Federal
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April 30, 2024
Attys, Broker Can't Escape $4M Tax Fraud Convictions
A North Carolina federal judge has denied acquittal requests from two tax attorneys and an insurance agent who were convicted for their roles in a $4 million tax avoidance scheme, saying he agreed with federal prosecutors who argued there was sufficient evidence for the underlying charges.
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April 30, 2024
Feds Endorse Easing Marijuana Status In Big Policy Shift
Federal drug enforcers will recommend loosening restrictions on cannabis for the first time since the drug was made federally illegal decades ago, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
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April 30, 2024
IRS Updates Guidance For Clean Jet Fuel Tax Credits
The Internal Revenue Service released guidance Tuesday that updated an environmental model that manufacturers of a low-carbon alternative to conventional jet fuel, such as ethanol, can use to qualify for a new tax credit and provided a safe harbor for producers to meet the incentive's requirements.
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April 30, 2024
The Tax Angle: TCJA Teams, Dear Colleague Letters
From a look at House GOP efforts to prepare for next year's expiration of their 2017 tax overhaul to ongoing attempts by lawmakers to draw attention and support for their own tax legislation, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of the week's developing tax stories.
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April 30, 2024
Ex-Mass. Pol Can't Sink Fraud Case With 'Imaginative' Attacks
A Boston federal judge on Tuesday rejected what he called an "imaginative and novel" effort by a former Massachusetts politician to dismiss charges of lying to get COVID-19 relief funds and underreporting income on his taxes.
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April 30, 2024
Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Schedules May Meeting
The Internal Revenue Service's Taxpayer Advocacy Panel has scheduled its next meeting for May 23, the agency said Tuesday.
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April 30, 2024
IRS Tax Prep Assistance Grants Open May 1
The Internal Revenue Service will begin accepting applications for certain tax preparation assistance grants May 1, the agency said Tuesday.
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April 29, 2024
Hunter Biden Threatens To Sue Fox News For 'Revenge Porn'
An attorney representing Hunter Biden threatened Fox News with a lawsuit over allegations it violated New York's "revenge porn" law by publishing nude pictures of him taken off his notorious laptop, according a letter obtained Monday by Law360.
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April 29, 2024
Drop In Giving Fuels Push To Restore Above-Line Deduction
Advocates for nonprofits want Congress to revive an above-the-line charitable contribution deduction this year in order to reverse a continuing drop in donations, but prospects for enactment appear limited until an end-of-year tax package.
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April 29, 2024
Ex-COO Of Mo. Charity Gets 3 Years For Bribing Officials
The former chief operating officer of a Missouri-based healthcare charity was sentenced to three years in prison Monday after admitting she and her husband, the charity's ex-chief financial officer, conspired to bribe elected officials in Arkansas, according to Missouri federal court documents.
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April 29, 2024
Court Can Make Widow Pull $2.5M From Swiss Bank, US Says
A Colorado federal court can force a widow to send $2.5 million from a Swiss bank to the U.S. to repay her late husband's penalties and interest for failing to report his foreign accounts, the U.S. told the court.
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April 29, 2024
AICPA Seeks Clarity On IRS' 401(k) Proposal
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants asked the Internal Revenue Service to clarify regulations impacting the treatment of employees under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code, according to a letter made public Monday.
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April 29, 2024
IRS Rightly Denied Md. Woman's Meeting Request, Court Says
A Maryland woman's request for a face-to-face meeting with the Internal Revenue Service was properly rejected after she failed to meet the proper prerequisites, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday.
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April 29, 2024
11th Circ. Should Nix Tax Court Judges' Shield, Widow Says
The widow of a supermarket butcher told the Eleventh Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court not only wrongly upheld tax liabilities against her stemming from her husband's tax filings but also erroneously affirmed unconstitutional job protections for its judges.
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April 29, 2024
IRS Botching Noncompliant Biofuel Credit Claims, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service must take additional steps to address noncompliant claims for biodiesel-related tax credits that resulted in the agency wrongly issuing more than $30 million in credits, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a report released Monday.
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April 29, 2024
IRS To Open $6B 2nd Round Of Advanced Energy Tax Credits
The IRS will start taking applications May 28 from project owners seeking to get part of a $6 billion second round of tax credits for developments that will support the clean energy industry, such as solar glass manufacturing and metal recycling facilities, the agency said Monday.
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April 29, 2024
Justices Pass On Claim That IRS Targeted Atty For Web Post
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied an attorney's request for review of a ruling that allowed the Internal Revenue Service to obtain his bank account information, declining to hear his argument that the agency targeted him based on a tax analysis he posted online.
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April 29, 2024
IRS Issues Reference Price For Production Credit
The reference price for the nonconventional source production credit in calendar year 2023 — which applies to tax year 2024 — is $76.10, the Internal Revenue Service said Monday.
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April 29, 2024
US Expatriations Plummet In 1st Quarter, IRS Says
The number of people who expatriated from the U.S. fell nearly 70% during the first quarter of 2024 compared with the previous quarter, the Internal Revenue Service said in a notice published Monday.
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April 26, 2024
10th Circ. Says Colo. Tax Ballot Law Doesn't Compel Speech
A Colorado law requiring that financial impacts be included in the titles of some tax-related ballot initiatives does not cause "improperly compelled" speech, the Tenth Circuit said Friday, rejecting a conservative group's bid to block the law.
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April 26, 2024
FedEx Calls Gov't Arguments On Tax Credits Contradictory
The federal government advanced contradictory arguments in FedEx's $84.6 million foreign tax credits dispute with the Internal Revenue Service, the package delivery giant said in a filing in Tennessee federal court.
