Federal

  • August 30, 2024

    3 Ways Justices' SEC Fraud Ruling Could Affect Tax Disputes

    The U.S. Supreme Court's groundbreaking decision to curb the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house fraud enforcement could hamper the IRS' ability to assert certain penalties, including in contested conservation easement cases, and challenge the U.S. Tax Court's authority to review them. Here, Law360 examines three arenas in which the Supreme Court decision could shake up tax administration and litigation.

  • August 30, 2024

    Alvarez & Marsal Appoints Tax Experts As Managing Directors

    Alvarez & Marsal Tax LLC appointed tax experts from Anderson and Deloitte as its new managing directors, the firm announced.

  • August 30, 2024

    Danish Gov't Pledges No Ponzi Analogies At $2.1B Tax Trial

    The Danish tax authority won't compare pension funds, investors and attorneys it has accused of defrauding Denmark in a $2.1 billion tax refund scheme to a Ponzi scheme or infamous perpetrator Bernie Madoff, it said Friday in New York federal court.

  • August 30, 2024

    Whistleblower Seeks 2nd Bid At $690M Claim In DC Circ.

    A whistleblower denied up to $690 million, or 30%, of the $2.3 billion collected in an Internal Revenue Service offshore voluntary disclosure program asked for a D.C. Circuit panel to rehear his case Friday, saying its original opinion included numerous mistakes and misunderstandings.

  • August 30, 2024

    Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin

    The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included an announcement of the reopening of a voluntary disclosure program for businesses that think they improperly received COVID-19-era employee retention credits.

  • August 30, 2024

    Partnership Asks 11th Circ. To Restore $9M Easement Break

    A partnership asked the Eleventh Circuit to reinstate its nearly $9 million deduction for donating a conservation easement in Georgia, saying the U.S. Tax Court erroneously limited the deduction to its cost basis by claiming partners who contributed the property had held it as inventory.

  • August 30, 2024

    IRS Corrects Proposed Rules To Address Pillar 2 Losses

    The Internal Revenue Service issued corrections Friday to proposed rules that outline when foreign taxes under the Pillar Two international minimum tax agreement could trigger long-standing U.S. rules that aim to prevent companies from what is known as double-dipping the same economic loss.

  • August 30, 2024

    Dow Seeks To Add 7 Chemicals To IRC Taxable Substances

    The Internal Revenue Service said Friday that it is looking for public comments on proposals by Dow Chemical to add seven chemicals to the Internal Revenue Code's list of taxable substances.

  • August 30, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Paul Weiss, Squire

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Oneok reaches two agreements with energy infrastructure companies worth a total $5.9 billion, McKesson inks a $2.49 billion deal for a cancer center, and First Busey and CrossFirst Bankshares agree to a $917 million merger.

  • August 30, 2024

    Rule Aims To Widen Low-Income Green Electricity Tax Credits

    Geothermal, hydropower, nuclear fusion and nuclear fission projects would be among the types of electricity facilities that could be eligible for clean electricity low-income community bonus credit amounts starting in 2025, the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury Department said in proposed rules released Friday.

  • August 29, 2024

    9th Circ. Says IRS Properly Rejected Payment Compromise

    A man who owed $50 million in taxes and offered to settle part of his debt was correctly denied a compromise, the Ninth Circuit affirmed Thursday, rejecting his argument that his offer should have been deemed accepted because the agency missed the two-year deadline for rejecting it.

  • August 29, 2024

    Tax Court Rejects Bid To Change Ruling Post-Chevron

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent overturning of the Chevron standard of judicial deference to agencies when interpreting statutes does not justify reconsidering a Cayman Islands partnership's tax liability, the U.S. Tax Court ruled.

  • August 29, 2024

    4th Circ. Won't Revive Whistleblower's Credit Suisse Tax Suit

    The Fourth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a former Credit Suisse employee's whistleblower case that alleged the Swiss bank continued to help clients evade taxes after it made a related plea deal with the U.S., saying a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision on the False Claims Act could not save the case.

  • August 29, 2024

    Convicted Drexel Prof Says Records Would've Swayed Jury

    A Drexel University accounting professor convicted on charges of tax evasion and filing false tax returns after the government accused him of failing to report $3.3 million in income from a Trenton pharmacy has asked a New Jersey federal judge for a new trial.

  • August 29, 2024

    IRS Lacking In Limiting Below-$400K Audits, TIGTA Says

    The IRS has made only partial progress toward complying with a U.S. Treasury Department directive to develop methodology to ensure the agency doesn't increase the audit rate for businesses and households with annual incomes below $400,000, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported Thursday.

