About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

20 Young Law. 1 (1964)

handle is hein.journals/ynglwr20 and id is 1 raw text is: MIDYEAR MEETING TO BE HELD IN CHICAGO On February 15-16, 1964, the Junior Bar Conference will have its Midyear Meeting in Chicago, in conjunction with the ABA Mid- year Meeting there. The meeting will be held at the Palmer House Hotel and will be devoted to JBC and ABA business matters, with no substantive law sessions planned. The Execu- tive Council of the JBC will convene, and re- ports of various committee chairmen will be delivered. The national officers, directors, Executive Council members, Section Delegates, and committee chairmen are expected to attend. Plans are being made for a meeting with the leaders of the ABA, as well as work sessions for the JBC representatives. A luncheon will be given on Saturday, February 15, 1964, for the ABA Board of Gov- ernors and Section Chairmen and Vice Chair- men, with the JBC conferee's in attendance. Obtaining a Tax Ruling For Your Client By Rudolf M. Planert of the Michigan Bar The author is a Tax Law specialist in the Tax Rulings Division of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. He received a B.A. from Kalamazoo College and an L.L.B. from the University of Michigan Law School. Mr. Planert formerly served as a personal tax advisor in the Legal Assistance Division, Office of the judge Advocate General of the Army, at the Pentagon. This article is written primarily from the point of view of the general practitioner who handles Federal tax matters only on an occasional basis or as an accommodation to his clients. The tax practitioner must by nec- essity be well versed in the various phases of administrative practice before the United States Treasury Department. However, some general practitioners may not have too firm a notion as to how they can serve and repre- sent their clients in Federal tax matters by re- questing a ruling in their behalf from the In- ternal Revenue Service, before a problem has reached the stage where resort to the formal administrative appeal procedures of the Serv- ice or even litigation becomes necessary. The ruling procedures at the same time assist the Service in its task of administering the Inter- nal Revenue laws on an equitable and uni- form basis by avoiding needless controversies and costly and time-consuming litigation. The first question, of course, that comes to mind is: what is a tax ruling? A tax ruling is a written statement issued by the National Office of the Internal Revenue Serv- ice to a taxpayer or his authorized representa- tive which interprets and applies the tax laws to a specific set of facts. The issuance of rul- ings is under the general supervision of the Assistant Commissioner (Technical) and has been largely redelegated to the Tax Rulings Division. District Directors also issue written state- ments in response to inquiries by individuals or organizations. These determination let- lers apply the principles and precedents pre- viously announced by the National Office of the Service to the particular facts involved. Only when a determination can be made on the basis of clearly established rules as set forth in statutes, regulations, court decisions and published rulings or opinions of the Serv- ice, will a determination letter be issued. We will not concern ourselves here with deter- mination letters, because it is usually in cases where novel, difficult or highly technical issues are involved, and where clear precedents are lacking, that a taxpayer will turn to an at- torney for advice. The second question is why should a tax- payer request a ruling? There are two im- portant purposes which a ruling serves. First, it enables the taxpayer, be it a corporation or an individual, to properly plan the tax con- sequences of a proposed transaction. Second, where a transaction is involved that has al- ready been consummated, the ruling will en- able the taxpayer to determine his correct tax liability and thereby avoid later adjustments on an audit of his return. There are a number of substantive condi- tions that must exist in the taxpayer's case before a ruling will be issued. In income, prof- its, and gift tax matters the National Office of the Service will issue rulings on prospec- tive transactions and on completed transac- tions before the return has been filed. Rulings will not ordinarily be issued if the identical issue is also involved in a return of the tax- payer already filed for a taxable year with respect to which the statutory period of lim- itation on assessment or refund of tax has not expired. In estate tax matters the National Of- fice issues rulings with respect to transactions affecting the estate tax of a decedent before the estate tax return is filed. No rulings will be is- sued in cases where the estate tax return has already been filed, or with respect to applica- (Continued on Page 5) NEW JBC ASSISTANT Russell L. Geuther On November 1, 1963, Russ was appointed Administrative Assistant to the Junior Bar Conference. He was formerly a District Man- ager with the United States Chamber of Com- merce and was located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A graduate of Southern Illinois University, he has also attended Institutes for Organization Management at Lansing, Michigan and Hous- ton, Texas. The JBC is fortunate to have a man with the organization-management experience which Russ has had.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most