Most Recent Posts
On The Basis Of Sex: Treats RBG’s Opponents Like Cartoon Villains
Originally published on Forbes.com. On The Basis Of Sex will be on Amazon on March 26. If you didn't see it in the theater, watch it. And if you did see it in the...
Parsonage: Religious Liberty Smuggles Sex Discrimination Into Tax Law
The stipend is a nice gesture and I applaud, but ironically it makes the case for 107(2) at least in this context being a straight up subsidy. The college doesn’t have to pay the men as much, because of their religious status which has nothing to do with the work that they do.
I’m not that much of a constitutional purist, but 107(2) is really in need of an overhaul due to the abuse that is going on. First off it needs a dollar ceiling like just about every other housing provision. I’d go with $50,000 because I like round numbers and that is about what a two-star general gets in an expensive part of the country.
And if the rationale is the special requirements of parish ministry substitute “community spiritual leader” or something like that for “minister of the gospel”. Define “community spiritual leader” in terms of actual face to face activity in a defined geographic area. That will cut out the televangelists, denominational leaders, professors, and basketball ministers and create parity among churches that have tighter or looser standards for who is a minister.
Discrepancy or Discrimination? Doesn’t matter
I inquired why some of the men I worked with were considered ministers and thus, eligible for the ministerial housing allowance tax benefit while the women I worked with were not considered eligible
Lunch At The Drowsy Poet With Eric Hovind
I hadn't planned on writing about my get together with Eric Hovind or even telling anybody about it other than my partner. At the end of our time together, though, he...
Seventh Circuit Blesses Tax Free Housing Payments To Clergy
Although I will be studying the decision more, I think it is fair to say that the reasoning of Professor Edward Zelinsky author of Taxing The Church carried the day. The Court viewed 107(2) as just one of a myriad of provisions exempting housing. To treat ministers like secular employees receiving the 119(a) convenience of the employer exemption might lead to intrusive inquiries. This is weighed against the IRS having to patrol the boundary of who is a minister.
These parallel provisions show an overarching arrangement in the tax code to exempt employer-provided housing for employees with certain job-related housing requirements. Congress has exempted certain categories of employees from complying with the specific requirements of § 119(a)(2) to simplify the application of the convenience-of-the-employer doctrine to those occupations. Section 107, including subsection (2), recognizes ministers often use their homes as part of their ministry. This provision thus eases the administration of the convenience-of-the-employer doctrine by providing a bright-line rule, instead of requiring that ministers and the IRS repeatedly engage with a fact-intensive standard.
Tax Court Petition: Just Go To The Post Office
Now the Endicia.com date stamp might have been good except for two things. If there is a USPS date stamp on the envelope, that trumps anything else. This envelope had the Endicia.com date of March 6, which was the absolute drop dead for mailing the petition. There were two USPS date stamps. One was March 7 and the other was March 20. So Teri loses there.
The other requirement is that the petition actually arrive at the Tax Court in a normal amount of time, three days in this case. This one arrived on March 26, twenty days, which probably would not have been good time even in pre-railroad days.
Don’t Wrestle With The IRS Robots
I think the IRS should adopt a new policy on frivolous refund claims. If a taxpayer is looking for a refund of withholdings that are out of proportion to positive income, do nothing. After six months the really determined ones can sue in federal district court or the court of claims, which is a lot harder than the Tax Court. That would make it not an IRS problem so much as a problem for the DOJ Tax Division. The Tax Court would probably appreciate the lessened pressure on its docket.
I’m sure there is a reason why my plan doesn’t work, but it is a nice thought experiment. Any readers who know why this is a bad idea can send me their thoughts which I might include in an update.
TIGTA Documents The Wreck Of Tax Compliance
A possibly apocryphal tale I heard from an IRS criminal investigator was about an old timer who was criticized for not keeping up his firearms proficiency. His answer was that he had put away a lot more guys with his pencil. The technology is different, but what will convince people to be compliant is a lot more actual action dosing out painful but moderate consequences, not the occasional dramatic arrests that attract media attention.
Regardless of all that, pay your taxes. It is the right thing to do.
Historian Argues Ronald Reagan’s 1981 Tax Cut Led To Trumpism
Hopelessness is a mighty political force and therefore it should not be so surprising that after the failed promises and benign neglect of three Republican and two Democratic administrations spanning a third of a century, the have-nots came to believe that only a strongman will change the course of the ship of state. The uneducated, those who experienced the alienation of downward social and economic mobility, or the disappointment of wage stagnation for a generation while others were living the lifestyle of the rich and famous, those who were clobbered subsequently by the tsunami of hyperglobalization, and those who were evicted from their homes while the Lords of Finance were being pampered, were ripe to revolt and turn against the establishment elites. Trump was able to harvest the anger of those who reached for the American Dream and found a nightmare instead.
EcoVest Wraps The Green Flag Around Tax Shelter
The fellow who explained to me how you might hit the high multiple home run explained to me that as you go from an original owner to an investor to a developer to a developer/builder, they each expect to experience a lift. The discounted cash flow analysis has all the lift going to the early player and the subsequent hypothetical developer and developer-builder working for a predictable return while shouldering the downside risk. Of course, since they are imaginary they don’t complain.