Income Tax Lawyer Course

Lesson 1 • Sources and Structure of Tax Law

Identify the hierarchy of statutory, regulatory, and judicial authorities that govern income taxation. Establishes the legal map practitioners use to locate binding rules.

Lesson 2 • Filing Status and Tax Rates

Explain how filing status determines applicable rate schedules and standard deduction amounts. Connects taxpayer classification to quantitative liability outcomes.

Lesson 3 • Deductions and Credits Overview

Distinguish deductions from credits and explain their respective effects on tax liability. Provides the analytical baseline for all tax-reduction strategies covered later.

Lesson 4 • Core Concepts of Gross Income

Define gross income broadly and identify what is included or excluded by law. Anchors later analysis of taxable events and client planning opportunities.

Lesson 1 • Compensation and Employment Income

Analyze wages, salaries, bonuses, and fringe benefits as taxable compensation. Connects gross income principles to the most common individual income source.

Lesson 2 • Capital Gains and Losses

Apply holding-period rules and preferential rates to asset dispositions. Provides the framework for advising on timing and structuring of asset sales.

Lesson 3 • Investment and Passive Income

Distinguish interest, dividends, rents, and royalties and apply applicable rates. Builds analytical skill for clients with portfolio and passive-activity income.

Lesson 4 • Self-Employment and Business Income

Compute net self-employment income and apply self-employment tax rules. Links individual and business taxation for sole proprietors and independent contractors.

Lesson 1 • Regulatory and Administrative Authority

Evaluate the weight and deference owed to regulations, rulings, and agency guidance. Enables practitioners to assess reliance risk when using non-statutory authority.

Lesson 2 • Case Law Analysis and Application

Identify controlling precedent, distinguish adverse cases, and analogize favorable ones. Develops litigation-ready analytical skills applicable to both planning and controversy.

Lesson 3 • Statutory Interpretation Techniques

Use textual, structural, and purposive methods to interpret ambiguous statutory language. Builds the interpretive toolkit needed when regulations and rulings are absent.

Lesson 4 • Tax Opinion Writing

Draft structured tax opinions that state conclusions, analyze authority, and disclose risk. Produces client-ready deliverables meeting professional responsibility standards.

Lesson 1 • Pass-Through Entity Fundamentals

Explain how S-corporations and partnerships allocate income to owners. Connects entity-level activity to individual owner reporting obligations.

Lesson 2 • Corporate Income Taxation

Compute corporate taxable income, apply the flat rate, and identify key deductions. Establishes the C-corporation baseline against which other entities are compared.

Lesson 3 • Entity Formation and Contribution Rules

Analyze nonrecognition rules for property contributions to entities. Provides the tax foundation for structuring business formations and capitalization events.

Lesson 4 • Partnership Taxation in Depth

Apply special allocation rules, guaranteed payments, and disguised-sale provisions. Develops advanced partnership analysis skills essential for complex deal structures.

Lesson 1 • Appeals and Administrative Resolution

Use the administrative appeals process to resolve disputes before litigation. Develops negotiation and settlement skills within the agency's internal framework.

Lesson 2 • Examination and Audit Process

Identify audit triggers, types of examinations, and taxpayer rights during review. Prepares practitioners to manage client exposure from the first contact forward.

Lesson 3 • Refund Litigation in Other Courts

Compare refund suit procedures in district courts and the claims court. Expands forum selection knowledge for cases where pre-payment litigation is unavailable.

Lesson 4 • Penalties, Interest, and Abatement

Analyze civil penalty structures and the standards for reasonable cause abatement. Equips practitioners to reduce client liability through procedural and substantive arguments.

Lesson 1 • Income Shifting Techniques

Redirect income to lower-bracket taxpayers using assignment-of-income principles. Develops family and entity-based strategies within the limits of anti-abuse rules.

Lesson 2 • Loss Harvesting and Utilization

Generate and deploy capital and ordinary losses to offset taxable income strategically. Builds skills for managing investment portfolios and business losses within legal limits.

Lesson 3 • Tax-Advantaged Accounts and Vehicles

Leverage retirement accounts, health accounts, and education vehicles to shelter income. Provides a toolkit of statutory planning opportunities available to most clients.

Lesson 4 • Character Conversion Strategies

Convert ordinary income into capital gain or qualified income to access lower rates. Develops advanced rate-arbitrage techniques used in sophisticated client engagements.

Lesson 1 • Spin-Offs and Corporate Divisions

Apply nonrecognition rules for distributing subsidiary stock to existing shareholders. Develops skills for advising on corporate separations and divestitures.

Lesson 2 • Taxable Asset and Stock Acquisitions

Compare tax consequences of asset deals versus stock deals for buyers and sellers. Establishes the baseline transaction framework before nonrecognition alternatives are introduced.

Lesson 3 • Consolidated Return Principles

Explain affiliated group filing, intercompany transaction rules, and loss limitations. Prepares practitioners to advise corporate groups on consolidated return elections.

Lesson 4 • Tax-Free Reorganization Types

Identify statutory reorganization forms and their continuity-of-interest requirements. Provides the nonrecognition toolkit for structuring mergers and acquisitions tax-efficiently.

Lesson 1 • Residency and Source Rules

Determine tax residency status and classify income by geographic source. Establishes the jurisdictional framework underlying all international tax analysis.

Lesson 2 • Controlled Foreign Corporation Rules

Identify controlled foreign corporations and apply subpart F income inclusion rules. Develops anti-deferral analysis skills for clients with offshore corporate structures.

Lesson 3 • Foreign Tax Credit Mechanism

Compute the foreign tax credit and apply basket and limitation rules. Provides the primary tool for eliminating double taxation on foreign-source income.

Lesson 4 • Transfer Pricing Principles

Apply arm's-length standards to intercompany transactions between related parties. Equips practitioners to assess and defend transfer pricing positions for multinational clients.