Federal

Expert Analysis

• Tax, Social Services And The Need For An IRS Overhaul

  

  Revamping the Internal Revenue Service should start with visibly improving taxpayer experiences to help pave the way for other fundamental changes needed to address the recent drop in audit numbers, personnel losses, burdens of its increasing expansion into social services and other problems, says Rice University fellow Joyce Beebe.

• Key Legal And Regulatory Trends In Oil And Gas Transactions

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Attorneys involved in oil and gas transactions must be aware of important legal and regulatory trends that have emerged recently, including issues surrounding hydraulic fracturing, climate change, pipeline tariffs and a resurgence of regulation under the Biden administration, say Justin Hoffman and Thomas Blackwell at Baker Botts.

• Employer Considerations For Leave Donation Programs

  

  As the battle for talent continues and workers return to the office, companies may consider allowing employees to donate accrued leave time to a shared bank, but employers should first review these programs' complex design issues to comply with state laws and avoid tax consequences, says Rebecca Hudson at Holland & Hart.

• Crypto Cos. Should Prep For More IRS John Doe Summonses

  

  In anticipation of new reporting requirements that will go into effect in 2024, cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians should inform themselves on the John Doe summons, a unique mechanism that allows the IRS to obtain expansive information about cryptocurrency transactions, say Shivani Poddar and Andrew Heighington at Herrick Feinstein.

• Employer Travel Benefits Options For Abortion Care Post-Roe

  

  Given the likelihood that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, and with the proliferation of state legislation restricting abortion access, employers may want to consider the legal implications of several options to expand travel reimbursement benefits for employees who seek abortion services, say Danita Merlau and Ben Conley at Seyfarth.

• Global Tax Chiefs Should Look To US Whistleblower Programs

  

  As the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement develops its international whistleblower program to address tax evasion and money laundering schemes in new areas like cryptocurrency, it should take lessons from highly successful U.S. programs on which features to include and pitfalls to avoid, say Neil Getnick and Nico Gurian at Getnick & Getnick.

• Crypto Investors May Face Increasing State FCA Tax Liability

  

  Cryptocurrency investors who fail to report the state tax consequences of transactions are poised to encounter increased civil or criminal legal exposure as a growing number of states bring tax fraud under the purview of their whistleblower statutes, say attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt.

• Justices' Boechler Ruling May Spell Tax Exceptionalism's End

  

  By basing its decision on cases outside the tax arena, the U.S. Supreme Court treated Boechler v. Commissioner as an administrative law case rather than a tax case and stripped away the traditional lines of tax exceptionalism, says James Creech at Baker Tilly.

• MORE Act's Possible Impact On State-Licensed Cannabis Cos.

  

  The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, would dramatically alter the federal legal landscape for state-licensed cannabis businesses in both positive and negative ways — from opening new marketing avenues to compounding tax burdens, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Omar Figueroa​​​​​​​.

• 3 Contract Considerations For Renewable Fuels Trade

  

  As renewable fuels continue to develop and contracts for their sale and purchase become more common in the energy industry, companies should think about negotiating several key issues when entering into offtake agreements for feedstock purchase transactions, says Nneka Obiokoye at Holland & Knight.

• What Microcaptive Reporting Ruling May Mean For The IRS

  

  In CIC v. Internal Revenue Service, a Tennessee federal court’s decision to set aside an IRS requirement to disclose microcaptive insurance arrangements may be a step toward evidentiary standards to show that the potential for abuse in a lawful transaction is sufficient to support heightened disclosure requirements, says Samuel Lauricia at Weston Hurd.

• Avoiding Surprise Taxation Of Employment Settlements

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Sandra Cohen at Cohen & Buckmann discusses how to avoid unwelcome tax-related payments in connection with settling an employment claim, as the extra cost can significantly decrease the perceived value of an offer and push the parties further apart.

• US Should Leverage Tax Rules To Deter Business With Russia

  

  The U.S. should further restrict the flow of resources available for the Putin regime's war in Ukraine by denying U.S. businesses that operate in Russia or Belarus foreign tax credits and global intangible low-taxed income preferences, and by terminating its tax treaty with Russia, says Reuven Avi-Yonah at University of Michigan Law School.