Federal

  • May 09, 2024

    'Lobster Broker' Biz Owner Liable For Dividends Deficiency

    A Florida man who owned 50% of the stock of a "lobster broker business" is on the hook for a federal income tax deficiency related to nearly $193,000 in dividends from the business, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday, but the man isn't liable for an accuracy-related penalty.

  • May 09, 2024

    Biz Owner Admits Hiding $3.4M In Income To Dodge Taxes

    A San Francisco Bay Area man has pled guilty to tax evasion in California federal court, admitting he dodged some of the income tax he owed over a four-year period by concealing more than $3.4 million he earned from his businesses.

  • May 09, 2024

    IRS Lien Against Woman Properly Sustained, Tax Court Says

    The U.S. Tax Court found Thursday that an Internal Revenue Service agent didn't abuse her discretion when sustaining a federal lien against a Texas anesthesiologist who repeatedly failed to address issues flagged by the agent.

  • May 09, 2024

    House Bill Would Increase Penalties For Tax Info Disclosure

    House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith introduced legislation co-sponsored by all the panel's Republican members to boost penalties for unauthorized releases of taxpayer data, according to a statement Thursday.

  • May 09, 2024

    IRS Details Process For Suspending Tax Pro File Numbers

    The IRS described a process Thursday for suspending authorization file numbers assigned to tax professionals pending further review because of possible identity theft or other fraud and said in a statement that the risks potentially compromised numbers pose for tax pros and taxpayers are a growing concern.

  • May 09, 2024

    Mich. Doctor Ordered To Stay In Jail Until Assets Repatriated

    A Michigan doctor fighting accusations that he failed to report his foreign bank accounts will stay in jail, as a federal court declined to release him Thursday when he didn't comply with an order to deposit over $1 million to cover the judgment against him.

  • May 09, 2024

    Tax Interest Rates To Stay Same In 3rd Quarter

    The Internal Revenue Service's interest rates for overpayments and underpayments of tax won't change in the third quarter of 2024, the agency said Thursday.

  • May 09, 2024

    Plumbing Co. Owner Cops To Tax Scheme Tied To Gold Bars

    The co-owner of a Boston plumbing supply company pled guilty Thursday to underreporting his business and personal income, after prosecutors said he plowed some of the unreported receipts into $10 million worth of gold and silver bars.

  • May 09, 2024

    Treasury's Energy Tax Credit Regs Leave Room For 'Chaining'

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury has said it is prohibiting the practice known as chaining that links two new ways to monetize clean energy tax credits, but recent final rules governing the two methods left the door open to possible exceptions.

  • May 09, 2024

    Biden Taps Housing Atty, 2 More For Tax Court

    President Joe Biden nominated three attorneys Thursday to serve as judges on the U.S. Tax Court, including a housing attorney who specializes in federal low-income housing tax credits, a legislative counsel for the Joint Committee on Taxation and an IRS attorney.

  • May 09, 2024

    Pension Plans Want Witness Stopped In $2B Danish Dispute

    U.S. pension plans accused by Denmark's tax authority of committing $2.1 billion in fraud against the European country by taking illegal refunds on dividends asked a New York federal court to reject the authority's request to depose a witness who pled guilty in Denmark.

  • May 09, 2024

    IRS Turning to Final PFIC Rules This Year, Official Says

    The Internal Revenue Service expects to "begin in earnest" this year on final regulations for partnerships that hold stock in passive foreign investment companies, including guidance that would treat partnerships as an aggregate of their partners, an agency official said Thursday.

  • May 09, 2024

    Chamberlain Hrdlicka Rehires Tax Atty From Atlanta Boutique

    Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry PC has rehired one of its former tax attorneys, who joins the firm in Atlanta after working at a tax law-focused boutique, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • May 09, 2024

    IRS Publishes Inflation-Adjusted HSA Amounts

    The Internal Revenue Service issued the inflation-adjusted amounts Thursday for health savings accounts for 2025 as well as the maximum amount that may be made available for excepted benefit health reimbursement arrangements.

  • May 08, 2024

    Fla. Man Owes $2.3M Tax For Late Mother's Estate, US Says

    A Florida man spent millions of dollars on mortgage payments on his and his family members' properties using funds from his late mother's estate instead of paying the more than $2.3 million in taxes that the estate owed, the government said in its bid for an early win.

  • May 08, 2024

    Bill To Undo SEC Crypto Accounting Bulletin Passes House

    Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to overturn the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial cryptocurrency accounting guidance despite protests from Democrats to take a more targeted approach to amend the directive and a White House pledge to veto the bill.

  • May 08, 2024

    IRS May Float Disguised Sale Partnership Rules, Official Says

    The Internal Revenue Service is considering "re-proposing" regulations that it withdrew in 2019 regarding the disguised sale of property to or by a partnership, an agency official said Wednesday.

  • May 08, 2024

    Top House Tax Writer Pushing Schumer For Tax Bill Vote

    House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith has urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring up the tax bill passed by the House in January, Smith said Wednesday, adding that the delay is jeopardizing the proposal's support.

  • May 08, 2024

    TCJA Extension Would Cost $4.6T, CBO Report Says

    Extending the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for 10 years under a proposal from Republicans would increase the U.S. deficit by $4.6 trillion, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office after a request from Democratic senators.

  • May 08, 2024

    DOJ Says Man Owes $6.2M After Failing To Report Foreign Biz

    A man owes tax penalties of $6.2 million to the U.S. after failing to disclose his ownership interests in two foreign entities from 1997 to 2004, the government told a California federal court Wednesday.

