Bob Jones And The Conservative Case For Not Revoking Harvard's Tax Exemption

The Atlantic:  The Conservative Case for Leaving Harvard Alone, by Conor Clarke (Washington University; Google Scholar):

The Supreme Court precedent allowing the IRS to revoke a university’s tax-exempt status is a textualist’s nightmare.

The past few days have seen a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s brawl with universities in general and with Harvard in particular. According to multiple reports, the IRS has begun planning to revoke the university’s tax-exempt status. Losing exemption from income taxation would be disastrous for Harvard. Not only does exemption save universities enormous amounts of money that would otherwise be taxed; it is also essential for fundraising, because it allows donors to take charitable deductions.

What is the rationale for the IRS revisiting Harvard’s exemption status? A theory is needed, because section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code says that an organization “shall”—not “may”—be exempt from taxation if it meets criteria listed in the statute. One of those criteria is for an institution to be organized exclusively for “educational purposes.”

The Trump administration—which shoots first and theorizes later—has not said much. But an intellectual agenda has been building recently to challenge the exempt status of universities and other organizations viewed as left-leaning. (You can see that momentum gathering steam on the Wall Street Journal editorial page here, here, and here.) The unifying theory of this movement is to make expansive new use of a 1983 Supreme Court decision, Bob Jones University v. United States.

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Tax Day At North Carolina Law School

On Tuesday, April 15th, Tax Profs Leigh Osofsky and Kathleen DeLaney Thomas hosted North Carolina Law School's annual Tax Day celebration, filling the law school rotunda with tax law students, costume contests, tax bingo, tax challenge problems, tax trivia, prizes, food, and more:

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Bloomberg, Bessent Says ‘Everything’s On the Table’ for Taxes on Wealthiest
• Bloomberg, Harvard Sees ‘Grave Consequences’ as Trump Pushes IRS Action
• Bloomberg, Harvard’s $465 Million in Tax Benefits Draw New Scrutiny
• Bloomberg, IRS Purges Old Guidance After White House Deregulation Push
• Bloomberg, Millionaire Tax-Hike Talks Gain Steam as Trump Signals Openness
• Bloomberg, New York City’s Rich Increasingly Using Trusts to Buy Homes for Their Kids
• Bloomberg, States See Low Demand for IRS’s Direct File With Future Unclear
• Bloomberg, Trump Names Whistleblower Gary Shapley as Acting IRS Head
• Bloomberg, Trump Questions Columbia, Princeton’s Tax-Exempt Status
• CNBC, Tax Attorneys Say IRS Has Become a ‘Zombie’ as Agency Cuts Staff and Halts Audits of the Wealthy

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Creative Tax Writing At Iowa

Diane Lourdes Dick (Iowa), Creative Tax Writing At Iowa:

This year, I invited students in both of my Spring 2025 tax courses at the University of Iowa College of Law to participate in a new (and entirely optional!) creative writing competition.

The prompt was simple—but strange:

Imagine a world where cash no longer necessarily has a basis equal to face.

Students could respond in any narrative form—short story, poem, or something in between—and were explicitly permitted to use generative AI to assist with brainstorming, drafting, and editing. The result was a wildly creative and pedagogically rich experiment in how tax law can come alive through storytelling.

Submissions were evaluated on three criteria: tax substantive knowledge (40%), creative writing (40%), and overall quality (20%).

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Winners Of The 2025 National Tax Moot Court Competition

Florida Bar, Stetson Captures Tax Section’s 2025 National Tax Moot Court Crown:

After three days of competition featuring teams from law schools across the nation, Stetson University College of Law emerged as the overall champion in the Tax Section’s 2025 National Tax Moot Court Competition, sweeping the event with top honors in Best Oral Argument, Best Brief, and Best Oralist Final Round. ...

Stetson Law Moot Court team members Mia Bartolomei-Negron and Eddie Hong with Stetson Law Associate Professor Andrew Appleby. Bartolomei-Negron and Hong took top honors in the Tax Section’s 2025 National Tax Moot Court Competition, winning Best Oral Argument, Best Brief, and Best Oralist Final Round (tied).

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Bloomberg, 'America Last' Corporate Tax Policies Can End With This Congress
• Bloomberg, Big 4 Accounting Firms Ramp Up AI for Tax Prep in Bet on the Future
• Bloomberg, House Passes Plan to Advance Trump Tax Cuts, Debt Limit Boost
• Bloomberg, Millionaire Tax Hike Divides Republicans in Trump Cut Debate
• Bloomberg, States Weigh NIL Tax Breaks to Attract Top College Athletes
• Bloomberg, Trump Has Legitimate Grievance With Digital Levies, Tax Pros Say
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The 2017 Tax Law Did Not Boost the Economy
• Center for Economic and Policy Research, Donald Trump’s Big Wealth Tax

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Tobin: DOGE And Conservatives Can’t Really Want To Shutter DOJ Tax

Following up on Wednesday's post, DOGE To Shutter DOJ Tax Division:  Donald Tobin (Maryland; Google Scholar), DOGE and Conservatives Can’t Really Want to Shutter DOJ Tax:

As a former attorney in the Appellate Section of the Tax Division at DOJ, I am concerned about proposals being floated at DOJ to reassign Tax Division attorneys to U.S. Attorney’s offices. This move is contrary to the Administration’s efficiency and cost savings goals as well as its aim to ensure tax enforcement is not abused.

