Orly Mazur

Oryl Mazur

Associate Professor of Law

Full-time faculty

Email

omazur@smu.edu

Orly Mazur teaches and writes in the area of tax law and policy. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection of tax law and technology, international and comparative taxation, and taxation in the digital economy. Her work has been published in numerous journals, including the California Law Review, Boston College Law Review, Pepperdine Law Review, Columbia Journal of Tax Law, among other law review and peer-reviewed journals.

Professor Mazur is actively involved in the academic and legal community. In 2016, she received the university-wide Golden Mustang Teaching Award. In 2022, Professor Mazur was appointed to serve as Vice-Chair to the International Tax Committee of the Tax Section of the State Bar of Texas. She is also a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and has served as a member of the executive committee of the American Association of Law Schools’ Section on Taxation since 2019 and will be its Chair in 2023. Professor Mazur has also been a guest blogger for TaxProf Blog’s Weekly SSRN Tax Article Review and Roundup and was featured in Forbes in 2020.

Before joining the SMU faculty, Professor Mazur worked as an associate in the Business Planning and Taxation group at Haynes and Boone, LLP. She also worked as a certified public accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, where she focused her practice on international taxation. Professor Mazur has previously taught tax courses at SMU as an Adjunct Professor and a Visiting Assistant Professor and has given short courses on emerging international tax law issues at the International Taxation Academy in Taiwan.

Professor Mazur received her B.B.A. and M.P.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin and her J.D., summa cum laude, from SMU Dedman School of Law, where she graduated first in her class was a member of the SMU Law Review. She holds an LL.M in taxation from NYU School of Law.

Area of expertise

  • Federal Income Tax Law
  • International Tax Law
  • Corporate Tax Law
  • Tax Policy

Education

B.B.A., summa cum laude, University of Texas at Austin
M.P.Acc., summa cum laude, University of Texas at Austin
J.D., summa cum laude, SMU Dedman School of Law
LL.M., New York University School of Law

Courses

Income Taxation
Corporate Tax
Tax Accounting
Taxation of Property Dispositions

Articles

Cooperative Federalism and the Digital Tax Impasse, 51 Florida State University Law Review (forthcoming 2023) (with Adam Thimmesch)
SSRN

Can Blockchain Revolutionize Tax Administration?, 127 Penn State Law Review 115 (2022)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Cloudy with a Chance of Taxation, 22 Florida Tax Review 2, 500 (2019) (with Rifat Azam)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Taxing the Robots, 46 Pepperdine Law Review 277 (2019)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Social Impact Bonds: A Tax-Favored Investment? 9 Columbia Journal of Tax Law 141 (2017)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Taxing Social Impact Bonds, 20 Florida Tax Review 431 (2017)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Taxing the Cloud: Transfer Pricing Considerations, 154 Tax Notes 623 (Jan. 2017), reprinted in 85 Tax Notes International 459 (Jan. 2017)

Transfer Pricing Challenges in the Cloud, 57 Boston College Law Review 643 (2016)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Tax Challenges in the Cloud, 19 Journal of Internet Law 3 (Oct. 2015)

Taxing the Cloud, 103 California Law Review 1 (2015)
     - Awarded the 2013 David F. Bradford Memorial Prize by NYU School of Law for best paper in the field of taxation
SSRN | SMU Repository

Tax Abuse – Lessons from Abroad, 65 SMU Law Review 551 (2012)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Good News in a Bad Economy: Service Acquiesces on Pro-Taxpayer Application of Passive Activity Loss Rules to Limited Liability Companies, 65 The Tax Lawyer 1 (2011)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Mining the Tax-Free Exchange, Oil and Gas Investor Magazine (Jan. 2011) (co-author)
HartEnergy.com


Book chapters

Cleantech Financing, in Energy Law and Transactions (2009) (co-contributor)

The Other End of the Firehouse: The Treasury Giveth and the IRS Taketh Away (co-author)

Other publications

Taxing the Robots, Machine Lawyering (October 1, 2018)

Ask the Experts: 2015's Best States to Be Rich or Poor from a Tax Perspective, WalletHub (March 23, 2015)

Ask the Experts: Best Tax Advice, WalletHub (March 18, 2014)

Foreign Account Holders and Persons with Authority over Foreign AccountsBEWARE! The June 30th U.S. Filing Deadline May Apply to You, Online Publication of Haynes and Boone, LLP (June 24, 2009)

Weathering the Storm:  Modifying your Company's Debt: Tax Trap or Treasure?, Online Publication of Haynes and Boone, LLP (May 7, 2009) (co-author)

Weathering the Storm:  Purchasing a Company's Own DebtThe Tax Consequences May Surprise You, Online Publication of Haynes and Boone, LLP (Feb. 25, 2009) (co-author)