Federal
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November 22, 2024
Vitamin Co. Must Freeze Owner Payouts Amid $1.4M Tax Fight
A Connecticut federal judge has granted the federal government a temporary restraining order in a $1.4 million tax fight with a vitamin company, barring distributions to the owners unless the company allocates 20% to the court's registry to help cover the potential liability.
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November 22, 2024
IRS Ignores Text In $248M Fight, Liberty Global Tells 10th Circ.
The Internal Revenue Service is incorrectly applying the U.S. tax code in denying Liberty Global's claim for $248 million in foreign tax credits tied to its sale of a Japanese affiliate, the telecommunications company told the Tenth Circuit.
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November 22, 2024
IRS Working To Incorporate Feedback On Donor Fund Regs
The Internal Revenue Service continues to work on final rules for the donor-advised fund excise tax and is taking into account public comments on its proposed rules, such as concerns that the definition of donor-advised funds is too broad, an agency official said Friday.
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November 22, 2024
Halliburton Omitted Grounds From $35M Refund Suit, US Says
A Texas federal court must dismiss parts of Halliburton's $35 million tax refund lawsuit because the company failed to raise two grounds of relief in its administrative claim for a refund, the U.S. argued.
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November 22, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Stradley Ronon, Davis Polk
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Amcor PLC buys Berry Global Group Inc., AeroVironment buys BlueHalo, Robinhood Markets Inc. acquires TradePMR, and Comcast Corp. spins off a suite of NBCUniversal cable television networks.
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November 22, 2024
Railroad Worker Tax Rates Won't Change For 2025
Tier 2 tax rates for railroad employees, employers and employee representatives in 2025 will remain unchanged, according to an Internal Revenue Service announcement Friday.
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November 22, 2024
IRS Corrects Advanced Manufacturing Credit Regs
The Internal Revenue Service released a correction notice Friday fixing a dozen errors in the final regulations implementing the advanced manufacturing investment credit rules and special 10-year credit recapture rule.
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November 22, 2024
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, featured finalized rules meant to modernize regulations governing the seizure of property by levy.
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November 22, 2024
Ex-Invenergy Atty Joins McDermott's Energy Team In DC
McDermott Will & Emery LLP announced Friday its Washington, D.C., office has brought on an in-house renewable energy and taxation expert with more than a decade of experience to further help the firm's clients utilize energy transition tax credits available in the Inflation Reduction Act.
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November 21, 2024
Tax Firm Must Disclose Case Info In Malpractice Suit
A tax firm being sued for malpractice and unfair trade practices by former clients can't hide behind a state bar association rule to avoid producing discovery documents it claims are privileged, a Wisconsin federal court ruled Thursday.
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November 21, 2024
22M Tax Returns Used Refund-Related Products, TIGTA Says
Nearly 22 million tax returns for 2023, or 16% of all returns, made use of what are known as refund-related products that either provide loans or help pay for tax preparation fees, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday.
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November 21, 2024
IRS Updates Dependent Claiming Rules To Speed Up Refunds
Starting in 2025, the Internal Revenue Service will accept e-filed returns that claim dependents that were already claimed on another taxpayer's return so long as the primary taxpayer on the second return includes a valid Identity Protection Personal Identification Number, the agency said Thursday.
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November 21, 2024
Hype For Energy Tax Perks Could Shield Regs From Repeal
President-elect Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers could turn to an oversight tool called the Congressional Review Act to undermine clean energy tax credit regulations implementing key parts of Democrats' signature climate law, but the strategy may falter due to GOP support for the incentives.
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November 21, 2024
Delayed Tax Deadline For Hostages Bill Clears House
Tax deadlines would be delayed and late fees reimbursed for Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad under legislation passed Thursday by the House after it rejected an attempt last week to fast-track the proposal.
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November 21, 2024
Ga. Attys' Easement Fraud Class Suit Shipped To State Court
A Georgia federal judge kicked back to state court a proposed class action accusing conservation easement fund organizers of racketeering and defrauding investors, saying the organizers failed to prove that the proposed class had at least 100 investors or that the case hinged on federal law.
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November 21, 2024
Israel-Hamas War Tax Relief Needed More Notice, TIGTA Says
While the Internal Revenue Service did well to proactively identify taxpayers likely affected by the Israel-Hamas war that it sought to grant tax relief, it failed to directly notify these taxpayers, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday.
