Federal

  • June 12, 2024

    St. Louis Atty Urges Acquittal After Tax Avoidance Conviction

    A Missouri attorney who was found guilty of participating in a $4 million tax avoidance scheme alongside her father and a North Carolina insurance agent is looking to wipe out the verdict, arguing there wasn't enough evidence to convict.

  • June 12, 2024

    IRS Nix Of $45M Easement Deduction Invalid, Donor Says

    A North Carolina partnership asked the U.S. Tax Court to invalidate an Internal Revenue Service adjustment that slashed its $45.6 million deduction for its donation of a conservation easement, saying the agency failed to follow proper administrative procedures.

  • June 12, 2024

    Treasury Issued Over $1B In Clean Vehicle Tax Credits

    The clean vehicle tax credit of up to $7,500 has saved buyers more than $1 billion in total upfront costs since January, the U.S. Treasury Department announced Wednesday, saying the figures represent a major milestone in lowering transportation costs since the incentive was updated in 2022.

  • June 12, 2024

    First 'Survivor' Winner Wants $3M Tax Case Tossed

    The winner of the first season of the TV series "Survivor" asked a Rhode Island federal court to toss the government's case against him seeking nearly $3.3 million in unpaid taxes, saying the liabilities stem from his flawed criminal conviction for tax evasion nearly 20 years ago.

  • June 12, 2024

    4 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Committees To Meet In July

    Four Taxpayer Advocacy Panel committees will hold public meetings in July focused on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service, the agency announced Wednesday.

  • June 11, 2024

    SVB Wants A Trial Over Its $605M Tax Bill From IRS

    The parent company of failed Silicon Valley Bank has told a New York bankruptcy judge it wants him to decide if it owes the Internal Revenue Service more than $605 million in taxes.

  • June 11, 2024

    US Issues Sanctions For $50M Guyana Gold Tax Evasion

    Two Guyanese businessmen and a Guyanese official were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday after a probe into a corruption scheme that helped the businessmen evade $50 million in gold export taxes that should have been paid to Guyana's government, Treasury said.

  • June 11, 2024

    Trucks Don't Qualify For $400M Tax Exemption, 6th Circ. Told

    A Tennessee company's refurbished trucks do not qualify for the safe harbor from the heavy-truck excise tax and should not be exempt from roughly $400 million in excise taxes, penalties and interest, the U.S. government told the Sixth Circuit.

  • June 11, 2024

    Aflac Matriarch's Estate Says IRS Missing Info In $11.7M Fight

    The Internal Revenue Service's push to recover $11.7 million in deficiencies and penalties from the estate of the matriarch of the family that founded Aflac is predicated on a "mistaken understanding" regarding a trust, the estate told the U.S. Tax Court.

  • June 11, 2024

    Compliance Costs Outweigh Min. Tax Gains, Biz Reps Say

    Multinational businesses are concerned that the burden of complying with the 15% global minimum tax outweighs any potential revenue gains associated with the burgeoning system, tax attorneys and a trade association representative said during a panel Tuesday.

  • June 11, 2024

    House Panel Chair Seeks To End Media Org's Tax Exemption

    The House's top tax writer wants the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit Mideast-focused news outlet, telling Commissioner Daniel Werfel that the organization is aiding Hamas.

  • June 11, 2024

    Lawmakers Urge Biden To Back Brazil's Int'l Wealth Tax Plan

    Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic lawmakers asked the Biden administration Tuesday to support the global minimum tax on billionaires being proposed by Brazil, which is encouraging the Group of 20 nations to endorse the initiative at its meetings next month.

  • June 11, 2024

    Kostelanetz Partners Talk Benefits Of Atlanta Tax Firm Tie-Up

    Kostelanetz LLP partners Bryan Skarlatos and Todd Welty discuss the firm’s recent combination with Atlanta boutique Welty PC.

  • June 11, 2024

    Charity Founder Charged With Embezzling $2.5M, Evading Tax

    The founder of a New York City charity embezzled $2.5 million in donations meant for low-income families and then failed to report the earnings to the Internal Revenue Service or pay tax on them, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in New York federal court.

  • June 11, 2024

    IRS Schedules 3 Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Meetings For July

    Three Taxpayer Advocacy Panel committees will hold public meetings in July focused on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service, the agency announced Tuesday.

  • June 10, 2024

    Ex-LA Chinatown Bank CFO Gets 3 Years For Embezzlement

    The former chief financial officer of a bank based in Los Angeles' Chinatown has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud for embezzling more than $700,000 from his employer.

  • June 10, 2024

    Exec Wants IRS To Destroy Or Yield Docs In Summons Fight

    The IRS should be forced to destroy or return bank records it obtained from a cryptocurrency executive charged in a 2020 bitcoin fraud investigation because the agency failed to notify him and his company of the summonses for the records, they told a Texas federal court Monday.

