Federal
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December 17, 2024
Texas Judge Won't Pause Block On Corp. Transparency Law
A Texas federal judge on Tuesday denied the government's request to stay his nationwide block of a corporate transparency law while an appeal is pending, saying his view that Congress lacks the constitutional authority to enact the legislation is likely to prevail at the Fifth Circuit.
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December 17, 2024
Biz Group IDs Clean Fuel Production Registration Issues
The process of registering as a clean fuel producer in order to be eligible to claim the associated tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act has proved to be confusing because of a number of practical issues, a group representing the U.S. biogas industry said in a letter released Tuesday.
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December 17, 2024
IRS Extends Accounting Change Waiver Eligibility To 2024
The Internal Revenue Service again adjusted a previous notice Tuesday to modify certain procedures for obtaining automatic consent of the agency commissioner to change methods of accounting for expenditures paid or incurred in taxable years beginning after 2021, extending them for another year.
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December 17, 2024
Payment To Ex-Wife Not Deductible Alimony, Tax Court Says
A man's $35,000 payment to his ex-wife from stock proceeds is not deductible because it qualifies as a division-of-assets payment and not alimony, the U.S. Tax Court ruled in a bench opinion released Tuesday.
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December 17, 2024
US Seeks Foreclosure To Pay 'Survivor' Winner's $3.3M Taxes
A federal magistrate judge should have recommended allowing the U.S. government to foreclose on two properties it claims are controlled by a winner of the "Survivor" TV series who owes $3.3 million in taxes, the government told a Rhode Island federal court.
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December 17, 2024
NY Urges Justices To Pass On IBM, Disney Royalty Tax Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court should decline to hear appeals by IBM and Disney that claim New York state's tax treatment of royalties received from foreign affiliates resulted in unconstitutional discrimination against interstate commerce, the state told the court Tuesday.
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December 17, 2024
IRS Corrects Proposed Admin Requirements For Direct Pay
The Internal Revenue Service issued a correction Tuesday to proposed regulations laying out administrative requirements for tax-exempt entities to elect out of their partnership status in order to take advantage of new rules enabling direct cash payment of clean energy tax credits.
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December 17, 2024
Ex-Pol Can't Shake Fraud Rap Over Jury's Racial Makeup
A Massachusetts federal judge denied a Vietnamese-American former state senator's bid to undo his conviction for unlawfully accepting unemployment assistance and filing a false tax return, rejecting claims that jury selection was tainted by "racial animus" on the part of prosecutors.
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December 17, 2024
IRS Finalizes Expanded 'Coverage Month' For Premium Credit
The Internal Revenue Service finalized rules Tuesday that will expand the definition of a coverage month for purposes of computing the health insurance premium tax credit.
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December 17, 2024
Justices Urged To Let Stand Ex-Wife's Tax Payment Suit
A woman who said the IRS wrongly applied her tax payment to her ex-husband's bill asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand a Third Circuit ruling allowing her to challenge it, saying the decision doesn't conflict with any other rulings and involves an issue that rarely occurs.
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December 16, 2024
Mich. Judge Troubled By Scope Of Feds' CTA Data Collection
A federal judge in Michigan said new disclosure requirements for small businesses seem burdensome and intrusive during a Monday hearing focused on the privacy implications of the currently blocked anti-money laundering law.
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December 16, 2024
Texan Still Owes 2021 Tax Bill Despite Levy For Other Year
While the U.S. Tax Court is sympathetic to a Texan's complaint that the Internal Revenue Service's levy procedure will result in his facing an endless string of collection actions, he still must pay his $12,500 deficiency from 2021, the Tax Court said Monday.
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December 16, 2024
6th Circ. Affirms $3M Tax Bill For Gold Broker
A gold and silver broker who made fatuous arguments that he wasn't subject to income taxes owes $3 million in liabilities, the Sixth Circuit ruled, upholding a U.S. Tax Court decision.
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December 16, 2024
Tax Court Says Couple Must Recalculate $36M Loss Claims
An Illinois couple must recalculate the more than $36 million in net operating loss carryforward deductions they claimed in 2008 and 2009, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday, siding with the Internal Revenue Service's determination that they had improperly included a number of losses.
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December 16, 2024
Tax Court Wrongly Cut Easement Deduction, 11th Circ. Told
The U.S. Tax Court erred in drastically reducing a partnership's claimed $23 million deduction for donating a conservation easement in Georgia, the partnership told the Eleventh Circuit, saying the court improperly relied on a real estate expert's opinion to establish whether the land had mining value.
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December 16, 2024
Cos. Urge Judge To Maintain Injunction On Transparency Law
A Texas federal judge doesn't need to stay his preliminary injunction on the rollout of new corporate transparency rules while the U.S. government's appeal of his decision is pending at the Fifth Circuit, a business lobbying group and others said Monday.
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December 16, 2024
Wyden Bill Would Nix Tax Perks For Private Placement Plans
U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden unveiled legislation Monday that would remove the tax benefits of a special type of private life insurance plan that he said high-net-worth individuals have been abusing to avoid paying taxes on their investments in the policies.
