How to write a tax memo

Write A Tax Memo?

1.

Written communication rubric for tax memos
2.

Sample memo format
3.

Tax memo case

Background:

Roger is a very loyal Aztec basketball fan who graduated from SDSU in 2014. In 2015 he decided to join

SDSU’s ticket program, which required a $1,000 “contribution” to SDSU which then provided him the

“right” to purchase tickets. Roger decided to purchase season tickets for $800. Roger understands that

the cost of the season tickets is not tax deductible as a charitable contribution, but contributions to a

university are generally tax deductible.

Your responsibility:

Prepare a tax research memo for the tax files regarding the federal income tax treatment of the

deductibility of the contribution to SDSU in the amount of $1,000 for the “right” to purchase tickets to

basketball games for 2015. You will need to support your conclusion using primary sources of tax law.

Your textbook is NOT primary authority.

You must use proper citation form in your memo (see Chapter 2 for help with citation form). The form

for this communication should be professional and in the form of a tax research memo (example posted

on Blackboard and a similar example in your text on p. 2-21). Do yourself a favor and look at the grading

rubric before you submit.

This memo should be whatever length you feel is appropriate to resolve the issues. We do NOT use a

bibliography or list of references in a tax research memo. You will see that citations are within the text

of the document in the example. Once a court case has been cited in full, it can be referred to using

simply the name in italics.

You are required to INDIVIDUALLY prepare this document. Please upload your memo into Turnitin in

Blackboard before 10am on the due date.

The grading rubric for Tax memos is posted in Blackboard. For this assignment, points are distributed as

follows:

Aspects of the memo Points

Content - facts 16

Content - analysis 30

Content - conclusion 14

Organization 8

Audience 8

Style 8

Mechanics 8

Referencing 8