Federal

  • February 27, 2025

    Alsup Halts 'Illegal' Firings Of Probationary Federal Workers

    U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Thursday temporarily blocked the mass firings of probationary federal employees ordered by President Donald Trump's administration, determining that the Office of Personnel Management illegally directed government agencies to terminate the probationary employees without authority to do so from Congress.

  • February 27, 2025

    Dems Object To Treasury Pick, Want Probe Into DOGE Access

    Senate Finance Committee Democrats objected Thursday to holding a hearing on President Donald Trump's pick for deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury unless they can investigate access to the department's systems by the Department of Government Efficiency.

  • February 27, 2025

    Family Denies Role In $81M Son-Of-Boss Tax Scheme

    The government failed to prove that former shareholders of a family holding company knew the buyer of their company stock was shorting the IRS nearly $81 million and that they should be on the hook for the taxes, family members told a New York federal court Thursday.

  • February 27, 2025

    IRS To Begin Posting Tax Documents In Online Accounts

    Individual online account holders at the IRS will begin seeing federal information from their W-2 Wage and Tax Statement posted there, the agency announced Thursday, saying it plans to add more tax documents in the coming months.

  • February 27, 2025

    Judge Urges $15.5M Tax Judgment Against Ex-NFL Champ

    A federal magistrate judge recommended a default judgment against four-time Super Bowl champion Bill Romanowski and his wife for $15.5 million in taxes, saying in a report Thursday that the couple failed to respond to the underlying government complaint against them.

  • February 28, 2025

    CORRECTED: TCJA Extensions Would Offset Tax Dip By $710B, Report Says

    The economic growth spurred by making set-to-expire provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent is estimated to generate taxes to offset about $710 billion of the expected $4.5 trillion in lost tax revenue between 2025 and 2034, a think tank said in a report. Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the projected impact of extending the provisions. The error has been corrected.

  • February 27, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revisit Tomato Paste Cos.' Deduction Claims

    The Ninth Circuit won't reconsider its ruling rejecting tax deductions claimed by a pair of tomato paste producers for facility upgrades, a split panel decided Thursday.

  • February 27, 2025

    EU Prepared To Retaliate Against US Over Tariffs, Officials Say

    European Union officials said Thursday that the bloc is prepared to retaliate against the U.S. if President Donald Trump follows through with tariffs on over $600 billion of goods, a situation that two law professors said risks becoming a trade war more than past disputes.

  • February 27, 2025

    Estate's $3M To Stepkids Deducted As Biz Deal, 11th Circ. Told

    The estate of a deceased corporate attorney told the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday that the U.S. government wrongly taxed $3 million claimed by his stepchildren, arguing that the amount was properly deducted as a contracted business transaction under the Internal Revenue Code.

  • February 27, 2025

    Goldstein Urges Judge To Lift Device Monitoring Requirement

    U.S. Supreme Court advocate and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein asked a Maryland federal judge Thursday to nix a condition of his pretrial release that requires him to have monitoring equipment installed on his electronic devices.

  • February 27, 2025

    KPMG Secures Arizona Approval To Operate Law Firm

    Arizona's supreme court on Thursday approved an alternative business structure license to allow accounting giant KPMG to run its own law firm in the U.S.

  • February 27, 2025

    Phishing Tax Scams Top IRS 'Dirty Dozen' List

    Taxpayers should watch out for email phishing scams, bad social media advice and people offering help to set up online accounts, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday in its "Dirty Dozen" list of tax scams for 2025.

  • February 27, 2025

    Biz Owner Not Owed For Tax Refund Wait, 8th Circ. Told

    A business owner who claimed the federal government owes him about $100,000 to make up for his lost business opportunities while he continued to wait for a claimed $100,000 tax refund is not entitled to the damages or the refund, the U.S. government told the Eighth Circuit.

  • February 26, 2025

    Ill. Tax Pro Gets 5½ Years For $1.1M IRS Payment Scheme

    A suburban Chicago tax professional who admitted he made $1.1 million by lying to clients about paying their tax liabilities and is already serving six years for carrying out a separate investment scheme must serve an additional 5½ years in prison for his conduct, an Illinois federal judge said Wednesday.

  • February 26, 2025

    Trump Orders Fed Agencies To Plan For Large Layoffs

    The White House is telling federal agencies to submit plans for "large-scale" layoffs by mid-March, accusing them of siphoning funding for "unproductive and unnecessary programs" and "not producing results for the American public."

