On Wednesday, President-Elect Donald Trump, through his legal advisors, presented his plan to address potential conflicts of interests created by his continued ownership in the Trump Organization. As part of his plan, the President (referred to this way for ease of exposition) has promised to transfer profits derived some foreign government transactions to the United […]
My prior post explained how ordinary business transactions between foreign governments and the Trump Organization would not automatically create violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause regarding President-elect Trump. That post concluded that the term “emolument” refers only to payments made in connection with the performance of services for a foreign government (whether as an officer or employee), […]
My prior post explained how the Foreign Emoluments Clause probably would not apply to ordinary business transactions between foreign governments and Donald Trump’s businesses. That post assumed, as a threshold matter, that the Foreign Emoluments Clause, which applies to holders of an “Office of Profit or Trust,” reaches the President. However, as noted in the […]
Commentators have argued that President-Elect Trump’s various business interests, including in the D.C.-based Trump Hotel, may create constitutional problems under the Emoluments Clause. See, e.g., “Trump’s Hotel Lodges a Constitutional Problem,” Bloomberg View (Nov. 21, 2016). As relevant here, the Emoluments Clause prevents a person holding a federal office from accepting any “present” or “emolument” of […]
The IRS was actively involved in implementing various policy objectives of the Obama Administration and issued various controversial regulations, including those dealing with the Affordable Care Act. With Donald Trump soon to step into the Oval Office, one may wonder about the extent to which the Trump Administration can reverse regulations issued by the Treasury/IRS […]
Earlier this week, the NYTimes published an article on a tax strategy apparently used by Donald Trump in 1991 to reduce his taxable income. The ensuing commentary has focused heavily on the mechanics of the tax strategy, and has emphasized that though there was apparently “substantial authority” for the tax positions claimed by Trump, those […]
Last week, the Yale Daily News Publishing Company, Incorporated (i.e., the Yale Daily News (YDN)) caused a minor stir when it endorsed Hillary Clinton for President. The YDN is a corporation that claims tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3), and engaging in political activity is inconsistent with that statute’s requirements. Specifically, if a corporation wants to […]
Tax issues related to the Trump Foundation continue to grab headlines. The Washington Post’s David A. Fahrenthold has tirelessly examined the organization, and recently discussed “four new cases of possible self-dealing [that] were discovered in the Trump Foundation’s tax filings.” Any allegation of self-dealing sounds inherently bad, but the discussion of the Trump transactions […]
At the request of Senator Hatch and other lawmakers, the Government Accountability Office recently released a report on various IRS guidance procedures. The report’s title (“Treasury and OMB Need to Reevaluate Long-standing Exemptions of Tax Regulations and Guidance”) gives away its conclusion — the Treasury and OMB have not carefully considered why the government creates […]
If the Supreme Court abandons the deferential approach articulated in Auer v. Robbins, will agencies lose interpretive power over their own regulations? Not necessarily. Under Auer and various predecessor cases, an agency’s interpretation of its own regulation controls, unless that interpretation is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation. Courts do not always precisely explain […]
Earlier this year, former U.S. Tax Court Judge Diane Kroupa was indicted for conspiracy to commit tax evasion and obstruction of an IRS audit. During her time on the court, Kroupa authored some significant opinions, including BNY Mellon v. Commissioner, which held that the taxpayer could not properly claim foreign tax credits generated through a […]
In a prior post, I discussed concerns expressed by Senator Hatch regarding the IRS’s failure to subject its “major” regulations to the procedures required by the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Major regulations are generally those that have economic effects of $100 million or more and would seem to include many tax regulations. However, as […]
Altera v. Commissioner: Heads the IRS Wins, Tails the Taxpayer Loses? Last year, in Altera v. Commissioner, the Tax Court dealt the IRS a major blow on rulemaking issues. In that case, the court held that some highly-controversial international tax regulations were invalid and thus could not apply in determining Altera’s tax liabilities for the […]
The IRS recently proposed some highly controversial regulations related to debt-equity classifications. A challenge to the regulations seems likely, and a recent news article discusses how some pending legislation might affect the controversy. See Bloomberg BNA, “Debt-Equity Rules Could Be Easier to Strike With Pending Bill” (7/25/16). That legislation, The Separation of Powers Restoration Act […]
The conflict between the rule of lenity and administrative deference doctrines has drawn significant judicial attention recently (see prior coverage here ). I’ve posted on SSRN an essay that discusses some potential implications for the tax laws, and here’s the abstract: A controversy has emerged over how to interpret statutes under which the government can […]