Federal
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February 23, 2023
Justices Urged To Affirm 6th Circ. OK Of IRS Firm Summonses
The U.S. Supreme Court should affirm a Sixth Circuit decision finding the IRS could proceed with summonses seeking the banking records of two law firms and the spouse of a man owing $2 million in taxes without notifying them of the requests, the U.S. government argued.
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February 23, 2023
US Calls Hospice Co.'s Payroll Tax Refund Suit Premature
An Alabama federal court should toss a lawsuit brought by a hospice services provider trying to recoup nearly $360,000 in payroll tax refunds because the provider didn't properly seek a refund from the Internal Revenue Service first, the government said.
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February 23, 2023
Hodgson Russ Taps Tax Atty To Lead Palm Beach, Fla. Office
Hodgson Russ LLP has selected one of its longtime attorneys and leader of its federal tax controversy practice to head up its office in Palm Beach, Florida.
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February 23, 2023
IRS Charged $7.2M Late Penalty In Error, Man Tells Court
The IRS wrongly slapped a Los Angeles man with a $7.2 million penalty for failing to file a tax form on time, even though the agency possessed evidence the form was not actually late, the man told a California federal court.
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February 23, 2023
Ex-DOJ Senior Atty Joins SouthBank Legal To Start Tax Group
SouthBank Legal has hired a former U.S. Department of Justice senior tax litigator to launch and lead its tax controversy practice from the Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced Wednesday.
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February 22, 2023
Split Tax Court's 3M Decision Raises Admin. Law Questions
A recent U.S. Tax Court ruling against 3M that narrowly upheld transfer pricing regulations reflects divided views on key administrative law concepts, casting uncertainty over what standards the Internal Revenue Service may ultimately have to meet when defending rules.
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February 22, 2023
Feds Coerced Swiss Bank On Records, Russian Exec Says
A Russian gas executive accused of hiding $93 million from the IRS in overseas accounts accused federal prosecutors Wednesday of strong-arming a Swiss bank into producing his account records, violating his right to avoid incriminating himself ahead of his upcoming trial.
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February 22, 2023
Full 8th Circ. Urged To Revive 'Block' Bar On H&R Block Rival
H&R Block urged the full Eighth Circuit to review a panel decision removing a temporary bar on Block Inc. using its name in connection with its tax product, arguing the appeals court broke with its own precedent in reversing the preliminary injunction.
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February 22, 2023
Too Many Returns Picked For Exams Not Audited, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service closed cases on almost half the taxpayers considered for specialty employment tax examinations from 2018 through 2020 without conducting the audits, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a report released Wednesday.
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February 22, 2023
IRS Summons Too Broad, Real Estate Co. Director Tells Court
A director of a family real estate corporation being audited by the IRS asked a California federal court to quash the agency's request for his employment and other records, saying its summons is illegally broad and seeks irrelevant information.
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February 22, 2023
Treasury Finalizes Rule For Groups With Foreign Stock Shifts
Final rules from the U.S. Treasury Department published Wednesday treat members of consolidated groups as a single shareholder of a foreign corporation when stock in the affiliate moves within the group in certain ways that affect taxable offshore income.
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February 22, 2023
Pension Plan Segment Rates Rise In February
Segment rates for calculating pension plan funding rose in February, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.
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February 22, 2023
DOJ Issues Corp. Self-Disclosure Policy For US Atty's Offices
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday unveiled a voluntary self-disclosure policy for corporate criminal enforcement in all U.S. attorney's offices across the nation, offering steep discounts on fines and non-guilty plea resolutions to companies that timely self-report.
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February 21, 2023
IRS Ordered To Calculate Refunds For Preparer ID Fees
Tax return preparers are entitled to refunds for fees they paid the IRS to get their special identification numbers with the agency after a D.C. federal judge found in an opinion unsealed Tuesday that the fees were excessive.
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February 21, 2023
IRS Delays Lowered Mandatory E-File Threshold Until 2024
The IRS will delay until 2024 a requirement that businesses electronically file certain information returns and other returns if they file 10 or more returns, down from the current threshold of 250, under final rules released Tuesday by the agency and the U.S. Treasury Department.
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February 21, 2023
Lawyer's Racing Costs Weren't Ad Expenses, Tax Court Says
A Colorado personal injury lawyer can't deduct costs related to taking part in auto races as advertising expenses for his law firm, the U.S. Tax Court said Tuesday.
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February 21, 2023
Neurosurgeon Asks Justices To Weigh Bid For $1.9M Tax Loss
A neurosurgeon asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to weigh in on his bid for a $1.9 million tax loss attributable to alleged patent infringement on an imaging technique, after the Ninth Circuit declined to revisit it.
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February 21, 2023
IRS Must Give Some Disciplinary Docs To Atty, DC Circ. Says
An attorney is entitled to some documents stemming from a closed IRS misconduct investigation into him after the D.C. Circuit found Tuesday that certain records contained mere factual summations relating to the probe that aren't protected from disclosure under public records law.
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February 21, 2023
Railroad Group Asks 11th Circ. To Keep Ala. Fuel Tax Blocked
The Eleventh Circuit should uphold a decision that barred Alabama from imposing a fuel tax on six railroad companies because precedent establishes that the tax is discriminatory, an association for the railroads said in an amicus brief.
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February 21, 2023
Judge Refers $4.6M FBAR Case For Settlement
A case seeking $4.6 million in foreign bank account reporting penalties from a former insurance broker was sent to a California federal magistrate judge for settlement proceedings.