  • May 08, 2024

    Biz Groups Tell 10th Circ. Economic Substance Doesn't Apply

    The economic substance doctrine doesn't apply when a business considers tax in making a choice between two legally permissible alternatives, two organizations told the Tenth Circuit in their briefs supporting Liberty Global's position in its $109 million tax refund bid.

  • May 08, 2024

    4th Circ. Asks If High Court Ruling Bars Credit Suisse Tipster

    A Fourth Circuit panel questioned Wednesday whether a U.S. Supreme Court ruling prevented it from reviving a whistleblower case by a former Credit Suisse employee alleging the bank helped U.S. citizens evade taxes after paying a $2.6 billion criminal penalty.

  • May 08, 2024

    Auto Cos. Brace For EV Battery Compliance Hurdles

    New federal regulations aimed at shoring up the domestic electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain give automakers a much-needed two-year cushion to navigate a compliance minefield, and to figure out how to reinvigorate the recent waning consumer demand for electric vehicles.

  • May 08, 2024

    Minn. Man Sentenced To Prison For Role In $6.7M Fraud

    A Minnesota man was sentenced in federal court to 108 months in prison and told to pay more than $4.7 million in restitution for running a scheme that led to the filing of false tax returns that caused roughly $6.7 million in tax losses, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • May 08, 2024

    Ambulance Co.'s Former Owner Gets 6 Years For Tax Evasion

    The former owner of an ambulance company was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for failing to pay employment taxes to the federal government and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service as it tried to collect, according to Virginia federal court documents.

Expert Analysis

  • States Must Align Distribution Age Rules With Secure 2.0

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    To prevent unintended escheatment of retirement benefits, states will need to undertake legislative efforts to amend unclaimed property standards that conflict with the Secure 2.0 Act's required minimum distribution age increases, says Michael Giovannini at Alston & Bird.

  • The IRS' APA Rulemaking Journey: There And Back Again

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    Attorneys at Dentons examine recent challenges in which taxpayers successfully argued Internal Revenue Service rulemaking was invalid under the Administrative Procedure Act, how tax exceptionalism and U.S. Supreme Court regulatory deference prompted such challenges, and similar challenges the agency will likely face following this line of cases.

  • Tax Court Ruling Should Allay Post-Boechler Concerns

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    An unusually long U.S. Tax Court ruling in Hallmark Research Collective v. Commissioner, confirming that deficiency deadlines are jurisdictional, should reassure practitioners concerned about the statutory time limit implications of last year's U.S. Supreme Court Boechler v. Commissioner ruling and reaffirm the vital role of the Tax Court itself, says James Creech at Baker Tilly.

  • Unpacking The Interim Guidance On New Stock Buyback Tax

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    The U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service's recent notice on applying the newly effective excise tax on stock repurchases provides much-needed clarity on the tax's scope, which is much broader than anticipated given its underlying policy rationale, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • The Cryptocurrency Law And Policy Outlook For 2023

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    The digital asset sector saw significant losses in 2022, amid a continuing lack of guidance about how such assets should be taxed, but new government regulation, growing participation by traditional financial players and other factors should spur recovery in the coming year, says Joshua Smeltzer at Gray Reed.

  • IRS Will Use New Resources To Increase Scrutiny In 2023

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    The new year promises to be a busy one for the Internal Revenue Service, which is poised to apply the boost in funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act to bolster and expand its enforcement capability, and there are four areas to watch, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • How Cos. Can Prep For Alcohol Beverage Excise Tax Changes

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    The Craft Beverage Modernization Act will soon undergo a transition in administration to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, and importers or producers should address any issues that may arise under the act, such as foreign producers not being familiar with the mechanics of the TTB, say Louis Terminello and Bradley Berkman at Greenspoon Marder.

  • New R&E Capitalization A Costly Change For Companies

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    Unless modified by legislation in the coming weeks, radical new capitalization rules for research and experimentation costs mean companies should brace for the loss of a major tax break starting with their 2022 tax returns, says Nancy Dollar at Hanson Bridgett.

  • Congress Is Right To Advance Comprehensive Retirement Bill

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    As 2022 comes to a close, Congress' move to include the Secure 2.0 Act, a comprehensive retirement bill, in its omnibus spending package will bring retirees and those nearing retirement more peace of mind regarding their 401(k)s, IRAs and pensions, while reducing red tape for employers, says Andy Banducci at the ERISA Industry Committee.

  • 10 Pre-Deal Considerations In Cross-Border M&A Transactions

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Sergio Galvis and Benjamin Kent at Sullivan & Cromwell discuss steps that can be taken to preemptively address important issues that acquirers of foreign businesses encounter in cross-border M&A transactions, including tax planning and political risk.

  • Clean Hydrogen Developers Should Track Incentives, Risks

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    Clean hydrogen project developers and investors should be aware of new funding opportunities from the U.S. Department of Energy and tax benefits under the Inflation Reduction Act, but must also guard against risks associated with new and evolving technologies, say Pamela Wu and Kirstin Gibbs at Morgan Lewis.

  • IRS Starts Clock On Energy Projects' Labor Rule Exemption

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    A U.S. Department of the Treasury notice published this week started the 60-day clock for clean energy projects seeking to be grandfathered from having to meet new labor requirements to qualify for enhanced tax credits, and uncertainty about how the provisions will apply should be incentive for some investors to begin construction soon, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Foreign Tax Credit Proposal Is Some Help, But More Is Needed

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    New foreign tax credit regulations proposed by the U.S. Treasury Department provided some measure of relief on cost recovery and royalty withholding, two of the most troublesome aspects of the 2021 final foreign tax credit regulations, but the final regulations are still harmful to many taxpayers, making litigation inevitable, say attorneys at Fenwick.

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