Federal

  • April 16, 2024

    IRS Publishes 2024 Average Residence Purchase Price Data

    The Internal Revenue Service published data Tuesday on the average purchase price for U.S. residences in different areas, which is used to determine whether bond interest can be excluded from gross income.

  • April 16, 2024

    IRS Extends Excise Tax Relief For Min. Plan Distribution

    Plans that fail to make certain required minimum distributions in 2024 will not be assessed an excise tax under changes made to retirement plan legislation, the Internal Revenue Service said in guidance released Tuesday.

  • April 16, 2024

    3 Key Takeaways From The IRS' Latest Pricing Pact Snapshot

    The IRS finalized a record number of advance pricing agreements in 2023, signaling the agency's increased effectiveness at completing accords at a time when its approach to transfer pricing litigation could fuel corporate taxpayers' urgency for seeking APAs. Here, Law360 breaks down three key takeaways from the agency’s latest APA report.

  • April 16, 2024

    Ex-Prisoner Not Properly Notified Of Tax Bill, Court Says

    A man who was awarded a $201,000 settlement for a prison injury that left him nearly blind in one eye was not properly notified by the IRS that he had failed to pay taxes on the award, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Tuesday.

  • April 16, 2024

    Estate Asks 9th Circ. For Rehearing Over Tax Bill

    The estate of a woman whose trust transferred $1.06 million to her son before she died is asking the Ninth Circuit to rethink its decision upholding $38,000 in federal estate taxes, arguing that the U.S. Tax Court lacked authority to determine the deficiency in the first place.

  • April 16, 2024

    Retrial For Feds' Conduct Denied In $12M Tax Fraud Case

    An Atlanta man convicted of running a $12 million tax refund fraud scheme isn't entitled to a new trial even though federal prosecutors withheld evidence that the man said minimized his role in the crime, a federal judge ruled.

  • April 16, 2024

    Moving Co. Execs Found Guilty In $7.7M Payroll Tax Scheme

    The former president of a moving company and its head bookkeeper conspired to evade more than $7.7 million in federal payroll taxes, a New York federal jury has found.

  • April 16, 2024

    Work-Life Referral Services Don't Count As Income, IRS Says

    Work-life referral services, which employers provide to help employees with personal, family or work challenges, shouldn't be included in workers' gross income, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.

  • April 16, 2024

    Applicable Federal Interest Rates To Rise In May

    Applicable federal rates for income tax purposes will rise in May, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.

  • April 15, 2024

    Tax Attys, Broker Peddled 'Financial Fantasy,' NC Jury Told

    A North Carolina federal jury on Monday heard a series of secret recordings at the start of a tax fraud trial in which an insurance agent and a St. Louis attorney unwittingly pitched an undercover IRS agent on a way to decrease taxable income — or what the government characterized as a "financial fantasy."

  • April 15, 2024

    Exxon Seeks $1.8B Tax Refund As Qatar Deal Trial Opens

    Exxon Mobil Corp. argued Monday in Texas federal court that its deal with Qatar to extract natural gas from the country's coast was a partnership, rather than a lease agreement, saying at the start of a trial that it's entitled to get $1.8 billion in tax benefits back from the IRS.

  • April 15, 2024

    House OKs Ending Exemption For Terrorist-Supporting Orgs

    The House passed legislation Monday that would authorize the Internal Revenue Service to suspend the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization found by the U.S. Treasury secretary to support foreign terrorism.

  • April 15, 2024

    8th Circ. Urged To Revive IRS' Pricing For Medtronic

    The U.S. government urged the Eighth Circuit on Monday to side with the IRS' method for pricing the intangible property that medical device maker Medtronic licensed to a Puerto Rican affiliate, arguing it's the only way to determine arm's-length royalty rates.

  • April 15, 2024

    Donor Fund Regs Could Imperil Nonprofit-Sponsored Projects

    So-called fiscal sponsorship funds set up at established nonprofits to help new projects start charitable work could be unexpectedly threatened by proposed IRS and Treasury rules on donor-advised funds that could subject such arrangements to burdensome taxes, experts say.

  • April 15, 2024

    IRS Boasts Better Service, Direct File Progress On Tax Day

    The IRS achieved an 88% level of service this year on its phone lines and maintained an average call wait time of three minutes while answering more than a million more calls than last year's filing season, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    Tax Court Finds Woman Liable Despite Divorce Decree

    A Connecticut woman is jointly and severably liable for tax liabilities despite a divorce decree that calls for them to be her ex-husband's responsibility, according to a transcript released Monday by the U.S. Tax Court.

  • April 15, 2024

    AICPA Calls For Clearer Forms For Tax-Exempt Orgs

    The Internal Revenue Service ought to clarify filing requirements for forms in order to simplify the filing process for tax-exempt organizations, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants said in a letter made public Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    'Magician' Tax Preparer Arrested On $100M Fraud Charges

    The owner of a New York tax preparation business who was known as "the magician" was arrested Monday on charges that he caused more than $100 million in tax losses to the government over a decade, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • April 15, 2024

    Madoff Victims Can't Claim Theft Deduction, Tax Court Rules

    A New York couple who fell victim to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme were properly denied a theft loss deduction because they did not own the assets that were stolen, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    9th Circ. To Hear Hunter Biden Appeal In Criminal Tax Case

    The Ninth Circuit will hear Hunter Biden's argument that a California federal judge wrongly rejected requests by his defense team to toss a criminal tax case that Biden has claimed is politically motivated and vindictive, according to a notice filed Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    IRS Waives Penalties For Not Paying Corp. Minimum Tax

    The Internal Revenue Service is waiving penalties for failure to make estimated quarterly payments of the corporate alternative minimum tax through at least April 15, the agency said Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    IRS Improves Adherence To FOIA Rules, TIGTA Says

    The Internal Revenue Service "generally followed" Freedom of Information Act protocols for redacting taxpayer information from October 2022 to March 2023 — a considerable improvement from past reports, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Monday. 

