Federal
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June 06, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Revive Org's Push To Restore Nonprofit Status
The U.S. Tax Court's dismissal of an attempt to reinstate nonprofit status for a California organization that said its officers fell victim to a Ponzi scheme did not breach the group's constitutional rights, the Ninth Circuit said.
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June 06, 2024
Ex-IRS Worker Indicted In $2M Exxon Credit Theft Scheme
A former Internal Revenue Service employee used his account management job at the agency to steal more than $2 million worth of tax credits from Exxon Mobil and pocket the money, according to a Utah federal grand jury indictment.
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June 06, 2024
Fox Rothschild Brings On Tax Pro From Atlanta Boutique
Fox Rothschild LLP has added an attorney in Atlanta from tax law boutique Wiggam Law to strengthen the firm's taxation and wealth planning department.
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June 06, 2024
IRS Needs Strategy For 2.6M Tax Doc Backlog, TIGTA Says
Not only does the Internal Revenue Service have a document backlog exceeding 2.6 million source documents that need to be associated with a specific form, but it also has been making significant mistakes in reporting closures, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a report released Thursday.
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June 06, 2024
Justices Affirm Taxing Of Estate On Insurance Payout
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed on Thursday a decision denying a tax refund to the estate of an owner of a building materials company that used a payout from his $3.5 million life insurance policy to purchase his shares in the business.
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June 05, 2024
CohnReznick Scores Quick Exit In Tax Scheme Suit
A New York federal judge agreed to toss a housing partnership's suit accusing accounting firm CohnReznick LLP of professional negligence and fraud, finding that the district court doesn't have jurisdiction over the dispute.
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June 05, 2024
IRS Must Better Log AI Use In Tax Gap Estimates, GAO Says
The Internal Revenue Service needs to complete documentation on its use of artificial intelligence models as part of a plan to improve its tax gap estimates, the Government Accountability Office said Wednesday.
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June 05, 2024
Californian Failed To Report Missing Income, Tax Court Says
A California woman's contention that she should not be accountable for a deficiency in her 2021 tax filing due to what she said was an error by her accountant doesn't stand up under scrutiny, the U.S. Tax Court said Wednesday.
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June 05, 2024
Some Payments After Train Derailed Aren't Taxable, IRS Says
Certain payments from Norfolk Southern Corp. to victims of its freight train derailment and toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, are considered disaster relief payments and are therefore not taxable, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.
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June 05, 2024
House Panel Tees Up $2B In IRS Cuts For Full Committee Vote
A House Appropriations subcommittee approved legislation Wednesday that would reduce Internal Revenue Service funding for fiscal 2025 by over $2 billion and prohibit money from going to the agency's free online tax-filing program without congressional approval.
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June 05, 2024
Win May Embolden IRS Use Of Economic Substance Doctrine
The IRS' successful wielding of the economic substance doctrine to characterize multinational telecommunications corporation Liberty Global's sophisticated set of intercompany deals as an abusive tax shelter could encourage the agency to apply similar analysis to even the most basic tax transactions.
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June 05, 2024
IRS Presses Justices To Weigh In On Tax Challenge Deadline
The IRS urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Third Circuit decision finding the U.S. Tax Court's 90-day deadline for challenging tax bills is not set in stone, arguing the couple defending the ruling are wrongly relying on a 2022 high court decision.
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June 05, 2024
Billionaire's 'Naive' Stock-Trading Pilot Asks For No Prison
A private pilot for U.K. billionaire Joe Lewis is asking for no prison time after pleading guilty to insider trading on stock tips provided by his boss, arguing that he has otherwise lived a law-abiding life and is less culpable than many white-collar defendants who've come through the Manhattan federal court.
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June 05, 2024
Taxpayer Advocacy Committee Meeting Moved Up
The Internal Revenue Service moved up an open meeting of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel's Notices and Correspondence Project Committee to June 18, it said Wednesday.
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June 04, 2024
Full DC Circ. Asked To Weigh Foreign Info Disclosure Penalties
A D.C. Circuit panel made questionable assumptions about congressional intent when it revived the IRS' authority to assess and administratively collect penalties related to undisclosed foreign corporations, a businessman said Tuesday in asking the full appellate court to hear his case.
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June 04, 2024
Sen. Leaders Press Biden's Tax Court Nominees On Fairness
Senate Finance Committee leaders pressed President Joe Biden's three new judicial nominees for the U.S. Tax Court to explain Tuesday how they would extend fair treatment to taxpayers if they are confirmed.
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June 04, 2024
Aflac Matriarch's Estate Owes $1.9M Penalty, Tax Court Told
The Internal Revenue Service is seeking an additional accuracy penalty of over $1.9 million from the estate of the matriarch of the family that founded Aflac, according to a filing in the U.S. Tax Court.
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June 04, 2024
Tax Law Firm Can't Kick Ex-Clients' Class Suit To Arbitration
Former clients of a Florida-based tax law firm who live in Wisconsin can move forward with their proposed class action accusing the firm of malpractice and charging illegal fees, a Wisconsin federal judge ruled Tuesday, rejecting the firm's requests to toss the suit or move it to arbitration.
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June 04, 2024
Tax Court Turns Down Whistleblower's Push To Boost Award
Though a tax whistleblower contended he should be entitled to a reward based on the entire amount of deficiencies discovered in a large investigation, the IRS was right to calculate his reward based only on the specific taxpayer he identified, the U.S. Tax Court said Tuesday.
