Federal
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May 16, 2024
House Ways And Means To Discuss Rust Belt Economy
The House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee will meet to discuss economic opportunities in the Rust Belt region May 20, the committee said Thursday.
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May 16, 2024
Firm Seeks To Force IRS To Process Worker Retention Credits
A tax advisory firm helping businesses apply for the pandemic-era employee retention credit has asked an Arizona federal court to force the IRS to resume processing claims, saying the moratorium in place since September violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
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May 16, 2024
Ex-Minn. Public Defender Gets Probation For Tax Fraud
A former Minneapolis chief public defender who argued that he should receive a lenient sentence after resigning in disgrace amid accusations that he failed to pay taxes for years on his private law firm was sentenced to three years probation by a Minnesota federal court.
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May 16, 2024
No Relief For Struggling SPACs Under Buyback Tax Proposal
Special-purpose acquisition companies won't get sought-after relief from a new 1% tax on stock buybacks under a recent Treasury Department proposal that otherwise provides helpful clarity on the tax's implications for the subdued SPAC market, lawyers say.
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May 16, 2024
IRS Postpones Tax Due Dates In Ohio After Tornadoes
Some Ohio taxpayers will be given until September to file tax returns and make payments because of tornadoes that hit the state in March, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.
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May 16, 2024
Biden Admin Proposes To Loosen Restrictions On Marijuana
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that his administration has formally recommended relaxing restrictions on marijuana, marking the most significant federal policy shift on cannabis since the drug was criminalized more than 50 years ago.
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May 16, 2024
US Must Produce Emails Between IRS Managers, Docs Leaker
The government must produce emails between Internal Revenue Service managers and a former contractor who leaked thousands of wealthy people's tax returns, a Florida federal judge has ordered, saying the materials are relevant to a billionaire's case accusing the agency of responsibility for the leak.
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May 16, 2024
IRS Cancels Hearing On Direct Pay Partnership Tax Rules
The Internal Revenue Service canceled a planned public hearing on proposed regulations that would allow certain unincorporated organizations to be excluded from the partnership tax rules for direct payments of green energy tax credits.
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May 16, 2024
Treasury Provides Extra Relief For Bonus Energy Tax Credits
The U.S. Treasury Department provided additional safe harbors Thursday that clean energy project developers can use to qualify for bonus tax credits for domestically sourcing their steel and aluminum parts in response to the Biden administration's new trade restrictions on solar products from China.
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May 15, 2024
Conn. Strip Club Owner Ran 'Brothel,' Hid $5.7M, Feds Say
The man in charge of a Connecticut strip club and two of his associates operated the business as a brothel, took payments for "commercial sex acts," lied to secure a $150,000 federal COVID-19 relief grant, and hid $5.7 million in income from the IRS, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
Russian Gas Ex-CFO Can't Nix $44M FBAR Suit, Judge Rules
The former chief financial officer of a Russian gas company who was sentenced to seven years in prison for hiding money in Swiss banks can't escape the government's civil suit seeking nearly $44 million in reporting penalties, a Florida federal judge ruled Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
House Panel Advances Tax-Exempt Org Oversight Bills
The House Ways and Means Committee approved a package of bills Wednesday that would increase scrutiny of foreign donations to tax-exempt organizations, including legislation that would require those organizations to publicly report the donations.
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May 15, 2024
Schulte Roth Adds Ex-Kleinberg Kaplan Partner To Tax Group
Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP added a former Kleinberg Kaplan Wolff & Cohen PC partner with a focus on private investment funds to its tax group in New York.
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May 15, 2024
11th Circ. Judge Doubts Defense Of IRS Easement Notice
An Eleventh Circuit judge was skeptical Wednesday of the government's arguments that the Internal Revenue Service could issue a notice imposing reporting requirements on potentially abusive conservation easements without soliciting public feedback that administrative law requires.
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May 15, 2024
3 Key Takeaways From Floated Foreign Trust Reporting Rules
Proposed rules for reporting transactions with foreign trusts recently issued by the U.S. Treasury Department provide breathing room on disclosure requirements for certain offshore retirement accounts, but leave open some questions about classification. Here, Law360 breaks down three sections of the proposed foreign trust reporting regulations.
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May 15, 2024
House Judiciary Chair Seeks Docs On IRS Backdating Probe
The House Judiciary Committee's Republican chairman asked an IRS watchdog to reveal findings from investigations into allegations of IRS employee misconduct, including in a high-profile $38 million conservation easement deduction case in which the agency admitted to backdating evidence.
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May 15, 2024
Senate Finance Panel Schedules Hearing On Tax Accounts
The Senate Finance Committee will meet next week to discuss investment in tax-advantaged accounts and its impact on children, the committee said Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
Pardoned NJ Atty Suspended Over Tax, Fraud Convictions
A former Gilmore & Monahan PA partner — who was convicted of failing to pay payroll taxes and lying on a loan application, and was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump — has received a two-year suspension from practicing law in New Jersey, though it will be largely offset by a previous suspension he served, according to a Wednesday order.
