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In the Tax Court & at the IRS Last Month --- September 2024

2024-10-04

Tax Court Logo

In September 2024, the Tax Court published 13 opinions, which included a total of 280 pages. Below are graphs for the month showing: (i) the top 15 code sections referenced, (ii) cases cited 5 or more times, (iii) the number of opinions by judge, and (iv) the number of pages by judge.

September 2024 Sections referenced

 

September 2024 cases cited

September 2024 Number of Opinions By Judge

September 2024 Number of Pages By Judge

Excerpts from September 2024 Tax Court Cases

I am always interested in learning well-established tax principles. Often, court cases will explicitly indicate that a tax principle is well established or well settled. Or the court may concisely state the holding of a prior case in a parenthetical. Below are excerpts from the September 2024 Tax Court cases referring to these types of principles or holdings.

Estate of Becker v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-89. (Nega)

Penrod v. Commissioner, 88 T.C. 1415, 1428-30 (1987) ("The step transaction doctrine is in effect another rule of substance over form; it treats a series of formally separate 'steps' as a single transaction if such steps are in substance integrated, interdependent, and focused toward a particular result.")

Estate of Becker v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-89. (Nega)

Andantech LLC v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2002-97, 83 T.C.M. (CCH) 1476, 1504 ("Because the transactions in the present case do not span a long period of time or involve a binding commitment to pursue successive steps, we do not analyze them under the binding commitment test.")

Feathers v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-88. (Holmes)

Keogh v. Commissioner, 713 F.2d 496, 502 (9th Cir. 1983) ("The tax court is not obliged to believe a taxpayer's testimony rather than evidence introduced by the Commissioner")

Kalk v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-82. (Lauber)

Lerch v. Commissioner, 877 F.2d 624, 627-29 (7th Cir. 1989) (refusing to apply the Cohan rule where the taxpayer failed to present evidence to support a reasonable estimate)

Kalk v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-82. (Lauber)

Curphey v. Commissioner, 73 T.C. 766, 776 (1980) (finding that a taxpayer has one principal place of business for each trade or business)

Kalk v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-82. (Lauber)

Daly v. Commissioner, 72 T.C. 190, 196-98 (1979) (denying deduction for overnight lodging expenses in Philadelphia where sales manager commuted weekly to Philadelphia from his home in Virginia)

Kalk v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-82. (Lauber)

[I]t is well established that the expenses of commuting to and from work are not "ordinary and necessary" business expenses deductible under section 162. Fausner v. Commissioner, 413 U.S. 838, 838-39 (1973); Commissioner v. Flowers, 326 U.S. 465, 470 (1946); Feistman v. Commissioner, 63 T.C. 129, 134-35 (1974); Treas. Reg. §§ 1.162-2(e), 1.262-1(b)(5).

Ottuso v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-91. (Copeland)

Commissioner v. Tufts, 461 U.S. 300, 307 (1983) ("Because of the obligation to repay, the taxpayer is entitled to include the amount of the loan in computing his basis in the property . . . .")

Royalty Management Ins. Co. Ltd. v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-87. (Lauber)

Rsrv. Mech. Corp. v. Commissioner, 34 F.4th at 903 ("At the core of the notion of insurance . . . are risk transfer and distribution.")

Royalty Management Ins. Co. Ltd. v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-87. (Lauber)

AMERCO & Subs. v. Commissioner, 96 T.C. 18, 40 (1991) (holding that risk-shifting and risk-distributing "are necessary to the existence of insurance")

Scenic Trust v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2024-85. (Buch)

The assignment of income doctrine prevents an individual from avoiding tax on income by assigning that income to another person or entity. Anyanwu v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2014-123, at *13; see also Lucas v. Earl, 281 U.S. 111, 114–15 (1930). Under this doctrine, income is taxed to the person who actually earns it. United States v. Basye, 410 U.S. 441, 450 (1973); see also Anyanwu, T.C. Memo. 2014-123, at *13 ("[I]ncome is taxable to . . . the one who owns the tree on which the fruit grows."). Furthermore, a person who "earns income may not avoid taxation through anticipatory arrangements no matter how clever or subtle." Basye, 410 U.S. at 450.

 

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Announcements, Notices, Revenue Procedures, and Revenue Rulings

In September 2024, the IRS published 11 Announcements, Notices, Revenue Procedures, and Revenue Rulings, which included a total of 83 pages.

September 2024 Rev. Rul.s, Etc. Sections referenced

 

Written Determinations

In September 2024, the IRS published 63 Written Determinations, which included a total of 365 pages.

September 2024 PLRs Sections referenced

 

Tags: Statistics