Volume 55, No. 2 - Winter 2002

Articles

Simplifying and Rationalizing the Federal Income Tax Law Applicable to Transfers in Divorce

Deborah A. Geier

Sometimes the complexity in our tax law is defended as a necessary evil to conform the law to the underlying theory informing it. Some also say that, since ours is a complex economy and society, our tax system is necessarily complex, and those engaged in complex transactions...

Distinguishing Risk: The Disparate Tax Treatment of Insurance and Financial Contracts in a Converging Marketplace

David S. Miller

The distinction between an insurance contract and a financial instrument was once well understood. Insurance contracts transferred primarily insurance risk—the risk of loss upon the occurrence of an insurable hazard...

Tax-Exempt Electric Cooperatives: A Discussion of Issues Relating to the 85% Member Income Requirement

Clayton S. Reynolds

Section 501(c)(12) of the Code provides a tax exemption for certain life insurance associations, ditch and irrigation companies, cooperative telephone companies, and other "like organizations" in years during which 85% or more of the entity's...

The Variance Doctrine: No Forks in the Road to Refunds

Margaret C. Wilson

A taxpayer seeking a refund of a federal tax overpayment has a burden of foresight far beyond that placed upon its adversary, the Service, when seeking to recover a deficiency in tax from the taxpayer. The taxpayer's administrative refund claim constitutes a limiting document...

Notes

Gift or Sale? A Question of Intent in Estate of Costanza v. Commissioner

James A. Bulen, Jr.

In the recently decided case Estate of Costanza v. Commissioner, the Tax Court held that intrafamily transfers are presumed to be gifts absent convincing evidence to the contrary. This case involved the transfer of real property between the taxpayer and his son in exchange for a self-canceling installment note. ...

Taxpayers Can Treat the Premium Paid for Expected Property Rights as the Cost Basis of the Later-Acquired Rights: Gladden v. Commissioner

Eduardo Carvajal

In Gladden v. Commissioner, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that when "a purchaser pays a premium for land based on a realistic expectation that water rights will attach to that land in the future, the purchaser may, upon sale of the later-acquired water rights...

Deductions May Exceed Income to Employees for Entertainment Fringe Benefits Under Section 274: Sutherland Lumber-Southwest, Inc. v. Commissioner

Joshua Eizen

In Sutherland Lumber-Southwest, Inc. v. Commissioner, a case of first impression, the Eighth Circuit held that the business expense deduction for operating a corporate jet for an employee's vacation flight was not limited to the amount of income attributed to the employee as a fringe benefit. ...

Drunk and Orderly: The Anomalous Holding of In re Fretz Affects Bankrupt Taxpayers

L. Richard Walton

In In re Fretz, the Eleventh Circuit further transformed its definition of what constitutes a willful evasion of tax, thus triggering the exception in 11 U.S.C. section 523(a)(1)(C) ("section 523") which makes certain unpaid taxes nondischargeable in bankruptcy. ...

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Vol. 55, No. 2 - Winter 2002

The Tax Lawyer, Winter 2002

Articles

Simplifying and Rationalizing the Federal Income Tax Law Applicable to Transfers in Divorce

Distinguishing Risk: The Disparate Tax Treatment of Insurance and Financial Contracts in a Converging Marketplace

Tax-Exempt Electric Cooperatives: A Discussion of Issues Relating to the 85% Member Income Requirement

The Variance Doctrine: No Forks in the Road to Refunds

Notes

Gift or Sale? A Question of Intent in Estate of Costanza v. Commissioner

Taxpayers Can Treat the Premium Paid for Expected Property Rights as the Cost Basis of the Later-Acquired Rights: Gladden v. Commissioner

Deductions May Exceed Income to Employees for Entertainment Fringe Benefits Under Section 274: Sutherland Lumber-Southwest, Inc. v. Commissioner

Drunk and Orderly: The Anomalous Holding of In re Fretz Affects Bankrupt Taxpayers

The Tax Lawyer

Subscribing

American Bar Association TM American Bar Association

Vol. 55, No. 2 - Winter 2002

The Tax Lawyer, Winter 2002

Articles

Simplifying and Rationalizing the Federal Income Tax Law Applicable to Transfers in Divorce

Distinguishing Risk: The Disparate Tax Treatment of Insurance and Financial Contracts in a Converging Marketplace

Tax-Exempt Electric Cooperatives: A Discussion of Issues Relating to the 85% Member Income Requirement

The Variance Doctrine: No Forks in the Road to Refunds

Notes

Gift or Sale? A Question of Intent in Estate of Costanza v. Commissioner

Taxpayers Can Treat the Premium Paid for Expected Property Rights as the Cost Basis of the Later-Acquired Rights: Gladden v. Commissioner

Deductions May Exceed Income to Employees for Entertainment Fringe Benefits Under Section 274: Sutherland Lumber-Southwest, Inc. v. Commissioner

Drunk and Orderly: The Anomalous Holding of In re Fretz Affects Bankrupt Taxpayers

The Tax Lawyer

Subscribing