Faculty Profile: Susan C Morse
Main Profile Content
Featured Work
Emergency Money: Lessons from the Paycheck Protection Program
55 U. Mich. J. L. Reform 175 (2021)
The Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, was huge. Between April 2020 and May 2021, it provided almost $800 billion to more than 11 million businesses—about a third of all U.S. businesses with 500 employees or fewer. The PPP reveals tools that can be applied to similar distributions of emergency funds. One tool is back-end adjustments, meaning that funds are first distributed and then later it is decided whether recipients may keep the money. Another tool is distribution in descending order of necessity, meaning that the first recipients to receive funds are applicants that most clearly meet the criteria of the program. A fund can follow distribution in descending order of necessity to disburse all of its funds or to collect information needed to improve future distribution policy.
Biography
Susan Morse joined the University of Texas law faculty in 2013. She studies and writes about international tax policy, tax compliance and regulatory design. She is interested in the interaction between legal systems and private ordering.
Recent writings in tax policy include The Quasi-Global GILTI Tax, 18 Pitt. Tax Rev. 1932 (2021) (symposium contribution); Do Tax Compliance Robots Follow the Law? (symposium contribution), 16 Ohio State Tech. L. J. 278 (2020); GILTI: The Co-operative Potential of a Unilateral Minimum Tax, 2019 British Tax Rev. 512; Does Parenting Matter? U.S. Firms, Non-U.S. Firms, and Global Tax Accruals (with Eric J. Allen), 4 J. L. Fin. & Acct'g 239 (2019); International Cooperation and the 2017 Tax Act, 128 Yale L. J. Forum 362 (Oct. 25, 2018) and Seeking Comparable Transactions in Patent and Tax, 37 Rev. Litig. Brief (2018).
Recent writings in regulatory design include Emergency Money: Lessons from the Paycheck Protection Program, 55 U. Mich. J. L. Reform 175 (2021); Government-to-Robot Enforcement, 2019 Ill. L. Rev. 1497; When Robots Make Legal Mistakes, 72 Okla. L. Rev. 213 (2019); Regulating by Example, 35 Yale J. Reg. 127 (2018) (with Leigh Osofsky) (featured in online symposium, How Agencies Communicate, at JREG); Safe Harbors, Sure Shipwrecks, 49 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1385 (2016) (selected for Yale/Stanford/Harvard Junior Faculty Forum, 2015); and Entrepreneurship Incentives for Resource-Constrained Firms, Handbook of Law and Entrepreneurship (forthcoming).
Morse cowrote a Supreme Court amicus brief in 2020 supporting the government in CIC Services, LLC v. Internal Revenue Service (blog coverage here). Morse submitted cowritten Ninth Circuit amicus briefs in 2016, 2018 and 2019 in Altera Corp. v. Commissioner, supporting the government's position that it had validly issued a Treasury regulation that requires cost-sharing arrangements to include stock-based compensation. The Ninth Circuit held for the government and denied rehearing en banc, and the Supreme Court denied cert in 2020. Blog coverage here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Professor Morse teaches Property and Federal Income Tax, as well as the Financial Methods for Lawyers course, which she pioneered at Texas Law. She won the Women's Law Caucus Teacher of the Year award in 2016 and 2020. She is a member of the American College of Tax Counsel and edits the tax section at JOTWELL.com.
Professor Morse clerked for the Honorable Michael Boudin of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and spent seven years in business tax practice at Ropes & Gray, Boston and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Palo Alto. Prior to joining the Texas faculty, she served as Associate Professor at UC Hastings College of the Law and as Research Assistant Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.
Other publications include Innovation and Taxation at Start-Up Firms, 69 Tax L. Rev. 357 (2016); Tax Anti-Avoidance Law in Australia and the United States, 49 Int'l Law. 111 (2015); A Simpler Offshore Profits Transition Tax, 76 Tax Notes Int'l 629 (Feb. 17, 2014); Startup Ltd.: Tax Planning and Initial Incorporation, 14 Fla. Tax Rev. 319 (2013); Tax Haven Incorporation for U.S. Firms: No Exodus Yet, 66 Nat’l Tax J. 395 (2013); The Transfer Pricing Regs Need a Good Edit, 40 Pepperdine L. Rev. 1415 (2013); and A Corporate Offshore Profits Transition Tax, 91 N.C. L. Rev. 549 (2013).
