, Philadelphia Lap Dance ...
Friday, August 08, 2014

Tax Strategy Considerations: Long-Term and Short-Term

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Too often, those trying to make even more money, including schemes taking advantage of tax law provisions, are blinded by visions of short-t...
Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Philadelphia Lap Dance Tax Effort Bumped Up to Court, Which Grinds It Down

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About a year ago, in Lap Dance Tax? , I described the City of Philadelphia’s decision to impose its amusement tax on establishments that pro...
Monday, August 04, 2014

Delaying a Questionable Tax

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According to this report , the Pennsylvania House adjourned until September 15 without considering a proposal for a new Philadelphia cigaret...
Friday, August 01, 2014

Another Example of Tax Law Complexity

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Though tax law is not the only area of law, or life, that is complicated by the twists and turns of retroactive repeals and pretending somet...
Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Collecting An Existing Tax is Not a Tax Increase

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A recent commentary from The Institute for Policy Innovation bemoans the possible derailment of the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act by ...
Monday, July 28, 2014

Tax Myths: Part XIV: Retired People Do Not Pay Income Tax

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I must admit I was surprised to discover someone asserting that “Obviously retired people do not pay INCOME TAX.” I had not previously enco...
Friday, July 25, 2014

Tax Myths: Part XIII: Children Do Not Pay Tax

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It isn’t difficult to find web sites that contain statements claiming that children do not pay tax. For example, an answer to the question H...
Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Tax Myths: Part XII: The Internal Revenue Code Fills 70,000 Pages

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The assertion that the Internal Revenue Code consists of 70,000 pages is one of my favorite tax myths because it is so silly, so easily debu...
Monday, July 21, 2014

Tax Myths: Part XI: Alimony Always Is Taxable

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Perhaps in the rush to be succinct, people present general rules as absolutes. For example, a responder in this thread advised that “And yes...
Friday, July 18, 2014

Tax Myths: Part X: The Flat Tax is Simple

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One of the most persistent, widespread, and enticing tax myths is the unfounded claim that the flat tax is simple. Three years ago, the Heri...
Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Tax Myths: Part IX: The Tax Rate Confusion

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Most people do not understand income tax rates. Some law students enrolled in the basic income tax course struggle to understand tax rates. ...
Monday, July 14, 2014

Tax Myths: Part VIII: The Use Tax Myth

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Retailers operating in states that do not have sales taxes entice out-of-state purchasers to cross the border to make purchases by emphasizi...
Friday, July 11, 2014

Tax Myths: Part VII: Tips Aren’t Taxed Because They Are Gifts

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Though there are rare instances in which a tip can be characterized as a gift excluded from gross income, as a general proposition tips are ...
Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Tax Myths: Part VI: “The IRS Gave Me a Refund”

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Sometimes, people say to me, quite excitedly, “The IRS Gave Me a Refund,” or “The IRS Is Giving Me a Refund.” Closely related to the “I’m Ge...
Monday, July 07, 2014

Tax Myths: Part V: “I’m Getting a Refund and Not Paying Tax”

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Though I haven’t kept a count, I know that there have been dozens of times when someone would tell me that because they were getting a tax r...
Friday, July 04, 2014

Tax Myths: Part IV: It’s Not Income If It’s Not on a W-2 or 1099

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Most taxpayers understand that income reported on a Form W-2 or Form 1099 must be reported on their tax return. Whether they understand why ...
Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Tax Myths: Part III: If It’s Not Cash, It’s Not Income

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From time to time, someone asserts that because they have been paid with property and not cash, the payment is not subject to the income tax...
Monday, June 30, 2014

Tax Myths: Part II: The IRS Enacted the Internal Revenue Code

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It is not uncommon to discover someone’s assertion that the IRS has enacted a particular Internal Revenue Code section or even the entire Co...
Friday, June 27, 2014

Tax Myths: Part I: Introduction

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Misperceptions about taxes abound. I’m not referring to the parade of rationalizations from the tax protest movement, though the terrible co...
Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Look at What No-Taxes Gets Us

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It’s a common complaint, tinged with a bit of humor, often heard when summer driving season rolls around. Highway construction slows traffic...
Monday, June 23, 2014

Taxes and Jobs

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New Jersey is in a quandary. A budget quandary. It’s not alone, but it presents an interesting example of the sort of choices that must be m...
Friday, June 20, 2014

Taxes Ought Not Be Hidden

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Earlier this week, in a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed , Nicholas E. Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, came out in support of t...
Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The Contagiousness of Tax Noncompliance

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Almost two weeks ago, in Is It Fraud, Negligence, or Simple Tax Hatred? , I wrote about a Republican member of Congress who claimed a proper...
Monday, June 16, 2014

Almost Always, in Tax, We Must Get It Right the First Time

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A recent case, Baur v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2014-117, demonstrates why, sometimes, the tax law doesn’t provide a reset button. If we don’t get ...