Federal
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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.
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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.
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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.
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April 12, 2024
OECD Base Erosion Project Still Percolating, Think Tank Says
Policymakers should recognize that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's tax project from roughly a decade ago to reduce base erosion and profit shifting may still be affecting companies' behavior, according to a publication released Friday from the fiscally conservative-leaning Tax Foundation.
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April 12, 2024
Woman Pleads Guilty To $1.3M COVID Tax Credit Fraud
A California woman pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining $2 million in COVID-19 government loans and falsely claiming $1.3 million in tax credits, crimes that could result in a 20-year prison sentence, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
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April 12, 2024
Final 'Look-Through' Rules Coming Soon, IRS Official Says
The IRS is about to release final regulations that would, in a manner of speaking, look through the corporate owners of real estate investment entities to determine whether they are domestically controlled, an agency official said Friday.
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April 12, 2024
The Week In Trump: Catch Up On The Ex-President's Cases
Donald Trump and his legal team proved that they are nothing if not persistent as they repeatedly tried — and failed — to hit the brakes on the former president's porn star hush money trial in Manhattan.
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April 12, 2024
Construction Co. Owner Cops To Causing IRS $2.8M Tax Loss
A Massachusetts construction company owner pled guilty to running an "off-the-books" cash payroll scheme that cost the federal government $2.8 million in tax losses, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
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April 12, 2024
IRS Adds 12 Census Tracts For Alternative Fuel Credit
The Internal Revenue Service added additional census tracts to the list of those where people and businesses can qualify for the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit, the agency said Friday.
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April 12, 2024
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service issued its weekly bulletin Friday, featuring a clarification surrounding qualified student loan bonds.
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April 12, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Freshfields, Kirkland & Ellis
In this week's Taxation with Representation, eBay acquires Collectors' Goldin auction house, Vertex Pharmaceuticals buys Alpine Immune Sciences, Vista Equity Partners purchases Model N and Tradeweb Markets buys Institutional Cash Distributors.
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April 12, 2024
IRS Schedules Advisory Council Meeting For May
The Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council will hold its next meeting May 8, the agency announced Friday.
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April 12, 2024
Moses & Singer Hires New Private Clients Chair, Trusts Expert
Moses & Singer LLP has hired a new chairman of its private clients group, who joins the firm after spending over a decade navigating trusts and estates matters with Kudman Trachten Aloe Posner LLP.
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April 11, 2024
Biz Owners Tell House Panel Extending Tax Cuts Is Crucial
It is essential that Congress extends provisions of the 2017 tax law that are set to expire in 2025, especially the law's pass-through deduction, business leaders told the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.
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April 11, 2024
Judge Sends Tax Data Suit Against H&R Block To Arbitration
A man who used H&R Block to prepare his taxes online and then sued the company, along with Google and Meta Platforms Inc., for sharing his private data must pursue his claims against the tax preparation software giant in arbitration, a California federal judge ruled Thursday.
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April 11, 2024
Fla. Restaurateur Gets Prison Time For Dodging Payroll Taxes
The ex-CEO of a defunct Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain was sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to willfully failing to pay more than $5 million in payroll taxes.
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April 11, 2024
Int'l Salesman Stuck With FBAR Fines For Swiss Account
An agricultural salesman earning money in Ukraine willfully hid a Swiss bank account from the IRS that neither his accountant nor his wife knew about, a Nebraska federal judge said Thursday in upholding more than $600,000 in reporting penalties against him.
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April 11, 2024
Tax Controversy Quintet Joins Bradley Arant In Atlanta
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that it hired a five-person tax controversy team from Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry highlighted by the addition of three experienced partners, including two former Internal Revenue Service trial attorneys.
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April 11, 2024
Proskauer Adds Kirkland Partner For Tax, Estate Issues
Proskauer Rose LLP has added to its private client services department a partner from Kirkland & Ellis LLP who specializes in developing domestic and international tax and estate plans for clients with very high net worth, the firm announced.
