Dubai is Calling Ashia Thompson '18 is taking the tax world by storm. Her elite full-service accounting firm, Top Tier Accounting, specializes in strategic tax planning, tax preparation, resolution, bookkeeping, and payroll services catered exclusively to six-figure earners. Recently, she opened an office in Dubai and relocated there, although she still has her office in the U.S. She has opined, "As an expat business owner, I'm particularly excited about the proposed tax reform for Americans doing business abroad. The potential elimination of double taxation could greatly benefit international entrepreneurs like myself. It would allow us to reinvest more capital into our businesses and expand our global operations. This change could make it more appealing for U.S. businesses to establish a presence in tax-friendly places like Dubai, fostering international growth and competitiveness." Undoubtedly, Ashia is Top Tier and Top Notch.

Stand Out from the CPA Competition With Lubin's MS in Taxation Lubin's asynchronous online MS in Taxation offers critical foundational skills in financial and managerial accounting, the legal environment of businesses, fundamental tax concepts, and property sale and exchange. Students choose from a variety of courses to gain specialized insight into all aspects of tax practice, including, but not limited to corporate tax, partnerships, international tax, and taxation of financial instruments. Graduates are well-prepared to quantify risk and predict shifts in tax environments. The faculty are credentialed in tax practice (CPA or LLM) with years of full-time practice in the tax field. The program features courses scheduled in seven-week modules that fully accommodate tax season.

Zarin v. Commissioner Revisited In "Zarin v. Commissioner Revisited and Some Methodologies for Determining COD Income," Professor Phil Cohen, LLM, JD, writes about a very well-known Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision—Zarin v. Commissioner—that calls into question if Zarin, the taxpayer, had cancellation of indebtedness (COD) income. Zarin dealt with whether a compulsive and unlucky gambler could avoid COD income when he settled with a casino for substantially less than what he owed. Besides a plethora of diverse third-party assessments of the case, the judges who heard the case and its appeal were also divided. Learn more about the intricacies surrounding the Zarin case.

IRS FAQ As a result of the pandemic, the IRS significantly increased the use of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to communicate information to taxpayers. In "The New and Decidedly Improved IRS "Fact Sheet" Frequently Asked Questions," by Professor Frank G. Colella, LLM, JD, the author examines FAQ posted on the IRS.gov website, and asserts that FAQ did not serve as formal guidance that taxpayers could rely upon for penalty relief, should the FAQ be incorrect. FAQ bypass the more rigorous process employed to promulgate formal guidance, which taxpayers may rely upon. On October 15, 2021, the IRS updated its FAQ process for, inter alia, FAQ associated with new tax legislation. This change was significant because it recognized that the sheer number of new FAQ would generate increased taxpayer reliance on the information they contained—and it would be inequitable to penalize taxpayers if FAQ content was incorrect. See the case Professor Colella makes in this article.