The TaxProf, Paul Caron,is now the Dean, Pepperdine's Caruso School of Law.
Lifted in toto from the TaxProf blog, June 29:
Abraham Sutherland (Virginia; Google Scholar), Congress Takes Its War on Cash to Digital Assets: Understanding Tax Code Section 6050I:
The United States government really does not like Americans to make large cash transactions. Now, due to a new law, it really, really does not want Americans to use “digital assets,” either. My goal is to convince you that the first claim is true. The second claim will then be self-evident.
Of course, no one cares about cash anymore, except criminals. We’ve always known something better: bank accounts, paper checks, and wire transfers. Cash has been obsolete for meaningful commerce for a long time, and since 1984 we’ve had a law in place to make sure it stays that way. Cash, as a tool for large, non-criminal transactions in the modern economy, is dead. Cash is a relic.
This essay is about section 6050I of the tax code, the 1984 federal law that helped make cash obsolete. It’s important because the same law is now being aimed at digital assets, through an amendment to section 6050I that was signed into law on November 15. The new law subjects digital assets to the same reporting requirements as physical currency. The amendment, a mere eight words long, appeared on page 2,422 of the trillion-dollar Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
TaxProf blog home where we find such handy hints as:
Thursday, June 30, 2022
Insider Giving
By Paul Caron
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Sureyya Burcu Avci (Sabanci University; Google Scholar), Cindy A. Schipani (Michigan; Google Scholar), H. Nejat Seyhun (Michigan; Google Scholar) & Andrew Verstein (UCLA; Google Scholar), Insider Giving, 71 Duke L.J. 619 (2021):
Corporate insiders can avoid losses if they dispose of their stock while in possession of material nonpublic information. One means of disposal, selling the stock, is illegal and subject to prompt mandatory reporting. A second strategy is almost as effective, yet it faces lax reporting requirements and enforcement. That second method is to donate the stock to a charity and take a charitable tax deduction at the inflated stock price. This “insider giving” is a potent substitute for insider trading. We show that insider giving is far more widespread than previously believed. In particular, we show that insider giving is not limited to officers and directors. Large investors appear to regularly receive material nonpublic information....
note: not intended as legal advice and neither I nor the Dean will chip in for any expenses incurred in defending your gift if called before the SEC, IRS, DOJ, any other interested three-letter party and/or a Court. Please consult your philanthropy advisor or legal counsel.
And:Thursday, June 30, 2022
Haneman: Tax Incentives For Green Burial
Victoria J. Haneman (Creighton; Google Scholar), Tax Incentives for Green Burial, 21 Nev. L.J. 491 (2021):
Every living being is doomed to decay and die and decay some more. Death is inevitable, and the disposal of our dead is a fundamental global activity with the potential to have significant environmental impact. In the United States, the environmental toxicity of “traditional” modern burial is stark. A cosmeticized body is pumped with three gallons of embalming fluid (containing chemicals such as formaldehyde) that eventually leaches through metal and wood and into the ground. An estimated 5.3 million gallons of embalming chemicals are buried annually in what are essentially luxury landfill-slash-golf-courses, with landscaping and grass to maintain and mow, in coffins that are typically constructed of nonbiodegradable chipboard. And while cremation is a more environmentally friendly alternative, incineration cremation falls short of being labeled “green.” Fire-based cremation utilizes significant resources and energy, attributable to the substantial quantity of fossil fuel required to burn human remains at 1,562° F (850° C) to reduce a corpse to ash. Pollutants are generated in doing so, including an average of 250,000 tons per year of carbon emissions and an estimated 320 to 6,000 pounds of mercury (from incineration of dental fillings) per year.
Again not intended as tax and/or funereal advice. Please consult your Family Office, funeral director, toxic waste disposal expert, spiritual advisor or Deity for guidance on how to proceed.
note: Do-it-yourself mulching is frowned upon in most jurisdictions.