  • August 29, 2024

    GAO Suggests IRS Improve Retirement Account Oversight

    The Internal Revenue Service needs to beef up its oversight of conflicts of interest between fiduciaries and individual retirement account investors, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report.

  • August 29, 2024

    Applications Open For $6B In Advanced Energy Tax Credits

    Full applications are now open for manufacturers seeking a share of a second-round $6 billion tax-credit allocation for their development projects that support the clean energy industry, the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday.

  • August 29, 2024

    Colo. Group Asks US Justices To Revive Ballot Law Dispute

    A Colorado organization asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower-court decision upholding a state law requiring financial impacts be included in the titles of some tax-related ballot initiatives.

  • August 29, 2024

    Couple Tells 5th Circ. Tax Overpayments Enable Refund Suit

    A couple claiming they paid their tax bill should not be allowed to sue the Internal Revenue Service for a refund in a federal district court, the government told the Fifth Circuit on Thursday, saying the agency thinks the couple still owes about $480,000.

  • August 29, 2024

    Day Pitney Lands Former Reuters Tax Counsel In Conn.

    Day Pitney LLP continued its recent growth in its tax practice in Connecticut with the addition of an experienced tax attorney from Thomson Reuters.

  • August 29, 2024

    IRS Expands Accounting Change Waiver Eligibility

    The Internal Revenue Service adjusted a previous notice Thursday to modify certain procedures for obtaining automatic consent of the agency commissioner to change methods of accounting for expenditures paid or incurred in taxable years beginning after 2021.

  • August 29, 2024

    Churches Attack Nonprofit Politics Ban As Unconstitutional

    Churches and Christian advocacy groups asked a Texas federal court to declare unconstitutional a provision in the Internal Revenue Code that prevents tax-exempt nonprofits from endorsing political candidates, saying the IRS discriminates against conservative religious groups and churches in applying the law.

  • August 29, 2024

    IRS Corrects Partnership Conservation Easement Limit Rules

    The Internal Revenue Service issued corrections Thursday to finalized rules that curb the conservation easement tax deduction claimed by certain partnerships under the Secure 2.0 Act.

  • August 28, 2024

    Hunter Biden's Addiction Expert Knocked Out Of Tax Trial

    A California federal judge on Tuesday barred Hunter Biden's expected addiction expert from testifying in his upcoming trial on tax charges, saying the expert's opinions hadn't been clearly linked to the specifics of Biden's own struggle.

  • August 28, 2024

    IRS Declines Watchdog's Ask For Attys In Talks With Big Cos.

    The IRS declined a recommendation by its internal watchdog to require the agency's counsel to attend talks held with large multinational corporations by its appellate division, which agents say thwarts their ability to correctly enforce the economic substance doctrine, according to a report.

Expert Analysis

  • Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers

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    BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.

  • What DOL Fiduciary Rule Means For Private Fund Managers

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    Attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss how the U.S. Department of Labor's recently released final fiduciary rule, which revises the agency's 1975 regulation, could potentially cause private fund managers' current marketing practices and communications to be considered fiduciary advice, and therefore subject them to strict prohibitions.

  • Money, Money, Money: Limiting White Collar Wealth Evidence

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    As courts increasingly recognize that allowing unfettered evidence of wealth could prejudice a jury against a defendant, white collar defense counsel should consider several avenues for excluding visual evidence of a lavish lifestyle at trial, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • How Associates Can Build A Professional Image

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    As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.

  • Navigating New Safe Harbor For Domestic Content Tax Credits

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    The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s recent notice simplifying domestic content calculations for certain solar, onshore wind and battery storage projects, which directly acknowledges the difficulty for taxpayers in gathering data to support a domestic content analysis, should make it easier to qualify additional domestic content bonus tax credits, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age

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    As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 'Energy Communities' Update May Clarify Tax Credit Eligibility

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    A recent IRS notice that includes updated lists of locations where clean energy projects can qualify for additional tax credits — based 2023 unemployment data and placed-in-service dates — should help provide clarity regarding project eligibility that sponsors and developers need, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing

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    When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians

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    Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent

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    As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.

  • How Cannabis Rescheduling May Alter Paraphernalia Imports

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    The Biden administration's recent proposal to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana use raises questions about how U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement policies may shift when it comes to enforcing a separate federal ban on marijuana accessory imports, says R. Kevin Williams at Clark Hill.

  • NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It

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    The recent House v. NCAA settlement in California federal court, in which the NCAA agreed to allow schools to directly pay March Madness television revenue to their athletes, may send outside name, image and likeness collectives in-house, says Mike Ingersoll at Womble Bond.

  • Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

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