Federal

  • April 17, 2024

    IRS Finds Success Against 'Ghost Employers,' TIGTA Says

    The Internal Revenue Service has successfully prosecuted 33 cases against employers who issue W-2 forms to workers but fail to remit payroll taxes, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Wednesday.

  • April 16, 2024

    Corp. Transparency Act A Valid Use Of Powers, 11th Circ. Told

    The U.S. Department of Treasury told the Eleventh Circuit that a federal district court erred in finding the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, saying the lower court misunderstood the law's scope and relation to efforts to curb financial crime.

  • April 16, 2024

    Nothing 'Sinister' About Attys, Broker's Tax Plan, NC Jury Told

    Two St. Louis attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent on Tuesday tried to poke holes in an undercover IRS agent's investigation of what the government has characterized as a criminal tax avoidance scheme, which defense counsel sought to paint for the jury as a legal interpretation of federal tax law.

  • April 16, 2024

    Biden Pushes For Permanent Premium Tax Credit Expansion

    President Joe Biden said Tuesday that should he be reelected one of his first actions would be to seek to make permanent the expansions that were made to the health insurance premium tax credit to increase eligibility and lower premiums.

  • April 16, 2024

    Ex-Mich. Speaker, Wife Charged With Embezzlement

    Former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield was charged Tuesday with criminally misusing money from his nonprofit to pay for family trips and designer clothing while in office, as the state attorney general called on lawmakers to beef up Michigan's "worthless" campaign finance laws.

  • April 16, 2024

    Veteran's Signature On IRS Doc Not Forged, Tax Court Finds

    U.S. Air Force veteran and his wife failed to convince the U.S. Tax Court on Tuesday that their signatures were forged on an agreement to pay federal income taxes while working in Australia for defense contractor Raytheon.

  • April 16, 2024

    GOP Senators Call IRS' E-File Program Too Costly

    Senate Republicans continued to criticize the Internal Revenue Service's free tax filing pilot program during a Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, saying the program has not followed best practices and will be costly to implement long term.

  • April 16, 2024

    IRS Publishes 2024 Average Residence Purchase Price Data

    The Internal Revenue Service published data Tuesday on the average purchase price for U.S. residences in different areas, which is used to determine whether bond interest can be excluded from gross income.

  • April 16, 2024

    IRS Extends Excise Tax Relief For Min. Plan Distribution

    Plans that fail to make certain required minimum distributions in 2024 will not be assessed an excise tax under changes made to retirement plan legislation, the Internal Revenue Service said in guidance released Tuesday.

  • April 16, 2024

    3 Key Takeaways From The IRS' Latest Pricing Pact Snapshot

    The IRS finalized a record number of advance pricing agreements in 2023, signaling the agency's increased effectiveness at completing accords at a time when its approach to transfer pricing litigation could fuel corporate taxpayers' urgency for seeking APAs. Here, Law360 breaks down three key takeaways from the agency’s latest APA report.

  • April 16, 2024

    Ex-Prisoner Not Properly Notified Of Tax Bill, Court Says

    A man who was awarded a $201,000 settlement for a prison injury that left him nearly blind in one eye was not properly notified by the IRS that he had failed to pay taxes on the award, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Tuesday.

  • April 16, 2024

    Estate Asks 9th Circ. For Rehearing Over Tax Bill

    The estate of a woman whose trust transferred $1.06 million to her son before she died is asking the Ninth Circuit to rethink its decision upholding $38,000 in federal estate taxes, arguing that the U.S. Tax Court lacked authority to determine the deficiency in the first place.

  • April 16, 2024

    Retrial For Feds' Conduct Denied In $12M Tax Fraud Case

    An Atlanta man convicted of running a $12 million tax refund fraud scheme isn't entitled to a new trial even though federal prosecutors withheld evidence that the man said minimized his role in the crime, a federal judge ruled.

  • April 16, 2024

    Moving Co. Execs Found Guilty In $7.7M Payroll Tax Scheme

    The former president of a moving company and its head bookkeeper conspired to evade more than $7.7 million in federal payroll taxes, a New York federal jury has found.

  • April 16, 2024

    Work-Life Referral Services Don't Count As Income, IRS Says

    Work-life referral services, which employers provide to help employees with personal, family or work challenges, shouldn't be included in workers' gross income, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.

  • April 16, 2024

    Applicable Federal Interest Rates To Rise In May

    Applicable federal rates for income tax purposes will rise in May, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.

  • April 15, 2024

    Tax Attys, Broker Peddled 'Financial Fantasy,' NC Jury Told

    A North Carolina federal jury on Monday heard a series of secret recordings at the start of a tax fraud trial in which an insurance agent and a St. Louis attorney unwittingly pitched an undercover IRS agent on a way to decrease taxable income — or what the government characterized as a "financial fantasy."

  • April 15, 2024

    Exxon Seeks $1.8B Tax Refund As Qatar Deal Trial Opens

    Exxon Mobil Corp. argued Monday in Texas federal court that its deal with Qatar to extract natural gas from the country's coast was a partnership, rather than a lease agreement, saying at the start of a trial that it's entitled to get $1.8 billion in tax benefits back from the IRS.

  • April 15, 2024

    House OKs Ending Exemption For Terrorist-Supporting Orgs

    The House passed legislation Monday that would authorize the Internal Revenue Service to suspend the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization found by the U.S. Treasury secretary to support foreign terrorism.