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November 21, 2024
11th Circ. Asked To Rethink $100M Credit For John Hancock
The Eleventh Circuit should reverse its decision allowing John Hancock Life Insurance Co. to keep $100 million in foreign tax credits that rightfully belong to the company's investors, trustees of a retirement plan said in arguing that the court overlooked a key U.S. Treasury regulation.
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November 20, 2024
Fla. Couple Ask To Revive Suit Over Unclaimed Property
A Florida couple asked the Eleventh Circuit Wednesday to revive their proposed class suit against the state's chief financial officer over a law that allows officials to hold unclaimed money indefinitely, arguing that it is a taking without just compensation because the state never pays interest on the amount held.
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November 20, 2024
DC Circ. Upholds Taxes For Couple Lacking IRS Notice
A Georgia couple whose challenge of a 2019 tax collection was dismissed by the U.S. Tax Court when they failed to present the required IRS notice of deficiency were similarly turned away by the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday.
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November 20, 2024
Fla. Tax Preparer Gets 4 Years For Tax Fraud Scheme
A barred Florida tax preparer was sentenced to four years in prison for falsifying returns to trigger inflated refunds for participants in a three-year tax fraud scheme called the "note program," the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.
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November 20, 2024
Feds Want 1 Year In Prison For Accountant Who Hid $1.4M
An accountant who hid $1.4 million from the IRS should be sentenced to at least a year in prison despite his stated mental health issues, the government told a Connecticut federal court, saying he seemed driven at least partly by greed and thought he wouldn't get caught.
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November 20, 2024
Feds Again Seek Early Win In $11.6M Willful FBAR Dispute
The U.S. government intends to renew its request to resolve a narrow matter in a dispute with an international businessman facing an $11.6 million penalty for willful failure to report his foreign bank accounts before the case heads to trial, according to a filing in Hawaii federal court.
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November 20, 2024
11th Circ. Skeptical Couple Can Skip Tax On Stolen Funds
Eleventh Circuit judges seemed unconvinced by a couple's request to overturn a decision that they owed taxes on $1.2 million in savings that their daughter swindled from them, saying during oral arguments Wednesday that their situation, however sympathetic, does not appear to warrant tax relief.
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November 20, 2024
IRS Should Tout Funding Boost Benefits, Advisory Panel Says
The Internal Revenue Service needs to appeal to taxpayers by communicating the benefits of the funding boost the agency received under the 2022 tax and climate law, the IRS Advisory Council said in a report released Wednesday.
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November 19, 2024
Former GOP Tax Chair Urges TCJA Permanence In 2025
Making permanent the provisions of the 2017 tax overhaul that are set to expire at the end of 2025 would provide certainty for businesses and individuals and encourage investment and expansion, former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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What To Know About IRS' New Jet Use Audit Campaign
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced plans to open several dozen audits scrutinizing executive use of company jets, so companies should be prepared to show the business reasons for travel, and how items like imputed income and deduction disallowance were calculated, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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How FinCEN Proposal Expands RE Transaction Obligations
Against a regulatory backdrop foreshadowing anti-money laundering efforts in the real estate sector, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's proposed rule significantly expands reporting requirements for certain nonfinanced residential real estate transfers and necessitates careful review, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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What To Know About Employee Retention Credit Disclosures
Employers that filed potentially erroneous employee retention credit claims should take certain steps to determine whether the IRS’ voluntary disclosure program is a good fit and, if so, prepare a strong application before the window closes on March 22, say attorneys at Dentons.
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Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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Unpacking FinCEN's Proposed Real Estate Transaction Rule
Phil Jelsma and Ulrick Matsunaga at Crosbie Gliner take a close look at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recently proposed rulemaking — which mandates new disclosures for professionals involved in all-cash real estate deals — and discuss best next steps for the broad range of businesses that could be affected.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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The Corporate Transparency Act Isn't Dead Yet
After an Alabama federal court's ruling last week rendering the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, changes to the law may ultimately be required, but ongoing compliance is still the best course of action for most, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
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How New EU Tax And Transfer Pricing Rules May Affect M&A
Companies involved in mergers and acquisitions may need to adjust fiscal due diligence procedures to ensure they consider potential far-reaching effects of newly implemented transfer pricing measures, such as newly implemented global minimum tax and European Union anti-tax avoidance directives and proposals, says Patrick Tijhuis at BDO.