Orly Mazur

Professor of Law

Full-time faculty

Email

omazur@smu.edu

Orly Mazur is a Professor of Law at SMU Dedman School of Law. Professor 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, Virginia Tax Review, among other law review and peer-reviewed journals. 

Professor Mazur is actively involved in the academic and legal community. Her service has included, for example, serving as Vice-Chair to the International Tax Committee of the Tax Section of the State Bar of Texas, chairing the American Association of Law Schools’ Section on Taxation, and guest blogging for TaxProf Blog’s Weekly SSRN Tax Article Review and Roundup. She has previously received the university-wide Golden Mustang Teaching Award, been featured in Forbes, and been quoted numerous times in media outlets, such as Bloomberg Law, Law360, and the Wall Street Journal. 

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 as 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

Modernizing The IRS in the Age of AI, 45 Virginia Tax Review (2026)
SSRN

Transforming Tax Communications with Large Language Models, 114 Tax Notes State 243 (2024) (with Adam Thimmesch). 

Beyond ChatGPT: Transforming Government with Augmented LLMs, 92 Tennessee Law Review 87 (2024) (with Adam Thimmesch)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Cooperative Federalism and the Digital Tax Impasse, 51 Florida State University Law Review (2024) (with Adam Thimmesch)
SSRN | SMU Repository

Digital Tax Reform and the State Income Tax: Considerations, 103 Tax Notes State 25 (Jan. 2022) (with Adam Thimmesch).

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

Digital Taxation and the State Income Tax, 102 Tax Notes State 635 (Nov. 2021) (with Adam Thimmesch).

Closing the Digital Divide in State Taxation: A Consumption Tax Agenda, 98 Tax Notes State 961 (Nov. 2020) (with Adam Thimmesch).

Taxing Consumption in the Cloud, 95 Tax Notes Int’l 1371 (Sept. 2019) (with Rifat Azam).

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

Policy Options to Address the “Robot Threat,” in TAXATION OF DATA AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (Collection Genevoise, Schulthess Verlag) (forthcoming 2026)

The Taxation of Robots and Its Global Challenges, in MOBILITY OF INDIVIDUALS AND WORKFORCES (IBFD 2024)

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 Accounts—BEWARE! 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 Debt—The Tax Consequences May Surprise You, Online Publication of Haynes and Boone, LLP (Feb. 25, 2009) (co-author)

Media

Cross Border Tax Radio, interviewed in podcast Taxation of Robots (January 2026)

Law360, quoted in FTA Eyes Key Guidelines for Tax Agencies On AI Use (March 2025)

Dallas Morning News, quoted in With Up to 15,000 IRS Workers Facing Layoffs, Is Now the Time to Cheat on Your Taxes? (February 2025)

Bloomberg Law, quoted in Who’s Afraid of an AI Jobs-Apocalypse? Not America, Apparently (May 2024)

Tax Notes Talk Podcast, interviewed in podcast Should We Have a Robot Tax? Part 2 (November 2022)

The Broadcast Retirement Network, interviewed in podcast Can Blockchain Revolutionize Tax Administration (May 2021)

Taking on Tax and Tech, Forbes, interviewed in A Conversation with Orly Mazur (August 2020)

Dallas Morning News, quoted in Remember how the IRS 1040 form was going to be on a postcard? Here’s why it didn’t happen (July 2020)

Markets Insider, quoted in The Idea of a ‘Robot Tax’ is Gaining Steam as a Way of Dealing with Automation that’s Killing Jobs, (January 2020)

Wall Street Journal, quoted in The ‘Robot Tax’ Debate Heats Up (January 2020)