Federal

  • September 23, 2024

    Couple Didn't Report Business Income, Tax Court Says

    A couple whose mortgage company managed two LLCs failed to report income received from the company, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday in upholding most of the roughly $1.3 million in deficiency notices for 2009 and 2010 issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

  • September 23, 2024

    The Tax Angle: Corporate Inversions, SALT Cap

    From a look at criticisms that the 2017 federal tax law failed to stop corporations from moving overseas to GOP efforts to navigate the SALT cap ahead of the November elections, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of the week's developing tax stories.

  • September 23, 2024

    Sysco Allowed $324M Dividend Deduction After Varian Ruling

    Sysco Corp. can deduct $324 million in foreign dividends after agreeing with the Internal Revenue Service that a decision in a similar case brought by Varian Medical Systems resolved their dispute, the U.S. Tax Court said in an order.

  • September 23, 2024

    More Needed On Energy Tax Credit Monetization, TIGTA Says

    The Internal Revenue Service has taken steps to facilitate the sale or transfer of the Inflation Reduction Act's clean energy tax credits, but it must develop more processes to accommodate the credits, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported.

  • September 23, 2024

    Senate Confirms 3rd Tax Court Judge In 2 Months

    The U.S. Senate approved one of President Joe Biden's nominees to serve on the U.S. Tax Court on Monday, marking the third time the chamber has confirmed a judge to the court in the past two months.

  • September 23, 2024

    Tax Court Allows Woman's Gambling Loss Deduction

    A California woman made good-faith attempts to substantiate her gambling losses and therefore may claim a roughly $62,000 tax deduction, but she is still liable for an accuracy-related penalty for the year in question, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    DOJ Seeing Deluge Of Attacks In Tax Cases After Loper Bright

    The U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division is seeing its casework flooded with taxpayer arguments citing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright overturning the Chevron doctrine, and that's not likely to change soon, a division chief said Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    Vanguard Agrees To Settle Investors' Tax Liability Suit

    Vanguard agreed to settle a proposed class action by investors who accused the company of violating its fiduciary duties when it triggered a sell-off of assets that left them with massive tax bills, according to a Pennsylvania federal court order Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    Profs, Retired Judges Ask Justices To Uphold Return Of Taxes

    Two former bankruptcy judges and a group of law professors threw their support behind the bankruptcy trustee of a Utah transportation company seeking to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that the IRS, like any other creditor, should have to return payments deemed fraudulent under state law.

  • September 23, 2024

    IRS Finalizing Pricing Pact Guidance, Official Says

    The Internal Revenue Service is in the final stages of updating revenue procedures to help multinational corporations pursue advance pricing agreements and resolve tax treaty disputes, and it will release the guidance soon, an agency official said Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    IRS Names Chief Of Appeals Office

    The Internal Revenue Service elevated the acting chief of its Independent Office of Appeals to the position permanently, the agency announced Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    Squire Patton Tax Ace Joins Winston & Strawn In Dallas

    Winston & Strawn LLP announced Monday it has expanded its tax offerings with the addition of an experienced attorney from Squire Patton Boggs LLP in Texas.

  • September 23, 2024

    Julie Chrisley Fights For Sentence Cut After 11th Circ. Ruling

    Former reality TV star Julie Chrisley asked a Georgia federal judge on Friday to resentence her to no more than five years for her role in a $36 million tax evasion and fraud scheme, arguing against prosecutors' insistence that the seven-year sentence she was previously given be kept intact.

  • September 20, 2024

    Family Owes $81M Taxes On 'Son-Of-Boss' Scheme, DOJ Says

    Former shareholders of a family-owned holding company owe the IRS nearly $81 million for participating in what is known as a Son-of-Boss arrangement, which generated fake capital losses in the 2022 sale of company stock, the U.S. Department of Justice told a New York federal court.

  • September 20, 2024

    8th Circ. To Hear Args In 3M's $24M Tax Case Next Month

    The Eighth Circuit said Friday that it will hear oral arguments next month in 3M's transfer pricing appeal, in which the multinational conglomerate is challenging the Internal Revenue Service's authority to reallocate to the company $24 million from a Brazilian affiliate.

  • September 20, 2024

    IRS Updates Per-Diem Deduction Rates For Business Travel

    The per-diem rates used to compute business travel expense tax deductions will be $319 for travel to high-cost areas and $225 for travel to low-cost areas starting in October, the Internal Revenue Service said Friday.

