Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Celebrity Tax Lore
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Did Orange Bowl Abuse its Tax Exemption With Caribbean Cruise?
In advance of tonight’s Orange Bowl game between Stanford and Virginia Tech, Playoff PAC has filed a supplemental complaint (original complaint here) with the IRS alleging that the Orange Bowl Committee used charitable funds to treat Orange Bowl executives and college athletic directors to a summer 2010 Caribbean cruise where no business meetings occurred. From the press…
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Marc Anthony Reportedly Settles $3.4m IRS Tax Lien
Singer Marc Anthony, husband of singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, announced on Friday that he has settled his outstanding $3.4 tax liability with the IRS. E! Online Fox News Hollywood.com Huffington Post MSNBC Newsday USA Today (Hat Tip: Alan Weiner.)
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Michele Bachmann, Tax Geek
From Michele Bachmann’s Wikipedia profile: She graduated from Winona State University and later received her J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University and an LL.M. degree in tax law from the College of William and Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law. … From 1988 to 1993, Bachmann was a U.S. Treasury Department attorney in the US Federal…
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Dilbert on the ‘Dutch Sandwich’ Tax Shelter Strategy
For more on the “Dutch Sandwich” tax shelter strategy used by Google and other multi-national companies, see here, here, and here. (Hat Tip: Ed Kleinbard, Francine Lipman.)
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Celebrity Lawyer Mickey Sherman Jailed for Nonpayment of $420k in Taxes
Celebrity lawyer Michael "Mickey" Sherman (husband of Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl), who represented Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel in his murder trial, was sentenced yesterday to one year in prison after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay $420,000 in federal income taxes. ABA Journal Associated Press Danbury News Times Greenwich Citizen
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O.J. Simpson and Other Felons Enjoy Property Tax Break While in Prison
Orlando Sentinel, In Nevada Prison O.J Simpson Keeps Tax Break on South Florida Home: O.J. Simpson may not be coming back to South Florida for a good long while, but he’s still entitled to a homestead exemption on his Kendall home. So ruled the Miami-Dade County property appraiser’s office after a neighbor complained that the…
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Zelinsky: Tax Considerations of Cliff Lee’s Deal with the Phillies
Edward Zelinsky (Cardozo), Tax Considerations and Cliff Lee’s Deal with the Phillies: [T]houghts on Cliff Lee’s decision to sign with the Phillies for 5-year, guaranteed $120 million (instead of signing with the Yankees for 6-years, guaranteed $132 million, or the Rangers for 6-years, guaranteed $138 million — both the Yankees and Rangers offered 7th year vesting options,…
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Little Drummer Boy: Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly/David Bowie & Bing Crosby
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy with Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly from Will Ferrell
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Ikea Gives Free Bikes to its 12,400 U.S. Workers; IRS to Get its Share April 15
Ikea gave new bicycles as holiday gifts to all 12,400 of its U.S. employees (press release; New York Daily News; Philadelphia Inquirer; San Francisco Chronicle). Mary O’Keeffe (Union College) blogs the tax consequences in “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Bike”: Those “gift” bikes could turn out to be very expensive, because the IRS…
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John du Pont Dies, Wins Estate Tax Lottery
John Eleuthère du Pont, an heir to the du Pont chemical fortune, is the latest plutocrat to hit the estate tax lottery by dying yesterday at the age of 72 (in prison where he was serving his sentence imposed for his conviction of third degree murder in the 1996 shooting death of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz). His estate thus will…
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Wesley Snipes Begins Serving 3-Year Sentence for Failure to File Tax Returns
Wesley Snipes began serving his three-year sentence today for three counts of willful failure to file tax returns under § 7203 at McKean Federal Correctional Institution in Lewis Run, Pa. Eleventh Circuit Order (Dec. 8, 2010) ABC News CNN Forbes New York Times People Tax Update Blog TMZ Washington Post
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Tennessee 1L Defers Finals to Toss Footballs at Dr. Pepper Can to Win $123k
Knoxville News, Law Student’s Toss for Tuition: Contestant to Throw Footballs in Big Dr. Pepper Can: Ashley Hodges’ professors at the University of Tennessee School of Law probably thought she was nuts. The first-year law student recently informed some of her professors that she’d need to postpone final exams because she had a chance to win $123,000…
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Regal Makes $215m Bet Against Extension of Bush Tax Cuts
Bloomberg, Anschutz to Collect $100 Million Regal Dividend as Bush-Era Tax Cuts Lapse: Regal Entertainment Group, the largest U.S. cinema operator, declared an extraordinary dividend of $1.40 a share payable Dec. 30, the day before Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire. The one-time dividend will cost about $215 million, David Ownby, chief financial officer,…
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Stephen Colbert’s Year-End Estate Planning Tips
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Return of the Estate Tax www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive
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Why Aren’t Sports Stars Beating the Tax Man by Demanding Ownership Stakes?
