Federal

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • June 03, 2024

    Treasury Aims To Salvage Corp. Transparency Act At 11th Circ.

    The Corporate Transparency Act is a valid exercise of congressional authority to curb money laundering under the commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause in the Constitution, the U.S. Treasury Department told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday in a bid to restore the law's reporting requirements.

  • June 03, 2024

    Suzanne Somers' Estate Owes $2.7M, Tax Court Says

    Television producer Alan Hamel and the estate of his wife, actor Suzanne Somers, owe nearly $2.7 million in taxes and penalties going back to 1996 related to losses in a partnership, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday.

  • June 03, 2024

    IRS Correctly Denied Man Collection Alternative, Court Says

    The Internal Revenue Service did not abuse its discretion when rejecting a Florida man's collection alternative request, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday.

  • June 03, 2024

    Couple Can't Justify $3.7M Loss Deduction, Tax Court Says

    A New York couple failed to adequately prove that they should have been able to claim $3.7 million in net operating losses on their personal income taxes that were generated by settlement payments made by a company they owned, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday.

  • June 03, 2024

    Tax Convictions Withstand Poor Counsel Claim, 4th Circ. Says

    A North Carolina man's claim of ineffective counsel is not sufficient reason to vacate his convictions for filing false tax returns and obstructing an official proceeding in a case involving $2.1 million in unreported income sent from Bermuda entities, the Fourth Circuit ruled.

  • June 03, 2024

    Google Must Face Online Tax Filer's Privacy Suit

    An Illinois woman who prepared her taxes online through H&R Block and then sued Google, claiming the search engine's tracking tool effectively eavesdropped on her confidential tax information, can move forward with her proposed class action, a California federal judge ruled Monday.

  • June 03, 2024

    Texas Oil Co. Says IRS Hasn't Paid $36M Promised Refund

    The Internal Revenue Service has promised to pay a Texas oil company more than $36 million in tax refunds and credits for the 2009 tax year but has failed to do so, the company told a federal court.

  • June 03, 2024

    Vanguard Investors Want Class Cert. In Tax Liability Fight

    Investors accusing Vanguard and its top brass of violating its fiduciary duties by triggering a sell-off of assets in target retirement funds in an attempt to lower fees, leaving smaller investors with massive tax bills, asked a Pennsylvania federal court to certify them as a class.

  • June 03, 2024

    Taxes Take Center Stage In Pot Industry Amid Fed. Policy Shift

    The federal government's move to loosen restrictions on cannabis is expected to trigger a wave of mergers and acquisitions structured as asset deals in the industry, especially among struggling retail operations willing to restructure in order to raise profits and lower their tax liabilities.

  • June 03, 2024

    Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin

    The Internal Revenue Service issued its weekly bulletin, which included an updated list of procedures for taxpayer-initiated requests for changes in methods of accounting.

Expert Analysis

  • Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
    Author Photo

    Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • An Informed Guide To Mastering Retirement Plan Forfeitures

    Author Photo

    When considering how to allocate departing retirement plan participants’ forfeitures, sponsors should consider recently filed lawsuits that allege Employee Retirement Income Security Act violations for using such funds to offset employer contributions, as well as proposed IRS guidance concerning how and when they must be used, says Eric Gregory at Dickinson Wright.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

    Author Photo

    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • IRS Proposal May Help Clarify Donor-Advised Fund Excise Tax

    Author Photo

    Recently proposed regulations provide important clarifications of the Internal Revenue Code's excise tax on donor-advised fund distributions by providing detailed definitions of key terms and addressing some of the open issues related to their operation and administration, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

    Author Photo

    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

    Author Photo

    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

    Author Photo

    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Liability Exposure For Unpaid Payroll Taxes May Surprise You

    Author Photo

    The Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Richard W. York v. U.S. offers important lessons for business owners and others who may be responsible for a company's checkbook about how someone else's failure to submit payroll taxes can result in their personal liability, says Douglas Charnas at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

    Author Photo

    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

    Author Photo

    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Unlocking Value In Carve-Out M&A Transactions

    Author Photo

    Some of the largest mergers and acquisitions in 2023 were carve-out transactions, and despite their unique intricacies and challenges, these transactions offer both buyers and sellers the opportunity to generate outsized returns in an otherwise vigorously competitive landscape, when carefully planned and diligently executed, say Kevin Crews and Rami Totari at Kirkland.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

    Author Photo

    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • 1st Tax Easement Convictions Will Likely Embolden DOJ, IRS

    Author Photo

    After recent convictions in the first criminal tax fraud trial over allegedly abusive syndicated conservation easements, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice will likely pursue other promoters for similar alleged conspiracies — though one acquittal may help attorneys better evaluate their clients' exposure, say Bill Curtis and Lauren DeSantis-Then at Polsinelli.

Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Tax Authority Federal archive.