Federal
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June 24, 2024
Julie Chrisley To Be Resentenced, But Convictions Stand
The Eleventh Circuit on Friday upheld the tax evasion and fraud convictions of former reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, but ordered a Georgia federal judge to resentence Julie Chrisley after finding that the judge failed to fully explore her discrete role in the $36 million scheme.
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June 24, 2024
Supreme Court Won't Review Tax Challenge Deadline
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review a Third Circuit finding that the U.S. Tax Court's 90-day deadline for filing challenges to tax bills isn't hard and fast.
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June 24, 2024
4th Circ. Affirms Nix Of $1.2M R&D Credit For Biotech Co.
A biotechnology company that claimed tax credits for increasing its scientific research was correctly denied about $1.2 million of its request, the Fourth Circuit ruled Monday in upholding a U.S. Tax Court decision that found the company was wrongly counting research expenses twice.
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June 24, 2024
IRS Assessment Of $10M Earner Audits Faulty, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service says it is rolling back its audits of returns claiming at least $10 million in income because it found them unproductive, but the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Monday that that is not true in every case.
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June 24, 2024
OECD Tax Plan Issues Still Being Hashed Out, US Official Says
Both the global minimum corporate tax and taxing rights overhaul plans designed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have outstanding issues that stakeholders are attempting to resolve, a U.S. Treasury Department official said at a conference Monday.
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June 21, 2024
Fed. Circ. Backs Subsidy Duties For Canadian Wind Towers
A Canadian wind tower manufacturer can't get a break on countervailing duties despite being upfront about errors in its sales data, with the Federal Circuit ruling Friday that the errors raise the possibility of additional mistakes.
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June 21, 2024
IRS Urges 6th Circ. To Back Gold Broker's $3M Tax Bill
The Sixth Circuit should uphold about $3 million in tax liabilities against a self-employed gold and silver broker who failed to file returns for a decade, the IRS argued Friday, calling "frivolous" the man's argument that he isn't subject to federal income taxes.
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June 21, 2024
Couple Can't Hide Behind Preparer's Errors, Tax Court Says
A Georgia couple failed to show the U.S. Tax Court that their faulty filing was the result of trusting a competent tax adviser, leading the court to rule Friday that they were correctly assessed an accuracy-related penalty by the Internal Revenue Service.
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June 21, 2024
US Formally Suspends Part Of Tax Treaty With Russia
The U.S. government has provided formal notice to Russia suspending, via mutual agreement, parts of the countries' double-taxation treaty.
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June 21, 2024
Ayahuasca Church Is Not Tax-Exempt, DC Circ. Affirms
An Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its rites was correctly denied tax-exempt status, the D.C. Circuit affirmed Friday, saying the church's main purpose is using a federally illegal drug for which it lacked approval for religious use.
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June 21, 2024
Ex-Chicago Alderman Burke Can't Delay Sentencing
Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke can't postpone his Monday sentencing on charges of racketeering, extortion and bribery to await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the scope of federal bribery law, an Illinois federal judge ruled Friday, saying that decision will have "little or no impact" on Burke's fate.
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June 21, 2024
Ex-Mass. Pol Hit With New Charges In COVID Fraud Case
A former Massachusetts state senator already accused of pandemic-related fraud has been charged alongside his sister with attempting to cover up a scheme to make him eligible for unemployment benefits, the U.S. attorney's office announced Friday.
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June 21, 2024
IRS Has Spent $5.7B Of 2022 Funding Boost, TIGTA Finds
The Internal Revenue Service has spent $5.7 billion of the funding boost it received under the 2022 climate law as of March 31, including $2 billion to supplement its annual funding, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported Friday.
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June 21, 2024
11th Circ. Says Couple Can't Renew Fight Over S Corp. Income
A couple owe about $355,000 in back taxes after failing to prove that the U.S. Tax Court adopted an erroneous calculation by the IRS following a trial in which the couple were found liable for unreported income from their S corporation, the Eleventh Circuit ruled.
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June 21, 2024
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included updated lists of areas, including closed coal mines and factories, where developers can qualify for additional tax credits for building their clean energy projects.
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June 21, 2024
IRS Issues Draft Of Revised Research Credit Form
The Internal Revenue Service released a revised draft of the form used for claiming the research credit Friday, saying the changes would reduce taxpayers' burden.
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June 21, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Travers Smith, Potamitis Vekris
In this week's Taxation With Representation, RSK Group Ltd. gets a £500 million ($632 million) investment, Boston Scientific Corp. acquires Silk Road Medical Inc., Masdar takes a part of Terna Energy SA, and Tate & Lyle PLC buys CP Kelco from JM Huber Corp.
