Federal
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May 23, 2025
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included updated domestic asset/liability and yields percentages for 2024 that foreign insurance companies need to compute their minimum effectively connected net investment income.
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May 22, 2025
Critics Decry Budget Bill As Clean Energy 'Attempted Murder'
The budget reconciliation bill that House Republicans passed Thursday replaced an earlier plan to phase out renewable energy tax credits with a 60-day qualification period, leaving project developers struggling to meet a deadline experts say is unrealistic and effectively guts the benefit.
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May 22, 2025
Fla. Can't End Tech Groups' Challenge To Social Media Law
A Florida federal judge on Thursday denied the state's motion to dismiss a complaint brought by technology groups challenging a Florida law restricting social media companies from blocking political candidates, ruling that the plaintiffs have standing to sue on behalf of their members.
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May 22, 2025
Calif. Judge Likely To Extend Block On Gov't Reorg, Job Cuts
A California federal judge indicated Thursday she'll likely convert her temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump's executive order to reduce the federal workforce, saying the law "seems clear" that presidents cannot issue large-scale agency reductions without congressional approval and "to hold otherwise" would contradict nine previous presidents and 21 congresses.
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May 22, 2025
Tax Court Backs IRS In Multibillion-Dollar Facebook Clash
The U.S. Tax Court largely sided with the IRS on Thursday in a multibillion-dollar tax dispute with Facebook, upholding the agency's approach for valuing the company's intangible property but finding it applied the wrong data points in its analysis.
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May 22, 2025
Agreement Reached In Lawsuits Over H&R Block Data Breach
H&R Block has reached an agreement with customers who sued the company in separate class actions over a data breach that affected 23,000 people, according to a Missouri federal court.
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May 22, 2025
Lodge's Owners Can't Claim Loss, Tax Court Says
The owners of an Oregon lodge that was condemned and never opened for guests may not take tax deductions related to $5 million in claimed business losses, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday, saying their involvement didn't count as operating a business.
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May 22, 2025
Another Tariff Suit In Trade Court Signals Joint Review
The legal strategy of utilizing U.S. district courts to challenge President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs suffered another blow this week following a failure to keep a stationery company's suit in Florida federal court, leaving stakeholders to anticipate that similar cases will be consolidated for further review.
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May 22, 2025
6th Circ. Won't Rethink Denial Of $268M Excise Tax Break
The Sixth Circuit won't reconsider its ruling against a Tennessee truck company seeking a $268 million break on excise taxes, letting stand its stance that the company's refurbished tractors may not qualify because they might have previously been sold to tax-exempt buyers.
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May 22, 2025
House Republicans Send Trump's $3.8T Budget Bill To Senate
The U.S. House of Representatives voted along party lines early Thursday to approve a $3.8 trillion bill to extend and make permanent the Republican Party's 2017 tax overhaul law, clearing the measure for Senate consideration by July 4.
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May 21, 2025
Courts Can't Review Trump's Tariff Emergencies, Gov't Says
Courts can't review President Donald Trump's decision that unusual or extraordinary threats exist under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a government attorney told the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday as 12 states seek to block Trump's tariffs under the law.
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May 21, 2025
Pullman & Comley Hospitality Leader On Travel, Taxes, Tariffs
Hotel owners are cautiously awaiting more clarity on what tariffs will look like going forward, and in the meantime, companies are reluctant to commit to new projects or renovations, Pullman & Comley's hospitality leader recently told Law360.
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May 21, 2025
Immigrant Groups Appeal Denied Bid To Halt IRS-ICE Deal
Immigrant advocacy groups on Wednesday appealed a D.C. federal judge's order denying their bid to block the IRS from sharing taxpayer data with immigration enforcement agencies, with their counsel warning "it will be too late" once the information is shared.
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May 21, 2025
Ex-Atty For Slain Journalist Khashoggi Admits Tax Crime
An attorney who once represented the slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi pled guilty to filing a false tax return, admitting that he withheld $355,000 from the Internal Revenue Service.
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May 21, 2025
Ky. Judge Nixes Treasury's Bid To End Labor Contracts
The U.S. Department of the Treasury lacks standing to seek an order allowing it to lawfully terminate its labor contracts with a federal employee union, a Kentucky federal judge ruled, finding the agency's alleged harm is based on speculation about the potential consequences of enforcing an executive order.
