Federal
-
May 20, 2024
Ex-IRS Agent, Five Others Sentenced In COVID Fraud Scheme
A former Internal Revenue Service agent, his brother and four other defendants have pled guilty to participating in a scheme that netted more than $3 million in fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic relief loans.
-
May 20, 2024
Transparency Act Violates Constitution, Groups Tell 11th Circ.
The Corporate Transparency Act's reporting requirements violate the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination and other constitutional provisions, libertarian think tank Cato Institute and others said Monday in urging the Eleventh Circuit to uphold an Alabama district court's ruling against the law.
-
May 20, 2024
Opportunity Zones Helped Restore Pa. City, House Panel Told
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's provisions, especially the law's opportunity zones aimed at boosting economic investment in distressed communities, have been integral in the economic restoration of Erie, Pennsylvania, panelists told the House Ways and Means Committee's tax policy subcommittee Monday.
-
May 20, 2024
Lawmakers Ask IRS For Broader, Permanent Free E-File Plan
More than 135 Democratic and Independent members of Congress urged Internal Revenue Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter to expand the IRS' pilot program for free electronic tax return filing and make it permanent.
-
May 20, 2024
2 House GOP Chairs Seek Study Of Premium Tax Credit Plan
The Republican chairmen of the House Ways and Means and Budget committees want the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation to study the impact of making the expanded Affordable Care Act premium tax credits permanent.
-
May 20, 2024
IRS Guidance Plan Should Cover Corp. AMT, AICPA Says
The Internal Revenue Service should provide guidance on the definitions and applications of the 15% corporate alternative minimum tax, among other topics, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants said in comments published by the agency Monday.
-
May 20, 2024
Domino's Franchisee Gets Year In Prison In $2.5M Tax Case
The owner of dozens of Domino's Pizza restaurants was sentenced to a year in prison Monday and ordered to pay $2.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service after having admitted he filed false tax returns, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
-
May 20, 2024
Baker McKenzie Ends FOIA Suit Over IRS Partnership Audits
A Baker McKenzie attorney has dropped a public records lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service that sought to compel the agency to turn over documents pertaining to its scrutiny of large partnerships.
-
May 20, 2024
Feds Fight Proposed Delay In Hunter Biden's Tax Trial
Hunter Biden shouldn't be allowed to delay his criminal tax trial in California just because his lead attorney says the dates run up against Biden's upcoming trial in Delaware on firearms charges, the special counsel's office told a federal court.
-
May 20, 2024
House Dem Bill Would Let Education Savings Cover Transport
Students would be able to use tax-advantaged educational savings accounts to cover transportation and parking costs under a bill introduced by a pair of Democrats in the House of Representatives.
-
May 20, 2024
US, Argentina To Carry Out 1st FATCA Info Exchange
The Internal Revenue Service approved cybersecurity measures by Argentina in a step that clears the way for the first automatic information exchange under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act between the two countries in September, Argentina's revenue service said Monday.
-
May 17, 2024
Med Device Co. Allowed $160M In Deductions, Tax Court Told
A tax code provision in place before the 2017 federal tax overhaul changed it allows a medical device manufacturer to claim more than $160 million in deductions for dividends despite the government's attempt to apply the law retroactively, company counsel told the U.S. Tax Court on Friday.
-
May 17, 2024
Home Distillers Tell Feds Ban Fails Under Spirit Of The Law
The Hobby Distillers Association said the federal government is exceeding its constitutional powers and treading on states' rights by banning homemade liquor under its taxing authority, as the group laid out its position Friday at the request of a Texas federal judge.
-
May 17, 2024
Michigan Doctor Seeks Release From Contempt In FBAR Fight
A Michigan doctor incarcerated for civil contempt in a case in which he was ordered to repay more than $1 million in penalties for failure to report foreign accounts should be freed because he can no longer satisfy the terms of his release, he told a Michigan federal court.
-
May 17, 2024
Koch-Tied Group Says Transparency Law Offends Federalism
The Corporate Transparency Act is unconstitutional because it does not regulate interstate commerce yet mandates that state-registered entities disclose personal information, a conservative group affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers told the Eleventh Circuit on Friday.
-
May 17, 2024
Feds Want Prison For Kiosk Salesman Who Faked Deductions
An electronic-sweepstakes kiosk salesman from Chicago should spend more than two years in prison for submitting false tax returns that fabricated more than $400,000 in business expenses and more than $60,000 in church donations, federal prosecutors told an Illinois federal court.
-
May 17, 2024
New Domestic Content Guidance May Boost Energy Credits
The U.S. Treasury Department's new guidance on bonus tax credits for clean energy projects that source domestic-made materials and components aims to simplify the process for determining eligibility and spur more development to get those extra incentives.
-
May 17, 2024
Funding Uncertainty Hasn't Affected Plans, IRS Official Says
Political uncertainty about the Internal Revenue Service's future funding hasn't affected the agency's operations planning, the agency's deputy commissioner said Friday at a Tax Council Policy Institute conference in Washington, D.C.
-
May 17, 2024
Transfer Pricing Deal Needed For Pillar 1, OECD Official Says
It's crucial for countries to agree on transfer pricing policies under an international profit reallocation agreement known as Pillar One as they work toward their end-of-June deadline to sign a related multilateral treaty, an OECD official said Friday.
-
May 17, 2024
Judge Sets Hearing For Delay In Hunter Biden's Tax Trial
A California federal judge agreed Friday to consider Hunter Biden's request to push back his $1.4 million criminal tax trial, setting a hearing to address his claim that the dates interfere with his Delaware gun trial and threaten to prevent him from getting a fair shake.
-
May 17, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Wachtell Lipton, Freshfields
In this week's Taxation with Representation, Nippon Life acquires Corebridge Financial, Crescent Energy buys SilverBow Resources and Uber purchases Foodpanda.
-
May 17, 2024
Virgin Islands Silent 2 Years On $1.1M Tax Refund, Court Told
A man living on the island of St. Thomas claims he requested a tax refund of more than $1.1 million from the U.S. Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue more than two years ago and still hasn't heard back, according to a complaint in federal court.
-
May 16, 2024
Pillar 1 Faces Hard June Deadline, Ex-Treasury Official Says
An international agreement to reallocate certain corporate profits, known as Pillar One, will likely stall if countries miss their deadline to sign a multilateral treaty by the end of June, a former U.S. Treasury official said Thursday.
-
May 16, 2024
Hubby Liable For Ex-Co. President's $40M Bill, Tax Court Says
The husband of a former president of InfoSpace can be held jointly liable for a nearly $40 million tax debt the IRS asserted against a return they filed for the 2000 tax year, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday, saying he didn't qualify for so-called innocent spouse relief.
-
May 16, 2024
P&G Exec Says FDII Uncertainty May Sway Cos.' IP Decisions
The 2017 tax overhaul's measure for foreign-derived intangible income, a regime that gives tax breaks for domestically held intellectual property, faces uncertainty that could be one factor in keeping some companies from repatriating IP, a tax executive for Procter & Gamble said Thursday.
Expert Analysis
-
How Clients May Use AI To Monitor Attorneys
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Artificial intelligence tools will increasingly enable clients to monitor and evaluate their counsel’s activities, so attorneys must clearly define the terms of engagement and likewise take advantage of the efficiencies offered by AI, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.