Federal
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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.
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April 10, 2024
Pension Plan Segment Rates Increase In April
Segment rates for calculating pension plan funding rose in April, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.
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April 10, 2024
Family's $25M Settlement Is Income, Tax Court Says
A $25 million settlement received by a family was not tied to personal injury damages, making it taxable, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Wednesday.
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April 10, 2024
Fla. Atty Gets 8 Years For Fraudulent Tax Shelter Scheme
A Florida attorney was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to tax evasion and defrauding the U.S. government through a tax shelter scheme he pitched to clients that involved making purported charitable contributions so his clients could claim millions of dollars in tax deductions they weren't qualified to receive.
Expert Analysis
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Justices Poised To Reject Narrowing Unclaimed Property Law
After U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in the so-called MoneyGram case — a dispute between Delaware and several other states over which has the right to about $300 million in unclaimed property — the court seems ready to rule against Delaware, but nuances of the court's reasoning will have a broader sweep, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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How High Court Could Change FBAR Penalty Landscape
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Bittner v. U.S., a case that will affect many people penalized for failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, and there are important procedural implications should the government's position be reversed, say Reuben Muller and Andreas Apostolides at Cole Schotz.
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IRS Memo May Change IP Royalty Tax Prepayment Planning
A recent Internal Revenue Service advice memorandum finding a taxpayer was not permitted to prepay tax on contingent royalties after contributing intellectual property offshore is a noteworthy departure from earlier guidance that highlights potential differences between actual and deemed licenses, says William Skinner at Fenwick.
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What IRS Funding Increase Means For Taxpayers
The Internal Revenue Service will first use the influx of funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to address customer support and personnel issues, but with over half the money allocated to enforcement, corporations and high-net-worth individuals will face increased scrutiny, say Patrick McCann Jr. and Jasen Hanson at Chamberlain Hrdlicka.
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6 Tax Considerations For Life Sciences Collaboration Deals
Given recent IRS guidance and changes to certain tax rates and deductions, biotech and life sciences companies entering into collaboration agreements should assess several unique taxation issues affecting matters ranging from research and development expenditures to profit-sharing terms, say attorneys at Orrick and Andersen Tax.
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Rushed Multilateral Negotiations Caused Two-Pillar Tax Mess
Cracks appearing in the two pillars of the 2021 global tax plan stem from a multilateral tax policy process that rushed to issue rules without first resolving fundamental differences between countries or ensuring that the U.S., a key player, could implement them, says Jefferson VanderWolk at Squire Patton.
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Post-Litigation Refund Strategies To Defeat Class Certification
The Third Circuit's recent revival of the Duncan v. Governor of the Virgin Islands class action shows that defendants should strongly consider tendering refunds to class representatives — even after they file suit — to create a substantial obstacle to certification, say attorneys at Covington.
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Key Considerations For Seeking Relief From Double Taxation
Caroline Setliffe and E. Miller Williams at Eversheds Sutherland lay out the Organization for International Cooperation and Development’s mutual agreement procedure for settling double-taxation disputes, and discuss six factors U.S. taxpayers doing business in multiple countries should consider when determining the most advantageous form of relief.
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High Court Could Resolve Thorny Atty-Client Privilege Issue
The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted review in a federal grand jury proceeding that presents a rare opportunity to clarify — and possibly significantly expand — the scope of the attorney-client privilege for complex mixed-purpose communications with counsel, says David Greenwald at Jenner & Block.
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2 Tax Decisions Hold Key Transfer Pricing Takeaways
Richard Slowinski and Stefanie Kavanagh at Alston & Bird discuss two recent decisions in cases against the IRS — Eaton Corp. from the Sixth Circuit and Medtronic from the Tax Court — that may help clarify when the agency can cancel an advance pricing agreement, but leave unanswered questions about which pricing method applies to high-value intercompany licensing transactions.
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Patagonia's Succession Plan Is A Blueprint For Biz Owners
While not every business owner is interested in giving their company away to a charitable purpose like Patagonia's founder recently did, the outdoor apparel company's unique situation highlights the considerations that should go into any succession plan, says Abosede Odunsi at Freeborn & Peters.
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The CHIPS Act: Key Takeaways For Semiconductor Industry
The Biden administration’s recently signed CHIPS Act signals that the U.S. is making progress toward bolstering the domestic semiconductor industry, and manufacturers must prepare by understanding the requirements of the act and associated Department of Commerce guidance, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.
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Digital Taxation Is Necessary, But Tough To Manage
The U.S. government has started to tackle complex new tax laws as the digital economy continues to grow, but this demands guidelines that will facilitate the growth while protecting investors and the government's finances, say attorneys at Cadwalader.