Federal
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October 07, 2024
Justices Won't Review Contractor's $1.3M R&D Credit Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand Monday a Fifth Circuit decision denying a construction company's shareholders a six-figure tax refund for the company's $1.3 million research credit claim, denying a petition.
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October 07, 2024
TCJA Extension, Biz Tax Cut To Reward Top 5%, Report Says
Former President Donald Trump's planned extension of the 2017 tax cuts and lowering of corporate rates contribute most among his platform to lowering taxes for the wealthiest 5% and hiking them for everyone else, the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said Monday in a report.
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October 04, 2024
Defunct Yoga Studios' Founder Cops To Tax Evasion
The founder of a defunct chain of prominent and lucrative yoga studios who was accused of hiding $1.6 million in income from the Internal Revenue Service pled guilty to tax evasion, New York federal prosecutors said Friday.
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October 04, 2024
DC Circ. Won't Reconsider Whistleblower's $690M Claim
The D.C. Circuit on Friday rejected a whistleblower's request that it rehear a ruling upholding the denial of up to $690 million, or 30%, of the $2.3 billion collected in an Internal Revenue Service offshore voluntary disclosure program.
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October 04, 2024
Fed. Circ. Revives HR Co.'s $1.6M Tax Penalty Refund Bid
A human resources company that sought $1.6 million in tax penalty refunds should not have been rejected for its failure to attach power-of-attorney forms to its requests, the Federal Circuit said Friday in vacating a decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
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October 04, 2024
Promise Of OECD's Payments Tax Treaty Called Into Question
The OECD-designed tool to provide developing countries with better means to apply a minimum tax on income sent from their jurisdictions to low-taxed entities within a corporate group is inadequate to address those countries' revenue needs, tax policy organizations said.
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October 04, 2024
Former NJ Doctor Owes $4.8M In FBAR Penalties, Court Told
A former physician in New Jersey faces a tax bill of almost $5 million for failing to report 19 bank accounts he opened at Indian banks, the government told a federal court.
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October 04, 2024
IRS Probes Atty Over Promotion Of Deferred Law Firm Fees
The Internal Revenue Service is investigating a lawyer it suspects of promoting a scheme to illegally shield attorneys from taxes on legal fees, according to an Ohio federal court petition seeking to enforce summonses for documents in the case.
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October 04, 2024
Justices Accept Ex-Chicago Alderman's False Statement Case
The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday that it would review the conviction of an ex-Burke Warren MacKay & Serritella PC attorney and former Chicago alderman under a federal statute that prohibits making false statements to influence certain financial institutions.
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October 04, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Gibson Dunn, Weil, Simpson
In this week's Taxation with Representation, DirectTV buys EchoStar's video business for $10 billion, Marsh McLennan inks a $7.75 billion deal for McGriff Insurance, and PepsiCo closes a $1.2 billion deal to purchase Siete Foods.
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October 04, 2024
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included proposed regulations that would define which electric vehicle charging ports and other similar infrastructure that taxpayers can build in underserved communities to qualify for a tax credit.
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October 03, 2024
12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar
One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.
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October 03, 2024
US Partnership Excluded From Tax Treaty, Irish Court Says
A Delaware corporation with three Irish subsidiaries must pay Irish taxes on distributions to its U.S. partners because a U.S.-Ireland tax treaty designed to prevent double taxation does not apply, the Irish High Court ruled.
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October 03, 2024
Assisted Living Owner Can't Deduct Losses, Tax Court Says
The owner of an assisted living company may not deduct passive losses for a group home he renovated because he spent too few hours working on repairs to qualify as a real estate professional, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday.
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October 03, 2024
TIGTA Says $12.9B In Early Distributions Missing Added Tax
Roughly 2.8 million taxpayers in 2021 received early retirement distributions totaling $12.9 billion but did not pay the additional 10% tax or file for an exception, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday.