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April 11, 2024
Burr & Forman Adds Longtime In-House Leader To Fla. Office
Burr & Forman LLP has brought on an in-house pro with more than $60 billion of transaction experience to its office in Jacksonville, Florida, adding the former general counsel of public company Cannae Holdings Inc. in Las Vegas to its corporate and tax practice.
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April 11, 2024
Swiss Bank Probe May Prompt IRS To Revive Disclosure Effort
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden's latest investigation into the Swiss banking industry may apply further pressure to federal law enforcement officials to revive a program designed to encourage taxpayers' voluntary compliance in disclosing income held overseas to the IRS.
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April 11, 2024
IRS Schedules 6 Taxpayer Advisory Panel Meetings For May
The Internal Revenue Service announced the schedule Thursday for six Taxpayer Advocacy Panel committee meetings to be held in May.
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April 10, 2024
House Panel Leaders Say Tax Bill Delay Hurts Small Biz
The chairman and the ranking member of the House Small Business Committee both urged the Senate on Wednesday to pass the tax bill held up by Republican senators, saying continuing to delay the proposal's package would further burden small businesses.
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April 10, 2024
Plastic Surgeon Owes $7.7M From Offshore Scheme, US Says
A now-retired plastic surgeon owes the Internal Revenue Service more than $7.7 million after he ran an offshore employee leasing scheme and he and his wife transferred nearly all their assets to their then-11-year-old daughter, who is now a lawyer, the government told an Ohio federal court.
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April 10, 2024
8th Circ. Skeptical Of Bid To Reveal IRS Fraud Detection Docs
Eighth Circuit judges seemed skeptical Wednesday of a retired Harvard law professor's efforts to force the IRS to reveal its techniques for questioning fraud suspects, as two of three judges on a panel highlighted the potential to prevent identity theft by keeping the techniques hidden.
Expert Analysis
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The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape
The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.
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How 'As Such' Changes LPs' Self-Employment Tax Exposure
In light of the U.S. Tax Court’s recent Soroban Capital Partners decision hinging on "as such" to define the statutory limited partners exemption, state law limited partnerships should consider partners' roles and responsibilities before determining whether they are obligated to pay self-employment income tax, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct
The U.S. Supreme Court recently adopted its first-ever code of conduct, and counsel will need to work closely with clients in navigating its provisions, from gift-giving to recusal bids, say Phillip Gordon and Mateo Forero at Holtzman Vogel.
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IRA Monetization Energizes Clean Power Tax Credit Market
Recent large sales of clean energy production tax credits reflect an environment in which the Inflation Reduction Act's provisions for monetizing such credits via direct transfer — bypassing slow, costly tax equity transactions — offer opportunities for both developers and investors, says Andrew Eastman at Husch Blackwell.
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Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave
To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.
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Unpacking Long-Awaited Clean Energy Tax Credit Guidance
Recently proposed Internal Revenue Service regulations provide welcome confirmatory guidance on the application of investment tax credits as reworked by 2022's Inflation Reduction Act, prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules that are largely consistent with market expectations, and broader eligibility criteria that should please the wind power industry in particular, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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An Informed Guide To Mastering Retirement Plan Forfeitures
When considering how to allocate departing retirement plan participants’ forfeitures, sponsors should consider recently filed lawsuits that allege Employee Retirement Income Security Act violations for using such funds to offset employer contributions, as well as proposed IRS guidance concerning how and when they must be used, says Eric Gregory at Dickinson Wright.
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The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms
In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.
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IRS Proposal May Help Clarify Donor-Advised Fund Excise Tax
Recently proposed regulations provide important clarifications of the Internal Revenue Code's excise tax on donor-advised fund distributions by providing detailed definitions of key terms and addressing some of the open issues related to their operation and administration, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier
Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.
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Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World
As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.
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General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI
With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.