Some readers may not understand how cases end up in the Tax Division. Importantly, except in very limited cases (typically involving liens, levies, and bankruptcy (and a few other categories)), the Civil Trial and Appellate Sections of the Tax Division do not initiate any actions. In order for a civil case to be litigated by the Tax Division, either the case must have been litigated in Tax Court (or a federal trial court) and appealed to a Circuit Court, or the taxpayer has filed a suit in federal court against the United States seeking a tax refund. DOJ’s Tax Division generally acts as the lawyer for the government when taxpayers seek to litigate their right to a refund. This role will continue to be necessary and may overwhelm local U.S. Attorney offices, which typically have other priorities.

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DOGE To Shutter DOJ Tax Division

Talking Points Memo, DOGE to Shutter DOJ Tax Division:

We know that DOGE is in the process of gutting the IRS. ... But it doesn’t stop at the IRS. DOGE is also in the process of essentially closing down the Tax Division at the Department of Justice.

Since the Tax Division is a statutory creation, it can’t literally be shuttered. As DOGE has done at numerous other offices and agencies, the entity is kept notionally alive in a zombie state of suspended animation: a few employees, a desk lamp and a couple workstations. That’s the legal fig leaf that allows the White House, with a compliant judiciary, to say that it hasn’t violated any congressional statute or terminated one of Congress’ creations. It’s simply choosing a new strategy of enforcement.

What they plan to do is essentially “reform” and “reorganize” the Tax Division out of existence. The plan is to dramatically reduce the number of Tax Division staff attorneys and then take the great majority of those that remain and disperse them out to the country’s 93 U.S. attorneys’ offices. Only a small managerial layer is to be left working from Washington, DC. ...

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Noah Marks Joins North Carolina Tax Faculty

Noah Marks, Visiting Assistant Professor at Duke, will join the North Carolina faculty on July 1, 2025:

Noah Marks is a tax scholar whose research examines how taxpayers and practitioners bridge the gap between the words of the Internal Revenue Code and the Treasury Regulations, on the one hand, and their transactions and situations, on the other hand. In particular, he examines various administrative materials created by the IRS that, despite not being formal law, assign meaning to codified tax law, and he investigates the impact of various judge-made doctrines that apply alongside codified tax law. His current research includes investigating the prevalence and impact of lingering proposed tax regulations and illuminating the development and contours of the abandonment doctrine. His work has appeared in the Boston College Law Review [Winning by Losing: The Strategy of Adverse Letter Rulings (reviewed here)], the Lewis & Clark Law Review [The Implied Assertion Doctrine Applied to Legislative History], the Journal of the American Taxation Association [Book Review:  Partnership Income Taxation (7th Ed. 2023))], and the Harvard Law & Policy Review [Least Restrictive Means: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby]

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11th Circuit Poised To Uphold Constitutionality Of Tax Court Despite President's Ability To Fire Judges Only For Cause

Bloomberg Law, Eleventh Circuit Eyes Tax Court History Amid Constitutional Test:

The Eleventh Circuit appeared ready to side with the government in a case challenging the legitimacy of the judges of the US Tax Court, but not without considering the court’s place in the government.

A US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit panel prodded counsel for taxpayer Fannie Wright on her argument about the constitutional authority of the Tax Court’s judges, and whether provisions allowing the president to remove them violate the Constitution. Wright, who had petitioned the Tax Court to contest penalties without success, argued Internal Revenue Code Section 7443, which addresses how the Court’s 19 judges are appointed, is flawed.

Either the Tax Court is a part of the executive branch, in which case the president should have more authority over the court than the statue provides; or the tax code section violates the separation of powers by allowing a member of the executive branch to remove a member of the judicial branch, Joseph A. DiRuzzo III of Margulis Gelfand DiRuzzo & Lambson LLC argued for Wright.

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Former Georgia State Tenured Tax Professor Cass Brewer Joins Carlton Fields As Shareholder

Press Release, Former Georgia State Law Professor Cass Brewer Joins Carlton Fields’ Business Transactions Practice in Atlanta:

Cassady “Cass” Brewer has joined Carlton Fields’ Business Transactions Practice as a shareholder in the firm’s Atlanta office. He most recently was a tenured professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law and remains an emeritus professor of law at the university.

Brewer focuses on tax law and business transactions, with deep experience in the intersection of tax-exempt organizations and for-profit enterprises. His background in both academia and private legal practice gives him a unique perspective in advising clients on complex tax and business matters. During his tenure at Georgia State Law, his courses covered federal income taxation, nonprofit organizations, and business taxation, including corporate and partnership tax. ...

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Chodorow: Trump, Musk, Senate Republicans, And Your Taxes

Slate:  Why Withholding Your Taxes in Protest Could Actually Help Trump and Musk, by Adam Chodorow (Arizona State; Google Scholar):

It’s tax season, and if you’re upset about how things are going in government right now, you might be tempted to protest by withholding your taxes. After all, conservatives had their Tea Party moment. Why shouldn’t those opposed to the efforts of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to dismantle the government, alienate our allies, and degrade America’s standing in the world have their own? ...

The question is: When are protests warranted? We have a democratic government, where the majority gets to set policy and decide what to spend money on and how much. When does disagreement with government policy rise to the level that it justifies a refusal to pay taxes? We could all identify something that might inspire us to protest, whether from the left or the right: war, abortion, guns, the death penalty, NPR. The list goes on. The problem is: We are either committed to our democratic process or we are not. It would be ironic for those outraged about the attack on the rule of law to protest by … ignoring the law. ...

Civil protest can be a powerful tool, bringing attention to injustice and bad government policy. But no matter how just the cause, it does not permit folks to break the law with impunity. Failure to file and pay taxes can lead to two different penalties and interest charges that can outstrip the amount owed if enough time passes. It can even lead to criminal charges and prison. Just ask Hunter Biden. ...

