Federal

  • April 24, 2024

    Fla. Woman Had Run Out Of Fixes, 11th Circ. Rules

    A district court did not err in dismissing the complaint of a Florida woman after she was given multiple opportunities to address barred claims and failed to adequately do so, the Eleventh Circuit said Wednesday.

  • April 24, 2024

    Tax Court Backs IRS On Accuracy-Related Penalty

    The Internal Revenue Service complied with supervisory approval requirements when it levied a $99,000 accuracy-related penalty on two Florida men, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Wednesday.

  • April 24, 2024

    Philly Tells Justices To Skip Review Of Tax Credit System

    A Philadelphia resident's claims that the city illegally refused to provide her a tax credit for her state income taxes paid to Delaware doesn't warrant U.S. Supreme Court review because case law on the related constitutional issues is thin, the city argued Wednesday.

  • April 24, 2024

    Groups Back Intuit's 5th Circ. Challenge To FTC Over Ads

    Business and conservative groups defended tax software giant Intuit Inc. in its Fifth Circuit constitutional challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's findings that the company engaged in deceptive advertising, saying the agency acts as both prosecutor and jury and that its administrative judges have unchecked power.

  • April 24, 2024

    GOP Reps. Form Work Groups To Address Expiring Tax Law

    Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee announced plans Wednesday to form 10 teams to study key provisions of the 2017 tax overhaul, aiming to set priorities for legislative action next year as the law is set to expire.

  • April 24, 2024

    R&D Cutbacks Spur Small-Biz Push To Renew Tax Breaks

    Small businesses are pushing the U.S. Senate to quickly approve a House-passed bill that would renew a tax break for research and development, saying its expiration along with the demise of other key provisions has caused reduced investment in research and increased tax bills, threatening future operations.

  • April 24, 2024

    New IRS Unit Will Seek Quicker Tax Dispute Resolutions

    The Internal Revenue Service's Independent Office of Appeals has created an alternative dispute resolution unit that will work with the agency's business operating divisions to help taxpayers resolve tax disputes sooner and more effectively, the IRS announced Wednesday.

  • April 24, 2024

    Treasury Limits Reach Of Look-Through Rule In Final Regs

    The U.S. Treasury Department finalized regulations Wednesday that retain but narrow the scope of a proposal to, in a manner of speaking, look through the corporate owners of real estate investment entities to determine whether they are domestically controlled.

  • April 24, 2024

    IRS Followed Protocol In Choosing Higher IT Bid, GAO Says

    The Internal Revenue Service reasonably assessed proposals for information technology engineering services before choosing an offer that was higher than others, the Government Accountability Office found.

  • April 24, 2024

    TIGTA Helps Stop $3.5B Pandemic Credit Scam, Agency Says

    The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service, has cracked down on a scheme where individuals potentially improperly claimed $3.5 billion in coronavirus relief tax credits, the office said Wednesday.

  • April 23, 2024

    Treasury Says Aussie Royalty Ruling Contradicts US, OECD

    Australia's updated draft ruling regarding when payments for the rights to distribute software would be considered royalties conflicts with OECD and U.S. standards on the treatment of such deals, a U.S. Department of the Treasury official said in a letter made public Tuesday.

  • April 23, 2024

    Tax Court OKs IRS Notice After Petitioner Spews 'Gibberish'

    The U.S. Tax Court ruled in favor of the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday after a Nevada woman used "tax protester gibberish," the court said, in an attempt to circumvent more than $37,000 in unreported income.

  • April 23, 2024

    Biz Ownership Law Constitutional, Lawmakers Tell 11th Circ.

    The Corporate Transparency Act is a garden-variety exercise of Congress' powers to address threats to national security, foreign affairs, commerce and tax collection, five Democratic lawmakers told the Eleventh Circuit, disputing a ruling that the law is unconstitutional.

  • April 23, 2024

    DC Circ. Backs Tax Penalties Against Swiss Couple

    A Swiss couple who incurred $500,000 in penalties for failing to report millions of dollars they held in Swiss bank accounts can't get out of paying, the D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday, rejecting their argument that the IRS didn't properly approve the fines.

