4confidencegames
1theleasofus
storyparadox2
1madoff
Edmund Burke 360x1000
9albion
399
2lafayette
Maurice B Foley 360x1000
7albion
Lafayette and Jefferson 360x1000
1empireofpain
1falsewitness
5albion
299
11632
1paradide
199
Anthony McCann2 360x1000
Brendan Beehan 360x1000
2jesusandjohnwayne
AlexRosenberg
2lookingforthegoodwar
3theleastofus
Stormy Daniels 360x1000
Thomas Piketty2 360x1000
Spottswood William Robinson 360x1000
George M Cohan and Lerarned Hand 360x1000
3confidencegames
Anthony McCann1 360x1000
Margaret Fuller5 360x1000
James Gould Cozzens 360x1000
2trap
Maria Popova 360x1000
8albion'
1jesusandjohnwayne
6confidencegames
lifeinmiddlemarch1
5confidencegames
Margaret Fuller 2 360x1000
1lookingforthegoodwar
Tad Friend 360x1000
1trap
LillianFaderman
Storyparadox1
13albion
11albion
2theleastofus
10abion
Mark V Holmes 360x1000
3albion
Gilgamesh 360x1000
Richard Posner 360x1000
499
Margaret Fuller3 360x1000
14albion
Adam Gopnik 360x1000
Ruth Bader Ginsburg 360x1000
Margaret Fuller 360x1000
2albion
4albion
2confidencegames
2transadentilist
Betty Friedan 360x1000
1gucci
Office of Chief Counsel 360x1000
1defense
2gucci
Susie King Taylor2 360x1000
George F Wil...360x1000
2falsewitness
3defense
Mary Ann Evans 360x1000
Margaret Fuller4 360x1000
Margaret Fuller1 360x1000
Susie King Taylor 360x1000
1transcendentalist
Thomas Piketty1 360x1000
7confidencegames
1confidencegames
Thomas Piketty3 360x1000
Margaret Fuller2 360x1000
Learned Hand 360x1000
1albion
1lafayette
1lauber
lifeinmiddlemarch2
6albion
12albion
2defense
storyparadox3
3paradise
Samuel Johnson 360x1000
2paradise

Most Recent Posts

How To Cash Your Powerball Winning Ticket Anonymously

The limited liability company will not save income tax or estate taxes.  What it will do is provide a confidential vehicle to do all the whacky things that I want to do.  Each one will be in a separate entity.  There is the movie company Let Them Be Sea Captains LLC (Bonus points for any commenter who figures out what the first film will be).  And then there are the strip malls.  I really like them.  The really dinky ones that don’t have a really big anchor.  That will be Greenstrips LLC and it will strive to have tenants who only sell things that are good for people.  I have  a hunch it will turn out to be not very sound and am capping that one at $50 million or so.

read more
Tax Foundation Scores Ben Carson Tax Plan

Tax Foundation Scores Ben Carson Tax Plan

I think it is worth noting that we have had a progressive income tax and an estate tax for a century now.  I understand the arguments that the economists make for plans like Carson’s, but there are all sorts of unintended, unforeseen consequences when you make radical changes.  From that perspective, the Dwight Eisenhower style socialist from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, is actually looking like the most conservative candidate at the moment , but we’ll see how things develop.

read more
No Foreign Income Tax Exclusion For Army Civilian In Afghanistan

No Foreign Income Tax Exclusion For Army Civilian In Afghanistan

Although most of us have some, if not enough, appreciation for “the troops”, I doubt we reflect much that there are also civilians putting themselves in harm’s way.  Going down into the village and learning about “actionable security issues” hardly seems like a walk in the park.  That had me rooting for Striker, even though I did not think he had much of a case.

read more
Tax Court Sorts Out Basis On Russian Fast Food Merger

Tax Court Sorts Out Basis On Russian Fast Food Merger

The reason Mr. Testyn’s new argument doesn’t work is a kind of heads I win, tails you lose rule when it comes to “substance over form”.  The IRS can argue that what you said you did – the form – is not what actually happened – the substance.  You can’t generally do that yourself, because you got to choose the form, so you are stuck with it.

read more
Mass Appeals Court Supports Revenue Department In Penalizing Paper Check

Mass Appeals Court Supports Revenue Department In Penalizing Paper Check

Something tells me that there is more at stake here than a lousy hundred bucks, because the Mass DOR appealed the ATB decision.  And I am sorry to say that the Appeals Court of Massachusetts ruled in favor of Mass DOR.  The Appeals Court was influenced by the fact that Mr. Haar had been warned when he used a paper check with his 2005 extension and had complied with the mandate when he sent in his 2007 extension.

read more
Family Partnership Valuation Discounts Approved By Tax Court

Family Partnership Valuation Discounts Approved By Tax Court

I find this decision particularly apt for opening 2016 although it would have been better for closing 2015, which it would have had I been a little more diligent.  My second blog post ever over six years ago was a discussion of family limited partnerships, that hammered home the point that that good execution is critical with them starting with the post’s title – Devil Is In The Details.

read more

How Much Is That Picasso In The Window? Tax Court Says Quite A Bit

The Picasso ended up selling for $12,297.874 (hammer price of $11,484,000 plus $1,443,874 paid by the buyer to Christies).  Here is a video of the auction – In the Saleroom: Pablo Picasso’s Tete de femme (Jacqueline).  It strikes me as pretty subdued and the numbers are a little less dramatic being in pounds and all.  I found the bidding for Volume III of The Dial at Elizabeth’s Auctions more exciting, but of course it was my own seven hundred bucks that was in play there.

In case you can’t do compound interest in your head, that is appreciation of over 15% since 1981.

read more