No one enjoys paying taxes under the best of circumstances. And refusing to pay to advance one’s cause can make it all seem noble. But it is not that simple. Nothing ever is. So, feel free to fantasize about standing up to the man and refusing to pay your taxes. You can even imagine yourself wearing a tricorne hat. However, to paraphrase Michelle Obama, if you’re worried or upset about what’s going on today, do something … else.

Slate:  Republicans Are Trying to Use Accounting Magic to Conceal the Cost of Tax Cuts, by Adam Chodorow (Arizona State; Google Scholar):

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Bloomberg, DOJ Is Urged Not to Dissolve Its Tax Division in Restructuring
• Bloomberg, LA Area Cities Pass Seattle With Highest Sales Taxes in US (11.75%)
• Bloomberg, LA Mansion Tax Crimps Multifamily Housing, Taxes, Study Says
• Bloomberg, Republicans Debate Hiking Tax Rate to 40% for Millionaires
• Bloomberg, Republicans Eye $25,000 SALT Cap as Trump’s Tax Cuts Take Shape
• Bloomberg, Senate Majority Leader Pushes Estate Tax Repeal in GOP Bill Talks
• Brookings Institution, Tax Inheritances, Not Estates
• Cato Institute, Senate GOP Deploys Dishonest Budget Gimmick to Dodge Accountability for Rescuing Biden’s Spending Surge

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From Bob Jones To Columbia: Using Tax Law To Eliminate Discriminatory DEI Practices In Education

Wall Street Journal Op-Ed:  From Bob Jones to Columbia University and DEI, by James Taranto:

It seems the administrators of Columbia University are welcoming Donald Trump as their liberator from the tyranny of wokeness. “The school believed there was considerable overlap between needed campus changes and Trump’s demands,” the Journal noted Friday in reporting Columbia’s surrender to the government’s terms.

That leaves 59 other federally funded colleges and universities for the Education Department (or whatever replaces it) to investigate for violations of Jewish students’ civil rights under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In an executive order on his second day in office, Mr. Trump also directed agencies to target discriminatory “diversity, equity and inclusion” practices at federally funded universities. He has been bolder in defense of college students’ civil rights than any president since John F. Kennedy, whose desegregation efforts involved federalizing the National Guard and dispatching the Army to the University of Mississippi in 1962 and U.S. marshals to the University of Alabama in 1963.

Mr. Trump can cement his civil-rights legacy by enlisting the most fearsome agency of the U.S. government: the Internal Revenue Service. In the process, he can help the Supreme Court clean up a messy bit of jurisprudence from the Burger era: Bob Jones University v. U.S. (1983).

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Axios, The Unkillable Carried Interest Tax Loophole
• Bloomberg, Supreme Court Hands IRS Win Over Bankruptcy Trustee Clawback
• Bloomberg, Trump’s Tax Bill Takes Center Stage as GOP Debates Scope of Cuts
• Cato Institute, Repealing Only Two Biden-Era Tax Credits Could Cement Permanent Pro-Growth Tax Cuts
• Daily Report, Modernizing the IRS: Efficiency, Chaos—or a Mixture of Both?
• Inequality.org, Raising Capital Gains Taxes Would Reduce Inequality Without Economic Cost
• Inequality.org, ‘Wherewithal to Pay’: Deconstructing the Canard That Perpetuates Our Worst Tax Loophole
• Just Taxes, Two Ways a 2025 Federal Tax Bill Could Worsen Income and Racial Inequality

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ATPI: Invitation For Expressions Of Interest In A Tax Literacy Program Launch

The American Tax Policy Institute (ATPI) invites expressions of interest from law school faculty members interested in implementing a tax literacy program taught by law students in partnership with a local secondary school during the 2025-2026 academic year. The aim of this program is to teach young people basic financial and tax concepts in a non-partisan, non-technical, interactive manner, and to increase law student engagement with their local communities. The law school faculty advisor will be responsible for recruiting, identifying and coordinating with a local secondary school partner as well as supervising the program in the law school. ATPI will provide training materials, a modifiable curriculum, and teaching materials for use by law students. ATPI is also available to provide Zoom-based training for law student volunteers, if the faculty member does not wish to personally conduct the training. ATPI Trustees, including Professor Marjorie Kornhauser, who successfully ran a similar program at Tulane Law School, are available to provide additional guidance and support to law faculty members and law students.

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WSJ: IRS Retreats From Some Audits As Agency Slashes Workforce

Wall Street Journal, IRS Retreats From Some Audits as Agency Slashes Workforce:

The Trump administration’s rapid shrinking of the Internal Revenue Service is ending some large audits and putting others in limbo. That is the early fallout of a retreat from stepped-up tax enforcement that could dent compliance and cost the government tens of billions of dollars in revenue.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hasn’t detailed his plans for the IRS, its employees and operations. But a new direction is clear. Tough talk about pursuing tax dodging by corporations and high-income households is gone, and the administration is leaning more on technology for taxpayer service and enforcement. That would reverse the recent IRS push to put more people on telephone lines, in walk-in centers and on the front lines of audits and collections.

The IRS expansion started by former President Joe Biden screeched to a halt after President Trump took office. The new administration fired 7% of IRS employees, mostly from the enforcement staff, and froze hiring. The Republican Congress moved to rescind almost all the enforcement spending Democrats approved in 2022. Former IRS officials expect thousands of further job cuts soon, though the Treasury Department hasn’t announced a specific target.

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IRS Nears Deal To Give ICE Addresses Of Immigrants Targeted For Deportation

New York Times, I.R.S. Prepares to Help Find Immigrants Targeted for Deportation:

The tax agency is nearing an agreement to verify whether ICE officials have the right address for people they are trying to deport.

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to help homeland security officials locate immigrants they are trying to deport, according to three officials familiar with the matter, in a shift toward using protected taxpayer information to help President Trump’s mass deportation push.

