Graduate tax students in Tax 9862 (Prof. Egan) and 9863 (Prof. Korman) have group assignments that they are working on. I have posted in the Subject Guides guides for the two classes. (There is a link to the handout I had prepared for Prof. Korman’s class and one for Prof. Egan’s class from last semester that has some screen shots.)
Prof. Egan’s students will either be representing the IRS or a taxpayer who is being audited. The taxpayer, a university professor who teaches the history of theatre, begins writing plays and is audited after three years as her expenses are greater than her income as a playwright. The issues include whether the professor is engaged in a business or a hobby. Searching CCH Intelliconnect, limited to federal taxation, and RIA Checkpoint should enable the students to find the cases that they need. Calarco v. Commissioner is factually probably the closest case to the facts that the students are dealing with. The judge makes references to the 5,000 years of theatre productions dealing with tax problems, and references to Shakespeare in the opinion, which is interesting to read.
Prof. Korman’s students are considering whether strike benefits (money payments, food, etc.) are gifts or taxable income under different factual situations (one being a union member, another a non-union member whose has suffered due to a strike). Searching RIA Checkpoint or CCH Intelliconnect for cases, and IRS rulings and publications should help the students find the answers. There are some articles on ABI Inform Global too that address these questions. I have done presentations to both classes so I hope that most students will be able to find the materials. (strike benefits and gift or taxable are possible keywords to use.)