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Most Recent Posts

Playboy Building In Tax Court

Playboy Building In Tax Court

The prospect of the appeal is intriguing, given what happened with the Kaufmans.  They won in the First Circuit, so the Tax Court had to take another look at the facts without considering the lack of mortgage subordination.  That led to the determination that the easement was worthless since based on the neighborhood (the South End in Boston), there were already substantial restrictions on messing with the facade.  I covered that decision also.

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Clergy Housing Tax Exemption The Times Square Of Religion And Taxation

Of course, we are not starting fresh.  107(2), dubious as its constitutionality might be, has been around for over 60 years and people have made a lot of plans based on it.  When President Trump finally gets around to making me his tax czar, here is my edict.  The Clergy Tax Simplification Act of 2018 will say that ministers can pay taxes just like everybody else.  Any existing housing allowances will be grandfathered.  Only there will be a cap of $4,137 month.  If it is good enough for a Brigadier General in Los Angeles, it is good enough for a religious racketeer.

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Keith Tucker Cashes KPMG Get Out Of Jail Free Card In Tax Court

Keith Tucker Cashes KPMG Get Out Of Jail Free Card In Tax Court

KPMG put Mr. Tucker into a deal when the IRS was starting to catch on to the shenanigans.  You can read the decision if you want to read about the offsetting long and short currency options, called the FX transaction, that purported to create basis out of thin air.  Mr. Tucker was assured that it was different from the deals that IRS had described in Notice 2000-44.  It was not different enough when it came to actually working, but along with the stellar reputation of KPMG it was different enough to get Mr. Tucker out of penalties.  Here are some of the high points.

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Clergy Housing Tax Break Ruled Unconstitutional – Again

Clergy Housing Tax Break Ruled Unconstitutional – Again

It’s deja vu all over again in the United States District Court For The Western District of Wisconsin as Judge Barbara Crabb rules that Code Section 107(2) – the parsonage exclusion- is unconstitutional.  The parsonage exclusion allows “ministers of the gospel” to exclude from taxable income payments designated as housing allowances that they actually spend on housing.  In this ecumenical age “minister of the gospel” is expansive including not only your classic minister like my blogging buddy Southern Baptist Reverend William Thornton but also rabbis, cantors, imams and, subject to the right conditions, the occasional college basketball coach. Usually, the benefit is pretty modest and many moderately paid ministers would probably give it up in exchange for a FICA match, but in the case of the megapastors of megachurches and televangelists, the allowance can and does run into the hundreds of thousands.

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FASB Confirms Corporate Rate Cut Has Immediate Effect On Earnings

FASB Confirms Corporate Rate Cut Has Immediate Effect On Earnings

Berkshire Hathaway has the largest positive adjustment – $33 billion.  That is more than Berkshire’s net income of $27 billion in 2016.  Next is AT&T with a $25 billion positive adjustment.  That is even more dramatic than Berkshire when you consider AT&T’s $13 billion net income in 2016. The positive effect on Verizon is $20 billion compared to net income of $13 billion in 2016. Comcast’s earnings rise by $15 billion, Pfizer and Exxon Mobil have $13 billion positive adjustments.

Negative Income Adjustments Over $5 Billion

The biggest loser is Citigroup with a $20 billion negative adjustment followed by $15 billion for General Motors $9 billion for AIG and $8 billion for Bank of America.

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11th Circuit Denies Tax Deduction For Gay Man’s Reproductive Expenses

11th Circuit Denies Tax Deduction For Gay Man’s Reproductive Expenses

Was the money that a homosexual man paid to father children through in vitro fertilization—and in particular, to identify, retain, compensate, and care for the women who served as an egg donor and a gestational surrogate—spent “for the purpose of affecting” his body’s reproductive “function” within the meaning of I.R.C. § 213? And second: In answering the statutory question “no,” and thus in disallowing the taxpayer’s deduction of his IVF-related expenses, did the IRS violate his right to equal protection of the laws either by infringing a “fundamental right” or by engaging in unconstitutional discrimination?

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Special Rate For Flow-Through Entities Is A Really Bad Idea

Comprehensive tax reform and simplification is a fantastic idea. We here at the ABC Coalition for DEF just love the idea that you are working on it and totally support you. Of course we are sure that you know the DEF is critical to the American way of life and the health, safety and well-being of the world. We would just like to remind you that the GHI deduction and the JKL credit play a critical role in supporting DEF. So when you are doing your simplifying don’t even think about messing with the GHI deduction and the JKL credit. As a matter of fact, you probably should beef them up a bit and get busy on the MNO exemption that we have been asking for. Other than that, chop away at those special tax breaks and give us a simpler Code.

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Trump’s Corporate Tax Rate Cut Will Wreak Havoc With Reported Earnings

I spoke with Professor Tracy Noga, Associate Professor of Accountancy at Bentley University.  She confirmed for me that the boost or hit to reported earnings is immediate and that it is at the currently enacted rate.  She also told me that she expects that the adjustment will wreak havoc with earnings.  What neither one of us can figure out to any satisfaction is how analysts will take this into account.  Will they recognize that 2017 earnings reports will be radically distorted by this tax change?  Maybe they are all focused on EBITDA and they won’t even notice.

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KPMG Haunted By Its Tax Shelter Follies

KPMG Haunted By Its Tax Shelter Follies

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for the taxpayers, but I have even less for KPMG.  They were, probably still are, one of the most prestigious accounting firms in the world.  Finding out that a deal that they recommended had no merit at all – didn’t even make good nonsense – was probably kind of shocking.  Regardless, the third circuit ruled that some of the grounds of the lawsuit deserve to be considered.

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‘Taxing The Church’: Can’t Build That Wall Of Separation

‘Taxing The Church’: Can’t Build That Wall Of Separation

Professor Zelinsky’s conclusion that both forms of the parsonage exclusion – in-kind and cash – are constitutional, but that the cash exclusion is poor tax policy probably won’t win him friends at either the Freedom From Religion Foundation or the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, but the nuanced view is an important one.  Advocates on both sides of the religious exemption divide would be well served by reading this book and pondering its arguments.

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