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Fall-2021 Supporting Business Law and Innovation
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Low Income Taxpayer Clinic

Students Update Migrant Parents on ITINs

A two-day virtual Oregon Migrant Education Program (MEP) Conference was an opportunity for students at the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) to present a session on ITIN applications and renewals, providing MEP staff and migrant parents information about tax issues that affect the migrant community.

“Working on this presentation with Professor Sarah Lora and then having the opportunity to speak to educators and parents in both languages reminded me of why I came to law school,” Karla Márquez ’23 said about creating and interpreting the presentation. “I am passionate about creating opportunities for non-English-speaking communities to access quality legal information.”

LITC Secures Win for Visiting Jamaican Farmworkers

John Gooden of Jamaica, an H2A farmworker. John Gooden of Jamaica, an H2A farmworker.LITC, cocounseling with attorney Ellen Kreitmeier, represented several farmworkers from Jamaica employed in the United States on H2-A visas to harvest apples in 2018. The IRS rejected the farmworkers’ claims for a personal exemption based on a misapplication of a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This caused the farmworkers to pay taxes on every dollar earned.

Kevin Fann ’20 and Lauren Faris ’21 worked with Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic Sarah Lora, researching the issue and drafting the protest letter on behalf of the H2-A workers. “We were extremely excited when we learned the IRS decided the case in our favor,” Lora said. “Since this decision is now on record, hopefully it can be used to help similarly situated H2-A workers dealing with the same issue.”

Students working in SBLC and LITC this year received support from one or more of the following grants and scholarships: the Alumni Board of Directors Endowed Scholarship; John and Susan Bates Family Scholarship in Business Law; Candise DuBoff Jones Endowed Scholarship; Dean’s Scholarship; Discovery Grant; Environmental Law Fellowship; Helping Hand Scholarship; Alan & Shirley Johansen Scholarship; Doug Newell Scholarship; Peter Nycum Scholarship; Mark G. Tratos Scholarship; Trillium Grant; Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust Scholarship - Law Upper; Division Evening Tuition Award; and Cosgrave Vergeer & Kester Scholarship.

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