After a spring packed with a documentary screening, a visit from two Tax Court judges, and student-led pro bono initiatives, Carolina’s Tax Law Program had one more thing on the calendar: a party. 

On April 15, roughly 100 students gathered in the Rotunda to celebrate Tax Day, the annual event that capped what has been a landmark semester for the Tax Law Program. Professors Kathleen Thomas, Leigh Osofsky, and Noah Marks have led an ambitious expansion of tax programming this year, from community tax literacy events to a new pro bono board to visits from sitting U.S. Tax Court judges. [Read more about the revitalization of Carolina Law’s tax program here.] 

Included in this momentum is the newly launched Tax Law Association, a student organization that held its first event, a Careers in Tax panel, back in February.  

Tax Day marked the Tax Law Program’s most visible moment yet, and students made the most of it. The afternoon opened with a round of tax-themed bingo, moved into the Tax Challenge, a timed problem set that sent students sprinting up multiple flights of stairs to physically retrieve a faculty member and race them back to the Rotunda, and closed with 13 questions of tax trivia. Top scorers took home a Form 1040 signed by the dean and the tax faculty. 

The costume contest, judged by alumni Bill Nelson ’85, Cecilia Barreca ‘24, and adjunct tax law professors Joni Walser ’86 and Charles Plambeck ’86, drew some creative entries. Honorable mentions went to students dressed as Oprah distributing tax-free gifts and as Fringe Benefits. The overall winner, called an easy choice by the judges: Sherlock Holmes dressed as an itemized “deduction.” 

Students interested in getting involved with the Tax Law Association can reach out to the Tax Law Association president, Kaleb Ton.