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October 03, 2024
Bankruptcy Doesn't Pause Tipster's Case, Tax Court Says
A tax tipster's bankruptcy filing doesn't pause his U.S. Tax Court case challenging the Internal Revenue Service's denial of his request for a whistleblower award, the Tax Court ruled Thursday, saying the award case doesn't concern his tax liability.
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October 03, 2024
IRS Expanding Scope Of Free Online Tax-Filing Program
The Internal Revenue Service will expand its free online tax-filing program to accommodate more types of income, credits and deductions in 2025, Commissioner Daniel Werfel said Thursday.
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October 03, 2024
3M Tells 8th Circ. Chevron's End Dooms IRS In $24M Dispute
Multinational conglomerate 3M said Thursday that the U.S. Supreme Court's striking down of Chevron deference dictates that the Eighth Circuit overturn a U.S. Tax Court decision that supported the IRS' reallocation of $24 million from the company's Brazilian affiliate.
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October 03, 2024
IRS Used $2B Of Funding Boost For Operating Expenses
The IRS has used $2 billion of the funding boost it received under the Inflation Reduction Act to supplement its annual funding, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
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October 03, 2024
IRS Missing Out On $1.4B In Taxes On Gambling Winnings
The Internal Revenue Service's failure to enforce income tax filing requirements for recipients of a form to report gambling winnings has cost it an estimated roughly $1.4 billion in additional tax revenue, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday.
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October 03, 2024
IRS Issues Part-Time Worker 403(b) Retirement Plan Guidance
The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury Department published guidance Thursday on how long-term, part-time employees' Internal Revenue Code Section 403(b) retirement plans will be affected by the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022, which will apply to such plans starting in 2025.
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October 03, 2024
K&L Gates Boosts Houston Shop With Ernst & Young Tax Ace
K&L Gates LLP strengthened its Houston office this week with the hire of a tax partner with nearly three decades of expertise in advising multinational corporations on U.S. taxation on cross-border acquisitions and other transactions.
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October 03, 2024
Calif. Can't Delay Bank's $20.7M Tax Refund, FDIC Tells Court
A California tax collection agency shouldn't be allowed to delay a $20.7 million tax refund it owes the shuttered Signature Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. told a New York federal court, saying that as the bank's receiver, it's entitled to the money now.
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October 03, 2024
Tax Deadlines Delayed For Victims Of Wash. Reservation Fires
Taxpayers on the Yakama Nation's reservation in Washington state will have until Feb. 3 to file individual and business tax returns and make payments following wildfires, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.
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October 03, 2024
Ch. 7 Invalidates $4M Worker Retention Credit Suit, Gov't Says
A road construction company can't sue the Internal Revenue Service for a tax refund for pandemic-era worker credits because its claims stemmed from Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, the federal government told a Florida federal court.
Expert Analysis
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Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls
Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.
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5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond
As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.
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Pros, Cons Of Disclosing Improper Employee Retention Credit
Employers considering the Internal Revenue Service’s second voluntary disclosure program, which allows companies to avoid penalties for erroneously claiming employee retention credits for the 2021 tax year by repaying the credits and naming the tax advisers who encouraged these abusive practices, should carefully weigh the program’s benefits against its potential drawbacks, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.
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How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'
Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.
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Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process
Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.
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Whistleblowers Must Note 5 Key Differences Of DOJ Program
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently unveiled whistleblower awards program diverges in key ways from similar programs at other agencies, and individuals must weigh these differences and look first to programs with stronger, proven protections before blowing the whistle, say Stephen Kohn and Geoff Schweller at Kohn Kohn.
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What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires
Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.
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Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support
A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.
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Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where
During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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Brownfield Questions Surround IRS Tax Credit Bonus
Though the IRS has published guidance regarding the Inflation Reduction Act's 10% adder for tax credits generated by renewable energy projects constructed on brownfield sites, considerable guesswork remains as potential implications seem contrary to IRS intentions, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.