Originally published on Forbes.com.
As another year closes I will review the top tax stories of 2017 – the ones that I wrote about that is. It is kind of a people’s choice thing, so some of the stories might be from earlier years, but people were still finding them interesting in 2017. Blogging about your own blog represents the height of self-absorption meaning I would probably do it twice a week, but the better angels of my nature make me reserve it for landmarks like year-end and centennial posts. So the next time you have to put up with one will probably be around April when I should hit number 1,400.
In selecting what I write about I have three criteria – practical advice, humor and matter for reflection. The latter catch-all category represents the ways in which taxation intersects other important issues. There is probably some topic that does not have some sort of a tax angle to it, but I can’t think of one. The other principle is that generally, I don’t write about something unless I have something to add or have adopted that issue as something I follow regularly.
So here are the top ten tax issues of 2017 according to my readers.
10. What Do Facebook (And The Others) Actually Pay In Corporate Income Tax?
This is from the end of 2016 and it is reflective of something that I find very annoying. Reports on what public companies “pay” in income tax are almost always wrong. The reports seem to always use the “Income tax expense” on the financial statement, which is a number computed under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Public companies also are required to disclose how much they actually paid – often a wildly different number, usually lower than the provision. You have to dig a little to find that number and it is not broken down by which government is getting paid. Its 40.5% income tax provision to the contrary notwithstanding, there is a good chance that Facebook has never paid a dime of federal income tax.
This topic of the difference between GAAP tax provisions being wildly different from tax paid may be one of the hottest topics of early 2018 as companies report large windfalls to reported earnings from the Tax Cuts And Jobs Act and, counter-intuitively large losses. You can catch up on that here.
9. Scientology Back In The News
Leah Remini’s documentary –Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath – brought the issue of Scientology’s tax exemption back into the news. This allowed me to dust off my posts on the issue with a roundup – IRS And Scientology Everything You Want To Know And More. I hold firm with the view that IRS is the wrong agency to tackle the reported bad behavior of Scientology (Something on which I remain agnostic). Much of the reported Scientology bad behavior is very church like bad behavior. Fighting Scientology with the IRS is bringing a knife to a gunfight.
8. The Ever Popular Doctor Dino
When I looked at the statistics I was really surprised to see that The Trials Of Kent Hovind – An American Tragedy posted in 2015 was still generating interest. Kent Hovind, an Independent Baptist minister and young earth creationist, nearing the end of a long sentence for tax related crimes faced a new trial in 2015 for actions he took to effect the title to property seized as a result of the first conviction. The post was the rundown on the eve of a second trial on the later charges, that ended up being canceled.
I declared an end to the Hovind story being Forbes worthy a couple of months later, but have continued to follow him on my alternative blog, where the top post ever is Hovind Family Drama – Real Creationists of Escambia County. I last checked in on the story in November. Up to the minute coverage is available on Robert Baty’s facebook site.
7. Conservation Easements
The abuse of the tax deduction for the donation of conservation easements has been something I have been following intensely. I was glad to see that this post was among the high scorers along with this one.
6. Form 1099-C
This post- Bank Cannot Issue 1099-C And Subsequently Try To Collect – is from 2013, but continues to draw interest. Perhaps it is an indication that the economy is still not that great as least for some people.
5. Horses
It is not surprising that one of the top scorers was a hobby loss case – Stunning Tax Court Victory Against IRS In Horse Case. It was picked up in some horse publications. Like most horse breeding cases, there is a lot about sex.
4. Get That Darn Form
Another perennial, this one from 2014, Non-Custodial Parents Out Of Luck When From 8332 Withheld. I’m not sure whether the need for Form 8332 will be so dire after this filing season due to the elimination of dependency deductions. There is still that child credit to fight about.
3. Substance Over Form
The story on this post was pretty technical but I did manage a sensational headline – Conservative Judge Okays Huge Roth IRA Tax Shelter, Slams IRS Substance Over Form Attack. I probably had help with the headline, but I don’t remember. Substance over form is a very important concept, so the decision might have far-reaching implications.
2. Hope Springs Eternal
The continued popularity of – How To Cash Your Powerball Winning Ticket Anonymously – is a sign, perhaps, of people focused on the most improbable way of getting ahead.
1. Tax Cuts And Jobs Act – Or Whatever You Want To Call It
I suppose it should come as no surprise that the Tax Cuts And Jobs Act was the biggest tax story of the year. Qualified Business Income Is Key Provision To Tax Cuts And Jobs Act was tops along with a few other of my many posts on TCJA. My favorite was Tax Bill For Dummies, which has not yet scored high. It was posted on December 30 and, probably more to the point, I fancy myself having a highly sophisticated readership, who may have decided to skip that one.
The Future
The new law will probably be absorbing a good bit of attention in the next month or two, so I will probably fall behind in my review of decisions. If you want to keep up with the Tax Court, you should follow Lew Taishoff who keeps up to the minute with it. Other than that the rest of the Forbes writers will keep you up to date. You might also want to check in with Paul Caron’s TaxProf Blog. Professor Caron besides being Dean of Pepperdine University School of Law is also, by my designation, Dean of the tax blogosphere.
Here is to a Happy New Year, which to many of us will be less taxing.