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Most Recent Posts

Ark Encounter Local Tax Scandal Not Very Scandalous

On the other hand, I would not rate their attempt to be a little hardball with the city as scandalous. The structure they are using is actually pretty straight forward.  One of the members of my brain trust indicated that he was poking at it wondering whether there might be inurement, as the Huff Post headline implies, but there really is not.  Everything stayed in the same not for profit (for federal purposes) chain.  That the LLC at the bottom is considered for profit for local tax purposes is really not that unusual.

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New IRS Scandal – Syndication Of Conservation Easement Deductions

You can lie about a charitable deduction for appreciated property because that unrealized appreciation you are deducting is a debit that does not require a credit. And, of course, the entity on the other side of the transaction recognizing income is, by definition, exempt.  Many of the turn of the millennium tax shelters worked by creating basis out of thin air with an unbalanced entry involving option contracts, that was based on a strained interpretation of partnership regulations.  The unbalanced entry of a deduction for appreciated property is approved by the Code.

In the case of marketable securities, there is a reality test that limits the phantom deduction.  Even the sky is not limit to the deduction for other forms of appreciated property as the imagination of appraisers boldly goes where no one has gone before.

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Billionaire Stephen Ross And The Ten For One Charitable Deduction

Considering this particular scheme, the nonsense that goes on with conservation easements, President Trump’s favorite type of charitable deduction and the trend towards Donor Advised Funds, which can end up being pools of capital that never have to be used for feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty, I’m getting kind of disgusted with the charitable sector.  Current tax reform proposals are threatening to scale it back.  Maybe that would not be such a bad thing.  Abusive transactions like the one caught in the RERI decision might be curbed by limiting the amount of the deduction to basis unless it has a very long holding period or restricting the marked up deduction to marketable securities.  Unless the IRS has enough resources, though, even schemes that don’t work legally will work.

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Fox Business Sensationalizes IRS Wedding Shop Seizure Story

Fox Business Sensationalizes IRS Wedding Shop Seizure Story

Something that happens a lot more than seizures that I asked both the Gregorys and Mark Stanhope about is people beating the IRS by waiting out the ten-year statute of limitations on collections. That does happen.  I have not been able to get statistics on it, but the anecdotal evidence is that it is much more common than seizures.  There is a real danger that as the capacity of the IRS to collect continues to erode, people who organize their lives to live on their after-tax income will start feeling more and more like suckers. Having a president who argues that not paying income taxes means that he is smart is probably also not that helpful.

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Billionaire Miami Dolphins Owner Gets Shut Out At Tax Court

Mr. Ross had pledged $4 million (later raised to $5 million) for a University of Michigan athletic center. RERI’s donation of the SMI was done under an agreement that provided that there would be a $1 nominal credit to the pledge, that the University would hold the interest for two years and then sell it crediting Mr. Ross’s pledge with whatever was received for the interest.  The appraised value of the SMI used for charitable donation purposes was $32,935,000.

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Failure To Get Bank Subordination Fatal To Easement Charitable Deduction

Failure To Get Bank Subordination Fatal To Easement Charitable Deduction

The fact is that we all have to live somewhere so housing in and of itself is not counter conservation.  Golf on the other hand is. I can’t think of a hobby that takes up more acreage.  Take up hiking instead.  It has all the health benefits of golf, is a lot cheaper and hiking trails are a lot less disruptive to the environment.  Maybe I’m on a crusade because my covivant and I have become volunteer trail maintainers.  We live next door to a golf course which I walk by almost daily.  It really does not stand up to the trail when it comes to preserving the natural environment.

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