The Not So Pokey Hokies

Abstract

ABSTRACT “The Not So Pokey Hokies” is a running club comprised of runners based on real people who participate in a wide range of running activities including charitable race participation, not-for-profit running organization management, nationally competitive racing, pacing, competitive team membership, coaching, and collegiate sports. This case requires students to identify tax issues related to the running club members' running activities and address the issues using tax research skills. Each runner in the case is based on a real person and is presented as a separate scenario with some common concepts across the scenarios. Specific concepts included are hobby versus for-profit activity classification, independent contractor versus employee role classification, income recognition, expense deductibility, charitable contribution deductions, and athletic scholarship taxation. The modular nature of the case allows the instructor to assign specific tax issues or entire scenarios, depending on the nature of the class. As the students complete the case, they are required to use critical thinking to identify and build tax research skills to address the issues. In addition, students gain technical knowledge through exposure to a variety of tax concepts and written communication skills through completion of a written analysis of the case.