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Federal
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July 15, 2026
Mich. Tax Biz Barred From Preparing Federal Returns By Court
A federal judge granted the federal government's bid to bar a Michigan-based tax and accounting business from preparing federal tax returns over allegations it prepared fraudulent returns that cost the government a tax revenue loss estimated at over $2 million.
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July 15, 2026
Texas Estate Disputes $11.5M Tax From Stock Transfers, Gifts
The Internal Revenue Service wrongly assessed taxes of $11.5 million and $1.6 million in penalties to a Texas woman's estate from the agency's inflated valuation of stock and imposition of gift tax, the estate told the U.S. Tax Court.
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July 14, 2026
House Backs Bill To End Penny Minting, Round Cash Sales
The phaseout of the penny would become law and retailers would be able to round cash transactions up or down to the nearest 5-cent amount under a bill that the U.S. House passed Tuesday, sending it to the Senate.
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July 14, 2026
Bike Seller Says IRS' Undervaluation Caused $3M Deficiency
A California bicycle seller told the U.S. Tax Court that the IRS' faulty appraisal of its value caused the agency to mischaracterize a transaction with its parent company as a discharge of indebtedness and a $15.5 million income increase, leading to a $3.3 million deficiency assessment.
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July 14, 2026
IRS Ethics Guidance Highlights AI Billing Tensions
Recent IRS ethics guidance urged attorneys to acknowledge the time-saving features of artificial intelligence when billing clients, underlining the legal industry's ongoing reckoning with how, or if, this technology fits into the traditional practice of charging by the hour.
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July 14, 2026
5th Circ. Affirms Fraudster Tax Preparer's 16-Year Sentence
The Fifth Circuit affirmed a tax preparer's nearly 16-year sentence for aiding in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns, rejecting his argument that a Texas federal court erred when it denied his motions for a new trial and applied sentencing enhancements.
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July 14, 2026
IRS Updates Corp. Bond Monthly Yield Curve For July
The IRS updated the corporate bond monthly yield curve used in calculations for defined benefit plans for July on Tuesday, as well as corresponding segment rates and the interest rate for 30-year U.S. Treasury Department securities.
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July 14, 2026
Couple's Settlement Proceeds Taxable Income, Tax Court Says
Proceeds from a couple's settlement with credit reporting agencies, including attorney fee payments, should be reported as taxable gross income, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Tuesday, rejecting the argument that the Fair Credit Reporting Act's fee-shifting provisions exempted the payments from taxation.
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July 14, 2026
IRS Donor Disclosure Rule Unconstitutional, Group Says
The IRS' nonprofit donor disclosure rule violates the First Amendment, a conservative youth group told a D.C. federal court, arguing that a now-convicted contractor's theft of donor records and those of high-ranking government officials demonstrates that the agency cannot safeguard sensitive information.
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July 13, 2026
IRS Experts Undervalued Ala. Land Gift, Partnership Says
IRS experts erred at trial in relying on other land sales to calculate a value of under $1 million for Alabama property donated to a conservation group in 2017, far below the $28 million determined by the partnership's appraiser, the partnership told the U.S. Tax Court.
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July 13, 2026
Trump Taps Former Acting IRS Chief Counsel For Tax Court
President Donald Trump nominated a former acting Internal Revenue Service chief counsel for a seat in the U.S. Tax Court on Monday.
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July 13, 2026
Government Backs Tax Evader's Higher Sentence At 4th Circ.
A West Virginia federal judge correctly handed down an enhanced sentence to a real estate appraisal business owner convicted of failing to pay employment taxes, federal prosecutors told the Fourth Circuit, urging the court to affirm the court's sentence.
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July 13, 2026
Estate's $4M Tax Bill Rife With IRS Errors, Executor Says
The Internal Revenue Service made a litany of errors in determining that an individual's estate faces a tax deficiency of approximately $4 million and more than $744,000 in penalties, the estate's Oklahoma-based executor told the U.S. Tax Court.
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July 13, 2026
McKesson Says IRS Overreads Law Backing Pricing Rules
Pharmaceutical giant McKesson asked a Texas federal court to invalidate transfer pricing regulations that underpin the company's $10 million tax refund bid, arguing the U.S. government mistakenly thinks the underlying statute gives the IRS "near-limitless authority" to define key terms.
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July 13, 2026
Biofuel Tax Fraudster Loses Bid For Extra Sentence Reduction
A Utah federal judge declined to reduce further the original sentence of an accomplice in a $500 million biofuel production tax credit fraud scheme, finding that his prior reduction to 12 years had sufficiently reflected his cooperation in the trial of another defendant.
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July 13, 2026
US Biz Group Urges EU To Honor Side-By-Side Treatment
A lobbying group representing U.S. companies called on the European Union to respect the country's side-by-side agreement as the bloc continues to work on a tax simplification overhaul.
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July 13, 2026
Trump-IRS Settlement Result Of Sham Suit, Judge Rules
President Donald Trump's $10 billion suit against his own Internal Revenue Service and the resulting settlement deal lacked a legitimate controversy, given Trump's control over both the agency and the U.S. Department of Justice, a Florida district judge said Monday in an order barring Trump or others from citing the deal.
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July 10, 2026
Mattress Seller, Mo. Customers End Use Tax Overcharge Fight
A Missouri federal court closed a class action by online customers claiming excessive tax charges by a mattress retailer after the parties reached a deal that will see the customers refunded.
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July 10, 2026
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin included a revenue procedure to provide a gift tax reporting safe harbor for certain contributions to the new tax-advantaged brokerage accounts for newborns, known as Trump Accounts.
