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Most Recent Posts

Tax Court Rules Wounded Warrior Can Take His Time With The Trash – Merry Christmas

Tax Court Rules Wounded Warrior Can Take His Time With The Trash – Merry Christmas

While noting the absence of logs, Judge Kerrigan indicated that the testimony of the couple was quite credible and allowed for the fact that Mr. Lewis’s disabilities would cause him to take more time with many of the tasks.  Judge Kerrigan did her own “ballpark guestimate” of the weekly routine activities and arrived at 650 hours.  She of course did not call it a “ballpark guestimate”, which is the kiss of death in a 469 case.  The one GD thing after another of non-routine repairs and trouble with tenants easily adds another two hours a week.

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The Wheels On The Easement Void The Deduction

The Wheels On The Easement Void The Deduction

Conservation easements seem to have generated quite a bit of tax litigation.  The problem with them from a tax administration viewpoint is that there is a lot of opportunity for collusion of the two sides to the contract.  The big tax savings that the donor is getting are not coming out of the hide of the receiving entity.  On top of that, an easement donor mainly motivated by the deduction will not be very, if at all, concerned about whether any real conservation goals are being met.

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Court Rules Churches Can Continue To Conceal Financial Information

The standards of the Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability require that member organizations provide audited financial statements on request.  ECFA is concerned about the effect that financial shenanigans have on non-believers citing Paul’s letter to the Corinthians which states “For we are taking pains go do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.”

The strongest voice I have noted for church financial transparency is that of Reverend Frank Benson Jones.  In his book Stop The Prosperity Preachers he argues that lack of transparency is one of the things that draws the wrong type of people into ministry.  He believes that if the profits were removed, only prophets would remain.

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Sixth Circuit Disallows Fool For A Client Defense

Sixth Circuit Disallows Fool For A Client Defense

Many years ago when I was working in the hotel/restaurant industry, I remember a restaurant manager talking about how it was important to have good cash controls to avoid people being led into temptation and harming themselves.  I remember that when I think about the OID fraud.  It should never have worked at all.  Now we have people deservedly serving long prison sentences for being idiots.  It’s very sad.

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Exactly What Kind Of A Criminal Might Lois Lerner Be?

It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the United States or any person described in section 6103 (n) (or an officer or employee of any such person), or any former officer or employee, willfully to disclose to any person, except as authorized in this title, any return or return information (as defined in section 6103 (b)). Any violation of this paragraph shall be a felony punishable upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution, and if such offense is committed by any officer or employee of the United States, he shall, in addition to any other punishment, be dismissed from office or discharged from employment upon conviction for such offense.

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First Circuit Loss For Transgender Prisoner May Have Positive Tax Implications For Others

First Circuit Loss For Transgender Prisoner May Have Positive Tax Implications For Others

I would not rule out a future administration shifting course on that.  If they do, however, I think the Kosilek decision could be used against that future IRS.  This seems counter-intuitive, since Kosilek is clearly a loss for incarcerated people seeking sexual reassignment surgery. If a prisoner is diagnosed as needing SRS, a Department of Corrections will always be able to find some physician somewhere to argue that the SRS is not required and when the judicially recognized deference to corrections official on security matters is thrown in will be able to win, if this decision sticks. A prisoner is entitled to medical care, but not necessarily the medical care that the prisoner prefers.  It’s different in the free world, if you can afford the procedure (and you would not be concerning yourself about tax deductions, if you could not) you are the one who gets to decide which doctor to listen to and all the judges involved in this case have agreed that SRS is a valid medical procedure.  That’s what I see as the positive aspect of this case for the transgender community.

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Final Way Station On The Road To My Forbes Millennium

Final Way Station On The Road To My Forbes Millennium

I have to say that I like Christians a lot, but particularly when they act – you know – Christian.  I also think whackadoodle tax and conspiracy theories are not really good for Christians or anybody, so I am going to keep encouraging them to focus more on feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty and loving their enemies.

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Tom Coburn Tax Decoder Takes On Clergy Tax Abuse

In discussing the abuse of the parsonage allowance, Senator Coburn did not bring up Revenue Ruling 70-549 which allows colleges affiliated with the Church of Christ to pay tax free housing allowances to faculty and administrators, who are members of the Church of Christ.  The most well known beneficiary of this ruling is probably Pepperdine University. The Church of Christ has a priesthood of all believers theology making all members “ministers of the gospel”.  Constitutional scholar Edward Zelinsky, who defends the constitutionality of the cash housing allowance, but believes it is bad tax policy told me that he finds the ruling “unpersuasive” under the existing regulations and case law.

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Federal Tax Exemption Often Not Enough For Local Assessors

Federal Tax Exemption Often Not Enough For Local Assessors

the statute demands, that it be proven that the property for which an exemption is sought be used solely for the charitable purpose.  …

Here, petitioner provided no proofs of ever admitting a patient to Forest Glen without expectation of payment, or for caring for a Medicare or Medicaid patient at the facility. Petitioner asserted the existence of a scholarship fund which was unfunded and never used at Forest Glen. The Tribunal did not err in finding in this instance that the $75,000 write-off was a business practice and not a charity.

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Senator Tom Coburn v. IRC 107

Senator Tom Coburn v. IRC 107

Here is an other guest post from Robert Baty.  Bob is a retired IRS Appeals Officer.  He has something of an obsession with an obscure Revenue Ruling from 1970....

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