Griswold Family Tax Case

• In Event: Reception with ELS posters

Abstract

The Griswold Family Tax Case is a semester-long case based in part on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie (Warner Brothers, 1989). The case is comprised of several sections including: a movie trivia quiz, copies of all necessary tax forms, completed tax documents for the Griswold family (W-2’s, 1099’s, etc.), additional information in a series of short stories, at least one open-ended tax research question, and an evaluation form.

The first short story gives students all of the information needed to fill out Form 1040. On the first day of class, I put students into small work groups and have them complete this activity. Form 1040 is a two page form that summarizes taxable income, deductions, credits and payments. We spend the rest of the semester learning how to complete many of the supporting tax forms that present the details behind the Form 1040 summary information. As the students work on their first day activity, they quickly realize they must read both the story and the tax form very carefully. At the end of the first class, I stress that this is the way students should approach everything they do when working with tax law.

After we complete each chapter in our textbook, I hand out an additional Griswold short story. The work groups use this story along with the Griswold tax documents and the rules they have learned to complete supporting tax forms such as Schedule A, Form 8949, etc. These forms will provide the details behind one or more of the numbers they entered on Form 1040 the first day of class. By the end of the semester, students will have completed a fairly complex individual income tax return for the Griswold family. Students will also complete at least one research memo dealing with a tax research question related to the Griswold family.

While the tax research memo is graded, none of the tax return-related activities are graded. The Griswold tax return is intended to give students a low risk opportunity to practice applying tax rules to specific factual situations and reflecting the results on tax forms. The tax return is also intended to be used by students as a reference tool. The Griswold Family Tax Case is very popular with my students and it has proved to be a much better way to introduce individual income taxation than anything else I have tried so far.

Author

• Connie Mersch, Monmouth College