Federal

Expert Analysis

• 3 Contract Considerations For Renewable Fuels Trade

  

  As renewable fuels continue to develop and contracts for their sale and purchase become more common in the energy industry, companies should think about negotiating several key issues when entering into offtake agreements for feedstock purchase transactions, says Nneka Obiokoye at Holland & Knight.

• What Microcaptive Reporting Ruling May Mean For The IRS

  

  In CIC v. Internal Revenue Service, a Tennessee federal court’s decision to set aside an IRS requirement to disclose microcaptive insurance arrangements may be a step toward evidentiary standards to show that the potential for abuse in a lawful transaction is sufficient to support heightened disclosure requirements, says Samuel Lauricia at Weston Hurd.

• Avoiding Surprise Taxation Of Employment Settlements

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Sandra Cohen at Cohen & Buckmann discusses how to avoid unwelcome tax-related payments in connection with settling an employment claim, as the extra cost can significantly decrease the perceived value of an offer and push the parties further apart.

• US Should Leverage Tax Rules To Deter Business With Russia

  

  The U.S. should further restrict the flow of resources available for the Putin regime's war in Ukraine by denying U.S. businesses that operate in Russia or Belarus foreign tax credits and global intangible low-taxed income preferences, and by terminating its tax treaty with Russia, says Reuven Avi-Yonah at University of Michigan Law School.

• Justices Must Apply Law Evenly In Shadow Docket Rulings

  

  In recent shadow docket decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has inconsistently applied the requirement that parties demonstrate irreparable harm to obtain injunctive relief, which is problematic for two separate but related reasons, says David Hopkins at Benesch.

• Federal Cannabis Bill Needs A Regulatory Plan To Succeed

  

  The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, is laudable but fundamentally flawed because it lacks a robust regulatory plan that would allow for bipartisan support, says Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie.

• To Capture All Digital Transactions, Tax Rules Must Keep Up

  

  Legislative efforts to capture revenue from digital-transaction income can do better than the American Rescue Plan Act, which recently went into effect but employs definitions that have already been surpassed by technology, says Matthew Agramonte at Shutts & Bowen.

• Lessons From Recent PPP Loan And COVID Fraud Cases

  

  Following President Joe Biden's recent pledge to expand enforcement efforts against pandemic and Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud, a look at the U.S. Department of Justice's recent criminal and civil enforcement actions sheds light on its evolving priorities, say Sara Lord and Aaron Danzig at Arnall Golden.

• Ampersand Clarifies Power Project Placed-In-Service Analysis

  

  The Federal Circuit's recent ruling in Ampersand Chowchilla Biomass v. U.S. affirms a lower court's decision regarding when power generation projects were placed in service for federal income tax purposes, but also highlights that the placed-in-service analysis is not one size fits all, say David Burton and Viktoria Vozarova at Norton Rose.

• Simplifying Tax Issues For Nonresident Athletes In Canada

  

  Tax compliance can be particularly challenging for nonresident professional athletes playing in Canada, but as NHL contract negotiations approach a close, it's worth looking at some ways the tax burden can be mitigated, say Marie-France Dompierre and Marc Pietro Allard at Davies Ward.

• Steps For Universities As DOJ Shifts Foreign Influence Policy

  

  Notwithstanding Wednesday's U.S. Department of Justice announcement terminating the initiative targeting Chinese influence and raising the bar for criminal prosecutions, universities should ensure their compliance controls meet new disclosure standards and that they can efficiently respond to inquiries about employees' foreign connections, say attorneys at Covington.

• How Gold Coin Tax Ruling May Apply To IRA Crypto Holdings

  

  The U.S. Tax Court’s recent decision in McNulty v. Commissioner, affirming that a self-directed individual retirement account owner received taxable distributions in taking possession of her IRA’s gold coins, may have troublesome applications for retirement accounts with cryptocurrency holdings, says Luke Bailey at Clark Hill.

• Why I'll Miss Arguing Before Justice Breyer

  

  Carter Phillips at Sidley shares some of his fondest memories of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer both inside and out of the courtroom, and explains why he thinks the justice’s multipronged questions during U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments were everything an advocate could ask for.