Abstract
This article explores some of the problems created by this disjuncture in the structure of the current tax rules that apply to traders, and argues that the effects of this structural disjuncture would be even more pronounced if not for the interventions of the courts and the legislature, which, from a structural standpoint, have served to minimize the impact of this disjuncture without eliminating it altogether. Given the volatility inherent in the statutory structure of the trader tax rules, and given that the courts and the legislature have already taken steps to minimize the impact of the disjoint statutory structure, it is the position of this article that a different approach needs to be taken in taxing traders. Specifically, the “to customers” requirement should be eliminated altogether, traders should be taxed like dealers (including with respect to the accounting method required), and the IRS should supplement court decisions, which make trader status difficult to attain, with stringent and concrete guidance of its own. Such an approach would reduce complexity and add a degree of rationality to the taxation of traders that is missing from the current approach.
Recommended Citation
Shu-Yi Oei,
A Structural Critique of Trader Taxation,
8 Fla. Tax Rev.
(2008).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/ftr/vol8/iss1/16