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April 26, 2024
Ex-Mass. Trooper Handed 5 Years For No-Work OT, Tax Fraud
A former Massachusetts state trooper convicted of stealing overtime pay, lying on his taxes and cheating to get student aid for his son was sentenced Friday by a federal judge to five years in prison for his leadership role in the sprawling overtime fraud scheme.
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April 26, 2024
IRS To Decide Soon On Renewal Of E-File Pilot Program
The Internal Revenue Service expects to decide on the future of its free e-filing pilot program this spring after gathering additional feedback, Commissioner Daniel Werfel said Friday.
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April 26, 2024
Gov't Wants Ex-Boston Celtic Imprisoned For Health Plan Scheme
Prosecutors asked a Manhattan federal judge to sentence former Boston Celtics player Glen "Big Baby" Davis to roughly three years in prison after he was convicted of scheming with a group of ex-pros to submit fraudulent invoices to the NBA's healthcare plan.
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April 26, 2024
4 More Indicted In Alleged Abusive Trust Tax Scheme
A federal grand jury in Denver indicted four more people in connection with what prosecutors call a conspiracy to defraud the government in a multistate scheme to promote abusive tax shelters using sham trusts to hide business income and illegally deduct personal expenses such as family weddings.
Expert Analysis
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Payroll Tax Evasion Notice Suggests FinCEN's New Focus
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s recent notice advising U.S. financial institutions to report payroll tax evasion and workers' compensation schemes in the construction industry suggests a growing interest in tax enforcement and IRS collaboration, as well as increased scrutiny in the construction sector, say Andrew Weiner and Jay Nanavati at Kostelanetz.
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How Taxpayers Can Prep As Justices Weigh Repatriation Tax
The U.S. Supreme Court might strike down the 2017 federal tax overhaul's corporate repatriation tax in Moore v. U.S., so taxpayers should file protective tax refund claims before the case is decided and repatriate previously taxed earnings that could become entangled in dubious potential Section 965 refunds, say Jenny Austin and Gary Wilcox at Mayer Brown.
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IRS Foreign Tax Credit Pause Is Welcome Course Correction
A recent IRS notice temporarily suspending application of 2022 foreign tax credit regulations provides wanted relief for the many U.S. multinational companies and other taxpayers that otherwise face the risk of significant double taxation in their international operations, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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If Justices End Chevron Deference, Auer Could Be Next Target
If the U.S. Supreme Court decides next term to overrule its Chevron v. NRDC decision, it may open the door for a similar review of the Auer deference — the principle that a government agency can interpret, through application, ambiguous agency regulations, says Sohan Dasgupta at Taft Stettinius.
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Tax Court Ruling Provides Helpful Profits Interest Guidance
A recent U.S. Tax Court decision holding that a partnership may exclude interests in a company that it indirectly received sheds light on related IRS guidance, including the proper valuation method for such interests, though the court's application of the method to the facts of this case appears flawed, say attorneys at Kramer Levin.
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Mallory Ruling Doesn't Undermine NC Sales Tax Holding
Contrary to the conclusion reached in a recent Law360 guest article, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Mallory ruling shouldn't be read as implicitly repudiating the North Carolina Supreme Court’s sales tax ruling in Quad Graphics v. North Carolina Department of Revenue — the U.S. Supreme Court could have rejected Quad by directly overturning it, says Jonathan Entin at Case Western Reserve.
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IRS Criminal Probe Spells Uncertainty For Malta Pension Plans
The IRS’ recent scrutiny of Malta pension plan arrangements — and its unusual issuance of criminal administrative summonses — confirms that it views many of these plans as illegal tax evasion schemes, and the road ahead will not be smooth and steady for anyone involved, say attorneys at Kostelanetz.
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IRS Announcement Will Aid Cos. In Buyback Tax Planning
Recent IRS transitional guidance regarding current requirements for reporting and payment of the stock repurchase excise tax will help corporate taxpayers make decisions about records retention and establishing reserves for future tax payments, say Xenia Garofalo and Kyle Colonna at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Mallory Opinion Implicitly Overturned NC Sales Tax Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to review Quad Graphics v. North Carolina Department of Revenue, but importantly kicked the legs from under Quad's outcome a week later, stating in its Mallory decision that the high court has the prerogative to overrule its own decisions, says Richard Pomp at the University of Connecticut.
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How NIL Collectives Could Be Tax-Exempt After IRS Curveball
Since the Internal Revenue Service recently announced that numerous collectives creating paid name, image and likeness deals for collegiate student-athletes do not qualify for tax exemption, for-profit entities and alternative collective structures with incidental student-athlete benefits may be considered to fund NIL ventures, says David Kaufman at Thompson Coburn.
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Is This Pastime A Side-Gig? Or Is It A Hobby?
The recent U.S. Tax Court decision in Sherman v. Commissioner offers important reminders for taxpayers about the documentation and business practices needed to successfully argue that expenses can be deducted as losses from nonhobby income, says Bryan Camp at Texas Tech.
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Recent Provider Relief Fund Audits Are Just The Beginning
Though the Health Resources and Services Administration's initial audits of the Provider Relief Fund program appear to be limited in scope, fund recipients should prepare for additional oversight, scrutiny and disallowances as the HRSA ramps up its efforts, say Brian Lee and Christopher Frisina at Alston & Bird.
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Flawed Analysis Supports Common Law Tax Deficiency Ruling
The Colorado federal district court’s recent decision in Liberty Global, holding that the U.S. Department of Justice may assert a common law tax claim without the notice of tax deficiency required by the Internal Revenue Code, relies on a contorted reading of the statute and irrelevant case law, say Loren Opper and Christie Galinski at Miller Canfield.