University of Florida Levin College of Law UF Law Scholarship Repository UF Law Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 2014 Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation: The Year 2013 Martin J. McMahon Jr. University of Florida Levin College of Law, [email protected] Ira B. Shepard Daniel L. Simmons Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub Part of the Taxation-Federal Commons, and the Tax Law Commons Recommended Citation Martin J. McMahon, Ira B. Shepard, & Daniel L. Simmons, Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation: The Year 2013 15 Fla. Tax Rev. 233 (2014), available at http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/ facultypub/542 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at UF Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in UF Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UF Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. +(,121/,1( Citation: 15 Fla. Tax Rev. 233 2013-2014 Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline (http://heinonline.org) Thu Dec 4 13:43:44 2014 -- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at http://heinonline.org/HOL/License -- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text. -- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your HeinOnline license, please use: https://www.copyright.com/ccc/basicSearch.do? &operation=go&searchType=0 &lastSearch=simple&all=on&titleOrStdNo=1066-3487 FLORIDA TAX REVIEW Volume 15 2014 Number 5 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN FEDERAL INCOME TAXATION: THE YEAR 2013 "Recent developments are just like ancient history, except they happened less long ago." Martin J McMahon, Jr.! Ira B. Shepara" DanielL. Simmons*** This recent developments outline discusses, and provides context to understand the sigificance of the most importantjudicial decisions and administrative rulings and regulations promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department during the most recent twelve months - and sometimes a little farther back in time if we find the item particularly humorous or outrageous. Most Treasury Regulations, however, are so complex that they cannot be discussed in detail and, anyway, only a devout masochist would read them all the way through; just the basic topic and fundamental principles are highlighted - unless one of us decides to go nuts and spend several pages writing one up. This is the reason that the outline is getting to be as long as it is. Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code generally are not discussed except to the extent that (1) they are of major significance, (2) they have led to administrative rulings and regulations, (3) they have affected previously issued rulings and regulations otherwise covered by the outline, or (4) they provide Dan and Marty the opportunity to mock our elected representatives; again, sometimes at least one of us goes nuts and writes up the most trivial of legislative changes. The outline focuses primarily on topics of broad general interest (to us, at least) - income tax accounting rules, determination of gross income, allowable deductions, treatment of capital gains and losses, corporate and partnership taxation, exempt organizations,and procedure andpenalties. It deals summarily with qualifiedpension and profit sharingplans, and generally does not deal with international taxation or specialized industries, such as banking, insurance, andfinancial services. Please read this outline at your own risk; we take no responsibilityfor any misinformation in it, whether occasioned by our advancing ages or our increasing indifference as to whether we get any particularitem right. Any mistakes in this outline are Marty's responsibility;any politicalbias or offensive language is Ira's;and Dan is just irresponsible. Bruce A. McGovern, Vice President,Associate Dean, and Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law, contributed to this article. Bruce's contribution is (relative)youth. * James J. Freeland Eminent Scholar in Taxation and Professor of Law, University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law. Professor Emeritus, University of Houston Law Center. Professor of Law Emeritus, University of California Davis School of Law. 233 234 FloridaTax Review [Vol. 15:5 I. ACCOUNTING.......................... .......... 236 A. Accounting Methods .................... ..... 236 B. Inventories ................................ 236 C. Installment Method .......................... 236 D. Year of Inclusion or Deduction ............. ..... 236 II. BUSINESS INCOME AND DEDUCTIONS ....................... 238 A. Income .............................. ..... 238 B. Deductible Expenses versus Capitalization..... ..... 243 C. Reasonable Compensation ............. ........ 257 D. Miscellaneous Deductions............... ....... 261 E. Depreciation & Amortization .............. ..... 267 F. Credits ................................... 274 G. Natural Resources Deductions & Credits ..... ....... 276 H. Loss Transactions, Bad Debts, and NOLs ...... ...... 276 I. At-Risk and Passive Activity Losses........ ............. 279 III. INVESTMENT GAIN AND INCOME ................ ........... 283 A. Gains and Losses ................... ......... 283 B. Interest, Dividends, and Other Current Income ................ 286 C. Profit-Seeking Individual Deductions ..................... 286 D. Section 121 .............................. 286 E. Section 1031...............................286 F. Section 1033...............................289 G. Section 1035..................... .......... 290 H. Miscellaneous..............................290 IV. COMPENSATION ISSUES. ............................ 290 A. Fringe Benefits.............................290 B. Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans..... ........ 293 C. Nonqualified Deferred Compensation, Section 83, 293and Stock Options ......................... 294 D. Individual Retirement Accounts .... ................... 297 V. PERSONAL INCOME AND DEDUCTIONS ....................... 300 A. Rates. .................................... 300 B. Miscellaneous Income........................311 C. Hobby Losses and § 280A Home Office and Vacation Homes .....................................316 D. Deductions and Credits for Personal Expenses.................319 E. Divorce Tax Issues ...................... ..... 322 F. Education.. ................................. 323 G. Alternative Minimum Tax............... ....... 323 VI. CORPORATIONS...........................................323 A. Entity and Formation.........................323 B. Distributions and Redemptions ............. ..... 326 C. Liquidations. ............................... 327 D. S Corporations................. ................... 327 2014] Recent Developments in FederalIncome Taxation 235 E. Mergers, Acquisitions and Reorganizations......................331 F. Corporate Divisions. .......................... 332 G. Affiliated Corporations and Consolidated Returns...........332 H. Miscellaneous Corporate Issues....................338 VII. PARTNERSHIPS ........................................... 339 A. Formation and Taxable Years.............. ..... 339 B. Allocations of Distributive Share, Partnership Debt, and Outside Basis...............................347 C. Distributions and Transactions Between the Partnership and Partners........... ................ 350 D. Sales of Partnership Interests, Liquidations and Mergers ............................ ...... 355 E. Inside Basis Adjustments .............. ........ 356 F. Partnership Audit Rules ................ ............. 357 G. Miscellaneous..............................363 VIII. TAX SHELTERS .............................................. 365 A. Tax Shelter Cases and Rulings ........... ........ 365 B. Identified "tax avoidance transactions"...... ....... 376 C. Disclosure and Settlement ............ .............. 376 D. Tax Shelter Penalties, etc.............. ........ 376 IX. EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS AND CHARTIABLE GIVING...............382 A. Exempt Organizations ................................382 B. Charitable Giving ...................... ..... 391 X. TAX PROCEDURE. ............................. ............ 403 A. Interest, Penalties, and Prosecutions .......... ......... 403 B. Discovery: Summonses and FOIA .......... ......... 411 C. Litigation Costs........................415 D. Statutory Notice of Deficiency ........... ........... 415 E. Statute of Limitations ............................. 417 F. Liens and Collections. ......................... 421 G. Innocent Spouse ................. .............. 426 H. Miscellaneous ..................... .............. 431 XI. WITHHOLDING AND EXCISE TAXES...........................434 A. Employment Taxes ................ ............ 434 B. Self-employment Taxes............ .............. 440 C. Excise Taxes..................... .......... 440 XII. TAX LEGISLATION ....................................... 441 A. Enacted ..................................... 441 236 FloridaTax Review [Vol. 15:5 I. ACCOUNTING A. Accounting Methods 1. Yes, but when is the income recognized when, as often happens, the customer never redeems the gift card? Rev. Proc. 2013-29, 2013-33 I.R.B. 141 (7/24/13). This revenue procedure allows a taxpayer to defer recognizing in gross income certain advance payments received from the sale of gift cards that are redeemable for goods or services by an unrelated entity. Where a gift card is redeemable by an entity whose financial