Under a draft of an agreement between the I.R.S. and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the tax agency would verify whether immigration officials had the right home address for people who have been ordered to leave the United States, according to a copy of the document viewed by The New York Times.

Wall Street Journal, IRS Nears Deal to Share Data for Immigration Enforcement:

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Plans To Hike The College Endowment Tax Are Not What You’d Expect

Chronicle of Higher Education, Plans to Hike the College-Endowment Tax Are Taking Shape. They’re Not What You’d Expect.:

Amid the deluge of executive orders, budget slashes, and confirmation hearings that has typified the Trump administration’s first 100 days, there’s one pending legislative matter that some college leaders are eyeing with particular anxiety: a possible endowment-tax expansion.

The current tax, enacted by Congress in 2018, skims from the annual investment income of the endowments of a thin and uneven layer of the wealthiest colleges — 56 institutions in 2023, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Broad tax cuts pushed through by President Trump in 2017 are due to sunset this year, and the White House and Republican-controlled Congress plan to extend them. To do that, they need to find ways to pay for the cuts, and expanding the tax on colleges’ investment earnings is likely to be part of their solution — it was included on a list of policy possibilities compiled by Republican members of the House Budget Committee and leaked earlier this year.

Expanding the tax would cost the colleges it applies to more money — possibly a lot more. Legislation has been introduced that would tax colleges’ investment income by 35 percent. The number of colleges it applies to could also grow. College leaders and many experts believe the tax is harmful, cutting into institutions’ ability to provide financial aid and keep costs down, and expanding it would only increase the damage. What is the tax, how might it change, and what might be the consequences? ...

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IRS Braces For 10 Percent Less Tax Revenue ($500 Billion) Due To DOGE Staff And Budget Cuts

Washington Post, Tax Revenue Could Drop by 10 Percent Amid Turmoil at IRS:

Staff cuts and disruptions related to the U.S. DOGE Service have officials bracing for a sharp loss of revenue.

Senior tax officials are bracing for a sharp drop in revenue collected this spring, as an increasing number of individuals and businesses spurn filing their taxes or attempt to skip paying balances owed to the Internal Revenue Service, according to three people with knowledge of tax projections.

Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share nonpublic data. That would amount to more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue; the IRS collected $5.1 trillion last year. For context, the U.S. government spent $825 billion on the Defense Department in fiscal 2024.

“The idea of doing that in one year, it’s hard to grapple with how meaningful of a shift that represents,” said Natasha Sarin, president of the Yale Budget Lab and a senior Biden administration tax official.

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Bloomberg, Fired IRS Employees Reinstated After Maryland Judge's Order
• Bloomberg, IRS Planned Worker Cuts Would Hit Taxpayer Advocate, Direct File Staff
• Brookings Institution, 199A’s Sunset: A Golden Opportunity to Rethink Business Taxation
• Cato Institute, Tax Expenditure Madness Bracket: Pick the Worst Tax Loophole
• Kimberly Clausing (UCLA), What’s the Deal With Tariffs?
• Dēmos, Taxing Income versus Wealth: U.S. Tax Code Widens the Racial Wealth Divide
• Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Shelter Skelter: How the Educational Choice for Children Act Would Use Tax Avoidance to Fuel School Privatization
• New York Times, The Budget Trick the G.O.P. Might Use to Make a $4 Trillion Tax Cut Look Free

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ABA Tax Section Hosts Webinar Today On Careers In Tax Law

The ABA Tax Section hosts a webinar today at noon ET on Beyond the Code: Careers in Tax Law Explained (register): 

Join us for an engaging webinar featuring three experienced tax practitioners as they share their career journeys, offer insights into the world of tax law, and provide advice for law students exploring this dynamic and rewarding field. This is your chance to hear directly from professionals about the opportunities and challenges of working in tax law—and to ask your burning questions about the profession. Don't miss this opportunity to gain invaluable career advice and inspiration!

Speakers: 

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Trump DEI Mandate And Staff Cuts Threaten IRS Effort To End Racial Bias

Bloomberg, IRS Effort to End Racial Bias Threatened by Trump DEI Mandate:

Diane Lim hadn’t even finished putting together her team at the Treasury Department’s Equity Hub before she got the notice from the Trump administration forcing her group to go on administrative leave within days of the January inauguration.

The Treasury Equity Hub is one casualty of President Donald Trump’s executive order to end federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and eliminating it means there’s one less group of people working to end racial bias in audits—a problem researchers uncovered in 2023 that alarmed congressional Democrats. Trump’s sweeping executive order likely stalled efforts to fix that bias, which might perpetuate an unequal tax system and erode taxpayers’ trust, tax professionals said.

And now the goal to cut the IRS workforce in half complicates the racial bias work further.

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Richard Pomp Receives University Of Connecticut Distinguished Faculty Research Scholar Award

UConn Today, Office of the Provost Honors Professor Richard Pomp: 

The UConn Office of the Provost has honored UConn Law Professor Richard Pomp with the 2024 Distinguished Faculty Research Scholar Award.

The recognition is among the Provost Awards for Excellence in Community-Engaged Scholarship, which celebrate every year the significant efforts of faculty, staff, students, teams, and community partners who work to address critical community issues through collaborative, mutually beneficial, and creative exchange of knowledge and resources.

The award is the latest of several recent high-level honors for Pomp, the Alva P. Loiselle Professor of Law and a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor. In 2023, he was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Connecticut Law School Alumni Association.

