Owners of legal entities typically establish those entities to achieve certain planning goals, be them tax, asset protection, contract management, or other reasons. Key to accomplishing those goals is that courts respect the entity planning structure that is established. In the recent Tax Court opinion of Berry v. Commissioner[1], we see a taxpayer who intended…
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In a recent case involving taxpayers Ronnie S. Baum and Teresa K. Baum, the IRS disallowed many deductions, including deductions for theft losses and worthless securities.[1] This case is a quick and helpful reminder of some common deduction rules. Fact Summary This case relates to events occurring between years 2010 and 2019. The tax years…
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In the recent Complex Media[1] case, the Tax Court addressed a taxpayer’s ability to recast the form of a transaction under the “substance over form” doctrine. Since taxpayers typically control the form their transactions take, tax decisions routinely stick taxpayers with the consequences of that form. Some courts have precluded taxpayers from even raising substance…
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As it turns out, fashion design will not usually constitute qualified research for the purposes of qualifying for the research credit under Section 41 of the Internal Revenue Code. In a recent case from the Tax Court, taxpayer, Leon Max, failed to convince a sympathetic court that expenses related to his fashion design process should…
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