Victoria J. Haneman

When approval ratings fall, foreign crises suddenly get very interesting.

5.Their entire brand is “The IRS doesn’t want you to know this.”

The IRS does not have a secret underground bunker hiding magical deductions. Sorry. 

4/4

masterclass, a “tax playbook,” or “private mentorship,” this is content monetization, not tax practice.

4.They tell you to comment “wealth” (or some other word) below for more information.  

This is content farming, and tax is simply the grift by which they are content farming.

3/4

2.   There is a promise of zero risk.  

“Audit-proof”
“Reduce your taxes to zero”
“100% legal, zero risk”
 “The IRS can’t touch this.”

These are red flag statements. All tax positions have risks.

3.They sell courses but not representation.

If the social media profile is selling a $997

2/4

The top 5 warnings signs that tax content on social media is not credible:

1.     No credentials, just vibes.  

If their bio says that they are a tax guru, wealth hacker, 7-figure strategist, or financial architect, but there are no credentials (CPA, EA, attorney).

1/4

Many of the most celebrated men in history have allegedly had affairs. Are we seriously pretending that whether Kristi Noem is sleeping with someone is the scandal that matters?

Her career should have ended the moment she bragged about killing a puppy.

A paper from Prof. @naomicahn.bsky.social shows how the law often lags behind the development of new technologies, according to @universityofga.bsky.social Prof. Victoria J. Haneman. @taxlawprof.bsky.social @jotwell.bsky.social

Fun inheritance fact

In some states, a posthumously conceived child can be biologically yours but legally treated like a stranger for inheritance purposes

If any money changes hands to keep someone quiet that income is generally taxable to the recipient. Calling it a “gift” doesn’t magically fix it and render it not taxable.

The IRS asks: Was this motivated by detached generosity, or was it “please don’t talk” money?

Spoiler: NDAs scream the latter.

Pam Bondi doesn’t just have the worst job in America. She has the worst decision tree. ‘No’ was right there.

My middle-school daughter has no idea what a pair of pantyhose or a slip is.

And I love this for her.

On the science of trying to freeze and preserve an embryo versus a corpse:

“We know when we try to freeze lettuce and we try to unfreeze it, it's a big goopy mess . . But some other vegetables [like carrots] come up reasonably well.”

I am working on an article and I need you to please spam with every movie or television reference to a character being frozen with cryonics and then later revived.

I need people who were frozen for the sake of being frozen—not for space travel but for life extension or imprisonment (eg Hans Solo).

“When is the will reading?”
—people who are about to learn how probate actually works.

(Television invented the will reading.)

Winter storm advisory = the government politely begging you not to create a law school exam fact pattern.

I think that it has blessedly fallen out of vogue in the academic world. I definitely see it less and less over the last 5-10 years.

We work with some wildly tone deaf and oblivious colleagues.

What we’re watching in the Brooklyn Beckham family drama isn’t a feud.

it is a proxy war between two billionaire brands, complete with PR teams laundering power through personality. Victoria is cast as the toxic narcissist; Nicola as the scheming succubus.

It’s narrative management in real time.

I am!!! I was going to try to make it there this year but I don’t know that I can swing it.

I am writing on cryotrusts (trusts for the cryogenically preserved dead). The literature is thin, but what little exists has abused puns beyond ethical recognition.

Seriously. Some of these authors have chosen violence:

Let’s Be Cool
Dead on Arrival
Rest in Freeze
Gifts of the Future

POV: you just met the main character 🐶

12 weeks old, longhaired mini dachshund Lucy

The world seems divided between those who see upstream-flowing tax benefits for the wealthy as a flaw in the system, and those who see them as a feature.

ChatGPT has taken the em dash from us and that’s how you know the AI revolution has started.

Voting Republican ‘for lower taxes’ is the economic equivalent of ordering off the kids’ menu and calling yourself a foodie.

In my experience as a tax lawyer, most people who say this out loud don’t know who gets tax cuts, how they’re structured, or who actually pays.

Prenups fail most often because of omissions in disclosures.

Romance dies in Exhibit B.

Being sued doesn’t necessarily mean you did anything wrong—just that you had assets. Liability follows money like a heat-seeking missile.

The law asks: “What would a reasonable person do?”

With the tension being that some people clearly do not have the faintest clue how the objectively reasonable person would behave.

The IRS’s position:

“Congratulations on your geopolitical clairvoyance. You owe us money.”

And yes, it is ordinary income. The capital gains arguments re: Polymarket are really unlikely to go anywhere.

Unpopular opinion

Telling women to ‘save more’ while childcare eats a mortgage payment is just austerity cosplay.

If tax law were actually simple,
there wouldn’t be an entire industry built on explaining it poorly on Instagram.

I teach several law classes on bad social media tax law and estate planning advice, because it is a great (and fun) way to illustrate so many important concepts.