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Americans for Tax Fairness, How Undocumented Immigrants Contribute to Our Economy & Pay Higher Tax Rates Than Many Major Corporations
• The Athletic, Giving College Athletes Tax Breaks on NIL Earnings Isn’t Choosing to Win at all Costs
• Bloomberg, All IRS Employees Will Keep Working If Government Shuts Down
• Bloomberg, Discarded IRS Workers Enter a Market Hungry for More Accountants
• Bloomberg, EY's Rebecca Burch Picked as Treasury's Top Delegate to OECD
• Bloomberg, Global Tax Upheaval Stalls Adoption of New Transfer Pricing Plan
• Bloomberg, How Trump’s ‘No Tax on Tips’ Could Backfire for the Working Class

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NY Times: Trump's War On The IRS And 19 Tax Issues Facing Congress

New York Times, Stalled Audits and a Skeleton Staff: Inside Trump’s War on the I.R.S.:

President Trump is planning to gut the work force while trying to turn the I.R.S. into a more political agency. ...

This article is based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former I.R.S. officials, aides on Capitol Hill and others in Washington who closely follow the tax agency. They described deep uncertainty as the I.R.S. cycled through three leaders in a matter of weeks and Mr. Trump’s team moved to rapidly remake one of the government’s most fundamental agencies.

New York Times, 19 Ways Congressional Tax Action (or Inaction) Could Hit Your Wallet:

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Tax Executives Institute Student Case Competition

The deadline to apply for the TEI - International Tax Case Competition is April 30, 2025 (register): 

TEI supports students in developing a passion for taxation with our International Tax Student Case Competition. With a prize of CAD$2,000 provided by IFA Canada, the competition brings together students, mentors, practitioners, and judges from around the world for three days of learning, connection, and collaboration in beautiful Montreal, Canada. 

Teams are comprised of four students per university, who will be paired with members from the TEI membership. Student teams will receive access to a library of international tax training resources before the competition. The competition kicks off with a lively foosball tournament at Andersen Canada on Thursday evening, and a seminar and hands-on workshop on Friday addressing how AI and technology are impacting the tax profession. A cocktail welcome reception will be held at the Gowling law offices on Friday evening. On Saturday, students will be presented with a hypothetical fact pattern raising an international tax question and have three hours to prepare their presentation to a panel of distinguished judges simulating a corporate board of directors. The winners will be announced at a gala reception at the prestigious St. James Club, where students will be able to mingle with other student competitors, TEI mentors, practitioners from sponsoring firms, and our judging panel.

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Max Planck Lawcast: Ruth Mason On Apple’s EU Tax Controversy

Max Planck Lawcast, Seeds of Discord: Inside Apple’s EU Tax Controversy:

In a dramatic upset in September 2024, Apple and Ireland lost their state aid case before the European Union’s highest court. This decision—which is set to cost Apple over €13 billion—represents the most expensive state aid recovery ever.

Today’s guest, Ruth Mason, offers a play-by-play of the case. The episode takes listeners through the European Commission’s administrative procedure, the judgment of the General Court of the European Union, and finally the judgment of the European Court of Justice. Along the way, it offers criticism of the legal theory the Commission took in the case, as well as insights into Apple’s global tax plan and why that tax plan failed.

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Bloomberg, IRS to Lose Up to 5,000 Employees to Deferred Resignation Offer
• Bloomberg, IRS Staff Reductions Threaten to Jam Up Tax Dispute Resolution
• Bloomberg, Slashing IRS Staff Leaves Opening for Tax Cheats, Slow Returns
• Bloomberg, Top IRS Officials Working to Revamp Agency Under Biden Make Exit
• Bloomberg, Trump Bends Congress to His Will on Spending, Tax Cut Agenda
• Bloomberg, Wealthy Tax Cheats Set to Benefit From Trump Plans to Halve IRS
• Cato Institute, IRS Layoffs: A Libertarian Perspective 
• Center for Economic and Policy Research, Donald the Taxman Strikes at Midnight

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ProPublica: How DOGE’s IRS Cuts Threaten To Cost More Than They Will Save

ProPublica, How DOGE’s Cuts to the IRS Threaten to Cost More Than DOGE Will Ever Save:

ProPublica found that the latest IRS firings swept up highly skilled and experienced probationary workers who had recently joined the government or had moved to a new position from a different agency.

In late February, the Trump administration began firing more than 6,000 IRS employees. The agency has been hit especially hard, current and former employees said, because it spent 2023 preparing to hire thousands of new enforcement and customer service personnel and had only started hiring and training those workers at any scale in 2024, meaning many of those new employees were still in their probationary period. Nershi was hired as part of this wave, in the spring of last year. The boost came after Congress had underfunded the agency for much of the past decade, which led to chronic staffing shortages, dismal customer service and plummeting audit rates, especially for taxpayers who earned $500,000 or more a year.

The administration doesn’t appear to want to stop there. It is drafting plans to cut its entire workforce in half, according to reports.

Unlike with other federal agencies, cutting the IRS means the government collects less money and finds fewer tax abuses.

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NY Times: Trump Administration Pushes To Slash IRS Workforce By 50%

New York Times, Trump Administration Pushes to Slash I.R.S. Work Force in Half:

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to shed as much as 50 percent of its staff, according to four people familiar with the matter, a significant cut that could jeopardize the agency’s ability to complete its basic mission of collecting taxes.

The I.R.S. started the Trump administration with roughly 100,000 employees. It has already laid off more than 7,000 people who had recently joined the agency and had fewer job protections, and thousands more have taken Elon Musk’s offer to resign. Those cuts, as well as normal attrition, are expected to count toward the Trump administration’s goal of halving the number of people who work at the I.R.S., two of the people said. ...

Losing half of its employees would severely strap the I.R.S., which has struggled for years with hiring and retaining a work force that can process millions of tax returns every year and conduct complex audits. Americans may have to wait longer to receive refunds or speak with I.R.S. employees in future filing seasons, while corporations and rich Americans may face less scrutiny from the thinly staffed tax agency.

