- United States Tax Court holds that properties acquired in tax lien sale by an LLC are not subject to capital gains rates, but rather income tax rates, because the properties are held primarily for sale.
- Real Taxes on Virtual Currencies: What Does the IRS Say?, by Nika Antonikova, Virginia Tax Review, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2014.
- Counterintuitive Tax Revenue Effect of REIT Spinoffs, by Bradley T. Borden, Tax Notes, Vol. 146, p. 381, No. 381, January 2015; Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper, No. 402.
- United States Tax Court allows partial charitable contributions deduction.
- The House Committee on Ways and Means to markup “America’s Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2015” (H.R. 636) on February 4, 2015.
Tag Archives: tax
Enhanced REFinblog — in Beta
REFinblog.com is adding new content, Mondays through Fridays. Brooklyn Law School student fellows will post links to important real estate documents each day at 9:30am on the following topics:
- Monday: Adjudications (Court & Administrative Decisions)
- Tuesday: Regulatory Updates
- Wednesday: Research Papers
- Thursday: Advocacy Documents
- Friday: Tax Friday & Weekly Roundup
Once we have it down to a science, we will post more information about this new service. We hope you find it useful.
Tennessee Court Rejected MERS’ Argument that Sale of Property Should be Invalidated
The court in deciding Mortgage Elec. Registration Sys. v. Ditto, 2014 Tenn. App. (Tenn. Ct. App., 2014) affirmed the judgment of the lower court.
This appeal involved the purchase of property at a tax sale. MERS filed suit against purchaser to invalidate his purchase of property because it had not received notice of the sale even though it was listed as a beneficiary or nominee on the deed of trust.
Purchaser claimed that MERS was not entitled to notice because MERS did not have an interest in the property. Purchaser also alleged that MERS failed to properly commence its lawsuit because it did not remit the proper funds pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 67-5-2504(c).
The trial court refused to set aside the tax sale, holding that the applicable notice requirements were met and that the purchaser was the holder of legal title to the property. MERS appealed the lower court’s decision, however this court affirmed the decision of the lower court.
Since appellant was never given an independent interest in the property, and it did not suffer an injury by the sale of the property at issue, and the only injury suffered by appellant related to the future effect the case could have on its business model, which was not a distinct and palpable injury capable of being redressed by the court, the trial court’s grant of the purchaser’s motion for judgment on the pleadings was properly granted as appellant did not have standing to file suit to set aside the tax sale of the property for lack of notice under Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2502(c) and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The court found that the failure to tender the appropriate funds when filing the petition to set aside the sale under Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-5-2504(c) was not a prerequisite for relief.
Reiss on Buying a Home
MainStreet.com interviewed me in Guess the Unexpected Best Time to Buy a Home. It reads in part,
Hunting for a new home during the holidays can have many hidden advantages for buyers, despite conventional wisdom.
While there is less inventory to choose from in the fall, house hunting in November and December also means there is less competition with other buyers out there. Sellers might also be willing to strike a better deal for potential home owners.
Home buyers can take advantage of sellers who are eager to sell. The end of the year is a great time to look above your price range and negotiate for a lower price, said Alison Bernstein, president of The Suburban Jungle Realty Group.
“Sellers want to clear inventory before the spring and will be open to price adjustments to make the sale,” she said.
Consumers can find the best prices after Thanksgiving and before the Super Bowl because most home owners do not want to wait until the winter months when the bulk of potential buyers disappear, Bernstein said.
Seeing a home during the winter months shows both the house and the neighborhood in its “true colors,” she said.
Many sellers could also have tax reasons to sell by the end of the year, said David Reiss, a professor at the Brooklyn Law School who teaches a course that covers residential real estate transactions. However, this could prove to be a double-edged sword for buyers.
It might motivate sellers to get a deal done quickly and to compromise easily on price or other terms. On the other hand, sellers may insist on draconian penalties if the buyer fails to close by the end of the year, he said.
“Buyers must tread very carefully in such circumstances, be confident that their lender will come through by the drop dead date and certain that they will not be held liable for the delays caused by others, such as sellers themselves or escrow agents,” Reiss said.
