Federal

  • April 10, 2024

    Fla. Atty Gets 8 Years For Fraudulent Tax Shelter Scheme

    A Florida attorney was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to tax evasion and defrauding the U.S. government through a tax shelter scheme he pitched to clients that involved making purported charitable contributions so his clients could claim millions of dollars in tax deductions they weren't qualified to receive.

  • April 10, 2024

    IRS' DOJ Referral Rules 'A Disaster,' Sen. Whitehouse Says

    The IRS protocols for referring cases to the U.S. Department of Justice are "a disaster" for enforcing laws against bankers and other actors who help U.S. taxpayers evade taxes, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Wednesday during a hearing on offshore tax evasion before the Senate Budget Committee.

  • April 10, 2024

    Feds Cleared To Use Undercover Recording In Atty's Tax Trial

    Federal prosecutors trying an attorney next week on charges he orchestrated a tax fraud scheme that spanned seven states will be allowed to play for the jury an audio recording made by an undercover agent, a North Carolina federal judge ruled.

  • April 10, 2024

    IRS Floats Alternative For Hydrogen Credit Emissions Value

    The Internal Revenue Service released guidance Wednesday that would allow hydrogen producers to pursue another method to value their emissions output — which is critical in qualifying for the clean hydrogen production tax credit — if they can't get the information using the Argonne National Laboratory model.

  • April 10, 2024

    Senate Finance Panel Schedules Hearing On IRS Budget

    The Senate Finance Committee will convene next week to discuss the Internal Revenue Service's budget for 2025, the committee said Wednesday.

  • April 10, 2024

    IRS Fixes Heading For Apprenticeship Credits, Deductions

    The Internal Revenue Service issued a correction notice Wednesday to fix a heading related to increased tax relief for meeting certain wage and apprenticeship requirements.

  • April 10, 2024

    Ex-Trump Finance Chief Weisselberg Jailed For Perjury

    A New York state judge on Wednesday sentenced former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to five months in jail for lying under oath in the attorney general's civil fraud case against Donald Trump and his business associates, imprisoning a close ally of the former president on the eve of his hush-money trial.

  • April 09, 2024

    Treasury Proposes Long-Awaited Stock Buyback Tax Rules

    The U.S. Treasury Department proposed a pair of long-awaited rules Tuesday that detail the calculation and reporting of a new excise tax assessed to publicly traded corporations that recently bought back their own shares of stock on the open market.

  • April 09, 2024

    Healthcare Co. Can't Sue Ex-Exec For Causing Canada Tax Hit

    A Colorado federal judge shot down a pharmacy automation company's suit alleging its former chief commercial officer cost it nearly CA$1.2 million ($907,000) in Canadian taxes by not telling his employer he had moved out of the country, saying the company hasn't shown it suffered any damage as a result.

  • April 09, 2024

    10th Circ. Won't Allow Church To Skirt IRS Summons

    The Tenth Circuit rejected a Kansas church's request to quash an Internal Revenue Service's third-party summons into the organization's bank records because the church does not hold the financial information and therefore is not subject to church tax inquiry restrictions, according to an opinion released Tuesday.

  • April 09, 2024

    Man's Unusual Filing Methods Led To Liability, 4th Circ. Told

    The Fourth Circuit should uphold a U.S. Tax Court decision allowing the IRS to collect the tax liability of a technology consultant who for years used unusual filing methods, the government argued Tuesday, saying the court correctly noted he contributed to any confusion over his bill.

  • April 09, 2024

    Tax Court Rejects Pa. Man's Worked-For-Free Claim

    A Pennsylvania man who claimed he worked for free is liable to pay more than $15,000 in unpaid income taxes, according to a ruling transcript published Tuesday by the U.S. Tax Court.

  • April 09, 2024

    Fund Managers Want Ga. Attys' Tax Shelter Fraud Suit Tossed

    A fund manager accused of misleading investors into an illegal tax shelter want a Georgia federal court to throw out the proposed class action against them, claiming the facts alleged in an updated complaint still aren't specific enough for court.

