The Internal Revenue Code Section 6662 defines "a tax shelter as any partnership, entity, plan or arrangement if a significant purpose of such partnership, entity, plan or arrangement is the avoidance or evasion of federal income tax" ("What is a tax shelter"). The Internal Revenue code was purposefully created in order to avail corporations to benefit from legitimate tax shelters in order to ensure applicable social and economic benefit intended by Congress. Furthermore, Congress has determined that the resulting loss of revenue is a tolerable byproduct of a "special tax provision" that promotes legitimate investments and encourages economic growth. (Wade).
A legitimate investment is typically one that carries a degree of risk due to the fact that it currently fails to produce gainful income, but within reasonably foreseeable future will avail future gains. On the other hand, an investment that one knows will persistently generate negative income, and has no probability of attaining a successful growth at a later date is disallowed by the tax shelter provision.
For instance, an example of a legitimate tax shelter investment is a low-income property that provides "depreciation benefits" and requires a significant contribution with an element of risk. (Wade). …
