Federal
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May 21, 2024
Ways And Means Seeking Input On Possible TCJA Expiration
The House Ways and Means Committee is asking members of the public to share how increased taxes brought on by the possible expiration of the 2017 federal tax overhaul would impact them, the committee's Republican members said Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Valero Brings $37M Refund Claim Over Fuel Credit, Crude Tax
Energy company Valero is seeking $37 million in tax refunds for biomass fuel mixtures it said should've qualified for the alternative fuel tax credit and for claimed overpayments of crude tax, according to a complaint in Texas federal court.
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May 21, 2024
IRS Audit Selection Process May Introduce Bias, GAO Says
The Internal Revenue Service's process for auditing returns claiming refundable tax credits uses a measurement that may introduce unintentional bias against Black and low-income people into its automated selection system, according to a Government Accountability Office report made public Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Strategic Hiring Was The New Normal For BigLaw In 2023
The 400 largest law firms by headcount in the U.S. grew more slowly in 2023 than in the previous two years, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP surpassed the 3,000-attorney threshold, according to the latest Law360 ranking.
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May 21, 2024
The Law360 400: Tracking The Largest US Law Firms
The legal market expanded more tentatively in 2023 than in previous years amid a slowdown in demand for legal services, especially in transactions, an area that has been sluggish but is expected to quicken in the near future.
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May 20, 2024
Ex-IRS Agent, Five Others Sentenced In COVID Fraud Scheme
A former Internal Revenue Service agent, his brother and four other defendants have pled guilty to participating in a scheme that netted more than $3 million in fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic relief loans.
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May 20, 2024
Transparency Act Violates Constitution, Groups Tell 11th Circ.
The Corporate Transparency Act's reporting requirements violate the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination and other constitutional provisions, libertarian think tank Cato Institute and others said Monday in urging the Eleventh Circuit to uphold an Alabama district court's ruling against the law.
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May 20, 2024
Opportunity Zones Helped Restore Pa. City, House Panel Told
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's provisions, especially the law's opportunity zones aimed at boosting economic investment in distressed communities, have been integral in the economic restoration of Erie, Pennsylvania, panelists told the House Ways and Means Committee's tax policy subcommittee Monday.
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May 20, 2024
Lawmakers Ask IRS For Broader, Permanent Free E-File Plan
More than 135 Democratic and Independent members of Congress urged Internal Revenue Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter to expand the IRS' pilot program for free electronic tax return filing and make it permanent.
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May 20, 2024
2 House GOP Chairs Seek Study Of Premium Tax Credit Plan
The Republican chairmen of the House Ways and Means and Budget committees want the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation to study the impact of making the expanded Affordable Care Act premium tax credits permanent.
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May 20, 2024
IRS Guidance Plan Should Cover Corp. AMT, AICPA Says
The Internal Revenue Service should provide guidance on the definitions and applications of the 15% corporate alternative minimum tax, among other topics, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants said in comments published by the agency Monday.
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May 20, 2024
Domino's Franchisee Gets Year In Prison In $2.5M Tax Case
The owner of dozens of Domino's Pizza restaurants was sentenced to a year in prison Monday and ordered to pay $2.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service after having admitted he filed false tax returns, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
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May 20, 2024
Baker McKenzie Ends FOIA Suit Over IRS Partnership Audits
A Baker McKenzie attorney has dropped a public records lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service that sought to compel the agency to turn over documents pertaining to its scrutiny of large partnerships.
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May 20, 2024
Feds Fight Proposed Delay In Hunter Biden's Tax Trial
Hunter Biden shouldn't be allowed to delay his criminal tax trial in California just because his lead attorney says the dates run up against Biden's upcoming trial in Delaware on firearms charges, the special counsel's office told a federal court.
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May 20, 2024
House Dem Bill Would Let Education Savings Cover Transport
Students would be able to use tax-advantaged educational savings accounts to cover transportation and parking costs under a bill introduced by a pair of Democrats in the House of Representatives.
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May 20, 2024
US, Argentina To Carry Out 1st FATCA Info Exchange
The Internal Revenue Service approved cybersecurity measures by Argentina in a step that clears the way for the first automatic information exchange under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act between the two countries in September, Argentina's revenue service said Monday.
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May 17, 2024
Med Device Co. Allowed $160M In Deductions, Tax Court Told
A tax code provision in place before the 2017 federal tax overhaul changed it allows a medical device manufacturer to claim more than $160 million in deductions for dividends despite the government's attempt to apply the law retroactively, company counsel told the U.S. Tax Court on Friday.
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May 17, 2024
Home Distillers Tell Feds Ban Fails Under Spirit Of The Law
The Hobby Distillers Association said the federal government is exceeding its constitutional powers and treading on states' rights by banning homemade liquor under its taxing authority, as the group laid out its position Friday at the request of a Texas federal judge.