  • February 26, 2025

    Police Supply Store, Others Ask 5th Circ. To Keep CTA Paused

    A Texas police supply store joined with Mississippi libertarians and several other parties asking the Fifth Circuit to keep the Corporate Transparency Act on hold, saying ending the stoppage of that law could force 32 million business entities to file beneficial ownership reports.

  • February 26, 2025

    IRS Spinoff Safe Harbors Not Seen As All-Purpose Reprieve

    Safe harbors proposed by the IRS would allow certain corporate spinoffs to get statutory tax-free treatment, but the bright-line requirements to qualify for these provisions reflect the tension between a blanket approach and the unique complexities of each transaction.

  • February 26, 2025

    House Panel Advances Bill To Repeal IRS DeFi Broker Rule

    House Ways and Means Committee Republicans advanced legislation that would repeal a final U.S. Treasury Department rule implementing additional reporting requirements for decentralized finance brokers.

  • February 26, 2025

    Coke's $2.7B Tax Bill Due To 'Bait And Switch,' 11th Circ. Told

    Coca-Cola urged the Eleventh Circuit to reverse a U.S. Tax Court decision putting the beverage giant on the hook for $2.7 billion in taxes, arguing the ruling excused the IRS' "blatant bait and switch" regarding how it allocates income from foreign affiliates.

  • February 26, 2025

    Tax Overhaul Designer Named Top Tax Adviser To Treasury

    An attorney who worked for Exxon Mobil and helped design the 2017 tax overhaul in President Donald Trump's first term has been appointed to serve as a top tax adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Treasury announced Wednesday.

  • February 25, 2025

    DC Judge Blocks Trump's Federal Funding Freeze

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from implementing a federal spending freeze while a group of nonprofits challenge the freeze, calling the measure "ill-conceived from the beginning."

  • February 25, 2025

    House Passes Budget Blueprint Allowing $4.5T In Tax Cuts

    The House of Representatives approved a budget blueprint Tuesday that would allow for the passage of up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, paving the way to renew the expiring provisions of President Donald Trump's signature 2017 tax overhaul.

  • February 25, 2025

    IRS Top Operating Officer To Serve As Acting Commissioner

    The Internal Revenue Service's chief operating officer will become its acting commissioner, replacing current acting commissioner Douglas O'Donnell, who took on the role just last month, the U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday.

  • February 25, 2025

    Tax Court Reaffirms Suzanne Somers' Estate Owes $2.7M

    The U.S. Tax Court on Tuesday reaffirmed roughly $2.7 million in tax liabilities against television producer Alan Hamel and the estate of his wife, actor Suzanne Somers, finding a Treasury regulation it had relied on in its initial decision was sound.

  • February 25, 2025

    Texas Tax Pros Criticize Proposal To Advise IRS Disclosures

    Texas accountants objected to a proposed federal regulation that would require them to advise clients who have broken tax laws to make disclosures to the IRS, saying in a letter to the agency released Tuesday that it would likely create a conflict when clients have criminal exposure.

Expert Analysis

  • Cos. Should Inventory Issues To Prep For New Congress

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    As the legislative and oversight agendas of the 119th Congress come into sharper focus, corporate counsel should assess and plan for areas of potential oversight risk — from tax policy changes to supply chain integrity — even as much uncertainty remains, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Conservation Easement Cases Weave Web Of Uncertainty

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    Much of the IRS and Justice Department’s recent success in prosecuting syndicated conservation easement cases can be attributed to the government’s focus on the so-called PropCo ratio, which could indicate treacherous waters ahead for participants and their advisers, even under the incoming Trump administration, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?

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    Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session

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    As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.

  • What Trump's 2nd Presidency Could Mean For Crypto Sector

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    Trump's second term will bring a fundamental shift from the Biden administration's approach to crypto-asset regulation and banking supervision, with the most significant changes likely taking effect in the first two quarters of 2025 and broader policy shifts emerging over the next year, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win

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    A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Ex-Chicago Politician's Case May Further Curb Fraud Theories

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Thompson v. U.S. to determine whether a statement that is misleading but not false still violates federal law, potentially heralding the court’s largest check yet on prosecutors’ expansive fraud theories, with significant implications for sentencing, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

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