Bloomberg, Trump Administration Aims to Halve IRS Workforce By End of Year

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KPMG To Launch First U.S. Law Firm Of Big Four Following Court Approval

Following up on my previous post, Wall Street Journal: The Big Four Are Coming After Big Law: KPMG Moves Step Closer To Approval For U.S. Law Firm (‘KPMG Law’):  Wall Street Journal, KPMG to Launch U.S. Law Firm Following Court Approval:

KPMG has begun to set up a law firm in the U.S. after a court decision made it the first Big Four accounting firm eligible to practice law in the country. 

The Arizona Supreme Court on Thursday granted the accounting giant final approval to obtain a license to create its own firm, KPMG Law. The move allows KPMG to greatly expand its legal offerings, for example, into services such as drafting and updating contracts and reconciling legal materials in merger-and-acquisition deals. At present, KPMG and other accounting firms offer limited legal services, such as advising clients on operations and technology for their legal teams.

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DOGE Presses To Check Federal Benefits Payments Against IRS Tax Records

Washington Post, DOGE Presses to Check Federal Benefits Payments Against IRS Tax Records:

Officials with Elon Musk’s group say they want to search for fraud. Privacy law bars the IRS from disclosing tax information to other parts of the government.

Officials from Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service have expressed interest in using personal tax records to check federal benefits payments for fraud, which would mobilize the IRS to drive the Trump administration’s campaign to cut government spending, according to three people familiar with the situation and records obtained by The Washington Post.

Gavin Kliger and Sam Corcos, DOGE representatives embedded at the tax agency, on Friday asked IRS lawyers to assist in creating an “omnibus” agreement with other federal agencies that would allow a broad swath of federal officials to cross-reference benefits rolls with taxpayer data, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

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Bankman & Gergen: How Trump’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Could Replace The Corporate Income Tax

Washington Post Op-Ed:  How Trump’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Could Solve a Tax Problem, by Joseph Bankman (Stanford) & Mark P. Gergen (UC-Berkeley):

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to create a sovereign wealth fund — a government-owned fund that could invest in stocks, real estate or other private assets, allowing the American people to share those companies’ profits. Countries as disparate as Saudi Arabia and Norway have used their oil revenue to set up such funds, which are generally thought to have been quite successful. But the U.S. government doesn’t have that revenue because most oil here is privately owned.

However, there is a way the United States can establish a sovereign wealth fund and, at the same time, dramatically increase corporate productivity: by eliminating the corporate income tax and instead requiring corporations to issue a calculated number of nonvoting shares directly to the government. The government fund would be required to hold the shares as an investment, and the income they generate would replace the tax.

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Ted Afield (Georgia State), Unlocking Tax Justice: How the Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act Addresses the Critical Need for Increased Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic Funding
• The Atlantic, Tax Season Just Got More Confusing
• Bloomberg, DOJ Seeks Rapid Tax Lawyer Transfers to Defend Trump Agenda in Court
• Bloomberg, IRS Acting Chief O'Donnell, a Longtime Official, to Retire
• Bloomberg, Trump Eyes Tariffs to Counter Digital Taxes Big Tech Loathes
• Bloomberg, Trump’s SALT Tax Promise Hinges on an Obscure Loophole
• Economic Policy Institute, There Will Be Pain: Continuing Low Tax Rates for the Rich and Corporations Will Hurt Working Families

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Good Luck: Georgetown And NYU Tax LL.M. Students Interviewing Today For Tax Attorney Jobs

Georgetown hosts the 24th Annual Taxation Interview Program (TIP) virtually today: 

Each year, Georgetown University Law Center partners with New York University School of Law to sponsor the Taxation Interview Program, a job fair which enables private and public sector employers to interview some of the most promising Tax LL.M. students from the top graduate tax programs in the country on one day.

Since 2001, TIP has been the nation’s flagship program for the recruitment of tax students. The program continually attracts the top law firms, government agencies and major accounting firms from around the country. See the full list of past participating TIP employers.

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NY Times Op-Ed By 7 IRS Commissioners: Firing 6,700 IRS Workers In The Middle Of Tax Season Is A Huge Mistake

New York Times Op-Ed:  Trump Just Fired 6,700 I.R.S. Workers in the Middle of Tax Season. That’s a Huge Mistake., by IRS Commissioners Lawrence Gibbs (1986-1989), Fred T. Goldberg Jr. (1989-1992), Charles Rossotti (1997-2002), Mark Everson (2003=2007), John Koskinen (2013-17), Charles Rettig (2018-2022) & Daniel Werfel (2032-2025):

If you were to ask the top chief executives in the world to name the best strategy to attack waste in their organizations and balance the books, there is one answer you would be very, very unlikely to hear: Take an ax to accounts receivable, the part of an organization responsible for collecting revenue.

Yet the private sector leaders advising President Trump on ways to increase government efficiency are deploying this exact approach by targeting the Internal Revenue Service, which collects virtually all the receipts of the U.S. government — our nation’s accounts receivable division. Last week, the Trump administration started laying off about 6,700 I.R.S. employees, many if not most of whom are directly involved in collecting unpaid taxes.

Every year, the government receives much less in taxes than it is owed. Closing that gap, which stands at roughly $700 billion annually, would almost certainly require maintaining the I.R.S.’s collection capacity. Depleting it is tantamount to a chief executive saying something like: “We sold a lot of goods and services this year, but let’s limit our ability to collect what we’re owed.”

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Good Luck: Tax LL.M. Students Interviewing Today For Tax Attorney Jobs

Tax Attorney Recruiting Event:

The Tax Attorney Recruiting Event (TARE) is a one-day job fair that is held virtually every year in February. TARE is hosted by a consortium of four elite law schools, and enables employers to interview some of the top graduate tax students in the United States. The TARE consortium features students from the LLM in Taxation programs at Boston University School of Law, the University of Florida Levin College of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and the University of California, Irvine School of Law.