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July 10, 2026
IRS Defends Tax Court's Deduction In Arrest Injury Settlement
The U.S. Tax Court correctly ruled that part of a man's $35,000 settlement payment from a Massachusetts town is deductible as damages paid for physical injuries, the IRS told the D.C. Circuit on Friday.
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July 10, 2026
US-Canada Stalemate Expected To Hold Amid USMCA Review
The trade stalemate between the U.S. and Canada is likely to continue through a drawn-out review process for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, though companies will benefit from an underlying level of stability as the deal remains in effect, trade lawyers said.
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July 10, 2026
Vague IRS Rules Should Nix Foreign Gift Penalties, Court Told
A California civil service worker asked a federal court to waive penalties imposed by the IRS over her failure to report wedding gifts received from family in China, contending the agency was unclear about filing requirements.
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July 10, 2026
Taxation With Representation: Cleary, Paul Weiss, Fried Frank
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Solstice Advanced Materials Inc. acquires specialty chemicals technology company Element Solutions Inc., Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. buys Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Lockheed Martin acquires naval defense company Ultra Maritime.
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July 09, 2026
Judge Backs Feds' Valuation Method In Windfarm Grant Fight
A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge ordered several California wind farm owners and the federal government to largely employ a method the government proposed to value their facilities and hash out a decade-old dispute over grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
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July 09, 2026
Okla. Tax Officials Say McGirt Can't Upend Osage Ruling
Oklahoma tax officials say the Osage Nation can't rely on a 2020 landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn a decision that declined to vacate a 16-year-old determination that its reservation boundaries had been disestablished, telling the Tenth Circuit that the tribe's challenge is too late.
Expert Analysis
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AI Evidence Rule Tweaks Encourage Judicial Guardrails
Recent additions to a committee note on proposed Rule of Evidence 707 — governing evidence generated by artificial intelligence — seek to mitigate potential dangers that may arise once machine outputs are introduced at trial, encouraging judges to perform critical gatekeeping functions, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.
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The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Getting The Message Across
Communications and brand strategy during a law firm merger represent a crucial thread that runs through every stage of a combination and should include clear messaging, leverage modern marketing tools and embrace the chance to evolve, says Ashley Horne at Womble Bond.
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Horizontal Stare Decisis Should Not Be Casually Discarded
Eliminating the so-called law of the circuit doctrine — as recently proposed by a Fifth Circuit judge, echoing Justice Neil Gorsuch’s concurrence in Loper Bright — would undermine public confidence in the judiciary’s independence and create costly uncertainty for litigants, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.
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10 Commandments For Agentic AI Tools In The Legal Industry
Though agentic artificial intelligence has demonstrated significant promise for optimizing legal work, it presents numerous risks, so specific ethical obligations should be built into the knowledge base of every agentic AI tool used in the legal industry, says Steven Cordero at Akerman LLP.
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A Close Look At The Evolving Interval Fund Space
Interval funds — closed-end registered investment companies that make periodic repurchase offers — have recently moved to the center of the conversation about retail access to private markets, spurred along by President Donald Trump's August executive order incorporating alternative assets into 401(k) plans and target date strategies, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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The Law Firm Merger Diaries: How To Build On Cultural Fit
Law firm mergers should start with people, then move to strategy: A two-level screening that puts finding a cultural fit at the pinnacle of the process can unearth shared values that are instrumental to deciding to move forward with a combination, says Matthew Madsen at Harrison.
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Rare Tariff Authority May Boost US Battery Manufacturing
Finalizing preliminary tariffs on active anode material from China — the result of a rare exercise of statutory authority finding that foreign dumping hampered the development of a nascent U.S. industry — should help domestic battery manufacturing, but potential price increases could discourage related clean-energy use, say attorneys at MoloLamken.
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Considerations When Invoking The Common-Interest Privilege
To successfully leverage the common-interest doctrine in a multiparty transaction or complex litigation, practitioners should be able to demonstrate that the parties intended for it to apply, that an underlying privilege like attorney-client has attached, and guard against disclosures that could waive privilege and defeat its purpose, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Making The Case To Combine
When making the decision to merge, law firm leaders must factor in strategic alignment, cultural compatibility and leadership commitment in order to build a compelling case for combining firms to achieve shared goals and long-term success, says Kevin McLaughlin at UB Greensfelder.
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What To Watch As NY LLC Transparency Act Is Stuck In Limbo
Just about a month before it's set to take effect, the status of the New York LLC Transparency Act remains murky because of a pending amendment and the lack of recent regulatory attention in New York, but business owners should at least prepare for the possibility of having to comply, says Jonathan Wilson at Buchalter.
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Despite Deputy AG Remarks, DOJ Can't Sideline DC Bar
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent suggestion that the D.C. Bar would be prevented from reviewing misconduct complaints about U.S. Department of Justice attorneys runs contrary to federal statutes, local rules and decades of case law, and sends the troubling message that federal prosecutors are subject to different rules, say attorneys at HWG.
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8th Circ. Decision Shipwrecks IRS On Shoals Of Loper Bright
The Eighth Circuit’s recent decision invalidating transfer pricing regulations in 3M Co. v. Commissioner may be the most significant tax case implementing Loper Bright's rejection of agency deference as a judicial tool in statutory construction, says Edward Froelich at McDermott.
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Rule Amendments Pave Path For A Privilege Claim 'Offensive'
Litigators should consider leveraging forthcoming amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will require early negotiations of privilege-related discovery claims, by taking an offensive posture toward privilege logs at the outset of discovery, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law.