Sunday, August 24, 2008

He Took on the IRS--and Won

Not only did he win, but the victory may mean something to a LOT of people.

It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute

Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.

The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies.

A federal court recently agreed with his interpretation.

More at the link. If you owned a policy with a mutual insurance company that went public, you got common shares. This guy thought (and proved) that you're not liable for income on the initial value of those shares; thus your taxable capgains are only due if you sold the shares for more than their initial value.

Kudos!

By the way, he picked this fight with IRS when he was about 67 years old...

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