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Most Recent Posts

IRS Versus Dubious Conservation Easements In 2022 – Mixed Results

IRS Versus Dubious Conservation Easements In 2022 – Mixed Results

The massive appropriations bill that just passed the Senate and House includes a long sought amendment to suppress syndicated deals. It will cap deductions at 250% of partners basis when there is less than a three year hold.  This of course does not eliminate all abusive transactions just some of the more outrageous one.

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EO Tax Journal Editor Proposes Elimination Of All Charitable Deductions

EO Tax Journal Editor Proposes Elimination Of All Charitable Deductions

Much of giving by the wealthy redounds to their benefit. One, their benefit is compounded if they give appreciated property such as stock. Two, their benefit is further compounded if they give property that requires an appraisal, since appraisals are notoriously high. I’m not saying the wealthy should not give, but why should they be subsidized by the tax code, especially when most others are not?

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Should You Invest In A Syndicated Conservation Easement ?

The value of an easement is the fair market value of property before the easement less the value of the property as encumbered by the easement.  The industry argues that the procedure for determining the before FMV is different in the case of the easement.  It is not.  Given that the market for undeveloped land, imperfect as it may be, is not populated with idiots, promoters cannot routinely acquire properties and have them in relatively short order be worth a multiple of what they acquired them for..  That’s why I think the industry is based on nonsense.

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IRS Successfully Attacks Tax Shelter With Hobby Loss Rule

IRS Successfully Attacks Tax Shelter With Hobby Loss Rule

So the lenses were never actually placed in service.  There were basis issues with the way they were financed.  There was no meaningful participation by the Olsens to satisfy the requirements of Section 469.  Other than that Mrs. Lincoln how did you enjoy the play? Well there is also 183 to worry about.

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Conservation Easement Syndicates Outlawyering IRS

Conservation Easement Syndicates Outlawyering IRS

This is not the first time that APA has been used against the IRS in the conservation easement fight.  In the Hewitt decision in the Eleventh Circuit nearly a year ago the court invalidated a regulation interpreting the perpetuity requirement. In the Court’s opinion Treasury had not given sufficient consideration to a comment submitted by the New York Land Conservancy.

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On Tax Writing Rabbit Holes

On Tax Writing Rabbit Holes

I had really cut back not even including a reference to the fact that the 69th was the First Regiment of the Irish Brigade during the Late Unpleasantness which produced another famous chaplain – Father William Corby (He was with the 88th New York).  Father Corby would become president of Notre Dame.  Father Stephen Duncan who reenacts Father Corby told me that the “Fighting Irish” nickname of Notre Dame comes from Father Corby’s service to the Brigade.

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MR. REILLY’S CONUNDRUM

MR. REILLY’S CONUNDRUM

That opinion” is, of course, the hallowed Cohan v. Com’r, 11 B.T.A. 743 (1928), re’d in part 39 F. 2d 540 (2 Cir, 1930).. George M., theatrical legend whose graven image overlooks the cut-rate ticket outlet at 48th & Broadway on this Minor Outlying Island off the Coast of North America, starred in this epic.

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Republican Donor Lane Grigsby Must Repay $576,756 Research Credit Refund

Republican Donor Lane Grigsby Must Repay $576,756 Research Credit Refund

In my view the biggest hazard in public accounting is envy.  Unless you have an odd specialty in order to prosper you must work for and associate with people who are much wealthier than you have any hope of ever becoming.

What inflames the envy is something referred to as the “tyrrany of the billable hour”.  In order to make a living you have to do some work or pay somebody else a reasonable wage to do some work.  One of the escapes from the tyraany is “value billing”.  Research credit consulting is one of those things that can be value billed.  Rather than charge based on how much work you do, you charge a percentage of the tax savings.

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Poor Return Preparation Voids Deduction For African Art

Poor Return Preparation Voids Deduction For African Art

“Malian cultural heritage has for several decades, undergone a massive transfer toward Europe and the United States. Analyzing the phenomenon in its universality, it seems very clearly to be the translation of an unequal relation between poor (weak) and wealthy (powerful) nations. The cultural assets of poor nations are being exported to rich nations. Examples to the contrary do not exist”.

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Mississippi Supreme Court Rules No Sales Tax On Wedding Digital Photo Packages

Mississippi Supreme Court Rules No Sales Tax On Wedding Digital Photo Packages

And the undisputed facts show EKB’s customers did not receive Burton’s photographs in tangible form—they did not receive printed photographs, negatives, or film. Instead, they receive purely digital images. The tangible drive or disk is incidental to the nontaxable photography service being provided, much like the paper on which a lawyer prints a will, which is not subject to sales tax. 

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