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May 21, 2025
Device Maker Who Evaded Tax Gets 2 Years In Prison
A Florida man who sold millions of dollars worth of medical devices that federal prosecutors said were unproven to work was sentenced to two years in prison for evading taxes and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
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May 21, 2025
Ex-Alvarez & Marsal CPA Sentenced To 20 Months In Tax Case
A former accountant at consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal has been sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered to pay the Internal Revenue Service over $2 million for willfully not reporting his income and falsifying the returns in his mortgage application, according to a D.C. federal court.
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May 21, 2025
11th Circ. Lets Man Seek Rare Writ To Fight $21M Restitution
A former payroll director serving time for defrauding hospitals in an employment tax scheme can challenge his $21 million restitution by pursuing a rare legal remedy, the Eleventh Circuit ruled, saying the fact that he's in custody doesn't make him ineligible to apply.
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May 20, 2025
Trump Gets Fla. Judge To Lob China Tariff Suit To Trade Court
A Florida federal judge Tuesday relinquished jurisdiction over five small businesses' lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports, agreeing with Trump that the case fell within the U.S. Court of International Trade's "exclusive jurisdiction."
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May 20, 2025
Tax Credit Repeal Would Deflate US Hydrogen Development
The Republicans' proposal to eliminate tax credits for producing clean hydrogen in the budget reconciliation bill threatens to kneecap the nascent alternative fuel industry in the U.S. while pushing investments overseas to friendlier markets.
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May 20, 2025
Gov't Says Unions Too Slow In Calling For Halt Of Restructure
President Donald Trump called for a California federal judge to tank an injunction bid from unions and advocacy groups about his executive order instructing agencies to plan for reductions in force, arguing the request was delayed and the district court lacks jurisdiction.
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May 20, 2025
Finance Panel's Dems Pan Trump IRS Pick Over Ethical Issues
Senate Finance Committee Democrats deemed former Rep. Billy Long unfit to lead the IRS during his confirmation hearing Wednesday, citing ethical concerns over his promotion of pandemic-era employee retention claims, and of tribal tax credits they called dubious, while working as a business consultant after leaving Congress.
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May 20, 2025
Meta Asks To Toss Claim That Illegal Tool Scraped Tax Info
Meta's tracking tool did not violate state privacy law, the company argued, urging a California federal court to toss a claim calling the tool an unauthorized recording device that collected sensitive information from tax filing websites H&R Block, TaxAct and Tax Slayer.
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May 20, 2025
IRS Complied With Supervisor Signoff Rules, Tax Court Says
The IRS complied with requirements that a supervisor sign off on tax penalties for a partnership the agency says is not entitled to a $180 million deduction for a conservation easement donation, the U.S. Tax Court said Tuesday.
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May 20, 2025
IRS Urged To Scrap Biden-Era Economic Substance Ruling
The National Association of Manufacturers asked the IRS to withdraw a revenue ruling that invokes the economic substance doctrine to disregard certain intercompany transactions, arguing in a letter published Tuesday that it exceeds the agency's authority.
Expert Analysis
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Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being
As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.
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Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win
A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources
Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.
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How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment
Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.
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Ex-Chicago Politician's Case May Further Curb Fraud Theories
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Thompson v. U.S. to determine whether a statement that is misleading but not false still violates federal law, potentially heralding the court’s largest check yet on prosecutors’ expansive fraud theories, with significant implications for sentencing, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
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Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity
Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.
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Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules
The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.
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The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO
The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.
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Tariffs' Economic Downsides Outweigh Potential Revenue
Import tariffs proposed by the campaign of former president Donald Trump would generate revenue like other taxes, but policymakers must consider the net-negative impact of associated consumer and downstream-industry costs, harm to exporters, potential foreign retaliation and reduction in economic output, says Erica York at the Tax Foundation.
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Navigating The Last Leg Of The Worker Retention Tax Credit
Whether a business has applied for the pandemic-era employee retention tax credit, received a denial letter or is still considering making a claim before the April 15 deadline, it should examine recent developments significantly affecting the program before planning next steps, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.
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How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program
During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.
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Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.