Walt Eddy's Blog, page 5

You Can't Squeese Blood Out of a Turnpip

In Kathleen A. Vinatieri the IRS tried to collect money from a person who didn't have enough to live on if she paid her taxes. IRS wanted her to file deliquent returns before it relieved her of having to pay before it waived collection in her situation.

Palm Canyon X Investments, LLC

This case involves some celebrity.

Palm Canyon X Investments, LLC through AH Investment Holdings, Inc., its tax matters partner, challenged the IRS in the United States Tax Court. The Tax Court filed its opinion on December 15, 2009. The IRS won the case. The case involves tax shelter-type issues. Palm Canyon, a single-member limited liability company owned by AH Investment Holdings, entered into some contracts known as "offsetting market-linked deposit contracts." So what? you say. Well, it...

Our Convoluted Tax & International Business Systems

This was a win for Symantec, who sent something like 14 lawyers to the Tax Court to face off against the 7 for the IRS before Judge Foley. The Tax Court found the government's case arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.

If for some irrational reason you want the flavor of just how complex things can be in taxation relative to international entities and a single issue, consider reading this case, which has 71 pages and a table of contents as follows:

CONTENTS

Background

I. Storage Management...

Yikes! A Casualty Loss!

In 2005, Justin Rohrs bought this nice, new truck, a 2006 Ford F-350, for $40,210.65. (Those who know me very well will perhaps know why that fact interests me.)

Anyway, a couple of months later, he went to a gathering at a friend's house where there was drinking, but he rode to and from it with someone else to avoid driving while intoxicated. After he got home from the gathering, though, he started off to his parents' house too soon. On the way, he didn't negotiate a turn --- he said there...

Tax Protestor Antics

ROBERT CHARLES & LISA JEAN ABELL weren't able to ring a bell in defense of their frivolous arguments against IRS when they appealed their lower-court loss to the Tenth Circuit. They appear to have acted more like Cain than Abell.

Start-up Expenses, Office-in-the-Home, and More

JOHN Y. DING faced the IRS in Tax Court relative to what they claimed were his "business expenses." He claimed a bunch of expenses relative to his employment and a prospective business he was trying to get off the ground. It results in an interesting discussion and analysis of various matters including start-up expenses versus business expenses, rules governing an office in the home, and documentation, including the application of the Cohen rule.

Education Expenses --- Are They Deductible?

This case gives a good review of applicable law:
LORI A. SINGLETON-CLARKE vs COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE

It involves a RN who went back to school to become more effective in her then-present duties. She realized that nursing had evolved greatly in the 24 years since she earned her bachelor's degree, and she felt disadvantaged working with highly educated doctors.

Ronald Davenport

I had to mention this case. I just had to.

I knew a Ronnie Davenport growing up. His brother, Tommy, was one of my contemporaries and best buddies. The Davenports I knew as a boy were all the most clever and interesting people. Ronnie, as I recall, was into short-wave radio, among other things. This was back before cell phones --- even before a lot of people had land-line telephones or TVs. I was always way impressed with Ronnie talking on that radio with people all around the world. It...

Two Tuesday Memo Decisions

The Tax Court issued two memorandum opinions today. One involves the determination that Linda Bruen was an innocent spouse, even though that terminology always seems like an oxymoron to me. The other one has to do with the nature of income from a cashed-in life insurance policy that the Barr couple received and the accuracy penalty the government said was attributable to them not properly reporting the nature of such incom.

What's in a Name?

Peter M. Comensoli challenged the IRS in Tax Court. He was represented by Matthew S. DePerno. Alexandra E. Nicholaides represented the IRS. The IRS wanted to use its lien and levy powers to collect some taxes from Peter. Peter didn't want that to happen. The judge was named Goeke --- I didn't look up the rest of his name. Some of the players in the case were Paradym Group and A. Adonu Idahosa (makes me wonder what the "A." stands for). Symphony Financial Services was a player as was TCF Leasi...