Federal
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March 20, 2024
Wyden Bill Would Target Abuse Of Annuity Trusts
A bill introduced Wednesday by the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., would attempt to limit the abuse of a type of annuity trusts by the wealthy, in part by imposing a requirement that the instruments have a minimum term of at least 15 years.
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March 20, 2024
IRS Releases Foreign Housing Expense Limits For 2024
The Internal Revenue Service released adjustments to the limitation on foreign housing expense deductions and exclusions for 2024 on Wednesday.
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March 20, 2024
IRS Asks Justices To Scrap Couple's Late-Filed Tax Court Suit
The IRS asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider reversing the Third Circuit's revival of a couple's challenge to their tax bill, saying the appeals court incorrectly concluded that a 90-day deadline for petitioning the U.S. Tax Court need not always be met.
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March 20, 2024
RI Ex-Broker Gets 8 Years In Ponzi Scheme
A Rhode Island man was sentenced to eight years in prison for running a decade-long Ponzi scheme to defraud investors and to evade his taxes.
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March 20, 2024
How The Supreme Court Could Narrow Chevron
After hours of oral argument in a closely watched administrative law case, it appeared that some U.S. Supreme Court justices could be open to limiting the opportunities for lower courts to defer to federal agencies' legal interpretations in disputes over rulemaking — and legal experts said there are a number of ways they could do it.
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March 20, 2024
IRS Withholding Docs On Partnership Audits, Baker Atty Says
The Internal Revenue Service has not responded to a request for documents pertaining to the agency's scrutiny of large partnerships and should be forced to disclose them, an attorney with Baker McKenzie told a D.C. federal court.
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March 20, 2024
IRS Grants Income Exclusion To Those Fleeing 6 Countries
Individuals who fled conditions in Ukraine, Belarus, Sudan, Haiti, Niger and Iraq after specific dates in 2023 can exclude foreign earned income, and can exclude or deduct housing costs, from gross income that year because of adverse conditions in the countries, the IRS said.
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March 20, 2024
Law360 Announces The Members Of Its 2024 Editorial Boards
Law360 is pleased to announce the formation of its 2024 Editorial Advisory Boards.
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March 20, 2024
King & Spalding Adds Ex-PwC Tax Pro As Partner In NY
An experienced tax attorney has joined King & Spalding LLP in New York after working at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for six years.
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March 19, 2024
US Climate Law's Clean Energy Credit Requests Reach 45K
About 500 entities have requested registration numbers for more than 45,500 projects that aim to use the Inflation Reduction Act's clean energy tax credits, the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of the Treasury said Tuesday.
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March 19, 2024
ABA Tax Section Seeks Revised Donor-Advised Fund Rules
The U.S. Treasury Department should revise excise tax rules for certain distributions from donor-advised funds in a manner that is consistent with regulations governing similar funds and that doesn't duplicate existing tax penalties, the American Bar Association Tax Section said.
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March 19, 2024
Staffing Co. Owner Gets 4 Years For Hiring Untaxed Labor
The owner of a staffing company in Key West, Florida, that hired untaxed and unauthorized workers was sentenced by a Florida federal judge to four years in prison and ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution to the U.S. government, according to court documents.
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March 19, 2024
GILTI Figures Into CFC Applicability Project, Official Says
The U.S. global intangible low-taxed income system is factoring into continuing Internal Revenue Service work on whether a tax code provision limiting corporations from offsetting income with net operating or other tax losses after ownership changes applies to controlled foreign corporations, an agency official said Tuesday.
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March 19, 2024
Pension Plan Segment Rates Increase In March
Segment rates for calculating pension plan funding rose in March, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.
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March 19, 2024
Exxon Wants Closed Court In $1.8B Tax Trial
Exxon Mobil plans to seek courtroom closures for parts of an upcoming trial in its $1.8 billion suit challenging denied tax deductions for payments it made to Qatar, telling a Texas federal court that certain testimony, if made public, would damage its relationship with the foreign partner.
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March 18, 2024
Ariz. Rebates Trigger Federal Tax, IRS Tells Court
Arizona's one-time 2023 payments to taxpayers are subject to federal taxation because they do not qualify for exclusions for general welfare or disaster relief payments, the Internal Revenue Service told a federal court.
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March 18, 2024
Justices Won't Review Dead Film Exec's IRS Summons
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a request from the daughter of a dead film executive to consider invalidating an IRS summons for her father's financial records, letting stand a Ninth Circuit decision that found the agency sought the records in good faith.
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March 18, 2024
Werfel Calls Online Biz Account Authentication A Challenge
Establishing an effective user authentication method for companies using online business tax accounts is a challenge for the Internal Revenue Service and the agency wants suggestions on how to do it, commissioner Daniel Werfel said Monday.
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March 18, 2024
Treasury Mulling Whether To Keep Foreign Tax Credit Regime
The U.S. Treasury Department is considering whether the best way to provide administrable foreign tax credit rules and address related policy concerns is to retain the framework from paused final regulations or develop a new one, a Treasury official said Monday.
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March 18, 2024
Tennis Job No Reason To Slice 'Varsity Blues' Term, Feds Say
A tennis instructor job in New York is no reason to grant an early end to the home confinement portion of a sentence given to a former Georgetown University coach for his role in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal, prosecutors told a Massachusetts federal judge Monday.
