Federal

  • February 17, 2023

    TIGTA Should Investigate ProPublica Leak, House Chair Says

    The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration should investigate a leak of IRS taxpayer information to news outlet ProPublica and provide a report on its findings, the chairman of the House Ways and Means committee said in a letter.

  • February 17, 2023

    Sanctioned Ex-Broker Says He's Entitled To His IRS Tax Docs

    An ex-broker who was sanctioned by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for hiding $1.7 million in tax liens told a North Carolina federal court that the IRS violated federal laws by withholding records on its investigation into his promotion of potentially abusive tax shelters.

  • February 17, 2023

    IRS Properly Cut Power Provider Payments, Fed. Circ. Affirms

    A group of public-sector power providers can't be compensated for the IRS' reduction of payments made to the utilities for interest they paid on bonds, as the Federal Circuit affirmed Friday that the agency didn't improperly decrease the payments for sequestration.

  • February 17, 2023

    DOD Sues For Soldier's Tax Records In PPP Loan Fraud Probe

    The U.S. Department of Defense is seeking to enforce a subpoena for tax information of a business owned by a U.S. Army soldier under investigation for potentially unlawful use of Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to a petition filed in Colorado federal court.

  • February 17, 2023

    Treasury Unveils Book Tax Guidance For Insurance Firms

    Large insurers can use accounting practices in line with existing financial statements to determine what they owe under the corporate alternative minimum tax that took effect this year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said in guidance released Friday.

  • February 17, 2023

    IRS To Miss Deadline To Send Spending Plan To Yellen

    The Internal Revenue Service apparently will miss Friday's deadline to submit a report to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on how it plans to use the nearly $80 billion funding increase that the Inflation Reduction Act provides, with the agency telling Law360 only that it will have the plan in the "coming weeks."

  • February 17, 2023

    Taxation With Representation: Gibson, Kirkland, Vinson

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Biotage is to acquire Astrea Bioseparations, Wyatt Technology is being sold to Waters Corp., and Vast Solar and Nabors Energy announced plans for a business combination that could result in Vast becoming a public company.

  • February 17, 2023

    IRS Seeks Comment On E-Filing Provider Handbook

    The Internal Revenue Service asked for feedback Friday on the handbook for authorized IRS e-file providers.

  • February 17, 2023

    Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin

    The Internal Revenue Service released its weekly bulletin, which included a notice amending the definition of vehicles such as trucks and vans for the clean vehicle credit.

  • February 16, 2023

    FinCEN Blasted Over Beneficial Ownership Registry Plan

    The U.S. Treasury Department's financial crimes unit has received a tidal wave of criticism on its proposed rule detailing access to so-called beneficial ownership information, including a strong rebuke from a major banking trade group that urged the unit to scrap the proposal altogether and replace it.

  • February 16, 2023

    Man Gets 8 Years In Prison For $8M Immigration Scheme

    A partner in an employment-staffing scheme who admitted hiring undocumented workers in hotels and restaurants throughout Key West, Florida, cheating the government of nearly $8 million in employment taxes, was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday by a Florida federal judge.

  • February 16, 2023

    IRS Properly Withheld 3rd-Party ID Records, Court Rules

    The IRS properly withheld portions of internal guidance dealing with third-party identity confirmations from a retired Harvard law professor, as the redacted materials deal with law enforcement techniques, a Minnesota federal judge found Thursday after reviewing materials sought in a public records request. 

  • February 16, 2023

    White House Urged To Dispute Canada's Foreign Owner Tax

    Canada's new tax on underused real estate owned by foreigners is hurting Americans and should be on the agenda for President Joe Biden's March meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a congressman told Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

  • February 16, 2023

    IRS Lets Taxpayers Submit Certain Docs Via Upload Tool

    Taxpayers can securely upload documentation related to nine notices online through the Internal Revenue Service's document upload tool, the IRS announced Thursday.

  • February 16, 2023

    Clean Vehicle Credit Puts Foreign Joint Ventures In Limbo

    Joint ventures with Chinese firms might be risky for automakers seeking to qualify their new clean energy vehicles for a restructured consumer tax credit unless the U.S. government writes flexible rules for new sourcing requirements.

  • February 16, 2023

    Proposed Conservation Easement Regs Overbroad, IRS Told

    Land trusts, lawyers and other stakeholders have pushed back against a proposed IRS rule meant to crack down on potentially abusive syndicated conservation easement deals, saying in advance of a hearing next month that the proposal is overbroad and vague.

  • February 16, 2023

    Court Urged To Dismiss Challenge To IRS Benefits Notice

    An Arizona federal court should reject a recruiting agency's bid to invalidate IRS guidance requiring the disclosure of certain potentially abusive employee benefit plans, the U.S. government said, arguing that a recent court decision setting aside the guidance doesn't have any bearing on the company's case.

  • February 16, 2023

    Senate GOP Bill Seeks Oversight Of IRS Funding Boost

    Congress would be given a direct say in how the Inflation Reduction Act's nearly $80 billion funding boost for the Internal Revenue Service will be spent under legislation reintroduced in the Senate by Finance Committee Republicans, according to a statement released Thursday.

  • February 16, 2023

    IRS Seeks Input On Rules For Including Trusts In An Estate

    The Internal Revenue Service asked Thursday for feedback on regulations that lay out how to elect to include some trusts in an estate.

  • February 15, 2023

    Executors Offer To Settle Canadian Estate's US Tax Case

    The U.S. government and the estate of a Canadian woman have asked a Florida federal court to put their $500,000 tax case on hold so the U.S. government can evaluate a settlement offer from the estate.

