US v. George

No. 04-10307 (8-23-05). Remember your tax course when the issue of "control over assets" was the subject of a lecture. Well, a variation of that occurs when a receiver gets paid, but since the pay can be "disgorged" (great word) by the court, does the receiver really have control, and more important, doe she have to declare it as income? "Yes," said the 9th in this tax case. The receiver has control, and so has "claim of right" for tax purposes. The 9th also rejected a "good faith" defense in believing that he could wait.