Interest Tracing Rules: You Can’t Deduct What You Can’t Trace

Donna first encountered tax issues as a teenage forestry major in a forest economics course at Oregon State University. A few educational twists and turns eventually led her to Temple Law School in Philadelphia, where she discovered her passion for tax law. She joined the tax section of a large Philadelphia law firm, Morgan Lewis, and was quickly recruited to serve as an adjunct law professor—launching a 23-year full-time teaching career.

She now holds the title of Emerita Professor of Law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, MN, where she taught tax courses as well as Property, Estates and Trusts, and Food Law. (Emerita signifies she left on good terms and remains respected by the institution.) Donna began preparing tax returns as a volunteer long before computers were common in the office. Today, she owns Ash Creek Tax & Legal Services LLC in Monmouth, Oregon, providing tax preparation, estate planning, and taxpayer representation since 2016.