  • April 23, 2024

    Int'l Pricing Pact Guidance Is Coming Soon, IRS Official Says

    Updated Internal Revenue Service guidance that would help multinational corporations pursue advance pricing agreements will likely be released in a few months, an agency official said Tuesday.

  • April 23, 2024

    Migrant-Hiring Crimes And Tax Evasion Get Pair Prison, $1.8M Fine

    A Florida federal judge has ordered two men to pay $1.8 million to the U.S. government and sentenced them to three years in prison after they confessed to recruiting migrants without employment authorization and failing to report workers' wages for tax purposes.

  • April 23, 2024

    Tomato Cos. Ask 9th Circ. To Allow Immediate Cost Deduction

    Two companies that supply 40% of U.S. tomato paste and diced tomatoes asked the Ninth Circuit to allow deduction of their facilities' restoration costs during the tax year in which the tomatoes are processed, even though the companies don't pay the restoration costs until later.

  • April 23, 2024

    Atty Can Deduct $303K In Racing Ad Costs, 10th Circ. Told

    A Colorado attorney asked the Tenth Circuit to reverse a U.S. Tax Court decision that prevented him from deducting $303,000 in advertising expenses tied to his automobile racing, saying the lower court incorrectly ruled that the costs were related to a hobby rather than his litigation practice.

  • April 23, 2024

    Feds Want About 3 Years In Prison For LA Bank Embezzler

    The former chief financial officer at a community bank in Los Angeles should spend nearly three years in prison after admitting he embezzled more than $700,000 and used employee identities in a life insurance scheme, the government told a California federal court.

  • April 23, 2024

    Indicted 'Magician' Tax Preparer's Clients Under Scrutiny

    Clients of a New York City-based tax preparer who earned the nickname "the magician," allegedly making $15 million while fraudulently depriving the IRS of $100 million, may also face charges, a prosecutor told the federal judge in charge of the case on Tuesday.

  • April 23, 2024

    IRS Opens Low Income Clinic Grant Period For 2025

    The Internal Revenue Service has begun accepting applications from Low Income Taxpayer Clinics for matching funds in 2025, the agency announced Tuesday.

  • April 23, 2024

    DOL's Final Investment Advice Regs Expand ERISA's Reach

    The U.S. Department of Labor issued final regulations Tuesday broadening who qualifies as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, backing off some changes included in a proposal the agency released in October.

  • April 22, 2024

    Hedge Funder's IRS Suit Over Leaked Tax Info Gets Trimmed

    A Florida federal judge on Monday dismissed part of a hedge fund executive's case seeking to hold the Internal Revenue Service accountable for a leak of his private tax data to the media, saying he failed to show he suffered any damages.

  • April 22, 2024

    Congress Can Enact Corp. Transparency, Orgs Tell 11th Circ.

    Congress is empowered to require American companies to report their beneficial owners to the federal government because there is ample evidence they've previously been used to fund hostile foreign actors, evade sanctions and traffic drugs, two think tanks told the Eleventh Circuit in an amici brief.

  • April 22, 2024

    Partnership Can't Claim $22.7M Loss, Tax Court Says

    The U.S. Tax Court on Monday upheld the IRS' decision to deny a $22.7 million loss deduction claimed by a Connecticut partnership, finding that underlying transactions involving a bankrupt Brazilian company's debt obligations amounted to a disguised property sale.

Expert Analysis

  • The Corporate Transparency Act Isn't Dead Yet

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    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.

  • How New EU Tax And Transfer Pricing Rules May Affect M&A

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    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.

  • Employers, Prep For Shorter Stock Awards Settlement Cycle

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    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.

  • Demystifying IRS' Claims Of $851B Return On Investment

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    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.

  • How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts

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    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.

  • A Proposal For Fairer, More Efficient Innocent Spouse Relief

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    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.

  • 7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves

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    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.

  • Proposed Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs May Be Legally Flawed

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    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.

  • Navigating ACA Reporting Nuances As Deadlines Loom

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    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.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    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.

  • Why Biz Groups Disagree On Ending Chevron Deference

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    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.

  • US-Chile Tax Treaty May Encourage Cross-Border Investment

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    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.

  • A Look Ahead For The Electric Vehicle Charging Industry

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    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.

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