Tax 9862 presentations and using information

I sat in on the final presentations given in three of four sessions of Prof. Tom Egan's TAX 9862 course. I did a session on tax research sources for each of the two sections. Most of the students had never done any tax research, and most were unfamiliar with the U.S. court system.

You likely helped some students with their research...the sudents, in groups, were assigned to represent either the IRS or the taxpayer, a drama professor who had started writing plays. Despite her diligence, and having one play read at Lincoln center, and two plays staged by local groups, she had not shown a profit in three years, and her expenses were much greater than her income from the plays. In year 3, she is audited by the IRS. With no profits, she bears the burden of showing to the IRS that she is engaged in playwriting as a business, and not as a hobby. (If it is a business, she can deduct all expenses; if a hobby, deductions are limited to the amount of income, which was not much.) There is a nine-point test laid out in the IRS regulations of factors to be considered, none of which by themselves are determinative. So,in addition to finding the laws, regulations and cases, the students had to apply them to the facts presented, and build the strongest case for their position.


The presentations were quite good, and the professor remarked on the excellent analysis and analogies made from other tax cases (writers, "Hobby farms" operators, etc.) One group pointed out that $75,000 income may not be "substantial" (apparently not defined by the IRS), once taxes, living expenses, etc. are considered. One presenter, for the IRS, quoted from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, "... What’s in a name? that which we call a rose ..." made an analogy to "business," and quickly cut the bud off a long-stem rose, which was certainly an attention grabber.

Although IC wasn't used at all, this course had all the elements of it. I enjoyed seeing how the students used the information that they found. Most groups had Powerpoint presentations and they were all extremely well done.

I got thanked for helping the students. One student thanked me and said with this class, her accounting class, and international marketing, she is using the databases more and not scared of them now.