  • June 10, 2024

    Tax Court Rejects 'Shoebox' Method To Support Biz Expenses

    The U.S. Tax Court rejected Monday the tax deductions that three California residents had claimed on their businesses' returns, saying their "shoebox" method of bundling receipts as evidence failed to substantiate their business expenses.

  • June 10, 2024

    Big Tech Urges US Reprisal Over Canada's Impending DST

    The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should open formal dispute proceedings with the Canadian government in response to a 3% digital services tax that is expected to soon pass in the Canadian Senate, business groups with members in the U.S. tech industry said Monday.

  • June 10, 2024

    IRS Needs Plan To Reduce Office Space, TIGTA Says

    While the Internal Revenue Service has successfully decreased its unneeded office space by 8% since 2018, it needs a long-term space reduction plan with annual targets to efficiently continue to reduce its footprint, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a report released Monday.

  • June 10, 2024

    Judge Unseals Some Testimony Of Trump Tax Info Leaker

    A federal magistrate judge on Monday ordered the unsealing of some testimony from a former IRS contractor about how he illegally gained access to former President Donald Trump's tax returns in a billionaire's case suing the agency over the breach.

  • June 10, 2024

    10th Circ. Affirms Couple Can't Ax $833K Income Tax Payment

    A couple's wide-ranging arguments that the Internal Revenue Service should not have been allowed to assess that they owe over $833,000 in unpaid income taxes and penalties failed to sway the Tenth Circuit on Monday, as the court affirmed a ruling against them.

  • June 10, 2024

    Treasury Dept. Beats IRS Agent's Religious Bias Suit

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury defeated an Internal Revenue Service agent's suit claiming he was disciplined for a three-day celebration of Easter mandated by his Christian faith, with a Florida federal judge finding the reprimand was based on performance rather than religion.

  • June 07, 2024

    LIHTC Developer Asks 11th Circ. To Undo Investor Takeover

    A developer told the Eleventh Circuit on Friday it is a victim of a scheme by investors using a lower court ruling to complete a takeover of two Tampa, Florida, senior housing complexes developed with federal low-income housing tax credits.

  • June 07, 2024

    Trust Can Deduct Property Income As Gift, IRS Says

    A trust can deduct gross income set aside as a charitable contribution stemming from the distribution of real property from the corporation that is the trust's sole shareholder, the IRS said in a private letter ruling released Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • Why Biz Groups Disagree On Ending Chevron Deference

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    Two amicus briefs filed in advance of last month's U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo highlight contrasting views on whether the doctrine of Chevron deference promotes or undermines the stable regulatory environment that businesses require, say Wyatt Kendall and Sydney Brogden at Morris Manning.

  • US-Chile Tax Treaty May Encourage Cross-Border Investment

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    Provisions in the recently effective U.S.-Chile bilateral income tax treaty should encourage business between the two countries, as they reduce U.S. withholding tax on investment income for Chilean taxpayers, exempt certain U.S. taxpayers from Chilean capital gains tax, and clarify U.S. foreign tax credit rules, say attorneys at Kramer Levin.

  • A Look Ahead For The Electric Vehicle Charging Industry

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    This will likely be an eventful year for the electric vehicle market as government efforts to accelerate their adoption inevitably clash with backlash from supporters of the petroleum industry, say Rue Phillips at SkillFusion and Enid Joffe at Green Paradigm Consulting.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Planning A Defense As IRS Kicks Off Sports Losses Campaign

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    Sports team owners and partnerships face potential examination under the Internal Revenue Service’s recently announced sports industry losses campaign, and should be preparing to explain what drove their reported losses and assembling documentation to support their tax return positions and accounting methods, say Sheri Dillon and Jennifer Breen at Morgan Lewis.

  • What New Calif. Strike Force Means For White Collar Crimes

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    The recently announced Central District of California strike force targeting complex corporate and securities fraud — following the Northern District of California's model — combines experienced prosecutorial leadership and partnerships with federal agencies like the IRS and FBI, and could result in an uptick in the number of cases and speed of proceedings, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift

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    As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.

  • As Promised, IRS Is Coming For Crypto Tax Evaders

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    The IRS is fulfilling its promise to crack down on those who have neglected to pay taxes on cryptocurrency earnings, as demonstrated by recently imposed prison sentences, enforcement initiatives and meetings with international counterparts — suggesting a few key takeaways for taxpayer compliance, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • 5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money

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    As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52

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    Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.

  • Parsing Treasury's Proposed Clean Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules

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    Regulations recently proposed by the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury concerning two types of tax credits for clean hydrogen production facilities should resolve many of the most pressing questions around qualification for the credits — albeit in a relatively stringent manner, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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