IRS Awards $70,000 to MSU Law Tax Clinic Aiding Local Taxpayers

For Release March 30, 2005

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EAST LANSING, MI - The National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina E. Olson, announced that the Internal Revenue Service has awarded $70,000 in a matching grant to the Michigan State University College of Law Tax Clinic for the 2005 grant cycle (Jan. 1, 2005, through Dec. 31, 2005). The Tax Clinic qualified for the grant because it represents low-income taxpayers involved in tax disputes with the IRS and provides assistance to taxpayers for whom English is a second language or who have limited English proficiency.

This grant program, now in its seventh year, encourages the creation and growth of Low Income Taxpayer Clinics across the nation. These clinics, such as the MSU Law Tax Clinic, provide an important resource to taxpayers who may not be able to afford a tax professional.

Michele Halloran, Director of the MSU Law Tax Clinic and clinical professor of law at MSU College of Law, said, “We are most pleased with the IRS’s continued commitment to the outstanding work performed by MSU Law tax clinicians throughout the year. Our students truly are dedicated to providing excellent representation to those most in need of tax assistance.”

MSU College of Law was founded as the Detroit College of Law in 1891. To extend its commitment to educational excellence, the college affiliated with MSU in 1995 and moved to MSU’s East Lansing campus in 1997. The move enabled the law college to build state-of-the-art facilities and to provide the benefits of a Big Ten campus.

MSU College of Law strengthened its affiliation with Michigan State University in 2004, becoming more closely aligned academically. The association between the two schools has led to a comprehensive interdisciplinary legal education program at the law college. Today, the college is one of only two private law schools to be affiliated with a research university and one of the oldest continuously operating independent law colleges in the nation.

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