"But the Treasury's and IRS's notice troubled many tax experts, who saw it as a strike against a portion of the tax law known as Section 382 that was intended to prevent companies from buying other companies solely for their tax losses. 'There's real doubt that the Treasury and the IRS even have the authority to issue this notice,' [Robert] Willens said, 'What they did was nullify a portion of the statute that Congress had enacted. It's certainly the consensus of tax experts that [Treasury and the IRS] have overstepped their bounds'," my emphasis, Heidi Moore at the WSJ, 10 December 2008.
I agree with Willens, and see no basis for IRS suspending Section 382 to facilitate Wells Fargo's Wachovia purchase. John Calhoun, nullification proponent, must be dancing.
5 comments:
Willens is simply awesome. I took his class, and he's a 102% tax shark: reciting private letter rulings from 1969, various state court decisions as well as obscure tax code provisions. Too bad his research now is out of reach for the regular guy.
Anonymous:
I have followed Willens for decades. He is one of America's top tax practitioners. Absolutely top flight. I don't say that of many "experts", having found again and again, the supposed experts know less than I do. In their own fields!
If IA endorses Willens then I endorse Willens...
As for the Treasury overreaching... is this a surprise?
Anything to maintain the powers that be... who would stop them? Congress?
Calhoun and Jackson... the slow graveyard minuet... the liberty fandango...
There is no doubt the IRS over-reached on this one. They will always want to test the limits of their authority, and it is great we have Willens and others to put them back in their place!
There is this guy in town who flips houses at a loss to his father for tax purposes, then, a few years later, the dad sells the house for a tax free gain. Sick society, and the PTB encourages it.
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