  • April 08, 2024

    Tax Court Upholds $11M In Foreign Reporting Penalties

    The U.S. Tax Court on Monday mostly upheld $11 million in foreign reporting penalties against a man who admitted he hid money overseas, but the court declined to overturn its ruling that the IRS lacks authority to assess certain foreign reporting penalties.

  • April 08, 2024

    Tax Court OKs Accuracy Penalties After 11th Circ. Reversal

    A Florida man found to owe more than $9 million in taxes is liable to pay accuracy-related penalties, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday, after the Eleventh Circuit reversed a previous decision shielding him from the fines.

  • April 08, 2024

    CPAs Want Treasury To Delay Beneficial Ownership Registry

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury should delay enforcement of beneficial ownership information reporting requirements while courts hear cases challenging the Corporate Transparency Act, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and 54 state CPA societies said.

  • April 08, 2024

    IRS Aptly Denied Man's Payment Proposal, Tax Court Says

    The U.S. Tax Court sided with the Internal Revenue Service on Monday in finding there had been no abuse of discretion when the agency rejected a "partial pay" installment agreement from a Pennsylvania man.

  • April 08, 2024

    Tax Court Declines To Stop Clock For Woman's Petition

    A Virginia woman who failed to timely dispute a collection action could not prove she was entitled to equitable tolling, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday.

  • April 08, 2024

    Ex-IRS Criminal Investigations Head Joins Crypto Data Firm

    A newly retired chief of the Internal Revenue Service's law enforcement arm is taking his skills to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, where he'll help federal agencies and crypto firms leverage Chainalysis' data and solutions to combat financial crime.

  • April 08, 2024

    FTC Defends In-House Judges' Role In H&R Block Case

    H&R Block wrongly claimed that the Federal Trade Commission's administrative law judges should be disqualified from overseeing an administrative proceeding accusing the tax preparation company of deceptive advertising, FTC lawyers told the agency, arguing the judges don't have illegal job protections.

  • April 08, 2024

    Mo. Atty Loses Last-Ditch Bid To Dodge NC Tax Fraud Trial

    A St. Louis attorney lost a last-minute attempt to escape his upcoming tax fraud trial based on claims that the prosecution was never properly authorized, with a North Carolina federal judge finding that the government did mislead the court but nonetheless had the right stamp of approval.

  • April 08, 2024

    Jackson Hewitt Preparers Want First OK On $10.8M Deal

    Former Jackson Hewitt Inc. workers have reached a $10.8 million settlement with their former employer over claims the company's franchisees entered into an anti-competitive no-poach agreement despite the provision being removed from the company's franchise agreements, according to a Friday motion.

  • April 08, 2024

    EU Expansion Question Shines Light On Tax Voting Procedure

    The question of whether the European Union should expand beyond its current 27 member countries is putting the spotlight on the bloc's voting practices, raising concerns that the current unanimity requirement for tax policy changes would become unmanageable with a larger group.

  • April 05, 2024

    Chrisley Must Pay $755K For Slandering Ga. Tax Worker

    Former reality star and convicted fraudster Michael "Todd" Chrisley must pay $755,000 in damages after a federal jury found this week that he slandered a Georgia Department of Revenue employee who played a bit role in his criminal investigation.

  • April 05, 2024

    Arizona Loses Bid To Bar Federal Tax On One-Time Rebates

    A federal court declined Friday to bar federal taxation of Arizona's one-time state tax rebates issued last year, rejecting the state's move for a preliminary injunction against the Internal Revenue Service.

