TAX PROCEDURE
University of Houston Law Center

Examination Preparation:

1. Prior Examinations - here.
2. Book Table of Contents with Portions Omitted for Examination - here.
3. Last Class Review here.  I am unable to attend the last class and provide this final lecture by audio file here.  It is important to listen to this lecture and have available the Table of Contents for the book linked above, particularly for the deletions.  If I were there in person, I could respond to any questions.  I still want to respond to your questions.  Any questions regarding the class that might relate to the final examination should be emailed to Professor Townsend at jack@tjtaxlaw.com and the questions and the answers will be both emailed to all class members and published on this web site.  The final time for questions will be 12/10/09 at 5:00 pm. 

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:

• Administrative Organization of the IRS.
• The Regulatory Process -- IRS Pronouncements such as Regulations, Revenue Rulings, Technical Advice Memoranda and Private Letter Rulings
• IRS Audits, including use of IRS Administrative Summonses and Statutes of Limitations
  Penalties (Civil and Fraud) and Interest
• IRS Administrative Appeals
• Civil Tax Litigation with the IRS -- Tax Court, District Court, Court of Federal Claims, Courts of Appeals and United States Supreme Court.
• Collections, including IRS liens and levies
• Federal Tax Crimes, Methods of Proof and Investigative Techniques
• Ethics of Practice in the Tax Procedure Context

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 2009 - 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.
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 2009.
Student Questionnaire	Fill in this pdf file, save and email to me at jack@tjtaxlaw.com
Townsend Tax Procedure (Fall 2009 - Footnoted Edition) Townsend Tax Procedure (Fall 2009 - Endnoted Edition)	I provide both a footnoted and an endnoted edition.  As noted above, for the class, I recommend the edition with any footnotes whatever, for there are readers who will be distracted by the footnotes.  The footnoted and endnoted editions are provided for those who have a need to go into the sources for the text statements.  Most often this will be practitioners rather than students.
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 448 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 2008 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 break, the class will go to 9:20).

Unit 1 8/27	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 9/3	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. 116) Case Assignments: -   Badaracco - All Students
Unit 3 9/10	Ch. 6 Statutes of Limitations balance of Chapter (starting with p. 116 V. Overpayments) Ch. 7 Interest Case Assignments    Brockamp - Baker, Bayley, Bentley, Carter, Kushalnagar    Estate of Branson - Lee, Patel, Perkins, Picton, Siebenlist Taylor
Unit 4 9/17	Ch. 8 Penalties     Read Addington, Boyle, and Streber Case Assignments:    Addington - Baker, Bayley, Bentley, Carter    Boyle - Kushalnagar, Lee, Patel, Perkins,    Strebert - Picton, Siebenlist, Taylor
Unit 5 9/24	Ch. 9 The Examination Function Case Assignments:    Powell - Baker, Bayley, Bentley, Carter    Gertner - Kushalnagar, Lee, Patel, Perkins    Frederick -  Picton, Siebenlist, Taylor
Unit 6 10/1	Ch. 9 The Examination Function (cover any carryover matters) Ch. 10. Appeals Ch. 11 Notice of Deficiency Ch. 12 Litigation (to p. 299, 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 10/8	Ch. 9 - Finish the Chapter (from p. 299 B. District Courts)
8 10/15	Ch. 13 Assessment Procedures Ch. 14 Collection Procedures  (to p. 352 - XI.  Alternatives to Full Payment)
9 10/22	Ch. 14 (Beginning on p. 352 - XI.  Alternatives to Full Payment) through p. 383 - XVI Collection from Third Parties)    Drye - Baker, Bayley, Bentley    Rodgers - Carter, Kushalnagar, Lee, Patel    Williams (Sup Ct case) - Perkins, Picton, Siebenlist, Taylor
10 10/29	Ch. 14 (Beginning on p. 383 - XVI Collection from Third Parties) through end of chapter.
11 11/5	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 11/12	Room here to catch up on prior classes Ch. 18  Trends in Enforcement Efforts
13 11/19	Function at JAT House (temporary time slot) Ch. 19  Ethics, Malpractice and Tax Procedure (pp. 440-448) 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 12/3	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

• Prior Exams.  I encourage you to review the past examinations by clicking here.  By reviewing the examinations, you will understand my question style and be able to figure out the types of responses I want.
• Exam Tips.
  • You can bring with you the casebook (including supplement), a code and your personal notes. Nothing else.
  • I recommend that you outline and test your answer on scrap paper before writing it down in the exam booklet. When I begin reading your answer I give credit that you start out knowing where you are going and how you will get there. Meandering answers are not desired.

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