Status Check: Should the Federal Tax Status of a Disregarded Debtor Be Property of the Estate?

This Comment focuses on whether the tax status of a debtor constitutes “property” of the debtor’s estate under 11 U.S.C. § 541(a). The answer to this question ultimately determines whether a bankruptcy trustee has the power to avoid a “check-the-box” tax status change made by the owner of a debtor entity from a “pass-through” to a separately taxed C Corporation. This issue normally arises when the parent corporation or individual owner of a debtor subsidiary corporation or disregarded entity (to the individual owner) elects to transform the status of the debtor by “checking the box” on the proper federal tax form. This Comment utilizes a hypothetical scenario involving an individual who owns a pass-through entity which holds a completely depreciated piece of real property. The individual decides to leverage the piece of real property but, through a series of misfortunes, is subsequently forced to place the entity holding that real property into bankruptcy. In bankruptcy, the distressed property is sold in a forced sale that is a taxable event. The individual owner of the debtor entity is motivated to make a prepetition or post-petition tax status change in entity type to a C Corp because the tax obligation resulting from the gain on sale of the real estate no longer “passes through” to the owner’s tax return once the change is made. Instead, the tax gain remains with the newly-transformed C Corp and the bankruptcy estate. In effect, the change in tax status allows the owner of a debtor entity to shift the tax burden normally flowing to the owner as a pass-through gain to instead be paid by the bankruptcy estate simply by making a change on a tax form. Check-the-box changes can also tangibly affect other kinds of tax attributes, such as the ability to use NOLs. Courts are split on whether the debtor entity’s tax status constitutes property. This Comment advocates for the position taken by the Third Circuit, that ultimate control of the debtor’s tax status is contingent on the will of the parent-owner of the debtor and is therefore, not property. This Comment argues against courts within the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, which have held that tax attributes of a debtor are property of the debtor’s estate protected by the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) and are therefore subject to the trustee’s avoidance powers under sections 544, 548, and 549 of the Bankruptcy Code

Are Auditors\u27 Going-Concern Evaluations More Useful after SOX?

Bankruptcy risk is a crucial factor in auditors’ decisions whether or not to modify their audit opinion based on the going-concern assumption. SOX required more extensive audit procedures than those required before its passage. More extensive audit procedures should result in more meaningful audit reports. This study examines whether the auditors’ going-concern opinion provides more useful incremental information after SOX than before SOX in distinguishing between distressed companies that become bankrupt in the next year and those that do not. We find that an audit opinion variable adds more useful information to bankruptcy prediction models after SOX than before SOX. Our findings provide evidence that financial statement users have derived benefits from the costly procedures required under SOX

The Incremental Usefulness Of Income Tax Allocations In Predicting One-Year-Ahead Future Cash Flows

Interperiod income tax allocation has been a hotly debated financial accounting issue for a long time.  Critics of interperiod tax allocation frequently question the usefulness of the extra information, particularly considering the FASB’s decision usefulness approach stated in its Conceptual Framework.  This study extends the research of Cheung et al. (1997) and Krishnan and Largay (2000) by using the ability to predict future taxes paid and future cash flow as criteria to evaluate the usefulness of interperiod tax allocation. This study extends previous research by examining not only whether interperiod tax allocation included in financial statements is useful, but also by examining whether such information is incrementally useful beyond taxes paid. For predicting future taxes paid and operating cash flow, our analyses provides little evidence that interperiod tax allocation information included in financial statements adds incremental predictive value beyond taxes paid as reported on the cash flow statement

A Research Note On The Issue Of Non-Articulation And The Method Used To Calculate Net Operating Cash Flow

Using a proxy for nonarticulation, prior researchers found evidence that many companies using the indirect method of reporting net cash flow from operations have a significant level of nonarticulation. The purpose of this study is to determine if companies using the direct method of reporting net cash flow from operations experience significantly lower levels of nonarticulation than companies that use the indirect method of reporting net cash flow from operations. Results show that companies using the direct method have significantly less nonarticulation than companies using the indirect method. This finding suggests that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) should consider requiring companies to use the direct method of preparing the Statement of Cash Flows

A Research Note On The Issue Of Non-Articulation And The Method Used To Calculate Net Operating Cash Flow

Using a proxy for nonarticulation, prior researchers found evidence that many companies using the indirect method of reporting net cash flow from operations have a significant level of nonarticulation.  The purpose of this study is to determine if companies using the direct method of reporting net cash flow from operations experience significantly lower levels of nonarticulation than companies that use the indirect method of reporting net cash flow from operations.  Results show that companies using the direct method have significantly less nonarticulation than companies using the indirect method.  This finding suggests that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) should consider requiring companies to use the direct method of preparing the Statement of Cash Flows

Use and outcomes of targeted therapies in early and metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer in Australia: Protocol detailing observations in a whole of population cohort