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June 20, 2024
Worker Retention Credit Freeze To Continue, IRS Chief Says
The Internal Revenue Service will keep in place its moratorium on processing new employee retention credit claims because of rampant fraud, the agency's commissioner told reporters Thursday, and will seek help from lawmakers before deciding on the program's future.
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June 20, 2024
IRS Issues Guidance For Early Withdrawal Penalty Exceptions
The Internal Revenue Service published guidance Thursday on exceptions to the 10% additional tax for those making permissible early retirement account withdrawals for emergency personal expenses and for victims of domestic abuse.
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June 20, 2024
Tax Court Says Man Can't Avoid Early Withdrawal Penalty
The Internal Revenue Service correctly determined that a Delaware man's early withdrawal of $137,000 from his retirement accounts in order to buy his brother's share of their dead mother's property did not qualify for the first-time homebuyer's exemption, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday.
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June 20, 2024
Tomato Cos. Can't Take Immediate Deductions, 9th Circ. Told
Two companies that supply 40% of the U.S.' tomato paste and diced tomatoes should not be allowed to deduct costs of restoring their production facilities before the actual restoration occurs, the IRS told the Ninth Circuit on Thursday in urging it to uphold a U.S. Tax Court ruling.
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June 20, 2024
Casinos Must Fight Hotel Tax In State Court, 5th Circ. Says
Owners of two Louisiana casinos with attached hotels must challenge Baton Rouge in state court, rather than federal court, over taxes the city says they owe on free hotel stays they gave patrons, the Fifth Circuit ruled, saying the state is entitled to deference.
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June 20, 2024
Housing, Child Care Top Dem. Senators' 2025 Tax Deal Goals
Senate Democrats plan to prioritize tax policies that will make child care and housing more affordable in the midst of the debate over the extension of the 2017 tax law's expiring provisions in 2025, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden told reporters Thursday.
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June 20, 2024
Dickinson Wright Brings On McDermott, Bell Nunnally Attys
Dickinson Wright PLLC added a pair of new members who include a commercial finance and real estate attorney from Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP based in Austin, Texas, and a tax and incentives attorney from McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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June 20, 2024
Tax Court Errs In Deeming Loans As Equity, 11th Circ. Told
A Florida business owner deserves tax deductions on loans his companies made to residential development projects that became worthless during the Great Recession, he told the Eleventh Circuit in a bid to reverse a Tax Court decision that classified the loans as equity.
Justices To Review If Ch. 7 Trustee Can Recover Tax Payments
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would review a Tenth Circuit decision that found that the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee of a defunct Utah company could recover $145,000 in tax payments from the IRS.
Supreme Court Leaves Lifeline For Billionaire Income Tax
The U.S. Supreme Court narrowed but did not entirely block the path to billionaire income tax legislation when the majority's opinion declined to weigh constitutional questions about taxing unrealized gains in its decision to uphold a mandatory repatriation levy.
Repatriation Tax Doesn't Violate Constitution, Justices Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 2017 federal tax overhaul's mandatory repatriation levy on Thursday, finding the measure applies to the earnings of foreign corporations with U.S. shareholders and therefore does not raise constitutional questions about taxing unrealized income.
Featured Stories
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Supreme Court Leaves Lifeline For Billionaire Income Tax
The U.S. Supreme Court narrowed but did not entirely block the path to billionaire income tax legislation when the majority's opinion declined to weigh constitutional questions about taxing unrealized gains in its decision to uphold a mandatory repatriation levy.
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The Tax Angle: More GOP TCJA Teams, Nonprofit Hospitals
From a look at efforts by the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee to prepare for next year's expiration of the 2017 tax overhaul law to a new call for nonprofit hospitals to provide more charity care, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of the week's developing tax stories.
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Staffing Hurdles Could Slow Impact Of IRS Audit Boost
The Internal Revenue Service's intended ramping up of enforcement on wealthy people, large corporations and complex partnerships may not have a meaningful impact in the short term because of challenges in hiring and training people to do the work.
Expert Analysis
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Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers
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.
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What DOL Fiduciary Rule Means For Private Fund Managers
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.
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Money, Money, Money: Limiting White Collar Wealth Evidence
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.
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How Associates Can Build A Professional Image
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.
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Navigating New Safe Harbor For Domestic Content Tax Credits
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.
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Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age
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.
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'Energy Communities' Update May Clarify Tax Credit Eligibility
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.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
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.
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
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.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
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.
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How Cannabis Rescheduling May Alter Paraphernalia Imports
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.
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NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It
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.
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Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.