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December 16, 2024
High Court Passes On Protest Of IRS Social Security Levy
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it won't review an Eleventh Circuit decision denying a woman's challenge to the IRS' garnishment of her Social Security payments, letting stand the circuit court's conclusion that her suit was barred because she failed to exhaust administrative remedies.
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December 16, 2024
Applicable Federal Rates Set To Increase Again In Jan.
Applicable federal rates for income tax purposes will increase across the board in January, a second straight month of increases after a string of months that saw declining rates, the Internal Revenue Service said Monday.
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December 16, 2024
IRS Issues Corp. Bond Monthly Yield Curve For Dec.
The Internal Revenue Service published the corporate bond monthly yield curve for December for use in calculations for defined benefit plans Monday, as well as corresponding segment rates and other related provisions.
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December 16, 2024
IRS Corrects Regs On Direct Pay Of Partnership Tax Credit
Internal Revenue Service issued a correction Monday to final regulations that make it easier for tax-exempt entities that co-own development projects to qualify for a direct cash payment of clean energy tax credits by electing out of their partnership tax status.
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December 16, 2024
LegalZoom Launches Strategic Alliance With 1-800Accountant
LegalZoom announced Monday that it will launch a multiyear strategic partnership with financial services firm 1-800Accountant by the start of the new year.
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December 14, 2024
IRS Criminal Probes On Worker Retention Cases Still Early
The Internal Revenue Service's criminal arm is still in the early stage of investigating the most extremely fraudulent claims of a tax credit intended to reward businesses for retaining employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, an official said Saturday.
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December 13, 2024
IRS Aims To Ramp Up Partnership Audits, Official Says
The Internal Revenue Service plans to ramp up partnership audits in the next couple of years to boost the current audit rate of 0.05% as the agency props up a new unit that solely focuses on examining large partnerships, an agency attorney said Friday.
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December 13, 2024
IRS To Wrap Up Worker Retention Credits In 2025, Werfel Says
The Internal Revenue Service plans to wrap up processing next year for thousands of claims for tax credits meant to provide incentives for businesses that retained employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, agency Commissioner Daniel Werfel said Friday.
Magic Runs Out For Tax Pro Who Stiffed IRS Out Of $145M
A New York City tax preparer who earned the nickname "the magician" while depriving the IRS of $145 million in revenue copped to tax evasion on Tuesday before a Manhattan federal judge.
Justices Won't Review Man's Demand For Dad's Tax Info
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a D.C. Circuit decision tossing a man's suit against the IRS for withholding his dead father's tax records, a ruling the man claimed had deepened a circuit split over the correct process for obtaining personal tax documents.
Loper Bright May Influence Tax Less, IRS Chief Counsel Says
The U.S. Supreme Court decision this year overturning a decades-long standard to defer to federal agencies' regulatory interpretations has encouraged the Internal Revenue Service to better explain its rules, its outgoing chief counsel said Friday.
Featured Stories
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IRS Pick's Retention Credit History Raises Sens.' Hackles
As senators digested President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of a former U.S. House member to be commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, some Democrats said the nominee's experience promoting problematic employee retention credits immediately raised questions about his fitness to run the agency.
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GOP Threats To IRS Funds Risk Halting Agency Progress
Republicans will likely seek to cut IRS funding when they take control of the House, Senate and White House next year, threatening to roll back the gains in staffing, enforcement and technology the agency has made since it received a funding boost in 2022.
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Tax-Exempt Benefit Regs Would Give Tribes Overdue Power
Recently proposed regulations on tribal general welfare benefits would grant tribes sole discretion to determine which programs and services are tax-exempt benefits and, if finalized, would fulfill the long-overdue purpose of a 2014 law meant to give them more deference.
Expert Analysis
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When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US
As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.
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Impact Of Corporate Transparency Act Ambiguity On Banks
Even though banks generally needn't file beneficial ownership information reports, financial institutions must continue to monitor the status of the Corporate Transparency Act and understand its requirements in case the nationwide injunction that was issued against the CTA earlier this month is overturned, say attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale.
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6 Changes I Would Make If I Ran A Law School
Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner identifies several key issues plaguing law schools and discusses potential solutions, such as opting out of the rankings game and mandating courses in basic writing skills.
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Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware
Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
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Congress Should Expand Investment Options For 403(b)s
Lawmakers should pass pending legislation to give 403(b) plan participants access to collective investment trusts, leveling the playing field for public sector retirement investors by giving them an investment option their private sector counterparts have had for decades, says Jason Levy at Great Gray Trust Company.
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Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out
In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity
Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.
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Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review
For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On
Career prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice often pride themselves on their ability to remain apolitical in order to ensure consistency and keep the department’s mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.
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What Higher Education Can Expect From A 2nd Trump Admin
The election of Donald Trump for a second presidential term has far-reaching ramifications for colleges and universities — come January, institutions can expect a crackdown on DEI, increased scrutiny of campus protests, a rollback of the Biden administration's Title IX rules and more, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less
Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.
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Expect Surging Oil And Gas Industry Under New Trump Admin
Throughout his recent campaign, President-elect Donald Trump promised increased oil and natural gas production and reduced reliance on renewables — and his administration will likely bring more oil and gas dealmaking, faster federal permitting and attempts to roll back incentives for green energy, say attorneys at Sidley.