  • February 15, 2023

    ABA Asks Treasury For Biz Info Disclosure Protections

    Treasury should issue guidance that would apply protections currently used to safeguard tax return information to corporate ownership information that's required to be disclosed to the government under money laundering legislation, the American Bar Association's Tax Section said in comments.

  • February 15, 2023

    IRS Chief Nominee Commits To Improving Customer Service

    President Joe Biden's pick for Internal Revenue Service commissioner vowed Wednesday to address the agency's lagging customer service and not to use Inflation Reduction Act funding for the IRS to increase audits on taxpayers making less than $400,000.

  • February 15, 2023

    Hiring Push Could Address Issues In IRS Appeals, Chief Says

    The head of the Internal Revenue Service's Independent Office of Appeals told Law360 that he will make hiring a high priority in the 2023 fiscal year and increased staffing could address some concerns about the office's operations that were raised in a recent report.

  • February 15, 2023

    Man Owes More than $12,000, Tax Court Rules

    A taxpayer who sued the IRS over deficiency notices going back to 2013 must pay more than $12,000, plus penalties and additions, after his trial in Tampa, Florida, the U.S. Tax Court said Wednesday.

  • February 15, 2023

    Tax Court Seeks New Arguments In Coke's $3.3B Dispute

    The U.S. Tax Court has asked Coca-Cola Co. and the IRS for briefs examining how Brazilian legal restrictions on royalty payments should be considered in the company's $3.3 billion transfer pricing dispute following the court's ruling in a profit-reallocation case involving 3M.

Expert Analysis

  • Justices' Nod To Preemptive Tax Challenges May Caution IRS

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in CIC Services v. Internal Revenue Service, allowing pre-enforcement challenges of tax reporting rules despite the Anti-Injunction Act, is likely to make the U.S. Department of the Treasury more careful about its own compliance obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act, says Robert Carney at Caplin & Drysdale.

  • Let's End The Offshoring Of US Patents

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    Congress should work toward removing the loophole that allows companies to avoid U.S. taxes by moving their patents offshore, and ensure profits are taxed where the sales take place, says Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

  • How Biden's First 100 Days Will Affect Gov't Contractors

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    Joseph Berger and Thomas Mason at Thompson Hine examine the significant opportunities for government contractors arising from actions during the first 100 days of the Biden administration, which set the stage for unprecedented investment in national infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, research and development, clean energy, pandemic response and economic recovery.

  • Addressing New COBRA Duties Under Virus Relief Law

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    Following the issuance of fully subsidized COBRA premiums for certain workers under the recently passed American Rescue Plan Act, employers should take steps to determine who is eligible, ensure additional notice requirements are satisfied, and train human resources on communicating with qualified individuals, say Randi May and Dustin Grant at Hoguet Newman.

  • Long Road Ahead For Biden's Individual Tax Hike Proposal

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    Dustin Stamper at Grant Thornton provides insight into President Joe Biden's recently proposed individual tax increases to pay for his American Families Plan, and explains how competing interests among congressional Democrats and Republicans may shape the final provisions and prolong their implementation.

  • What Value-Added Tax Might Look Like In The US

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    Christiaan Van Der Valk and Charles Maniace at Sovos consider the value-added tax, a primary source of revenue for many countries, and what it might mean for the U.S. were it implemented to raise funds for large-scale federal initiatives such as President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan.

  • New Markets Credit Will Aid Recovery In Low-Income Areas

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    The recently extended New Markets Tax Credit is a critical tool for economic development in low-income communities, which have been hit especially hard by the pandemic, so public finance attorneys should consider its benefits when advising clients on projects, says Julia Fendler at Butler Snow.

  • The International Outlook For US Border Carbon Adjustments

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    The Biden administration may see enacting a border carbon adjustment system as a good way to advance climate goals and protect domestic industries and jobs, but any such plan must take into account the need to respect existing international trade agreements, say attorneys at Akin Gump.

  • The Domestic Landscape For US Border Carbon Adjustments

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    With the Biden administration possibly eyeing border carbon adjustments on imported goods as a means to mitigate climate change, attorneys at Akin Gump discuss such policies' potential benefits to domestic businesses, and the political and technical challenges to their enactment in the U.S.

  • Prepare For Global Collaboration In Crypto Tax Enforcement

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    Recent Internal Revenue Service victories involving John Doe summonses served on cryptocurrency exchanges — and statements by the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement about global collaboration in cryptocurrency-related tax investigations — should prompt assessment of prior virtual currency transactions and remediation before an enforcement agency shows up at the door, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • 10 Things to Know About US Competent Authority Assistance

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    Taxpayers should consider seeking U.S. competent authority assistance to help eliminate double taxation from a transfer pricing adjustment, especially now that the competent authorities are resolving cases virtually and more quickly, say attorneys at Thompson & Knight.

  • Lessons From Tax Court's Nixing Of Investor's Energy Credits

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    The U.S. Tax Court's recent ruling in Olsen v. Commissioner, the first of 200 cases involving individual taxpayers who invested in a tax shelter involving solar equipment, is a case study in how not to structure an energy tax credit investment, says David Burton at Norton Rose.

  • Partial Repeal Could Resolve Biden's SALT Cap Dilemma

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    Lawmakers' calls to repeal the cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes are controversial because doing so could cost over $600 billion, but a partial repeal could be accomplished on a revenue-neutral basis, providing relief to some, if not most, affected taxpayers, says Joseph Mandarino at Smith Gambrell.

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