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Most Recent Posts

Exelon Subsidiary Denied Tax Breaks On Three Mile Island Purchase

Exelon Subsidiary Denied Tax Breaks On Three Mile Island Purchase

I found it interesting that AmerGen when it spent its $93 million got essentially a bag of money nearly ten times as large along with the nuclear power plants.  There is that nasty decommissioning exposure, but that’s in the far, far future. My inner villain sees opportunity here, but I suspect that the regulators are all over it and there is not that much you can really get away with.  On the other hand I used to believe that stock analysts actually read the notes to the financial statements and I’m beginning to wonder about that.

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Nay Nay We Won’t Pay – Evaders, Protesters and Resisters Versus IRS

Nay Nay We Won’t Pay – Evaders, Protesters and Resisters Versus IRS

Dr. Olejak is probably the exception that proves the rule when it comes to few prosecutions of war tax resisters compared to tax protesters.  The protesters, because they believe the IRS is acting illegally, end up performing other illegal or questionable acts – such as the structuring that made up most of the counts Kent Hovind was convicted of or the type of property filings (sometimes called “paper terrorism”), that are the basis of Hovind’s current prosecution.

In Dr. Olejak’s case we see that type of behavior  in a war tax protester and similar attention from IRS Criminal Investigation.  When it comes to the lighter sentence, he ended up getting credit for “acceptance of responsibility” and entered into a plea agreement. Hovind, on the other hand, went to trial and even after conviction and unsuccessful appeal continues to insist that he broke no laws.

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Did Andie MacDowell’s Mountain Hideaway Require Tax Incentives?

Did Andie MacDowell’s Mountain Hideaway Require Tax Incentives?

Balsam Mountain Preserve counts itself the lowest density private club community in western North Carolina.  Of the 4,400 acres in the community, 3,400 are in permanent conservation easement with North American Land Trust holding the easement.  There is also The Balsam Mountain Trust  that is dedicated to the stewardship of the preserved land.  The architecturally distinctive homes in the preserve currently for sale range from  $850,000 to $2,800,000.  Available homesites range from $150,000 to $460,000.

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Ninth Circuit Rules Against War Tax Resister

Ninth Circuit Rules Against War Tax Resister

Just to be clear, because this can get a bit confusing, Ms. Boardman recognizes that the IRS can legally come and grab her money.  Her legal objection is to the practice of identifying war tax resisters as frivolous and attempting to suppress them.  In 2013, there was a field attorney advice issued that indicated that a proper return that is accompanied by a protest letter will not be subject to the $5,000 frivolous return penalty, but the frivolous position label still remains.  As best I can understand it, if the IRS just treated war tax resister returns the same way they treat any other return that comes in without full payment, there would not be an objection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

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Kent Hovind Will Face A New Trial

Kent Hovind Will Face A New Trial

e and his co-defendant Paul John Hansen were charged with contempt of court, fraud and conspiracy because of filings that they made affecting property seized by the government.  The seizures related to Hovind’s earlier conviction.  The jury found Hovind and Hansen guilty of contempt, but was unable to reach a verdict on the more serious fraud and conspiracy charges.  Today federal prosecutor Tiffany Eggers has filed notice that the Government intends to proceed to retrial on the charges that the previous jury did not reach a verdict on.

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Is Talk Of Executive Action On Tax Loopholes Political Theater?

Is Talk Of Executive Action On Tax Loopholes Political Theater?

During the last year Presidential election carried interest was in the fore, because it was something that Mitt Romney had used to keep his taxes low.  The discussion about attacking carried interest with regulation was a staple of my blog during that period, as I considered the President kind of hypocritical for not doing that and also thought that the proposed legislation to address the issue was really awful.  At any rate here is how carried interest could be easily addressed by regulation.

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Tax Court Rules That Being Accommodation Party In Tax Shelter Is Hard Work

Tax Court Rules That Being Accommodation Party In Tax Shelter Is Hard Work

Jason Chai received a masters degree in architecture from a university in Massachusetts.  It was founded as a seminary for Congregational ministers and counts among its graduates Thomas Wentworth Higginson, one of the earlier biographers of Maragaret Fuller, the first woman granted admission to the college library, and Theodore John Kaczynski, the Unabomber.   The school, called Harvard, is about 40 miles east of Worcester.

That’s where Jason Chai met Andrew Beer.  Jason started his architecture career in Los Angeles, but moved to New York in 1999.  He stayed with his Harvard buddy for a while when he first moved to New York.  Andrew ended up marrying Jason’s cousin.  Jason has been a pretty successful architect , but that’s not what got him to Tax Court.  What got him to Tax Court was the best part time job I have ever heard of. He was hired by Andrew Beer.  Beer was in the investment business and managed to position himself and his company Bricolage into the center of the turn of the millennium tax shelter craze that Jack Townsend referred to as a massive raid on the treasury.

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