The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize you with the various tax court cases involving individual and corporate transactions that have been decided at all levels of the United States court system.  These cases have often established the precedent for the treatment of certain tax transactions, and serve as a source of tax research.  Assigned court cases will reinforce the key concepts learned in class.  For this assignment, you will summarize your choice of court cases using the “FICA” model of analysis.  FICA stands for Fact, Issue, Conclusion, and Analysis and allows you to concisely summarize the conclusions of a court case. To summarize the case, follow these steps:

• •        State the facts of the case in a clear and concise matter
  •        Identify the issue(s)/laws at hand
  •        State the conclusion of the court
  •        Complete your analysis of the findings as presented in the case (answer the question: “why did the court rule this way on this issue?”)

Briefs should be at least two pages long, double-spaced, 12-point font.  You will complete three separate court case briefs this semester, to be submitted to your Assignments Folder by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. on the designated due date.

To research your case, you may use the Legal Information Institute website.  Links for the relevant courts are below.  Confine your search to those cases that involve a tax law issues. 

MY CASE IS NATIONAL BELLAS HESS V. DEPRTMENT OF REVENUE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS