2025-06-17
In May 2025, the Tax Court published 20 opinions, which included a total of 433 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.
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 May 2025 Tax Court cases referring to these types of principles or holdings.
Estate of Griffin v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-47. (Nega)
Estate of Morgens v. Commissioner, 678 F.3d at 771 ("The underlying premise of the QTIP regime is that the surviving spouse is deemed to receive and then give the entire QTIP property, rather than just the income interest. The purpose of the QTIP regime is to treat the two spouses as a single economic unit with respect to the QTIP property while still allowing the first-to-die spouse to control the eventual disposition of the property.")
Hancock County Land Acquisitions, LLC v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-50. (Lauber)
It is well settled that a taxpayer's payment of another person's expenses generally does not give rise to a deduction under section 162. Interstate Transit Lines v. Commissioner, 319 U.S. 590, 593-94 (1943); Am. Lithofold Corp. v. Commissioner, 55 T.C. 904, 921 (1971).
Miller v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-41. (Jenkins)
Muncy v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2017-83, at *21 ("A conviction for federal income tax evasion, either upon a plea of guilty, or upon a jury verdict of guilt, conclusively establishes fraud in a subsequent civil tax fraud proceeding through application of the doctrine of collateral estoppel.")
O'Connor v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-42. (Arbeit)
United States v. Romero, 640 F.2d 1014, 1016 (9th Cir. 1981) (explaining that an argument that one is "not a 'person' and that the wages . . . [are] not 'income' is fatuous as well as obviously incorrect")
O'Connor v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-42. (Arbeit)
McLaurine v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2010-236, slip op. at 9-10 (rejecting as frivolous the argument that because an individual is a citizen of a state the individual is exempt from federal income tax)
O'Connor v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-42. (Arbeit)
Morales v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2013-192, at *6 ("[The Commissioner] is not required to establish the validity of a conceded issue.")
O'Neill v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-49. (Vasquez)
Sego v. Commissioner, 114 T.C. 604, 611 (2000) ("[T]axpayers cannot defeat actual notice by deliberately refusing delivery of statutory notices of deficiency.")
Root v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-51. (Toro)
Goodwin v. Commissioner, 75 T.C. 424, 439 (1980) (holding that two partnerships formed to build and operate low-income housing were not carrying on trade or business before projects were completed and tenants moved in)
Root v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-51. (Toro)
Charlton v. Commissioner, 114 T.C. 333, 338 (2000) (holding that the mere purchase of property did not constitute an active trade or business since the property was not rented or held out for rent until a subsequent year)
Root v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-51. (Toro)
Jackson v. Commissioner, 864 F.2d 1521, 1526 (10th Cir. 1989) ("Merely possessing the legal capability to sell . . . by obtaining a license . . . without actual efforts to sell the products[] is insufficient to constitute carrying on a trade or business for purposes of section 162.")
Root v. Commr., T.C. Memo. 2025-51. (Toro)
Estate of Miller v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1991-515, 62 T.C.M. (CCH) 997, 1008 (stating that a lack of licensure demonstrates a business's inability to have commenced)
In May 2025, the IRS published 6 Announcements, Notices, Revenue Procedures, and Revenue Rulings, which included a total of 42 pages.
In May 2025, the IRS published 90 Written Determinations, which included a total of 532 pages.