Expert Analysis

  • New R&E Capitalization A Costly Change For Companies

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    Unless modified by legislation in the coming weeks, radical new capitalization rules for research and experimentation costs mean companies should brace for the loss of a major tax break starting with their 2022 tax returns, says Nancy Dollar at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Congress Is Right To Advance Comprehensive Retirement Bill

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    As 2022 comes to a close, Congress' move to include the Secure 2.0 Act, a comprehensive retirement bill, in its omnibus spending package will bring retirees and those nearing retirement more peace of mind regarding their 401(k)s, IRAs and pensions, while reducing red tape for employers, says Andy Banducci at the ERISA Industry Committee.

  • 10 Pre-Deal Considerations In Cross-Border M&A Transactions

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Sergio Galvis and Benjamin Kent at Sullivan & Cromwell discuss steps that can be taken to preemptively address important issues that acquirers of foreign businesses encounter in cross-border M&A transactions, including tax planning and political risk.

  • Clean Hydrogen Developers Should Track Incentives, Risks

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    Clean hydrogen project developers and investors should be aware of new funding opportunities from the U.S. Department of Energy and tax benefits under the Inflation Reduction Act, but must also guard against risks associated with new and evolving technologies, say Pamela Wu and Kirstin Gibbs at Morgan Lewis.

  • IRS Starts Clock On Energy Projects' Labor Rule Exemption

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    A U.S. Department of the Treasury notice published this week started the 60-day clock for clean energy projects seeking to be grandfathered from having to meet new labor requirements to qualify for enhanced tax credits, and uncertainty about how the provisions will apply should be incentive for some investors to begin construction soon, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Foreign Tax Credit Proposal Is Some Help, But More Is Needed

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    New foreign tax credit regulations proposed by the U.S. Treasury Department provided some measure of relief on cost recovery and royalty withholding, two of the most troublesome aspects of the 2021 final foreign tax credit regulations, but the final regulations are still harmful to many taxpayers, making litigation inevitable, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • Anticipating The New Congress' Private Sector Investigations

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    With Republicans claiming a new majority in the House of Representatives in the upcoming Congress, corporates and individuals should expect a sea change in Congress' investigative priorities and areas of focus — and private sector entities can take prudential steps in the near term to best prepare for and mitigate risk, say attorneys at Latham.

  • Tax Equity Requires Reinstating The Home Office Deduction

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    Congress should restore the home office deduction for W-2 workers in the interest of tax equity because permanently remote workers now bear the cost of creating quiet, dedicated work spaces, a pandemic-related shift unforeseen when the deduction was eliminated by 2017's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, say James Mahon and Samantha Lesser at Becker.

  • Keys To IRA Tax Breaks For US Green Energy, EV Production

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    The Inflation Reduction Act includes three powerful tax incentives for domestic production of renewable energy projects and electric vehicles — but there are key questions that investors and manufacturers must ask when evaluating whether they can take advantage of these incentives, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Crypto Case Failed To Clarify Taxation Of Staking Rewards

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    A Tennessee federal court's recent dismissal of Jarrett v. U.S. — after the IRS issued a refund for taxes paid on cryptocurrency and mooted a greater question about the tax treatment of staking rewards — leaves the crypto industry in need of guidance on the IRS’ position, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • How The IRS May Define 'Clean Hydrogen'

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    The Internal Revenue Service is still taking comments on how to define "clean hydrogen" for purposes of Inflation Reduction Act tax credits, but developers can look to the IRA's legislative history — as well as the European Union's struggle to define "green hydrogen" — as guideposts, says Ben Reiter at Nixon Peabody.

  • What To Expect From The Post-Midterms Lame-Duck Session

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    Depending on the results of the midterm elections, the upcoming lame-duck session may be the last chance for Congress to enact meaningful legislation for the next several years, so organizations must push through legislative priorities now, lest they are forced to restart their efforts in a much different environment next year, says James Brandell at Dykema.

  • IRS' Tax Gap Statistics Don't Paint A Full Compliance Picture

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    The Internal Revenue Service's recent report indicating a widening tax gap sheds important light on tax compliance, underlines key pressure points and provides insights into how tax administration could be improved; but tax gap estimates also have their limits, says Joyce Beebe at Rice University.

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