Federal

Expert Analysis

• Problems To Avoid When Forming Your 2nd Real Estate Fund

  

  There are a number of considerations when moving from your first real estate fund to subsequent funds during post-pandemic growth, particularly if the aggregate regulatory assets under management of the funds exceed $110 million or if additional country jurisdictions will be involved, say Matt Ertman and Max Brunner at Allen Matkins.

• IRS Ruling Opens Runway For Stalled Carbon Capture Deals

  

  A recent Internal Revenue Service ruling that clarifies how multiparty ownership affects eligibility for the carbon sequestration tax credit should accelerate the pace of project financing transactions that were held up by lingering uncertainty, and should increase the pool of projects into which tax equity will consider investing, say attorneys at Orrick.

• What Biden's Tax Proposals May Mean For Int'l Private Clients

  

  Jennifer Wioncek and Paul D’Alessandro at Bilzin Sumberg discuss the U.S. Department of the Treasury's recently released explanation of the Biden administration's tax proposals and how the changes would affect income and wealth transfer planning for international private clients.

• Justices Open The Door Wider For Donor Info Law Challenges

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, striking down California's requirement that charities disclose the identity of major donors, will make similar state and federal statutes more vulnerable to constitutional challenge, says Lloyd Mayer at Notre Dame Law School.

• IRS Extension Is Partial Relief For Renewable Energy Projects

  

  The Internal Revenue Service’s recent extension of the start-of-construction safe harbor for renewable-energy projects is welcome relief for solar companies unable to benefit from previous extensions, but it is still unclear whether a project that exceeds the deemed continuity period qualifies for a tax credit if it cannot prove continuous work, says David Burton at Norton Rose.

• Justices Should Find California Donor Law Unconstitutional

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta should strike down a California law requiring charities to disclose their donors because the state’s interest in this information is not sufficiently compelling to overcome constitutional rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, says James Skyles at Skyles Law Group and M2M Legal.

• US Must Boost Solar Industry To Protect Human Rights, Jobs

  

  Recent revelations that many solar panels are made using polysilicon from the Xinjiang province of China, allegedly the site of mass forced labor and other abuses, make it all the more urgent that Congress and the Biden administration enact policies that promote American solar manufacturing in place of dumped and artificially cheap Chinese products, says Tim Brightbill at Wiley Rein.

• What Crypto Holders Can Learn From Early-2000s Tax Scandal

  

  The Internal Revenue Service’s recent push to gather information about cryptocurrency accounts is similar to its Swiss bank account investigations of the early 2000s, which should prompt taxpayers to consider voluntarily disclosing transactions before they are individually targeted for enforcement, say Timothy Wagner and Thomas Barnard at Baker Donelson.

• Bipartisan Support Shows Bright Future For Carbon Capture

  

  Recent policy proposals — from the Biden administration as well as members of Congress from both parties — promoting carbon capture, utilization and sequestration suggest that this technology has a key role to play in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, says Kevin Poloncarz at Covington.

• International Tax Reform's Implications For Transfer Pricing

  

  As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development overhauls the global tax rules on base erosion and profit shifting, and the Biden administration rolls out new U.S. tax proposals, multinational enterprises need to prepare for the effects of these tax changes on their transfer pricing structures, say Mandy Li and Shuang Feng at MGO.

• Justices' Preemptive Tax Challenge Ruling Shows Divisions

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in CIC Services v. Internal Revenue Service reveals divisions among the justices about when potentially burdensome tax regulations can be challenged, making the holding less clear and less valuable, say George Isaacson and David Swetnam-Burland at Brann & Isaacson.

• Takeaways From 2 New FBAR Rulings

  

  In light of two recent California federal court decisions, capping penalties for nonwillful violations of foreign bank account reporting but broadening the willfulness standard, U.S. taxpayers must be vigilant about understanding their reporting obligations, and prepare for the Internal Revenue Service to target willful conduct, which yields much higher penalties, say Friedemann Thomma and Marianna Felshtiner at Venable.

• How Biden Tax Plans Would Boost Renewable Energy

  

  The Biden administration's recently released revenue proposals for fiscal year 2022 include major enhancements and extensions to various green energy tax credits, and show that the administration is aligned with Congress in supporting renewable development, even if they differ on details, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.