  • April 15, 2024

    8th Circ. Urged To Revive IRS' Pricing For Medtronic

    The U.S. government urged the Eighth Circuit on Monday to side with the IRS' method for pricing the intangible property that medical device maker Medtronic licensed to a Puerto Rican affiliate, arguing it's the only way to determine arm's-length royalty rates.

  • April 15, 2024

    Donor Fund Regs Could Imperil Nonprofit-Sponsored Projects

    So-called fiscal sponsorship funds set up at established nonprofits to help new projects start charitable work could be unexpectedly threatened by proposed IRS and Treasury rules on donor-advised funds that could subject such arrangements to burdensome taxes, experts say.

  • April 15, 2024

    IRS Boasts Better Service, Direct File Progress On Tax Day

    The IRS achieved an 88% level of service this year on its phone lines and maintained an average call wait time of three minutes while answering more than a million more calls than last year's filing season, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    Tax Court Finds Woman Liable Despite Divorce Decree

    A Connecticut woman is jointly and severably liable for tax liabilities despite a divorce decree that calls for them to be her ex-husband's responsibility, according to a transcript released Monday by the U.S. Tax Court.

  • April 15, 2024

    AICPA Calls For Clearer Forms For Tax-Exempt Orgs

    The Internal Revenue Service ought to clarify filing requirements for forms in order to simplify the filing process for tax-exempt organizations, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants said in a letter made public Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    'Magician' Tax Preparer Arrested On $100M Fraud Charges

    The owner of a New York tax preparation business who was known as "the magician" was arrested Monday on charges that he caused more than $100 million in tax losses to the government over a decade, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Expert Analysis

  • Key Considerations For Seeking Relief From Double Taxation

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    Caroline Setliffe and E. Miller Williams at Eversheds Sutherland lay out the Organization for International Cooperation and Development’s mutual agreement procedure for settling double-taxation disputes, and discuss six factors U.S. taxpayers doing business in multiple countries should consider when determining the most advantageous form of relief.

  • High Court Could Resolve Thorny Atty-Client Privilege Issue

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted review in a federal grand jury proceeding that presents a rare opportunity to clarify — and possibly significantly expand — the scope of the attorney-client privilege for complex mixed-purpose communications with counsel, says David Greenwald at Jenner & Block.

  • 2 Tax Decisions Hold Key Transfer Pricing Takeaways

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    Richard Slowinski and Stefanie Kavanagh at Alston & Bird discuss two recent decisions in cases against the IRS — Eaton Corp. from the Sixth Circuit and Medtronic from the Tax Court — that may help clarify when the agency can cancel an advance pricing agreement, but leave unanswered questions about which pricing method applies to high-value intercompany licensing transactions.

  • Patagonia's Succession Plan Is A Blueprint For Biz Owners

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    While not every business owner is interested in giving their company away to a charitable purpose like Patagonia's founder recently did, the outdoor apparel company's unique situation highlights the considerations that should go into any succession plan, says Abosede Odunsi at Freeborn & Peters.

  • The CHIPS Act: Key Takeaways For Semiconductor Industry

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    The Biden administration’s recently signed CHIPS Act signals that the U.S. is making progress toward bolstering the domestic semiconductor industry, and manufacturers must prepare by understanding the requirements of the act and associated Department of Commerce guidance, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Digital Taxation Is Necessary, But Tough To Manage

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    The U.S. government has started to tackle complex new tax laws as the digital economy continues to grow, but this demands guidelines that will facilitate the growth while protecting investors and the government's finances, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • 5 Considerations When Seeking Federal EV Funding

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    A recent White House fact sheet shows how federal efforts to support the full scope of the electric vehicle industry have moved the needle, but some details about how to use those funds are still being ironed out, and there are a few issues to watch, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Unpacking The Inflation Reduction Act's Energy Tax Credits

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    Provisions in the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act that affect how taxpayers can monetize clean energy tax credits will change how clean energy projects are financed, but taxpayers that may not be allowed multiple credits need to determine which type of credit will be the most advantageous, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • How COVID Has Changed Project Development And Finance

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    Two and a half years into the pandemic, some COVID-19-specific provisions are now common in the project development and finance markets, while others are still undergoing negotiation, say Nate Galer and Katy McNeil at Mayer Brown.

  • Unpacking The Shift In DOJ Corporate Enforcement Policy

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    Attorneys at Paul Hastings provide takeaways for companies seeking to mitigate increased enforcement risks from the U.S. Department of Justice's recent corporate prosecution policy changes, including greater focus on individuals, requirements for cooperation credits, evaluations of prior misconduct, expectations for compliance programs and factors for determining whether to impose a monitor.

  • What AML Bill Could Mean For Firms, Funds And FinCEN

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    If passed, an amendment within Congress’ annual defense bill would expand the list of institutions subject to anti-money laundering regulations, from law firms to investment funds, creating potential rulemaking and enforcement challenges for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • How Inflation Reduction Act Will Lift Offshore Wind Projects

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    The Inflation Reduction Act should promote the development of offshore wind energy in multiple ways — including by improving the planning and permitting process for transmission infrastructure, expanding potential lease areas and making beneficial changes to the tax credits available for renewable energy developers, say attorneys at Day Pitney.

  • CORRECTED: New Tax Credits For Renewables Should Offer Investors Relief

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    The Inflation Reduction Act's changes to tax credits for renewable energy projects should finally liberate tax equity investors from the restraints of the complex and onerous federal anti-abuse regime, says Kay Hobart at Parker Poe. Correction: Because of an editing error, a previous version of this article incorrectly characterized tax enforcement regimes in North Carolina and other states. This error has been corrected.

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