Wall Street Journal op-ed, Albert Pujols’s Capital Opportunity, by Fay Vincent: Why aren’t sports stars beating the tax man by demanding ownership stakes as part of their compensation, as executives do? It’s often said the key to getting rich in our society is to figure out how to convert ordinary income, taxed heavily, into capital…
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Tax Consequences of Oprah’s Latest Car Giveaway
One of the highlights of my income tax course is the hilarious 5-minute video of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show segment on the tax consequences of Oprah’s 2004 giveaway of Pontiacs to her studio audience: Oprah was back at it last week, giving away to her studio audience a 2012 VW Beetle, a $1,000 Nordstrom gift card, an iPad, and a…
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Father of UBS Tax Whistleblower Makes Thanksgiving Day Plea for Son’s Clemency
Father of UBS Whistleblower Makes Thanksgiving Day Plea for Son’s Clemency: Ronald Birkenfeld, father of UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld (right), made a personal Thanksgiving Day appeal to President Barack Obama for his son to be released from prison. In his letter to the President Mr. Birkenfeld stated, “His separation from his loved ones is extremely painful…
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LeBron James: ‘What Should I Do?’
Wall Street Journal, LeBron James Ad Asks for It: In an arty, soul-searching 90-second Nike commercial released in October, basketball star LeBron James asks repeatedly, “What should I do?” While the original version and direct copies of the ad—which attempt to deal head-on with Mr. James’s controversial decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to play…
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Warren Buffett: Rich Should Pay ‘A Lot More’ in Taxes
ABC News, Warren Buffett: Read My Lips, Raise My Taxes Bloomberg, Buffett Tells ABC Rich Americans Should Be Paying `A Lot’ More in Taxes Daily Mail, We Should be Paying More in Tax Says Billionaire Warren Buffett Huffington Post, Warren Buffett: I ‘Should Be Paying A Lot More In Taxes’ New York Post, ‘Buffetting’ Benefits…
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Wesley Snipes Begins Serving 3-Year Sentence for Failure to File Tax Returns
The district court on Friday ordered Wesley Snipes to jail to begin serving his three-year sentence following his unsuccesful appeal of his conviction on three counts of willful failure to file tax returns under § 7203. United States v. Snipes, No. 5:06-cr-22-Oc-10 (M.D. FL Nov. 19, 2010): The Defendant Snipes had a fair trial; he has had a full, fair,…
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Can Pro Athletes Deduct League Fines, Training Expenses?
Forbes, Lamar Odom Seeks Tax Deduction For NBA Fines and Fitness Fees, by William P. Barrett: Los Angeles Lakers basketball forward Lamar Odom has sued the IRS, which said he couldn’t take tax deductions for $12,000 in sports fines and another $178,000 spent getting himself in shape. … Odom disputed a bill that the IRS…
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Colbert on the Bush Tax Cuts
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c The Word – Nothingness www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive Colbert on the Bush Tax Cuts (July 30, 2010) Colbert on the Bush Tax Cuts (Oct. 25, 2010)
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Bill James: ‘I Made Baseball As Much Fun As Doing Your Taxes’
NESN, Sabermetrician Bill James Pokes Fun at Himself on ‘The Simpsons’: Who knew The Simpsons could be so in tune with sabermetrics? The long-running cartoon featured a guest appearance from Bill James on Sunday night [in an episode entitled MoneyBART, a takeoff on Moneyball], and the most famous sabermetrician of them all made fun of…
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