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February 21, 2023
Justices Told To Save FBAR Case For 8th Amendment Ruling
A Boston woman facing $3 million in penalties for failing to report her Swiss bank account asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its denial of her request to review the penalties, saying the court has since agreed to take up a case that similarly implicates the Eighth Amendment.
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February 21, 2023
IRS Electronic Advisory Panel To Meet March 22
The Internal Revenue Service's Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee, meant to encourage paperless filing and provide feedback on how the IRS performs its duties electronically, will host a meeting March 22, the agency said Tuesday.
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February 17, 2023
Energy Storage Projects Ready To Reap Tax Credit Rewards
Developers and investors are grappling with how to take advantage of brand-new federal tax credit eligibility for energy storage projects, but a recently announced financing deal shows they're starting to find ways to cash in.
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February 17, 2023
House, Senate Bills Float Tax On Windfall Oil Profits
Oil companies would be taxed on each barrel of crude oil extracted or entered into the U.S. under a pair of bills introduced in Congress.
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February 17, 2023
Worker Who Reported No Income Owes Tax, Tax Court Says
A Nevada woman who declared that she earned no income and owed no taxes, when in reality she received money from working, must pay her overdue bill plus a penalty for filing a frivolous return, the U.S. Tax Court said Friday.
Expert Analysis
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Justices Open The Door Wider For Donor Info Law Challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, striking down California's requirement that charities disclose the identity of major donors, will make similar state and federal statutes more vulnerable to constitutional challenge, says Lloyd Mayer at Notre Dame Law School.
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IRS Extension Is Partial Relief For Renewable Energy Projects
The Internal Revenue Service’s recent extension of the start-of-construction safe harbor for renewable-energy projects is welcome relief for solar companies unable to benefit from previous extensions, but it is still unclear whether a project that exceeds the deemed continuity period qualifies for a tax credit if it cannot prove continuous work, says David Burton at Norton Rose.
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Justices Should Find California Donor Law Unconstitutional
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta should strike down a California law requiring charities to disclose their donors because the state’s interest in this information is not sufficiently compelling to overcome constitutional rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, says James Skyles at Skyles Law Group and M2M Legal.
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US Must Boost Solar Industry To Protect Human Rights, Jobs
Recent revelations that many solar panels are made using polysilicon from the Xinjiang province of China, allegedly the site of mass forced labor and other abuses, make it all the more urgent that Congress and the Biden administration enact policies that promote American solar manufacturing in place of dumped and artificially cheap Chinese products, says Tim Brightbill at Wiley Rein.
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What Crypto Holders Can Learn From Early-2000s Tax Scandal
The Internal Revenue Service’s recent push to gather information about cryptocurrency accounts is similar to its Swiss bank account investigations of the early 2000s, which should prompt taxpayers to consider voluntarily disclosing transactions before they are individually targeted for enforcement, say Timothy Wagner and Thomas Barnard at Baker Donelson.
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Bipartisan Support Shows Bright Future For Carbon Capture
Recent policy proposals — from the Biden administration as well as members of Congress from both parties — promoting carbon capture, utilization and sequestration suggest that this technology has a key role to play in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, says Kevin Poloncarz at Covington.
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International Tax Reform's Implications For Transfer Pricing
As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development overhauls the global tax rules on base erosion and profit shifting, and the Biden administration rolls out new U.S. tax proposals, multinational enterprises need to prepare for the effects of these tax changes on their transfer pricing structures, say Mandy Li and Shuang Feng at MGO.
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Justices' Preemptive Tax Challenge Ruling Shows Divisions
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in CIC Services v. Internal Revenue Service reveals divisions among the justices about when potentially burdensome tax regulations can be challenged, making the holding less clear and less valuable, say George Isaacson and David Swetnam-Burland at Brann & Isaacson.
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Takeaways From 2 New FBAR Rulings
In light of two recent California federal court decisions, capping penalties for nonwillful violations of foreign bank account reporting but broadening the willfulness standard, U.S. taxpayers must be vigilant about understanding their reporting obligations, and prepare for the Internal Revenue Service to target willful conduct, which yields much higher penalties, say Friedemann Thomma and Marianna Felshtiner at Venable.
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How Biden Tax Plans Would Boost Renewable Energy
The Biden administration's recently released revenue proposals for fiscal year 2022 include major enhancements and extensions to various green energy tax credits, and show that the administration is aligned with Congress in supporting renewable development, even if they differ on details, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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What Tax Court's Mylan Legal Fee Ruling Means For IP Suits
The U.S. Tax Court's recent ruling that Mylan Inc. could deduct as regular business expenses the legal fees it incurred defending itself against patent infringement suits from brand-name drug manufacturers has the potential to increase patent litigation and may make settlement less appealing, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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Biden's Clean Energy Goals Require Big Hydrogen Push
To realize its ambitious renewable energy goals, the Biden administration, along with Congress, must promote the growth of the hydrogen industry using every available tool, including regulations, grants, tax incentives and direct purchases, say Abdon Rangel at Andersen Tax and John Taylor at King & Spalding.
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IRS Summons Ruling Isn't A Total Loss For Investors
A California federal court’s recent order allowing an IRS information summons on cryptocurrency exchange Kraken paradoxically provides hope for investors concerned about their privacy by limiting the scope of the agency’s inquiry, says Joshua Smeltzer at Gray Reed.