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May 15, 2024
IRS Not On Hook For Ohio Woman's Legal Fees, Court Says
The Internal Revenue Service is not liable to pay nearly $87,000 in legal fees of an Ohio woman because the agency's position was "substantially justified" throughout the woman's pursuit of a refund, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
Applicable Federal Interest Rates To Rise In June
Applicable federal rates for income tax purposes will increase in June, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
IRS Issues Static Mortality Tables For 2025 Defined Plans
The Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday released the updated static mortality tables used to calculate the funding target and other items for defined benefit pension plans during the 2025 calendar year.
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May 15, 2024
Pension Plan Segment Rates Increase In May
Segment rates for calculating pension plan funding rose in May, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
IRS Working To Prevent Child Support Collection Disruption
The Internal Revenue Service is working to prevent disruption of federal tax refund offsets — including garnishment for owed child support — affecting Native American tribal governments and other taxpayers, the agency said.
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May 14, 2024
Northwestern Settles Tax Law Prof's Age Bias Suit
Northwestern University agreed to settle a law school professor's age bias suit filed in Illinois federal court claiming he was given smaller raises year-over-year in comparison with his younger colleagues after he cast aside the institution's push for him to retire early.
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May 14, 2024
Law Prof Comes To Treasury's Aid In 3M Transfer Pricing Fight
The U.S. Department of the Treasury did not act arbitrarily when it wrote transfer pricing regulations that allowed the government to disregard foreign legal restrictions on royalty payments when allocating income to 3M from an affiliate, a law professor told the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
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The Corporate Transparency Act Isn't Dead Yet
After an Alabama federal court's ruling last week rendering the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, changes to the law may ultimately be required, but ongoing compliance is still the best course of action for most, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
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How New EU Tax And Transfer Pricing Rules May Affect M&A
Companies involved in mergers and acquisitions may need to adjust fiscal due diligence procedures to ensure they consider potential far-reaching effects of newly implemented transfer pricing measures, such as newly implemented global minimum tax and European Union anti-tax avoidance directives and proposals, says Patrick Tijhuis at BDO.
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Employers, Prep For Shorter Stock Awards Settlement Cycle
Companies that provide equity compensation in the form of publicly traded stock will soon have one less day to complete such transactions under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nasdaq rules — so employers should implement expedited equity compensation stock settlement and payroll tax deposit procedures now, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Demystifying IRS' Claims Of $851B Return On Investment
The IRS' recently released analysis, estimating a $851 billion return on the government’s $80 billion investment in the agency, represents a huge increase over its 2022 estimate and that of the Congressional Budget Office and may be best viewed as a best-case scenario, says Joyce Beebe at the Baker Institute.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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A Proposal For Fairer, More Efficient Innocent Spouse Relief
Adding a simple election to the current regulatory framework for innocent spouse claims would benefit both taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service by alleviating the undue burdens placed on those the program was intended to help and improving agency collections in such cases, says Laurie Kazenoff at Kazenoff Tax.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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Proposed Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs May Be Legally Flawed
While the recently proposed regulations for the new clean hydrogen production tax credit have been lauded by some in the environmental community, it is unclear whether they are sufficiently grounded in law, result from valid rulemaking processes, or accord with other administrative law principles, say Hunter Johnston and Steven Dixon at Steptoe.
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Navigating ACA Reporting Nuances As Deadlines Loom
Stephanie Lowe at Liebert Cassidy walks employers through need-to-know elements of Affordable Care Act reporting, including two quickly approaching deadlines, the updated affordability threshold, strategies for choosing an affordability safe harbor, and common coding pitfalls.
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6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
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Why Biz Groups Disagree On Ending Chevron Deference
Two amicus briefs filed in advance of last month's U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo highlight contrasting views on whether the doctrine of Chevron deference promotes or undermines the stable regulatory environment that businesses require, say Wyatt Kendall and Sydney Brogden at Morris Manning.
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US-Chile Tax Treaty May Encourage Cross-Border Investment
Provisions in the recently effective U.S.-Chile bilateral income tax treaty should encourage business between the two countries, as they reduce U.S. withholding tax on investment income for Chilean taxpayers, exempt certain U.S. taxpayers from Chilean capital gains tax, and clarify U.S. foreign tax credit rules, say attorneys at Kramer Levin.
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A Look Ahead For The Electric Vehicle Charging Industry
This will likely be an eventful year for the electric vehicle market as government efforts to accelerate their adoption inevitably clash with backlash from supporters of the petroleum industry, say Rue Phillips at SkillFusion and Enid Joffe at Green Paradigm Consulting.