Federal
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September 23, 2024
Senate Confirms 3rd Tax Court Judge In 2 Months
The U.S. Senate approved one of President Joe Biden's nominees to serve on the U.S. Tax Court on Monday, marking the third time the chamber has confirmed a judge to the court in the past two months.
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September 23, 2024
Tax Court Allows Woman's Gambling Loss Deduction
A California woman made good-faith attempts to substantiate her gambling losses and therefore may claim a roughly $62,000 tax deduction, but she is still liable for an accuracy-related penalty for the year in question, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
DOJ Seeing Deluge Of Attacks In Tax Cases After Loper Bright
The U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division is seeing its casework flooded with taxpayer arguments citing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright overturning the Chevron doctrine, and that's not likely to change soon, a division chief said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
Vanguard Agrees To Settle Investors' Tax Liability Suit
Vanguard agreed to settle a proposed class action by investors who accused the company of violating its fiduciary duties when it triggered a sell-off of assets that left them with massive tax bills, according to a Pennsylvania federal court order Monday.
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September 23, 2024
Profs, Retired Judges Ask Justices To Uphold Return Of Taxes
Two former bankruptcy judges and a group of law professors threw their support behind the bankruptcy trustee of a Utah transportation company seeking to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that the IRS, like any other creditor, should have to return payments deemed fraudulent under state law.
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September 23, 2024
IRS Finalizing Pricing Pact Guidance, Official Says
The Internal Revenue Service is in the final stages of updating revenue procedures to help multinational corporations pursue advance pricing agreements and resolve tax treaty disputes, and it will release the guidance soon, an agency official said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
IRS Names Chief Of Appeals Office
The Internal Revenue Service elevated the acting chief of its Independent Office of Appeals to the position permanently, the agency announced Monday.
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September 23, 2024
Squire Patton Tax Ace Joins Winston & Strawn In Dallas
Winston & Strawn LLP announced Monday it has expanded its tax offerings with the addition of an experienced attorney from Squire Patton Boggs LLP in Texas.
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September 23, 2024
Julie Chrisley Fights For Sentence Cut After 11th Circ. Ruling
Former reality TV star Julie Chrisley asked a Georgia federal judge on Friday to resentence her to no more than five years for her role in a $36 million tax evasion and fraud scheme, arguing against prosecutors' insistence that the seven-year sentence she was previously given be kept intact.
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September 20, 2024
Family Owes $81M Taxes On 'Son-Of-Boss' Scheme, DOJ Says
Former shareholders of a family-owned holding company owe the IRS nearly $81 million for participating in what is known as a Son-of-Boss arrangement, which generated fake capital losses in the 2022 sale of company stock, the U.S. Department of Justice told a New York federal court.
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September 20, 2024
8th Circ. To Hear Args In 3M's $24M Tax Case Next Month
The Eighth Circuit said Friday that it will hear oral arguments next month in 3M's transfer pricing appeal, in which the multinational conglomerate is challenging the Internal Revenue Service's authority to reallocate to the company $24 million from a Brazilian affiliate.
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September 20, 2024
IRS Updates Per-Diem Deduction Rates For Business Travel
The per-diem rates used to compute business travel expense tax deductions will be $319 for travel to high-cost areas and $225 for travel to low-cost areas starting in October, the Internal Revenue Service said Friday.
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September 20, 2024
Divestiture Counts As Reorganization, IRS Says
A domestic corporation with some foreign shareholders that is required to divest itself of one of its businesses by using a newly created corporation as an intermediary for the distribution qualifies as a tax-free reorganization, the IRS said in a private letter ruling released Friday.
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September 20, 2024
IRS Special Trial Attorney Joins Hochman Salkin In California
When Hochman Salkin Toscher Perez PC's newest principal, Sebastian Voth, was studying at Emory University School of Law, a former chief counsel for the Internal Revenue Service told students that the IRS was a great place to start their careers. After 15 years as an IRS attorney, Voth found that the agency was also a great place to work, he told Law360 Pulse in an interview Friday.
