Law is a mess, in part because its authors take shortcuts. For example, from the first example on CatalaLang's README.md:
> If the property was acquired by gift [and various conditions apply], then for the purpose of determining loss the basis shall be such fair market value. [emphasis added]
I think (and I'm not a lawyer or a tax expert) that this means that the basis of an asset can have a different value for the purpose of determining gain or determining loss. Wow, basis isn't just a number, although one might not notice this if one didn't read the six emphasized words.
But the Catala code seems to completely ignore this. Oops. I filed an issue:
In a real use case, I imagine that substantial refactoring of the parts that consume basis might be needed when one notices that the basis is not a number.
> If the property was acquired by gift [and various conditions apply], then for the purpose of determining loss the basis shall be such fair market value. [emphasis added]
I think (and I'm not a lawyer or a tax expert) that this means that the basis of an asset can have a different value for the purpose of determining gain or determining loss. Wow, basis isn't just a number, although one might not notice this if one didn't read the six emphasized words.
But the Catala code seems to completely ignore this. Oops. I filed an issue:
https://github.com/CatalaLang/catala/issues/514
In a real use case, I imagine that substantial refactoring of the parts that consume basis might be needed when one notices that the basis is not a number.