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Most Recent Posts

Hobby Loss Roundup And A New Law Of Tax Planning Announced

Hobby Loss Roundup And A New Law Of Tax Planning Announced

It is rooted in one of the earliest and most significant 183 decisions, the first time 183 was discussed by an appellate court.  It concerned Maurice Dreicer, a trustafarian who spent years (and hundreds of thousands of dollars) searching for the perfect steak.  The Second Circuit ruled that the Tax Court had used the wrong standard in denying Dreicer’s losses.

We hold that a taxpayer engages in an activity for profit, within the meaning of Section 183 and the implementing regulations, when profit is actually and honestly his objective though the prospect of achieving it may seem dim. Because the Tax Court applied a different standard, we reverse and remand for redetermination of Dreicer’s deduction claims.

Even on that standard, Dreicer still lost, but that is neither here nor there.

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IRS Should Not Be Worrying About Do Not Call Registry

IRS Should Not Be Worrying About Do Not Call Registry

The Tax Court opinion of Judge Daniel Guy in the case of Giving Hearts, Inc. illustrates a waste of IRS resources and focus that is the result of our choice to have the wrong agency regulate not-for-profit organizations. If bad acting by an exempt organization is facilitating significant federal tax avoidance, having the IRS on the case makes a lot of sense.  Other abuses of not for profit status should be dealt with by the agency whose business it is to deal with that particular abuse.  That’s my takeaway. Here is the story.

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Law Degree Held Against Defendant In Tax Scam

Before entering his guilty plea Mr. Box listened to a federal prosecutor describe his crime.  A phony W2-G purportedly issued by Seminole Casino Coconut Creek was attached to his 2011 tax return.  The W2-G showed gross gambling winnings of $3,775,0000 and federal withholding of $1,057,000 (That does work out to 28%, which apparently is what it is supposed to be.)

Of course with the top federal rate being 35% in 2011 28% withholding on millions of income is going to put you behind not ahead, but that is mostly taken care of with $3,525,266 in phony gambling losses resulting in a refund of $986,618.  After offsetting some tax debts Mr. Box received a check for $735,463.69.

According to this story, this sort of thing should not work anymore as the IRS accelerates matching to occur before issuing refunds beginning with 2017 returns.  Still that it ever worked for refunds of this magnitude is shocking.  It is also tragic as it tempted people who might otherwise been harmless to turn themselves into big-time criminals

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You Can’t Get Tax Advice From Your Spirit Guide

You Can’t Get Tax Advice From Your Spirit Guide

Things did not go well for Christopher Dufresne, son of famous psychic Sylvia Browne and himself a psychic,  in the Tax Court decision that came out last week.  Judge Kerrigan confirmed the IRS notices of deficiencies of over $500,000 and accuracy penalties that tack on another hundred thousand plus. You would have thought that he would have seen it coming, but that is not how it works according to his book.

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Voraciousness Of The New York Income Tax And The Jersey City Solution

So you live in Agony, but you work and own a business in Ecstasy.  Ecstasy gets to tax you on what you earn there.  Agony will give you a credit for those taxes to Ecstasy.  The credit will generally be the lesser of what you paid Ecstasy or what Agony taxed you on that income.  If Ecstasy has a lower rate than Agony, it is a wash.  If Ecstasy has a higher rate, you are out of pocket the difference.

It is simple and fair.  If the states have the same rate, the one where you live ends up getting the tax on your income from investment and the like and the state where you work gets to tax your income from working.  It’s good enough for Agony and Ecstasy, but not for New York and the growing number of states that follow the “New York rule”.

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How Tax Reform Is Like Gun Control

How Tax Reform Is Like Gun Control

I think the lesson is that we all should get out of our bubbles more. If you are in favor of very strict gun control, you will probably learn more useful things by talking to gun enthusiasts and reading their magazines. Same principle if you are interested in getting the wealthy to pay more taxes. You might also find that your notions of what people who disagree with you actually think are different from what you project.

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How Wealth Accumulators Can Use Trusts To Avoid State Income Tax

How Wealth Accumulators Can Use Trusts To Avoid State Income Tax

When you are talking about large wealth, there are of course a great number of non-tax considerations, but I’m not going to be able to help you much there.  Other than to tell you based on what I have observed through my career it is about fifty-fifty whether inheritance is good or bad for people, which is a little demoralizing for estate planning.

As to the lawyers who work on these issues, I would observe that there is a danger that they can get into ruts.  They may be attached to the state that they practice in.  Clearly, that narrows your option.  Also planning in this area tends to be focused on transfer taxes which is really big money for large estates, but not something that happens every year.  Income tax planning can get short shrift sometimes or the income tax implications of estate planning techniques can be overlooked.

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