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Patrick Urda Elected Chief Judge Of U.S. Tax Court

U.S. Tax Court Press Release:

The United States Tax Court announced today that Judge Patrick J. Urda has been elected Chief Judge to serve a two-year term beginning June 1, 2025.

Judge Urda was born in South Bend, Indiana. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Before his appointment to the Court, he practiced law with McDermott Will & Emery and with Maciorowski, Sackmann & Ulrich. Judge Urda then served as a Law Clerk to Judge Daniel A. Manion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. After leaving his clerkship, he worked as an appellate attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division for more than a decade. During his time at the Department, he also held several other positions including Counsel to the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Appellate and Review and details to the Criminal Division’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training and the Office of Legal Policy. Judge Urda is a former adjunct professor of law at American University Washington College of Law.

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Clausing: Trump Pushes Tariffs To Shift The Tax Burden From The Rich To The Poor And Middle Class

New York Times Op-Ed:  The Real Reason President Trump Pushes Tariffs, by Kimberly Clausing (UCLA; Google Scholar):

President Trump has relentlessly blamed foreign countries for much of what ails Americans. Trade imbalances, fentanyl overdoses and the economic struggles of working-class Americans are all laid at the feet of foreign governments.

According to that logic, tariffs are the ideal policy instrument for extracting concessions from foreign governments to remedy those harms while raising money for America’s Treasury. Of course, there is an inherent conflict between these two goals: If foreign governments make the requisite changes and Mr. Trump drops the tariffs, they will raise no revenue. And yet the president pushes ahead, seemingly unconcerned by warnings of the damage tariffs will cause; some observers dismiss the threats as mere bluster or a negotiating tactic.

A better way to think about tariffs is as a key tool to achieve the core of Mr. Trump’s economic agenda: He wants to shift the tax burden away from the well-off and toward the poor and middle class — while consolidating his power.

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Ted Afield (Georgia State), Raising the Tax Preparer Bar: How the Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act Could Transform Tax Preparer Oversight and Compliance
• Ted Afield (Georgia State), The Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act’s Efforts to Improve the Taxpayer Experience and to Modernize IRS Operations
• Barron's, How the Tax Debate Is Taking Shape as Budget Deadline Looms
• Lily Batchelder (NYU), DOGE Access to IRS Data Is Deeply Concerning
• Bloomberg, Corporate SALT Break Tweaks Force GOP to Pick Winners and Losers
• Bloomberg, IRS Memo Sets Stage for Musk Adviser to Access Taxpayer Data
• Bloomberg, IRS to Cut 6,700 New Employees Agency-Wide This Week

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Villanova Graduate Tax Assistantship: Tuition-Free LL.M., $27k Stipend For Tax Clinic Work (Partially Remote)

Graduate Tax Assistantship at Villanova Law:

The Villanova Graduate Tax Program seeks applicants for a graduate assistantship with the Federal Tax Clinic at Villanova Law. The assistantship is designed for a student who wishes to gain tax controversy experience while studying for their degree. Graduate Tax Assistants will represent clients in disputes before the IRS and in federal court under the supervision of a licensed attorney, and may undertake other responsibilities consistent with the student’s professional education and development goals. Assistants will devote 20 hours per week to the Clinic and receive tuition remission and a stipend in line with other graduate assistantships at Villanova University. The current stipend is approximately $27,000 for a 12-month commitment.

This is an in-person position, although students may partially work remotely. A minimum of 6 months’ commitment is required. Preference will be given to applicants who can commit to spending one year in the position, from mid-August 2025 to mid-August 2026. The assistantship is open to current LLM and MT students as well as future Graduate Tax Program applicants.

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NY Times: IRS To Lay Off Thousands Of Employees

New York Times, I.R.S. Expected to Lay Off Thousands:

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to lay off thousands of employees as soon as next week, according to three people familiar with the matter, as the Trump administration pushes to dramatically shrink the size of the federal work force.

The Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s human resources department, ordered agencies across the government this week to terminate probationary employees, who are relatively new to their positions and do not enjoy as much job protection. It was unclear on Friday exactly how many I.R.S. employees would be affected by the order. ...

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• Ted Afield (Georgia State), Let's Talk Some Tax(payer Assistance and Service Act)!
• Bloomberg, Congress Must Allow the IRS to Set Standards for Tax Preparers
• Bloomberg, Cutting Arena Subsidies Can Help Cover Tax Cuts, Think Tank Says
• Bloomberg, DOGE Aide Visits IRS to Look for Ways to Automate Operations
• Bloomberg, IRS Agents Tapped to Assist With Trump Immigration Crackdown
• Bloomberg, Musk Aide Visits IRS, Queries on Automation, Compliance Efforts
• Bloomberg, Trump DOJ Forces Out Top Tax Enforcer in Civil Service Purge
• Cato Institute, Reminder to Republicans: Lots of Low-Hanging Tax Code Spending to Cut

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SCOTUSblog Founder Tom Goldstein Rearrested On Tax Evasion Charges After Feds Say He Hid Millions In Crypto

Following up on my previous post, SCOTUSblog Founder Tom Goldstein Hit With 22-Count Federal Tax Evasion Indictment:  Law360, Goldstein Rearrested After Feds Say He Hid Millions In Crypto:

U.S. Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein was arrested again Monday following his earlier release on criminal tax evasion charges, after prosecutors alleged that he secretly made millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency transactions in recent days and was a serious risk to flee. ...

