Beckett G. Cantley, The New Tax Shelter Opinion Letter Regulations: Cutting Back a Client’s Ability to Rely on the Advice of His Counsel, 18 Akron Tax J. 47 (2003).
Summary. This article analyzed certain Proposed Treasury Regulations (“Opinion Regs”) relating to the issuance of tax opinions by counsel on matters that are “reportable transactions”. The Opinion Regs were the seemingly final piece in Treasury’s offensive against tax shelters. The Opinion Regs put up significant barriers to a client being able to rely on advice of counsel in tax shelter matters. The main question this article discussed was whether the inability of a client to rely on a client’s counsel on such complicated matters as tax shelters is good public policy. This article answers the question by concluding that it is not good public policy.
