Tax Research
ACCT 6356.501 Tax Research – Fall 2022
Name __________________
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT 9
Tax Practice & Procedure
( Please submit as a Word document by email by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, 11/3. )
This assignment is worth up to a maximum of six (6) points – two items worth up to three (3) points each. Your work should be written in your own words without any “cutting & pasting” from the source document(s) you cite except that very brief quotations are acceptable if properly attributed. Points will be deducted for (i) spelling and grammatical errors that Word highlighted but you failed to correct and (ii) other egregious errors, including substantive misstatements.
Any submissions received after 4:00 p.m. will be worth up to four points only. Submissions not received by 7:00 p.m. will not be scored (zero points).
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(1) It’s your very first day at your new job with Smart & Smarter, CPAs!
Senior Partner: Don’t forget to file your W-12.
You: My what…??? You mean my W-4?
Senior Partner: No, I mean your W-12.
You (embarrassed): Sorry, but I have no clue about what that is or why I, a CPA, would have to file one.
Senior Partner: Well, you better figure it out if you want to keep this job. And just to be sure, send me an email when you do figure it out and explain to me what you’ve learned…
Send the senior partner an email highlighting your newly acquired knowledge (not an encyclopedia, but thoroughly enough that s/he knows that you really do understand).
(2) Just last March the IRS updated “The Truth About Frivolous Tax Arguments,” its ongoing itemization and brief narrative rebuttal of numerous (now almost 50!) idiotic arguments made by tax protestors. Find this fun document, and …
· Pick your favorite from among the many “contentions” included in Part I (FRIVOLOUS TAX ARGUMENTS IN GENERAL), then
· Find and study any one of the cases noted by the IRS in or following its discussion of that contention, then
· Write a brief summary (in your own words) of that case more detailed than provided by the IRS, and finally
· Explain your personal opinion as to exactly how idiotic (or not) is the contention that you’ve chosen to focus on.
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