Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Celebrity Tax Lore
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Zidane’s Head-Butt in World Cup Final
Nontax, but fascinating stuff: check out France soccer star Zinedine Zidane’s head butt of the Italian defender in overtime of yesterday’s World Cup final, which earned Zidane a red card (disqualification) in the final game of his career and led to France’s loss in the penalty kick shootout: As David Post notes on The Volokh…
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L.A. Times on Supreme Court Bobbleheads
Interesting article in today’s L.A. Times on the bobbleheads of Supreme Court Justices issued by the Green Bag to its subscribers (previously blogged here and here): Bobblehead Justices Help Journal Promote the Lighter Side of Law, by Heather Gehlert. Among the fascinating tidbits in the article: Washington, D.C. attorney David Wolfe paid $2,100 on eBay…
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Tax Ramifications When Companies Let “Beautiful People” Use Their Products
Bryan Camp (Texas Tech) asks about the tax issues faced by the beautiful people when companies shower them with their products to use, sparked by today’s Wall Street Journal story about the New York City model given the use of an $80,000 Jaguar (Jaguar Tries a Living Product Placement, by Gina Chon): He dines at…
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Accounting Professor Is Not Related to Genghis Khan
Despite initial press reports to the contrary (blogged here), the Miami Herald reports today that University of Miami accounting professor Tom Robinson is not in fact related to Genghis Khan: A University of Miami accounting professor who garnered brief fame for his genetic link to Genghis Khan will have to put his dreams of marauding…
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Tax Prof Spouse Swap?
Interesting article in today’s Inside Higher Ed: Alternate Academic Reality, by Rob Capriccioso: “The Seedy Side of Tweed: Professors Swap Wives.” If Jerry Springer was in charge of casting a new reality program endeavor for FOX television, that could well be the title. He’s not, but Rocket Science Laboratories, the company behind many a reality…
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Tax Consequences of World Cup Office Parties
Interesting item on AccountancyAge.com: World Cup Parties Score Tax Own Goal: Workers enjoying World Cup parties put on by their employer could be hit with a nasty tax bill, according to Blick Rothenberg, a tax specialist firm based in London. Under income tax rules, employers who invite staff to social functions have to declare the…
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Tax Consequences of One Red Paperclip
Thomas Zupanc sent in a wonderful item about the tax consequences of Kyle MacDonald’s quest to barter his way from one red paperclip to a house: My name is Kyle MacDonald and I am trying to trade one red paperclip for a house. I started with one red paperclip on July 12th, 2005 and I…
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Tax Prof Movie Star: Heart of the Game Opens Today
It isn’t often that Tax Profs are the subject of Hollywood movies. The Heart of the Game opens today and tells the story of girls high school basketball coach William S. Resler, the Director of the Graduate Tax Program in the University of Washington’s School of Business since its inception in 1992: Ward Serrill set…
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Tax Consequences of $25 Million Bounty on al-Zarqawi
Eugene Volokh raises a question I wish I had thought of: what are the tax consequences of the $25 million bounty that the U.S. Government will pay to the person(s) who provided the information leading to the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi? Tax lawyer Richard Riley’s take sounds right to me: If the recipient of…
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Accountant Khan
Great lead in a story in the Miami Herald: DNA Ties UM Prof to Genghis Khan; Is Genghis Khan a UM Accounting Professor’s Forefather? The DNA Says Yes, by Noah Bierman: A British research firm recently combed 25,000 DNA samples searching for a modern descendant of Genghis Khan from outside the Mongolian warlord’s ancient empire.…
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Anonymous Tax Lawyers
Check out the hilarious web site, Anonymous Law Firm, released in anticipation of the forthcoming novel, Anonymous Lawyer, by Jeremy Blachman. Check out these tax lawyer profiles: International tax partner Head tax partner
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Tax Man Leaves $28k on Restaurant Toilet
Interesting AP story: Man Leaves $28,000 on Restaurant Toilet: A tax collector in the southern Austrian city of Graz accidentally left $28,000 in cash in a black attache case he placed on top of a toilet in the men’s room of a local restaurant Thursday, police said. By the time he realized it was missing…
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Tax Consequences of Justice Kennedy’s Bobblehead
The Green Bag’s distribution of the new Justice Kennedy bobblehead to 1,710 of its subcribers raises an issue we have previously blogged: what are the tax consequences of the bobbleheads? At what point is a valuable item received by a subscriber treated as income? This is the fifth in the line of Supreme Court bobbleheads…
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Microsoft iPod
Non-tax, but hilarious: what the iPod box would look like if it were designed by Microsoft, rather than by Apple: The kicker is that the spoof was produced by designers at Microsoft as an exercise of self-criticism! (Hat Tip: Wall Street Journal.)
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Daily Show with Jon Stewart Skewers Tax Bill
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night skewered the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 signed by the President yesterday in this segment (Bush’s Tax Cuts) by Dan Bakkedahl.
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British Taxman Beats André Agassi in Final Set
We previously have blogged (here) André Agassi’s tax claim against British tax authoriities. The case has broad implications for athletes and entertainers performing in the UK. The House of Lords (the UK’s highest court) has ruled in Agassi v. Robinson, 2006 UKHL 23 (5/17/06), that foreign athletes and other entertainers working in the UK are…
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More on Tax Consequences of Oscar Gift Bags
This month’s "Shop Talk" column in the Journal of Taxation discusses an issue we have previously blogged: the tax consequences of gift bags received by celebrities at the Oscars. Pre-Oscar publicity estimated the value of the bags at $100,000, and IRS Commissioner Mark Everson announced that the gift bags constitute taxable income to the celebrities…
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Audit — The Tax Game
Here’s something to while away those hazy summer days: Audit – The Tax Game (1979): This board game centers around the yearly encounter with the Internal Revenue Service and the preparations necessary to successfully deal with this confrontation. Players try to convert taxable money to non-taxable by landing on positions which contain various tax shelters…
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“Fat Naked Guy” Gets 51 Months for “Survivor” Tax Dodge
Survivor winner Richard Hatch was sentenced today to 51 months in prison for failing to pay income taxes on his $1 million prize and other earnings. From the Associated Press: Hatch claimed he thought the show’s producers would pay his taxes and pleaded ignorance about money matters, saying he forgot to tell his accountants about…
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Colbert on Taxes
Steven Colbert of The Colbert Report, whose recent riff on George Bush at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner drew praise in the blogosphere (including from Dan Shaviro), offers his views on taxes here.
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Letterman: Tax Act is the “‘No Millionaire Left Behind Act”
David Letterman: "The House of Representatives just passed a bill, a $70 billion tax cut on capital gains. This is called the ‘no millionaire left behind act.’"
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Love, Sex, and the IRS
I stumbled across the play "Love, Sex and the IRS," which is being put on at various regional playhouses throughout the country, including Vail, Colorado: Offering a special matinee on Mother’s Day Sunday, the Porchlight Players will present "Love, Sex and the IRS" – a play to which just about any mother can relate. "Love,…
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Music Video: IRS
Check out this music video: IRS, by Volouro: One guy decides not to pay his taxes. Well the IRS dosn’t like that one bit and takes matters into their own hands.
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MySpace for Tax Geeks?
As any parent of a teen or college student knows all too well, the MySpace phenomenon continues to grow. Over 77 million registered users mingle with each other in various "networks" by creating profiles and blogs. A new site has appeared trying to be the MySpace for lawyers — Lawbby: Welcome to the Lawbby… (Where…
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Tax Music Video: Tax Me
Opening up new vistas of tax entertainment: here is our first tax music video recommendation: Tax Me, by Tim Turner. (Hat Tip: taxalicious.)