Most Recent Posts

Oregon Tax Court Approves Taxation Of Church Rectory

by admin | Jun 2, 2015 | Tax

It would seem that many church rectories or parsonages, to use the homey American term, would flunk the test laid out by the Oregon Tax Court. It will be interesting to see whether this becomes a trend. Parsonages have fallen out of favor with many Protestant denominations where the big tax subsidy is the federal income tax break that exempts cash paid for housing allowances from income tax. The dubious constitutionality of that provision has avoided scrutiny thanks to rulings on nobody having standing to object to it.

News From The Boston Tax Institute

by admin | Jun 1, 2015 | Uncategorized

Lu Gauthier of the Boston Tax Institute has given me permission to reproduce his email blasts. BTI is a great value for live tax continuing professional education....

Conservation Easements – Tax Court Lets Owner Sell Them Or Give Them But Not Both

by admin | Jun 1, 2015 | Tax

To determine the amount of your charitable deduction you need to get an expert appraiser. Generally, there is not an active market for conservation easements, so the value is determined by valuing the property at its “highest and best use” (i.e. what brings the most money) and subtracting the value of the property in the current use to which it is now to be restricted. It’s the “highest and best use” that is the fantasy number. It is something that nobody is ever going to do so why not make it as grand as conceivable. Since practical obstacles don’t have to actually be overcome, they can be safely ignored.

From Secession 1861 to Appomattox 2015: The View of a Sesquicentennial Tourist

by admin | Jun 1, 2015 | Guest Post, History

This is a guest post from my Sesquicentennial battle buddy Georg Snatzke. We only spent two days together, but those days are the bookends of my Sesquicentennial real...

Structuring – First Kent Hovind – Now Dennis Hastert

by admin | May 30, 2015 | Kent Hovind, Tax

Personally, I’m becoming convinced that structuring prosecutions are a bad idea. My inference is that they are attractive to prosecutors because it is a lot easier to prove than the nefarious activity that the structuring is thought to support. On top of that the forfeiture provisions can make the effort self-financing. It is too easy for supporters of those prosecuted that way to cast them as victims and increase the amount of alienation in the world. Hovind’s travails while receiving almost no mainstream attention have been a staple of right-wing conspiracy outlets such as Alex Jones for a while now, although the Hovindicators chide those venues for lack of zeal. The criminal prosecution of Kent Hovind has proven to be counterproductive to the cause of tax compliance and the use of structuring charges has greatly contributed to his supporters religious persecution narrative. I suspect that the prosecution of Dennis Hassert will also not be something that ends well for the country.

TurboTax Glitch Leads To Long Battle With IRS

by admin | May 28, 2015 | Tax

Somebody once told me that my problem is that being an Aquarian, I want everybody to get along, so that bias might be behind my theory that there might be a more benign explanation for Mr. McNaughton’s difficulties. I think he really threw the IRS for a loop by dusting off that 301.6511 (g)-1. His decisions are the only time that regulation is mentioned in case law and there are no rulings of any kind that mention it. Furthermore, the IRS has been trying to get more time to root out partnership shenanigans, so it is possible that the Service would have been happy if he turned out to be right, hence the chief counsel involvement. Regardless, there is hardly anybody still working for the IRS that would have any reason to know about that regulation.

Limits Of Hobby Lobby – Priests For Life Denied Rehearing On Contraception Mandate

by admin | May 27, 2015 | Tax

The majority of the DC district held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act provides robust protection for religious liberty, regardless of how irrational, trivial or wrong others might view particular religious beliefs. The step that the Court will not take is to credit a religious groups sincerely held misunderstanding of how federal law works.