Background: The management of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer (BC) has changed dramatically with the introduction and widespread use of HER2-targeted therapies. However, there is relatively limited real-world information on patterns of use, effectiveness and safety in whole of population cohorts. The research programme detailed in this protocol will generate evidence on the prescribing patterns, safety monitoring and outcomes of patients with BC treated with HER2- targeted therapies in Australia. Methods/design: Our ongoing research programme will involve a series of retrospective cohort studies that include every patient accessing Commonwealth-funded HER2-targeted therapies for the treatment of early BC and advanced BC in Australia. At the time of writing, our cohorts consist of 11 406 patients with early BC and 5631 with advanced BC who accessed trastuzumab and lapatinib between 2001 and 2014. Pertuzumab and trastuzumab emtansine were publicly funded for metastatic BC in 2015, and future data updates will include patients accessing these medicines. We will use dispensing claims for cancer and other medicines, medical service claims and demographics data for each patient accessing HER2- targeted therapies to undertake this research. Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval has been granted by the Population Health Service Research Ethics Committee and data access approval has been granted by the Australian Department of Human Services (DHS) External Review Evaluation Committee. Our findings will be reported in peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and policy forums. By providing detailed information on the use and outcomes associated with HER2-targeted therapies in a national cohort treated in routine clinical care, our research programme will better inform clinicians and patients about the real-world use of these treatments and will assist third-party payers to better understand the use and economic costs of these treatments

Carbon Dioxide Gas Sensors and Method of Manufacturing and Using Same

A gas sensor includes a substrate and a pair of interdigitated metal electrodes selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Au, Ir, Ag, Ru, Rh, In, and Os. The electrodes each include an upper surface. A first solid electrolyte resides between the interdigitated electrodes and partially engages the upper surfaces of the electrodes. The first solid electrolyte is selected from the group consisting of NASICON, LISICON, KSICON, and .beta.''-Alumina (beta prime-prime alumina in which when prepared as an electrolyte is complexed with a mobile ion selected from the group consisting of Na.sup.+, K.sup.+, Li.sup.+, Ag.sup.+, H.sup.+, Pb.sup.2+, Sr.sup.2+ or Ba.sup.2+). A second electrolyte partially engages the upper surfaces of the electrodes and engages the first solid electrolyte in at least one point. The second electrolyte is selected from the group of compounds consisting of Na.sup.+, K.sup.+, Li.sup.+, Ag.sup.+, H.sup.+, Pb.sup.2+, Sr.sup.2+ or Ba.sup.2+ ions or combinations thereof

Chromophore-labelled, luminescent platinum complexes: syntheses, structures, and spectroscopic properties

Ligands based upon 4-carboxamide-2-phenylquinoline derivatives have been synthesised with solubilising octyl hydrocarbon chains and tethered aromatic chromophores to give naphthyl (HL2), anthracenyl (HL3) and pyrenyl (HL4) ligand variants, together with a non-chromophoric analogue (HL1) for comparison. 1H NMR spectroscopic studies of the ligands showed that two non-interchangeable isomers exist for HL2 and HL4 while only one isomer exists for HL1 and HL3. Supporting DFT calculations on HL4 suggest that the two isomers may be closely isoenergetic with a relatively high barrier to exchange of ca. 100 kJ mol−1. These new ligands were cyclometalated with Pt(II) to give complexes [Pt(L1–4)(acac)] (acac = acetylacetonate). The spectroscopically characterised complexes were studied using multinuclear NMR spectroscopy including 195Pt{1H} NMR studies which revealed δPt ca. −2785 ppm for [Pt(L1–4)(acac)]. X-ray crystallographic studies were undertaken on [Pt(L3)(acac)] and [Pt(L4)(acac)], each showing the weakly distorted square planar geometry at Pt(II); the structure of [Pt(L3)(acac)] showed evidence for intermolecular Pt–Pt interactions. The UV-vis. absorption studies show that the spectral profiles for [Pt(L2–4)(acac)] are a composite of the organic chromophore centred bands and a broad 1MLCT (5d → π*) band (ca. 440 nm) associated with the complex. Luminescence studies showed that complexes [Pt(L2–4)(acac)] are dual emissive with fluorescence characteristic of the tethered fluorophore and long-lived phosphorescence attributed to 3MLCT emission. In the case of the pyrenyl derivative, [Pt(L4)(acac)], the close energetic matching of the 3MLCT and 3LCpyr excited states led to an elongation of the 3MLCT emission lifetime (τ = 42 μs) under degassed solvent conditions, suggestive of energy transfer processes between the two states

Methods and Model Development for Coupled RELAP5/PARCS Analysis of the Atucha-II Nuclear Power Plant

In order to analyze the steady state and transient behavior of CNA-II, several tasks were required. Methods and models were developed in several areas. HELIOS lattice models were developed and benchmarked against WIMS/MCNP5 results generated by NA-SA. Cross-sections for the coupled RELAP5/PARCS calculation were extracted from HELIOS within the GenPMAXS framework. The validation of both HELIOS and PARCS was performed primarily by comparisons to WIMS/PUMA and MCNP for idealized models. Special methods were developed to model the control rods and boron injection systems of CNA-II. The insertion of the rods is oblique, and a special routine was added to PARCS to treat this effect. CFD results combined with specialized mapping routines were used to model the boron injection system. In all cases there was good agreement in the results which provided confidence in the neutronics methods and modeling. A coupled code benchmark between U of M and U of Pisa is ongoing and results are still preliminary. Under a LOCA transient, the best estimate behavior of the core appears to be acceptable