Most Recent Media
Professional Activities
2022
September 19, 2022
Blog Post: Out of Time? APA Challenges to Old Tax Guidance and the Six-Year Default Limitations Period
Procedurally Taxing
March 3, 2022
Presenter, The Truth About Safe Harbors
Florida State University College of Law Faculty Workshop
March 3, 2022
Presenter, The Truth About Safe Harbors
Florida State University College of Law Faculty Workshop
February 25, 2022
Discussant
University of Florida Levin College of Law Tax Policy Colloquium
Discussant for Karen Brown, Tax Incentive and Sub-Saharan Africa, 48 Pepperdine L. Rev. 995 (2021)
January 9, 2022
Speaker
American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting
Panel, Hot Topic: The Promise and Pitfalls of the Global Tax Deal
2021
September 14, 2021
Panelist, U.S. Tax Reform 2.0 - 2021 Proposals
International Tax Review Women in Tax Forum
August 9, 2021
Blog Post: Tax and Race
JOTWELL
Review of Dorothy Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth (2021)
July 6, 2021
Presenter, The Quasi-Global GILTI Tax
Oxford Centre for Business Taxation Academic Symposium
June 30, 2021
Discussant
AMT21 Tax Scholarship Conference
June 20, 2021
Instructor, U.S. International Income Taxation
Oxford, Said Business School
June 15, 2021
Presentation, CIC Services, LLC v. Internal Revenue Service
Austin Tax Study Group
May 25, 2021
Presenter/Podcast
Federalist Society Webinar
Discussion of Supreme Court decision in CIC Services v Internal Revenue Service with Kristin Hickman and Robert Carney.
May 21, 2021
Presenter
Texas Tax Faculty Workshop
CIC Services: Why Treasury Should Put the Reporting Position List Through Notice and Comment
May 14, 2021
NTA Panel Organizer
National Tax Association Spring Symposium
A Discussion of Tax Priorities in Legislation and Regulation
May 11, 2021
Podcast
C. Boyden Gray Center
Podcast presentation of Emergency Money: Lessons from the Paycheck Protection Program
May 5, 2021
Regulatory Comment
Tax Law Center at NYU
Comment on FinCEN Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relating to beneficial owner reporting requirements under Corporate Transparency Act
Download (PDF)
2020
September 18, 2020
Blog post, Why a Win for CIC Services Would Be A Win for Tax Shelters
Procedurally Taxing
Blog post (with Daniel Hemel and Clinton Wallace) explaining tax shelter aspects of Supreme Court case CIC Services v. Internal Revenue Service
September 15, 2020
Brief of Amici Curiae Former Government Officials in Support of Respondents, CIC Services v Internal Revenue Service
Co-wrote (with Daniel Hemel and Clinton Wallace) amicus brief in Supreme Court case in support of government
August 10, 2020
Blog post, Regulating Compliance Robots
The Regulatory Review
Summary of Susan Morse, Do Tax Compliance Robots Follow the Law?, 16 Ohio St. Tech. L. J. 278 (2020)
July 15, 2020
Blog Post: Raising Revenue by Taxing Capital
JOTWELL
Review of Mark Gergen, A Securities Tax and the Problem of Taxing Global Capital (2020 working paper)
June 29, 2020
Presentation: Intermediaries and the Law on the Ground
University of Texas School of Law Drawing Board Series
June 11, 2020
Blog post: In Altera reply brief, taxpayer doubles down on flawed argument that the government changed its tune
May 21, 2020
Blog Post: Pending cert petition in Altera: Tax law in an administrative law wrapper
Yale JREG Notice & Comment Blog, cross-posted at Procedurally Taxing
May 21, 2020
Blog Post: Pending cert petition in Altera: Tax law in an administrative law wrapper
Yale JREG Notice & Comment Blog, cross-posted at Procedurally Taxing
April 21, 2020
Panelist: Legal Responses to COVID-19
University of Texas School of Law
February 28, 2020
Presentation: Artificial Intelligence as Customary Law
AI and Justice in 2035, UCLA School of Law
February 17, 2020
Presentation: Artificial Intelligence as Customary Law
Marshall M. Criser Distinguished Lecture Series, University of Florida Levin College of Law
February 17, 2020
Presentation: Do Tax Compliance Robots Follow the Law?
Tax Colloquium Series, University of Florida Levin College of Law
2019
November 23, 2019
Discussant
National Tax Association Annual Meeting
Commented on John Vella, Digital Services Taxes: Principle as a Double-Edged Sword, 72 Nat'l Tax J. 821 (2019)
November 8, 2019
Discussant
University of Virginia Invitational Tax Conference
Commented on Clinton Wallace, Democratizing Tax Policymaking (working paper)
September 9, 2019
Presentation: Do Tax Compliance Robots Follow the Law?
University of Texas School of Law Drawing Board
June-July 2019
Instructor: U.S. International Income Taxation Course
Oxford University, Said Business School
May 21, 2019
Discussant
Works-in-Progress Roundtable in Comparative Law, University of Texas School of Law
On Lydia Tiede, Judicial Vetoes: Institutions and Decision-Making on Constitutional Courts
May 17, 2019
Participant: Texas Tax Faculty Workshop
University of Houston School of Law
April 22, 2019
Presentation: GILTI: The Cooperative Potential of a Unilateral Minimum Tax
Pepperdine Tax Policy Workshop
March 6, 2019
Presentation: Government-to-Robot Enforcement
University of Utah, SJ Quinney College of Law
Howard H. Rolapp Distinguished Visiting Scholar Program
February 8, 2019
Presentation: When Robots Make Legal Mistakes
Symposium on Lawyering in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Oklahoma Law Review
2018
December 11, 2018
Presentation: International Cooperation and the 2017 Act
International Tax Cooperation: The Challenges and Opportunities of Multilateralism Conference, Said Business School, Oxford
November 16, 2018
Presentation: International Cooperation and the 2017 Act
National Tax Association Annual Meeting
October 26, 2018
Panelist: The Future of the New International Tax Regime
Fordham Journal of Corporate and Financial Law Symposium, Fordham Law School
September 28, 2018
Supplemental Amicus Brief in Altera Corp. v. Commissioner
September 14, 2018
Panelist: Voices in the Room: Professional Ethics of Advising Clients on Responding to Cyber Extortion Demands
ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting, Austin Texas
August 27, 2018
Presentation: International Cooperation and the 2017 Act
University of San Diego School of Law Tax Speaker Series
July 31, 2018
Blog Post: The Ninth Circuit Reverses the Tax Court Decision in Altera
Procedurally Taxing
A review of the government's transfer pricing win in Altera at the Ninth Circuit, and an explanation of taxpayer Altera's weak hand in case of appeal.
