Federal
-
May 09, 2023
Pillar 2 Doesn't Lead To Double Taxation, IRS Atty Says
Double taxation is eliminated under model rules for the 15% global minimum tax plan known as Pillar Two, and declining to allow tax credits for the income-inclusion rule and undertaxed payment rule would be consistent with those rules, an IRS attorney said Tuesday.
-
May 09, 2023
Ex-NYC Contractor Gets 2 Years For Evading $4.4M In Taxes
The former owner of a New York City construction firm who admitted he failed to pay more than $4.4 million in payroll taxes has been sentenced to two years in federal prison, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
-
May 09, 2023
Corporate Tax Gap Was Growing Before TCJA, CBO Says
A gap between multinational corporations' foreign earnings and the U.S. taxes they pay on that income was growing before the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, according to a report published Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office.
-
May 09, 2023
COVID Payments Reached Americans Quickly, Treasury Says
Americans received the economic impact payments delivered under coronavirus aid legislation in 2020 quickly, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said Tuesday, finding that 95% of recipients received the payments within six weeks.
-
May 09, 2023
IRS Proposes Exception To Life Insurance Settlement Rules
The tax-free transfer of certain life insurance contracts would not be subject to 2019 reporting rules for life settlement transactions, including policy sales and payments of death benefits, under proposed rules released by the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday.
-
May 09, 2023
Woman Owes Tax On Child Support Interest, Tax Court Says
An Alabama woman owes tax on interest that accrued on past-due child support she received, the U.S. Tax Court said Tuesday, saying the interest can't be excluded from her gross income.
-
May 09, 2023
Trump Gets NY Federal Hearing On Bid To Move Criminal Case
A Manhattan federal judge said Tuesday that he'll hold an evidentiary hearing in June to decide whether former President Donald Trump can move his hush-money prosecution from state court to the Southern District of New York.
-
May 09, 2023
IRS To Hold Data Exchange Service Test Sessions In June
The Internal Revenue Service announced Tuesday that the electronic platform it uses to gather and share information on foreign assets held by U.S. taxpayers will be open for a test session in June.
-
May 09, 2023
Ex-IRS Worker Gets 4½ Years For Tax Prep Fraud
A former Internal Revenue Service worker convicted of falsifying tax returns for clients of her tax-preparation business was sentenced to four years six months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $192,000 in restitution, according to a California federal court.
-
May 09, 2023
Treasury Urged To Waive Residency Rules For Charger Credit
Treasury should do away with residency requirements for a tax credit for electric vehicle refueling property under the Inflation Reduction Act, a clean energy industry trade group told the agency, arguing the requirements can undermine efforts to expand electric vehicle use.
-
May 08, 2023
DOJ To Subpoena Santander Unit For Argentine Tax Court
The U.S. Department of Justice can subpoena a Banco Santander unit on behalf of Argentina's National Tax Court, which is pursuing a tax case against an energy company, a Florida federal judge said Monday.
-
May 08, 2023
Ivins Phillips Adds Former Treasury Official From Steptoe
A former assistant secretary for tax policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury has left Steptoe & Johnson LLP and joined Ivins Phillips & Barker as a partner, his new firm announced Monday.
-
May 08, 2023
NY's $12M Tax On Verizon Violates ITFA, Judge Says
New York's imposition of gross receipts tax on certain Verizon services, although allowed by state statute, is preempted by the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act and the company is not liable for more than $12 million in additional tax, according to a determination obtained Monday by Law360.
-
May 08, 2023
Ex-Fiancee Gets 4 Months For $12M Tax Refund Scheme
The ex-fiancee of a man convicted of a $12 million tax refund scheme was sentenced to four months in prison and ordered to pay part of a nearly $2.6 million restitution order for her role in the plot, a Georgia federal court said Monday.
-
May 08, 2023
IRS Urged To Enhance Knowledge-Sharing Efficacy Metrics
The Internal Revenue Service should add additional performance measures to its method for evaluating the effectiveness of the agency's program for sharing and accessing institutional knowledge, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a report released Monday.
-
May 08, 2023
3rd Circ. Upholds Sentence For Intended $325M Tax Schemes
A Philadelphia man's seven-year prison sentence for helping run tax fraud schemes that involved more than $325 million in bogus claims over a decade was upheld Monday by the Third Circuit, which said it didn't matter that the schemes mostly flopped.