Goldstein has pled not guilty to a 22-count indictment alleging he schemed to avoid paying taxes for years, including by hiding winnings from high-stakes poker games. The charges were filed a little less than two years after Goldstein retired from private practice, capping a distinguished career in which he argued more than 40 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, including the historic copyright case Google v. Oracle, and also taught Supreme Court litigation at Harvard Law School.

Prosecutors have outlined new allegations against Goldstein in recent days, alleging that he tampered with potential witnesses during the government's investigation and recently made a series of surreptitious transactions that raise concerns he could try to evade justice.

In the filing unsealed Monday requesting that Goldstein be taken into custody, prosecutors accused him of "failing to disclose the existence of two cryptocurrency wallets through which he received over $8 million in cryptocurrency and sent more than $6 million of cryptocurrency over the last five days."

Bloomberg Law, Gambling With the Law: How SCOTUSblog’s Goldstein Risked All:

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Tax Bar Steps Up To Help 200 Law Students And Graduates With Rescinded Job Offers From The IRS And DOJ Tax Division Due To Trump Hiring Freeze

Following up on my previous posts:

• IRS Chief Counsel Rescinds Job Offers To 3Ls Accepted Into Honors Program
• Department Of Justice Rescinds Job Offers To 3Ls Accepted Into Honors Program
• Trump's Hiring Freeze Leaves Thousands Of Law Students Out In The Cold

Caroline Ciraolo, former Acting Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division and tax partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the Kostelanetz law firm, is organizing help for individuals whose employment offers were rescinded by the IRS or DOJ Tax Division:

We have read LinkedIn posts encouraging those who lost their positions and sharing employment opportunities. The government's decision to rescind the offers left these folks not only without a job, but in some cases, in a new city without connections, having relocated for the position offered.

This unprecedented turn of events presents an opportunity for the tax bar to step up and lean in. A group of tax practitioners convened for a call this week to discuss pending efforts and options. During the call, we shared information regarding the law students and attorneys whose federal employment offers from the IRS and DOJ Tax were rescinded. We understand that there is a pool of approximately 200 candidates, including: law students who accepted summer internships; law and LLM students who accepted permanent positions through the Honors Program; and laterals attorneys with one or more years legal experience. We also discussed our concerns regarding forced resignations, terminations, and potential terminations of probationary and career IRS and DOJ Tax attorneys. Many of us are meeting with those individuals to discuss career opportunities, share professional contacts and networking opportunities, and offer encouragement. We applaud these continued efforts and know that the time spent is greatly appreciated!

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More Rich Taxpayers Learn Their Data Was Stolen in Huge IRS Leak

Bloomberg Law, More Rich Taxpayers Learn Their Data Was Stolen in Huge IRS Leak:

The IRS sent another wave of letters to taxpayers whose data was stolen amid a historic breach by an agency contractor several years ago.

Charles Littlejohn stole the tax returns of prominent billionaires and President Donald Trump between 2018 and 2020 and then leaked them to news organizations, which published a series of stories with the information. The notices are the first time those not named in the news articles realized they were part of the breach.

The tax return information for almost 100,000 individuals and businesses was included in the data Littlejohn stole, according to an email from Department of Justice attorney Jonathan Jacobson, which was released Jan. 8 as part of Littlejohn’s appeal of his sentence.

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Tax Policy In The Trump Administration

• American Enterprise Institute, A Mandatory High Tax Exclusion for GILTI
• Jeremy Bearer-Friend (George Washington), How to Raise Billions for Racial Equity in California
• Bloomberg, The Blue State-Red State Tax Divide Isn’t Really That Fair
• Bloomberg, NFL Targeted by Trump With Tax Threat on Wealthy Team Owners
• Bloomberg, Republican Senators Break With House Over Trump Tax Cuts Strategy
• Bloomberg, Tax Filing Season Reshaped by Trump Upheaval: What to Know
• Bloomberg, Tax Rules to Undergo White House Review After Trump Revives Order
• Bloomberg, Trump Takes Aim at Private Equity’s Favorite Tax Perk Again

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Brian Galle Awarded Named Professorship At Georgetown

Five Georgetown Law Faculty Members Honored With Named Professorships:

The Georgetown Law community gathered on Jan. 15 to celebrate the achievements of five faculty members who were awarded named professorships.

Dean William M. Treanor, the Paul Regis Dean Leadership Chair, welcomed each honoree to the stage to present a medal and read a citation highlighting their scholarship and other accomplishments. The ceremony was the final installation Treanor will preside over as dean, having announced last year that he will step down from his position in June and become a full-time faculty member.

“These celebrations are always a highlight for me and serve as yet another reminder of how extraordinary our faculty and community truly are,” said Treanor, who has overseen the creation of 54 named professorships during his 15-year tenure.

The Law Center’s newest named professors are:

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Mr. Musk: Cut A Trillion Dollars Of Government Fat Out Of Tax Expenditures

Bloomberg Op-Ed:  Tax Expenditures Are a Low-Hanging Fruit to Cut Government Waste, by Calvin Johnson (Texas):

The clearest $1 trillion a year of waste resides in the federal tax expenditure budget.

A tax expenditure is a tax benefit given to achieve a specified goal. Most tax reductions are privileged waste—that is, the taxpayer can do anything they want with what they have after tax. It’s the taxpayer’s money.

By contrast, when achievement of some goal is the offered justification, the waste isn’t privileged. The good achieved for the tax reduction is supposed to be greater than the tax Congress has given up. Both government spending and tax expenditures need to be paid for by other taxpayers now or in the future.

Tax expenditures are currently estimated at $1.8 trillion a year, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, looking at the inventories compiled by the White House and congressional staffs. A fair estimate is that half of that could be cut just by eliminating the rents and imposing sharper definitions of the good to be achieved.

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