April 30, 2018
Blog post: Government-to-Robot Enforcement
Oxford Business Law Blog
A blog summary of Government-to-Robot enforcement, 2019 U. Illinois L. Rev. ___.
April 17, 2018
Lecture: International Tax Reform and Closely Held Businesses
Austin Tax Study Group
Joint presentation with William Bell, Esq.
March 22, 2018
Blog Post: Opinion analysis: A "nexus" requirement for the tax code's obstruction felony
SCOTUSblog
Opinion analysis in Marinello v. United States
February 2, 2018
Blog Post: How Agencies Communicate: Wrapping Up
Yale J. on Reg.: Notice and Comment
January 29, 2018
Blog Post: How Agencies Communicate: Introduction and an Example
Yale J. on Reg.: Notice & Comment
Introduction to Online Symposium, How Agencies Communicate, featuring Regulating by Example, 35 Yale J. on Reg. __ (2018)
2017
December 7, 2017
Blog post: Is "cash only" enough for a tax law obstruction charge?
SCOTUSblog
Argument analysis in Marinello v. United States
November 28, 2017
Argument preview: What limits tax law obstruction-of-justice charges?
SCOTUSblog
Argument preview of Marinello v. U.S., in which taxpayer contests government's obstruction charge based on destruction of evidence prior to a known audit or other tax enforcement proceeding.
October 17, 2017
Blog post: The Altera Oral Argument
Procedurally Taxing
Recap of the Ninth Circuit oral argument in Altera, a case about cost-sharing arrangements and administrative law case (with Steve Shay).
October 10, 2017
Blog post: Ninth Circuit Hears Altera Tomorrow
Procedurally Taxing
A summary of reasons why the Ninth Circuit should reverse the Tax Court in Altera, a case about cost-sharing of intangibles and administrative law, focusing on the inherent lack of comparability for available unrelated party data in the case of cost-shared IP. With Steve Shay.
September 18, 2017
Blog post: When the Life of the Law is Logic
JOTWELL
Review of Sarah B. Lawsky, Formalizing the Code, 70 Tax L. Rev. 377 (2017)
March 10, 2017
Blog post: The Tax Court: "Insubordinate" or "Prescient" on Auer/Seminole Rock Deference?
JOTWELL
Review of Steve R. Johnson, Seminole Rock in Tax Cases, Yale J. Reg. Notice & Comment 2016
2016
October 5, 2016
Op-Ed: How Texas Can Help School Districts Serve All Special Needs Children
Dallas Morning News
June 27, 2016
Op-Ed: Some Changes to the Food Label Bill for Lawmakers to Consider
Austin-American Statesman
2015
April 3, 2015
Blog post: Non-U.S. Acquirers: Clients for U.S. Targets' "Locked-Out" Earnings?
JOTWELL
Review of Andrew Bird, Alexander Edwards & Terry J. Shevlin, Does the U.S. System of Taxation on Multinationals Advantage Foreign Acquirers? (working paper 2015)
2014
June 23, 2014
Blog post: Opinion analysis: Court clarifies standard for evidentiary hearing in enforcement of IRS summons
SCOTUSblog
Coverage of United States v. Clarke, 573 U.S. __ (2014)
January 9, 2014
Blog post: There's Math for That! Delta Value and the Constructive Sale Rules
JOTWELL
Review of Thomas J. Brennan, Law and Finance: The Case of Constructive Sales, 5 Ann. Rev. Fin. Econ. 259 (2013)
2013
February 22, 2013
Blog post: Obamacare and Lower-Income Workers
JOTWELL
Review of David Gamage, Perverse Incentives Arising from the Tax Provisions of Healthcare Reform, 65 Tax L. Rev. 669 (2013)
2012
July 16, 2012
Blog post: Corporate Tax Reform in Theory and in Politics
JOTWELL
Review of Martin Sullivan, Corporate Tax Reform: Taxing Profits in the 21st Century (2011)
2011
September 26, 2011
Blog post: Tax Compliance and the Love Molecule
Arizona State Law Journal Blog
Review of Paul J. Zak, The Moral Molecule (2012)
2009
December 7, 2009
Blog post: Tax Policies, Public Opinions
JOTWELL
Review of Andrea Louise Campbell, What Americans Think of Taxes, in The New American Fiscal Sociology (Isaac William Martin et al. eds., 2009)