-
May 08, 2023
11th Circ. Nixes Review Of Biz Secretary's Tax Penalty Liability
The Eleventh Circuit won't revisit its decision to uphold a Florida jury's determination that a corporate secretary is on the hook for tax penalties due to the failure of her father's air-condition company to properly pay employment taxes, according to an order.
-
May 08, 2023
US Lowers Penalties In FBAR Suit After High Court Ruling
The U.S. government is seeking over $23,000 in penalties, down from $80,000, from a Florida man it said failed to report his foreign bank accounts, according to an amended complaint filed Monday reflecting a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the government's ability to levy those fines.
-
May 06, 2023
Sharp Use Of IRS Service Funds Could Yield More, Chief Says
The Inflation Reduction Act provided the Internal Revenue Service with a funding boost of just $3.18 billion for taxpayer services compared with $45.6 billion for enforcement, but effective use of the service money could help the agency make the case for more, the agency's commissioner said Saturday.
-
May 06, 2023
Timberland-Related Biz's Income Includes $1.4B, 1st Circ. Told
The Internal Revenue Service correctly added $1.4 billion in taxable income to a company associated with apparel maker Timberland after the company exchanged its intangible assets for stock in a foreign entity, the U.S. told the First Circuit.
-
May 08, 2023
2nd Circ. Rejects Claims To Fraudster's Seized Sub Shops
In a published decision on Friday, the Second Circuit found a trial court rightly tossed challenges from a trust and another firm that claimed interests in a New York sub shop chain the government seized following its CEO's conviction on wire fraud and tax evasion charges.
-
May 05, 2023
State Sales Tax Thresholds Post-Wayfair Still Far From Settled
State economic nexus thresholds for sales and use taxes remain in flux nearly five years after the U.S. Supreme Court's Wayfair decision, illustrating the steep learning curve that states and businesses have had to navigate to handle taxes on remote sales.
-
May 05, 2023
NY Woman Ducked $33M In Income Taxes, Penalties, Feds Say
The U.S. Department of the Treasury filed suit in federal court on Friday against a New York woman who it says owes more than $33 million in unpaid federal income taxes and associated fraud penalties.
-
May 05, 2023
IRS Eyes Treaty Updates To Reflect Tax Law Changes
The Internal Revenue Service is grappling with possible changes to tax treaties with several nations to reflect the impact of recently passed tax legislation, a senior IRS official said Friday.
-
May 05, 2023
GAO Expects To Issue New Large Partnership Audit Report
The Government Accountability Office is revisiting a 2014 report that found the Internal Revenue Service struggled to audit large partnerships and plans to release a report this summer on the issue, an official with the office said Friday.
Expert Analysis
-
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.
-
Justices Must Apply Law Evenly In Shadow Docket Rulings
In recent shadow docket decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has inconsistently applied the requirement that parties demonstrate irreparable harm to obtain injunctive relief, which is problematic for two separate but related reasons, says David Hopkins at Benesch.
-
Federal Cannabis Bill Needs A Regulatory Plan To Succeed
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, is laudable but fundamentally flawed because it lacks a robust regulatory plan that would allow for bipartisan support, says Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie.
-
To Capture All Digital Transactions, Tax Rules Must Keep Up
Legislative efforts to capture revenue from digital-transaction income can do better than the American Rescue Plan Act, which recently went into effect but employs definitions that have already been surpassed by technology, says Matthew Agramonte at Shutts & Bowen.
-
Lessons From Recent PPP Loan And COVID Fraud Cases
Following President Joe Biden's recent pledge to expand enforcement efforts against pandemic and Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud, a look at the U.S. Department of Justice's recent criminal and civil enforcement actions sheds light on its evolving priorities, say Sara Lord and Aaron Danzig at Arnall Golden.
-
Ampersand Clarifies Power Project Placed-In-Service Analysis
The Federal Circuit's recent ruling in Ampersand Chowchilla Biomass v. U.S. affirms a lower court's decision regarding when power generation projects were placed in service for federal income tax purposes, but also highlights that the placed-in-service analysis is not one size fits all, say David Burton and Viktoria Vozarova at Norton Rose.
-
Simplifying Tax Issues For Nonresident Athletes In Canada
Tax compliance can be particularly challenging for nonresident professional athletes playing in Canada, but as NHL contract negotiations approach a close, it's worth looking at some ways the tax burden can be mitigated, say Marie-France Dompierre and Marc Pietro Allard at Davies Ward.