TAX PROCEDURE
University of Houston Law Center

Summary of Course

This class covers the procedural aspects of dealing with the Internal Revenue Service, the agency that administers the federal tax system. The focus is from the private practitioner's perspective in assisting clients navigate the daunting administrative requirements. The class offers the following principal subjects:

Course Book and Materials

Students and prospective students may download the most book here.  Other persons interested in federal tax procedure issues may download the book free of charge.  I ask those other than my students who download the book to advise me by email that they have downloaded the book and the expected use.  I also ask that, if you find any portion of the book that you believes need correction or clarification, please advise me at the same email address. 

Townsend Tax Procedure (Fall 2010 - No Footnotes) This is the edition for the 2009 class. The class text has no footnotes. I provide a footnoted edition below, but for class I do not want the students to read the footnotes.  Please note that the edition for use in the class has no footnotes.  I do have footnote and endnoted versions of the book here but do not recommend them for the class as the footnotes develop thoughts and provide citations that are not important for the class.
Townsend Tax Procedure Materials (Fall 2008) These are materials (case and law review articles) that I will ask the Students to read outside the text.  I will assign these materials to students in the class.  This is the edition for the 2008 class.  I have made no changes for 2010.
Student Questionnaire Fill in this pdf file, save and email to me at jack@tjtaxlaw.com
For extra reading to round out your tax procedure education (you need to get good at both of these):
   Strunk & White, The Elements of Style (4th ed. 2000)
   Frankfurt on Bullshit (1st ed. 2005)		 Strunk & White from Amazon.com

Frankfurt from Amazon.com (although an earlier, less bullshit version from the internet can be downloaded here.

FOR REVISIONS OR ERRATA TO THE BOOK, GO TO UPDATE MATERIALS BELOW.

1.    The course combines text materials, code sections and case and other materials.  The cases are relatively few and are designed to encourage active student participation in the class.  Students will be pre-assigned cases for class presentation.

2.    The text (non-footnoted version for class) is 502 pages.  The text will thus be, on average, less than 50 pages per 2 hour class.  There is more reading, however.  You should generally read the Code Sections that are cited in the text (not in the footnotes for those who may work from the footnoted or endnoted versions).  I expect students to read and understand the key Code Sections.  The Code Sections may add an additional 5-10 pages per class (probably less).  I also will assign cases and articles for you to read for some classes.  The cases and articles are in the download materials above.  Cases will be assigned so that students will know in advance when they will be called upon.

3.   The classes will not require an extraordinary amount of reading for law school.  The classes will, hopefully, require that you think about the larger process of the revenue function of Government and how it interfaces with the citizen.  The class is not designed to teach you a lot of nitpicking rules, with exception upon exception.  You will suffer that punishment when you become a tax lawyer.  Instead, the class will teach you broad principles and introduce you to the highlights of tax procedure.  I hope to engage your thinking and reasoning capacities rather than your memorization capacities.

4.   The digital files that you download are in Adobe Acrobat format.  Many of you will already be familiar with that format because it is ubiquitous in business and on the Code.  For best use of the file, you should have a recent version of the free Acrobat Reader (7 or higher) or a version of Adobe Acrobat (the latter of which is not free). 

5.  In the digital file, you can navigate around in several ways using the Acrobat Reader.  First, you can use the bookmarks feature to see an outline of the book (like a table of contents) that you can then click to move to the relevant text.

6.   If you prefer to review from a hardcopy, you can print out the materials.  My recommendation is that you not print out indiscriminately because the number of pages is great.

Fall 2010 Course Schedule and Assignments  

The class will be taught on Thursday evenings from 7:30 to 9:10 pm.  (if the class determines it wants a ten minute break in the middle, the class will go to 9:20).

Unit 1
8/26		 Introduction to Class
Ch. 1 Purpose and Scope
Ch. 2 Organization and Structure of the Federal Revenue Function
Ch. 3 Taxpayer Access to Information - FOIA and the Privacy Act
Ch. 4 Confidentiality and Disclosure of Tax Return Information
Unit 2
9/2		 Ch. 5 Returns
   Read the Williams v. Commissioner and Badaracco Cases
Ch. 6 Statutes of Limitation, through p. 116 (up to V. Overpayments on p. 130)
Case Assignments: -
  Badaracco - All Students
Unit 3
9/9		 Ch. 6 Statutes of Limitations balance of Chapter (starting with p. 130 V. Overpayments)
Ch. 7 Interest
Case Assignments
   Brockamp - Fontenot, Ghreizi, Hasan, Kim
   Estate of Branson - Peters, Rosenthal, Staub, Thomas, Turpen
Taylor
Unit 4
9/16		 Ch. 8 Penalties
    Read Addington, Boyle, and Streber
Case Assignments:
   Addington - Ghreizi, Hasan, Kim
   Boyle - Fontenot, Peters, Rosenthal
   Strebert - Staub, Thomas, Turpen
Unit 5
9/23		 Ch. 9 The Examination Function
Case Assignments:
   Powell - Kim, Peters, Hasan
   Gertner - Fontenot, Rosenthal, Thomas
   Frederick - Staub, Ghreizi, Turpen
Unit 6
9/30
 

 Ch. 9 The Examination Function (cover any carryover matters)
Ch. 10. Appeals
Ch. 11 Notice of Deficiency
Ch. 12 Litigation (to p. 326, stopping at B. District Courts)
   For those interested in the dynamics of tax cases before Appellate Courts, download the following discussion.
Extra Material on the Courtroom Experience:
   Dress appropriately.
   Opening Arguments.
   Expert qualification.
7
10/7
 		 Ch. 9 - Finish the Chapter (from p. 326 B. District Courts)
8
10/14		 Ch. 13 Assessment Procedures
Ch. 14 Collection Procedures  (to p. 381 - XII.  Alternatives to Full Payment)
 
9
10/21		 Ch. 14 (Beginning on p. 381 - XI.  Alternatives to Full Payment) through p. 410 - XVI Collection from Third Parties)
   Drye - Fontenot, Staub, Turpen
   Rodgers - Grhreizi, Rosenthal, Thomas
   Williams (Sup Ct case) - Hasan, Kim, Peters
10
10/28		 Ch. 14 (Beginning on p. 410 - XVI Collection from Third Parties) through end of chapter.
11
11/4		 Ch. 15 Partnership and S Corporation Audit and Litigation Procedures
Ch. 16 Overpayments
Ch. 17.  Miscellaneous
Case Assignments
   Compaq Computer Cases (Tax Court and Fifth Circuit)- All students
12
11/11		 Room here to catch up on prior classes
Ch. 18  Trends in Enforcement Efforts
13
11/18		 Function at JAT House (temporary time slot)
Ch. 19  Ethics, Malpractice and Tax Procedure (pp. 486-493)
Total text pages - 9 (but see extra reading materials)
   Read the two articles in the class materials file -- All Students.
      Richardson, Audit Avoidance via Intent Modification -- Is Fred Corneel onto Something ... or Not, 2001 TNT 131-93
      Corneel, Audit Avoidance: A Response to David Richardson, 2001 TNT 131-91
   Also read the excerpt from an article I prepared which can be downloaded here.  These excerpts track the scenario in the articles and present some other related materials.
14
12/2		 Review Class
Table of Contents Showing Material that Can be Omitted for Examination (To Come)
12/12 Tax Procedure Exam -

Update Materials. These materials are intended for students of the course for supplemental reading (i.e., in addition to the coursebook and the supplement to the coursebook).

Errata (page numbers are to the edition without footnotes or endnotes):

Update for Examination

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