  • April 12, 2024

    Petition Watch: Judge DQs, 'Excessive' Damages & Price Wars

    A former al-Qaida member has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify disqualification protocol for judges overseeing a case related to their prior work as a government attorney, and energy drink manufacturers want the court to develop a modern-day test to determine if companies qualify as price-discrimination competitors. Here's four high court petitions filed recently that you might've missed.

  • April 12, 2024

    FedEx Not Entitled To $84.6M In Tax Credit Dispute, US Says

    FedEx is not entitled to a judgment of nearly $84.6 million that the company requested in March for its foreign tax credit dispute, the federal government said Friday in a Tennessee federal court filing.

  • April 12, 2024

    4 Takeaways From Tax Court Nix Of Easement Perpetuity Rule

    The U.S. Tax Court's scrapping of an IRS rule on the perpetuity requirements for conservation easements could draw yet more judicial scrutiny to the agency's rulemaking and shift the focus of easement disputes to how the transactions are valued. Here, Law360 examines four key takeaways from the decision.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Ways Taxpayers Can Spot Employee Retention Credit Scams

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    On Monday, the Internal Revenue Service added the employee retention credit to its list of prevalent tax scams because of ERC promoters seeking to take advantage of employers, but taxpayers who may qualify for the credit can protect themselves by recognizing certain red flags, say attorneys at Potomac Law and Stout Risius.

  • Could The Supreme Court Legalize Marijuana Federally?

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    Amid slow legislative and executive movement on cannabis reform, it’s worth examining whether the U.S. Supreme Court could provide a pathway to federal cannabis legalization — a decision that would surely require strange bedfellows given the court’s current ideological makeup, say Whitt Steineker and Mason Kruse at Bradley Arant.

  • Tax Pitfalls To Avoid In Employment Litigation Settlements

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    Downsizing companies should keep certain questions in mind when settling claims with departing employees to ensure they understand associated tax withholding and reporting obligations, and avoid costly interest and penalties down the road, says Matthew Meltzer at Flaster Greenberg.

  • Key Considerations For Taxpayers Deducting Crypto Losses

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    While a recent Internal Revenue Service memorandum is helpful in providing insight into how the agency is considering guidance related to cryptocurrency, questions remain with respect to whether a taxpayer can claim a tax deduction for cryptocurrency losses, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Justices' MoneyGram Opinion Could Spur State Legislation

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision that federal law governs the escheatment of over $250 million in unclaimed MoneyGram checks provides clarity for some issuers, but aspects of related common law remain uncertain and states may take the opportunity to pass multistate escheatment legislation, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Justices Leave Questions Open On Dual-Purpose Atty Advice

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury on grounds that certiorari was improvidently granted leaves unresolved a circuit split over the proper test for deciding when attorney-client privilege protects a lawyer's advice that has multiple purposes, say Susan Combs and Richard Kiely at Holland & Hart.

  • Employee Retention Tax Credit: Gray Areas And Red Flags

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    The subjective nature of the pandemic-prompted employee retention credit, coupled with a lack of Internal Revenue Service guidance, have created fertile ground for opportunists, so businesses seeking this tax benefit should be mindful of tax advisers who would involve them in fraudulent ERC claims, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • High Court Ax Of Atty-Client Privilege Case Deepens Split

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury as improvidently granted maintains a three-way circuit split on the application of attorney-client privilege to multipurpose communications, although the justices have at least shown a desire to address it, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.

  • Clean Energy Tax Credits' Wage, Apprentice Rules: Key Points

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    The Inflation Reduction Act's complicated prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements for clean energy facility construction tax credits recently took effect — and the learning curve will be more difficult for taxpayers who are not already familiar with such programs, say attorneys at Shearman.

  • Crypto Coverage After FTX Fall: Crime And Custody Coverage

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    Cryptocurrency firm FTX's recent implosion provides a case study for potential crypto exposure under traditional insurance policies, and suggests carriers should ask some basic underwriting questions, including whether a company engages in transactions involving cryptocurrencies or holds digital assets in custody, says Anjali Das at Wilson Elser.

  • US-India Advance Pricing Resolutions Should Reassure Cos.

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    The United States' and India's tax authorities' recent resolution of a significant number of pending advance pricing agreements should reduce taxpayer uncertainty, reassure companies of the nations' good working relationship and improve India's investment environment, say Miller Williams and Caroline Setliffe at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Reimagining Benefits For A World Without Noncompetes

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    Though the Federal Trade Commission's recently proposed noncompete ban is still in its infancy, companies should begin considering whether they would need to retool their payment and benefits packages to comply, while still protecting their competitive edge, say Melissa Ostrower and Alec Nealon at Jackson Lewis.

  • A Closer Look At Rep. Santos' Claims And Potential Charges

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    Skadden partner and former federal prosecutor Maria Cruz Melendez discusses Rep. George Santos' legal exposure following his alleged misrepresentations and the possible scope of investigations into his conduct — noting that if history is any indication, the congressman could face prison time if convicted.

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