LAW 223P - Business Tax Planning Practicum.

This course exposes students to the complex world of sophisticated business tax planning. Assuming the role of associates in a law firm, students will learn substantive corporate tax law through research projects and “firm lunches” where students will present and explain a corporate tax topic to the rest of the group. The first part of the course will be devoted to learning corporate tax principles (students who have already taken corporate tax may elect to do research projects in lieu of participating in that portion of the course). The main focus of the course will be dealing with cutting edge problems similar to those that a tax attorney would face in practice. Problems will arise in areas such as business formation, corporate mergers and acquisitions, corporate divisions, and business dissolution. Students will resolve those problems by structuring transactions to accomplish the client’s goals with the minimum amount of tax liability. It is likely that students will be assigned to work in teams. The goal of the practicum is to immerse the students in the perspective of approaching problems from a transactional view. The students will be given a set of facts and objectives (either through a memorandum from the “partner” or via discussion with a client), and will be required to determine what steps should be taken to achieve those objections. An additional goal is to provide the students with exposure to the manner in which highly skilled lawyers utilize those skills to solve complex problems. The principal issues on which the problems will focus are corporate tax issues, but other areas will likely be covered. Five hours. Prerequisite: Federal Income Taxation of Individuals. Not offered in 2014-2015.