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September 20, 2024
IRS Not Meeting Disclosure Requirements For Joint Returns
The Internal Revenue Service did not uniformly follow joint return disclosure requirements on collection information requests, burdening taxpayers with additional delays resolving their tax matters and possibly violating their privacy rights, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Friday.
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September 20, 2024
Tribe's Stateless Status Undoes $1.9M Construction Suit
A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday tossed a New York construction company's $1.9 million lawsuit against the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, finding the tribe's stateless position leaves the court with no jurisdiction to decide the case.
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September 20, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Gibson Dunn, Holland & Knight
In this week's Taxation With Representation, CACI International buys Azure Summit Technology, Hotel Engine lands a valuation led by Permira, and Knowles Corp. sells its microphone business to Syntiant Corp.
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September 20, 2024
IRS Must Credit Overpayments, Couple Tell 5th Circ.
A couple claiming they should be allowed to sue the IRS for a roughly $500,000 tax refund in federal court because they overpaid their taxes told the Fifth Circuit that the agency is out of time to challenge their overpayments and must credit their account.
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September 20, 2024
IRS Corrects Proposed Clean Electricity Bonus Credit Regs
The Internal Revenue Service issued corrections Friday to proposed regulations that would broaden the types of power facilities that could be eligible for clean electricity low-income community bonus credit amounts starting in 2025.
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September 20, 2024
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included proposed regulations that would adjust the timing for when companies could opt to use the so-called mark-to-market accounting method for gains or losses that arise from foreign currency transactions.
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September 19, 2024
Ch. 7 Trustee Urges Justices To Uphold Return Of Taxes
The bankruptcy trustee of a defunct Utah transportation company warned the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that overturning a decision forcing the IRS to return tax payments made by company directors to cover their personal debts would encourage shareholder fraud.
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September 19, 2024
Convicted Drexel Professor Won't Get New Tax Evasion Trial
A Drexel University accounting professor was denied a new trial after being convicted on tax evasion charges for failing to report $3.3 million in income from a Trenton pharmacy, a New Jersey federal judge has ruled, reasoning that the professor's case was not prejudiced by keeping accounting records related to his tax returns from the jury.
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September 19, 2024
House Bill Proposes Tax Incentives For Military Housing
A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would seek to increase the availability and affordability of housing for service members in part by excluding the military's basic housing allowance from the income calculation for the low-income housing tax credit.
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September 19, 2024
Calif. Says FDIC's $20M Tax Refund Bid Must Wait
A California tax collection agency asked a New York federal court to throw out Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. claims seeking a more than $20 million tax refund on behalf of the shuttered Signature Bank, saying the agency is entitled to wait for a potential IRS audit to end.
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September 19, 2024
Death Doesn't Preclude FBAR Penalties, Judge Says
The death of a U.S. citizen who failed to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts doesn't stop the U.S. government from enforcing penalties against his estate, a New York federal judge ruled.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing
Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address
A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union
As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Why DOJ's Whistleblower Program May Have Limited Impact
The U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower pilot program aims to incentivize individuals to report corporate misconduct, but the program's effectiveness may be undercut by its differences from other federal agencies’ whistleblower programs and its interplay with other DOJ policies, say attorneys at Milbank.
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How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
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Trump's Best Hush Money Appeal Options Still Likely To Fail
The two strongest potential arguments former President Donald Trump could raise in appealing his New York hush money conviction seem promising at first, but precedent strongly suggests they will still ultimately fail — though, of course, Trump's unique position could lead to surprising results, says former New York Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg, now at Anderson Kill.
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Tips For Tax Equity-Tax Credit Transfers That Pass IRS Muster
Although the Internal Revenue Service has increased its scrutiny of complex partnership structures, which must demonstrate their economic substance and business purpose, recent cases and IRS guidance together provide a reliable road map for creating legitimate tax equity structures, say Ian Boccaccio and Michael Messina at Ryan Tax.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.