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May 17, 2024
Michigan Doctor Seeks Release From Contempt In FBAR Fight
A Michigan doctor incarcerated for civil contempt in a case in which he was ordered to repay more than $1 million in penalties for failure to report foreign accounts should be freed because he can no longer satisfy the terms of his release, he told a Michigan federal court.
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May 17, 2024
Koch-Tied Group Says Transparency Law Offends Federalism
The Corporate Transparency Act is unconstitutional because it does not regulate interstate commerce yet mandates that state-registered entities disclose personal information, a conservative group affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers told the Eleventh Circuit on Friday.
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May 17, 2024
Feds Want Prison For Kiosk Salesman Who Faked Deductions
An electronic-sweepstakes kiosk salesman from Chicago should spend more than two years in prison for submitting false tax returns that fabricated more than $400,000 in business expenses and more than $60,000 in church donations, federal prosecutors told an Illinois federal court.
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May 17, 2024
New Domestic Content Guidance May Boost Energy Credits
The U.S. Treasury Department's new guidance on bonus tax credits for clean energy projects that source domestic-made materials and components aims to simplify the process for determining eligibility and spur more development to get those extra incentives.
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May 17, 2024
Funding Uncertainty Hasn't Affected Plans, IRS Official Says
Political uncertainty about the Internal Revenue Service's future funding hasn't affected the agency's operations planning, the agency's deputy commissioner said Friday at a Tax Council Policy Institute conference in Washington, D.C.
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May 17, 2024
Transfer Pricing Deal Needed For Pillar 1, OECD Official Says
It's crucial for countries to agree on transfer pricing policies under an international profit reallocation agreement known as Pillar One as they work toward their end-of-June deadline to sign a related multilateral treaty, an OECD official said Friday.
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May 17, 2024
Judge Sets Hearing For Delay In Hunter Biden's Tax Trial
A California federal judge agreed Friday to consider Hunter Biden's request to push back his $1.4 million criminal tax trial, setting a hearing to address his claim that the dates interfere with his Delaware gun trial and threaten to prevent him from getting a fair shake.
Expert Analysis
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The Art Of Asking: Leveraging Your Contacts For Referrals
Though attorneys may hesitate to ask for referral recommendations to generate new business, research shows that people want to help others they know, like and trust, so consider who in your network you should approach and how to make the ask, says Rebecca Hnatowski at Edwards Advisory.
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Unpacking The Bill To Extend TCJA's Biz-Friendly Tax Breaks
Attorneys at Skadden examine how a bipartisan bill currently being considered by the U.S. Senate to save the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's tax breaks for research and development costs, and other expiring business-friendly provisions, would affect taxpayers.
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4 Ways To Refresh Your Law Firm's Marketing Strategy
With many BigLaw firms relying on an increasingly obsolete marketing approach that prioritizes stiff professionalism over authentic connection, adopting a few key communications strategies to better connect with today's clients and prospects can make all the difference, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law.
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IRS Sings New Tune: Whistleblower Form Update Is Welcome
In a significant reform at the Internal Revenue Service's Whistleblower Office, the recently introduced revisions to the Form 211 whistleblower award application use new technology and a more intuitive approach to streamline the process of reporting allegations of tax fraud committed by wealthy individuals and companies, says Benjamin Calitri at Kohn Kohn.
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This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener
As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.
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Energy Community Tax Credit Boost Will Benefit Wind Sector
Recent Internal Revenue Service guidance broadening tax credit eligibility to more parts of offshore wind facilities in so-called energy communities is a win for the industry, which stands to see more projects qualify for a particularly valuable bonus in the investment tax credit context due to the capital-intensive nature of offshore wind projects, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Weisselberg's Perjury At Trial Spotlights Atty Ethics Issues
Former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg’s recent guilty plea for perjury in the New York attorney general's civil fraud trial should serve as a reminder to attorneys of their ethical duties when they know a client has lied or plans to lie in court, and the potential penalties for not fulfilling those obligations, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease
This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.
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Why Supreme Court Should Allow Repatriation Tax To Stand
If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't reject the taxpayers' misguided claims in Moore v. U.S. that the mandatory repatriation tax is unconstitutional, it could wreak havoc on our system of taxation and result in a catastrophic loss of revenue for the government, say Christina Mason and Theresa Balducci at Herrick Feinstein.
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For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill
A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.
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Trump's NY Civil Fraud Trial Spotlights Long-Criticized Law
A New York court’s recent decision holding former President Donald Trump liable for fraud brought old criticisms of the state law used against him back into the limelight — including its strikingly broad scope and its major departures from the traditional elements of common law fraud, say Mark Kelley and Lois Ahn at MoloLamken.
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Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea
A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.
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4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best
As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.