5 Takeaways From Eaton Trial On Acquisition Financing, Part 1

By Molly Moses

The first part of Eaton’s closely watched U.S. Tax Court trial over the company’s financing of a 2012 acquisition has wrapped up, and the judge's questions to witnesses during the first two and a half weeks reveal that he’s leaning the government’s way on at least one of the central questions in the case. Here, Law360 offers five takeaways from the trial held Nov. 3-19, then resuming Dec. 4.

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Self-Employment Tax Applies To Partners, IRS Tells 1st Circ.

By Kat Lucero

An energy investment fund's limited partners are not exempt from self-employment tax, the IRS told the First Circuit on Wednesday, saying the partnership wrongly relied on state law to treat full-time partners as passive investors and exclude them from the levy.

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11th Circ. Urged To Restore Cut To $17M Easement Deduction

By Anna Scott Farrell

The Internal Revenue Service disregarded U.S. Supreme Court precedent in arguing that the U.S. Tax Court was right to slash a partnership's $17 million tax deduction for donating a conservation easement, the partnership told the Eleventh Circuit.

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Split 6th Circ. Shields Baker Donelson, Not City Councilman

By Matt Perez

In a published opinion, the Sixth Circuit has found that Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC is shielded by qualified immunity as outside counsel for the city of Nashville in litigation over the law firm's firing of a city election commission chair and member of the firm.

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Investor Says Pot Co.'s Old Defenses Can't Stop Fraud Suit

By Mike Curley

An investor suing the principals of cannabis company Devi Holdings Inc. over an undisclosed $13 million tax liability is urging a Florida federal court to deny a motion for summary judgment from Devi's CEO, saying it ignores undisputed facts and rehashes old arguments that were rejected at the dismissal stage.

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IRS To Ax Tax Preparer Regs Decade After DC Circ. Injunction

By Kat Lucero

The Internal Revenue Service will withdraw long-dormant proposed regulations for independent tax return preparers, which the D.C. Circuit effectively halted the agency from finalizing in 2014, the IRS announced Wednesday.

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