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March 18, 2024
Wyden, Whitehouse Scrutinize DOJ's Caterpillar Investigation
Two top Democratic senators asked the U.S. Justice Department about its handling of a criminal inquiry into Caterpillar for potential financial crimes and corporate tax fraud after receiving evidence corroborating a report that former DOJ officials may have suppressed the investigation, according to a letter released Monday.
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March 18, 2024
Feds Want 12 Years For Ex-Broker In Fraud, Tax Case
A former mortgage broker whose decadelong fraud scheme tricked more than a dozen people out of $8 million and caused more than $3 million in tax losses should spend 12 and a half years in prison, the government told a Rhode Island federal court.
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March 18, 2024
IRS Schedules Hearing On Hydrogen Production Taxes
The Internal Revenue Service plans to hold a three-day public hearing this month on proposed rules affecting the tax treatment of the production of clean hydrogen, the agency announced Monday.
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March 15, 2024
Ohio Ambulance Co. Says HR Firm Botched Tax Returns
An Ohio ambulance company accused its human resources management firm of failing to accurately prepare and submit amended tax returns that would have allowed the company to claim pandemic-era tax credits, according to a complaint filed in an Ohio federal court.
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March 15, 2024
Justices Told Estate Incorrectly Taxed On Insurance Payout
The federal government's argument that the $3.5 million in life insurance proceeds a company used to redeem a deceased owner's shares increased both the company's value and its dead owner's estate tax liability ignores "economic reality," the estate told the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday.
Expert Analysis
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5 Ways Taxpayers Can Spot Employee Retention Credit Scams
On Monday, the Internal Revenue Service added the employee retention credit to its list of prevalent tax scams because of ERC promoters seeking to take advantage of employers, but taxpayers who may qualify for the credit can protect themselves by recognizing certain red flags, say attorneys at Potomac Law and Stout Risius.
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Could The Supreme Court Legalize Marijuana Federally?
Amid slow legislative and executive movement on cannabis reform, it’s worth examining whether the U.S. Supreme Court could provide a pathway to federal cannabis legalization — a decision that would surely require strange bedfellows given the court’s current ideological makeup, say Whitt Steineker and Mason Kruse at Bradley Arant.
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Tax Pitfalls To Avoid In Employment Litigation Settlements
Downsizing companies should keep certain questions in mind when settling claims with departing employees to ensure they understand associated tax withholding and reporting obligations, and avoid costly interest and penalties down the road, says Matthew Meltzer at Flaster Greenberg.
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Key Considerations For Taxpayers Deducting Crypto Losses
While a recent Internal Revenue Service memorandum is helpful in providing insight into how the agency is considering guidance related to cryptocurrency, questions remain with respect to whether a taxpayer can claim a tax deduction for cryptocurrency losses, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Justices' MoneyGram Opinion Could Spur State Legislation
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision that federal law governs the escheatment of over $250 million in unclaimed MoneyGram checks provides clarity for some issuers, but aspects of related common law remain uncertain and states may take the opportunity to pass multistate escheatment legislation, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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Justices Leave Questions Open On Dual-Purpose Atty Advice
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury on grounds that certiorari was improvidently granted leaves unresolved a circuit split over the proper test for deciding when attorney-client privilege protects a lawyer's advice that has multiple purposes, say Susan Combs and Richard Kiely at Holland & Hart.
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Employee Retention Tax Credit: Gray Areas And Red Flags
The subjective nature of the pandemic-prompted employee retention credit, coupled with a lack of Internal Revenue Service guidance, have created fertile ground for opportunists, so businesses seeking this tax benefit should be mindful of tax advisers who would involve them in fraudulent ERC claims, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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High Court Ax Of Atty-Client Privilege Case Deepens Split
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury as improvidently granted maintains a three-way circuit split on the application of attorney-client privilege to multipurpose communications, although the justices have at least shown a desire to address it, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
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Clean Energy Tax Credits' Wage, Apprentice Rules: Key Points
The Inflation Reduction Act's complicated prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements for clean energy facility construction tax credits recently took effect — and the learning curve will be more difficult for taxpayers who are not already familiar with such programs, say attorneys at Shearman.
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Crypto Coverage After FTX Fall: Crime And Custody Coverage
Cryptocurrency firm FTX's recent implosion provides a case study for potential crypto exposure under traditional insurance policies, and suggests carriers should ask some basic underwriting questions, including whether a company engages in transactions involving cryptocurrencies or holds digital assets in custody, says Anjali Das at Wilson Elser.
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US-India Advance Pricing Resolutions Should Reassure Cos.
The United States' and India's tax authorities' recent resolution of a significant number of pending advance pricing agreements should reduce taxpayer uncertainty, reassure companies of the nations' good working relationship and improve India's investment environment, say Miller Williams and Caroline Setliffe at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Reimagining Benefits For A World Without Noncompetes
Though the Federal Trade Commission's recently proposed noncompete ban is still in its infancy, companies should begin considering whether they would need to retool their payment and benefits packages to comply, while still protecting their competitive edge, say Melissa Ostrower and Alec Nealon at Jackson Lewis.
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A Closer Look At Rep. Santos' Claims And Potential Charges
Skadden partner and former federal prosecutor Maria Cruz Melendez discusses Rep. George Santos' legal exposure following his alleged misrepresentations and the possible scope of investigations into his conduct — noting that if history is any indication, the congressman could face prison time if convicted.