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June 04, 2024
House Bill Would Cut $2B In IRS Funding, Restrict Direct File
The chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that handles Internal Revenue Service funding introduced legislation Tuesday to cut that funding for fiscal 2025 by over $2 billion and prohibit money from going to the agency's free online tax-filing program without congressional approval.
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June 04, 2024
11th Circ. Affirms Nix Of IRS Easement Disclosure Guidance
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Tuesday that an Internal Revenue Service notice imposing reporting requirements on potentially abusive conservation easements was invalid because the agency failed to solicit the public feedback required by administrative law.
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June 04, 2024
IRS Announces 6 Tax Court Sessions Added To Calendar
The Internal Revenue Service announced six U.S. Tax Court sessions in October and named calendar administrators for the sessions in a notice released Tuesday.
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June 04, 2024
IRS Didn't Have To Tell Man About Summonses, 5th Circ. Told
The Internal Revenue Service wasn't required to tell a Texas man with unpaid tax liabilities that it had demanded his financial information from third parties, the agency told the Fifth Circuit, urging it to affirm a lower-court decision tossing the man's suit challenging the summonses.
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June 03, 2024
FTX, IRS Propose Settling $8B Tax Fight For Just $885M
FTX and the Internal Revenue Service have reached a proposed settlement worth roughly $885 million that would resolve the agency's contention that the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange operator owes $8 billion in taxes, according to a motion filed Monday in Delaware federal bankruptcy court.
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June 03, 2024
Danish Tax Agency Says $2.1B Tax Fraud Suits Not Filed Late
Denmark's tax administrator urged a New York federal court to reject bids to toss its suits against U.S. pension plans and individuals it accuses of participating in a $2.1 billion fraud scheme, saying the suits were not filed too late.
Expert Analysis
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Review Of Repatriation Tax Sets Justices On Slippery Slope
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to review the constitutionality of the repatriation tax in Moore v. U.S. has implications for many tax rules involving unrealized amounts and could leave the court on the brink of invalidating large swaths of the Internal Revenue Code, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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IRS Guidance Powers Up Energy Tax Credit Transfers
Recent IRS guidance on the monetization of energy tax credits provides sufficient clarity for parties to start negotiating transfer agreements, but it is unclear when the registration process required for credits to change hands will be up and running, say attorneys at Shearman.
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Using Agreements To Cover Gaps In Hydrogen Storage Regs
The Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for energy storage have spurred investment in hydrogen storage and production, but given the lack of comprehensive regulations surrounding the sector, developers should carefully craft project and financing agreements to mitigate uncertainties, say Omar Samji and Sarah George at Weil, and attorney Manushi Desai.
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Secure 2.0 Takeaways From DOL's 2024 Budget Proposal
The U.S. Department of Labor’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal provides insight into the most pressing Secure 2.0 implementation issues, including establishment of a search database for finding lost retirement savings and developing guidance on the execution of newly authorized emergency savings accounts, say attorneys at Maynard Nexsen.
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Avoiding Negative Tax Consequences In Loan Modifications
Borrowers who may be caught in the dramatic uptick in nonperforming commercial real estate loans should consider strategies to avoid income and capital gains tax that may be triggered by loan modifications, says Aman Badyal at Glaser Weil.
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Benefits And Beyond: Fixing Employee Contribution Failures
Employers must address employee contribution failures promptly in order to avoid losing significant tax benefits of 401(k) or 403(b) plans, but the exact correction procedures vary depending on whether contributions were less than or greater than intended, say attorneys at Seyfarth Shaw.
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Now Is The Time For State And Local Sales Tax Simplification
In the five years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, state and local governments increasingly rely on sales tax, but simple changes are needed to make compliance more manageable for taxpayers, wherever located, without unduly burdening interstate commerce, says Charles Maniace at Sovos.
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Recent Bills Show Congress' Growing Maturity On Cannabis
Though two recently introduced cannabis reform bills, the Prepare Act and the Small Business Tax Equity Act, are unlikely to pass in this Congress, they demonstrate a new level of focus and sophistication on the part of lawmakers as it relates to cannabis at the federal level, says Irina Dashevsky at Greenspoon Marder.
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What To Make Of IRS' New Advance Pricing Guidance
Recent guidance on the IRS' goals for its advance pricing agreement system provides helpful insight into review and decision-making procedures for advance pricing agreement requests, but it also raises questions about the IRS' objectives, say Richard Slowinski and Stefanie Kavanagh at Alston & Bird.
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Compliance Obligations Still Murky For Superfund Excise Tax
Comments on the IRS' reinstatement of the Superfund chemicals excise tax show that, given taxpayers' lack of institutional knowledge and the government's previous failure to finalize clarifying guidance, further regulatory action is needed to help taxpayers understand their obligations, say Nicole Elliott and Mary Kate Nicholson at Holland & Knight.
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The Reciprocal Tax Bill Is A Warning Shot At Pillar 2
A bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives to reciprocally tax countries deemed to have imposed discriminatory taxes on U.S. citizens and businesses takes aim at countries implementing the global minimum tax treaty known as Pillar Two, with which the U.S. has not complied, says Alan Cole at the Tax Foundation.
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3 Developments That May Usher In A Nuclear Energy Revival
A recent advancement in nuclear energy technology, targeted provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act and a new G7 agreement on nuclear fuel supply chains may give nuclear power a seat at the table as a viable, zero-carbon energy source, say attorneys at Vinson & Elkins.
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What Tax-Exempt Orgs. Need From Energy Credit Guidance
Guidance clarifying the Inflation Reduction Act’s credit regime, expected from the U.S. Department of the Treasury this summer, should help tax-exempt organizations determine the benefits of clean energy projects and integrate alternative energy investments into their activities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.