  • September 20, 2024

    Divestiture Counts As Reorganization, IRS Says

    A domestic corporation with some foreign shareholders that is required to divest itself of one of its businesses by using a newly created corporation as an intermediary for the distribution qualifies as a tax-free reorganization, the IRS said in a private letter ruling released Friday.

  • September 20, 2024

    IRS Special Trial Attorney Joins Hochman Salkin In California

    When Hochman Salkin Toscher Perez PC's newest principal, Sebastian Voth, was studying at Emory University School of Law, a former chief counsel for the Internal Revenue Service told students that the IRS was a great place to start their careers. After 15 years as an IRS attorney, Voth found that the agency was also a great place to work, he told Law360 Pulse in an interview Friday.

  • September 20, 2024

    IRS Not Meeting Disclosure Requirements For Joint Returns

    The Internal Revenue Service did not uniformly follow joint return disclosure requirements on collection information requests, burdening taxpayers with additional delays resolving their tax matters and possibly violating their privacy rights, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Friday.

  • September 20, 2024

    Tribe's Stateless Status Undoes $1.9M Construction Suit

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday tossed a New York construction company's $1.9 million lawsuit against the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, finding the tribe's stateless position leaves the court with no jurisdiction to decide the case.

  • September 20, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Gibson Dunn, Holland & Knight

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, CACI International buys Azure Summit Technology, Hotel Engine lands a valuation led by Permira, and Knowles Corp. sells its microphone business to Syntiant Corp.

  • September 20, 2024

    IRS Must Credit Overpayments, Couple Tell 5th Circ.

    A couple claiming they should be allowed to sue the IRS for a roughly $500,000 tax refund in federal court because they overpaid their taxes told the Fifth Circuit that the agency is out of time to challenge their overpayments and must credit their account.

  • September 20, 2024

    IRS Corrects Proposed Clean Electricity Bonus Credit Regs

    The Internal Revenue Service issued corrections Friday to proposed regulations that would broaden the types of power facilities that could be eligible for clean electricity low-income community bonus credit amounts starting in 2025.

  • September 20, 2024

    Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin

    The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included proposed regulations that would adjust the timing for when companies could opt to use the so-called mark-to-market accounting method for gains or losses that arise from foreign currency transactions.

  • September 19, 2024

    Ch. 7 Trustee Urges Justices To Uphold Return Of Taxes

    The bankruptcy trustee of a defunct Utah transportation company warned the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that overturning a decision forcing the IRS to return tax payments made by company directors to cover their personal debts would encourage shareholder fraud.

Expert Analysis

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

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    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.

  • Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes

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    Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.

  • Anticipating Intensified Partnership Enforcement From IRS

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    The Internal Revenue Service's decadeslong difficulties with partnership audits led to the recent announcement of a clear, well-funded, focused initiative, and businesses operating in the partnership form will feel the impact, with definite changes ahead, says Sharon Katz-Pearlman at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys

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    Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'

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    The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.

  • Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform

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    The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.

  • How And Why Your Firm Should Implement Fixed-Fee Billing

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    Amid rising burnout in the legal industry and client efforts to curtail spending, pivoting to a fixed-fee billing model may improve client-attorney relationships and offer lawyers financial, logistical and stress relief — while still maintaining profit margins, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies

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    Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.

  • While Risks Exist, AI Could Transform IRS Enforcement

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    The Internal Revenue Service's recently announced use of artificial intelligence could revolutionize the agency's enforcement efforts, and transparency about its use and a forum for challenging AI findings could help mitigate fears that the technology will increase bias, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.

  • Strategic Succession Planning At Law Firms Is Crucial

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    Senior partners' reluctance to retire, the rise of the nonequity partner tier and generational differences in expectations are all contributing to an increasing number of departures from BigLaw, making it imperative for firms to encourage retirement among senior ranks and provide clearer leadership pathways to junior attorneys, says Laura Leopard at Leopard Solutions.

  • Maximizing Law Firm Profitability In Uncertain Times

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    As threats of an economic downturn loom, firms can boost profits by embracing the power of bottom-line management and creating an ecosystem where strategic financial oversight and robust timekeeping practices meet evolved client relations, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.

  • Enforcement Of International Tax Reporting Is Heating Up

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s February decision in Bittner v. U.S. changed how penalties for failure to report offshore accounts are calculated, recent developments suggest the government is preparing to step up enforcement and vigorously pursue the collection of resulting penalties, say Daniel Silva and Agustin Ceballos at Buchalter.

  • How Gov't Agencies Will Fare In The Event Of A Shutdown

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    With a federal shutdown potentially set to begin at the end of this month, it may be useful to consider the approximate timelines that agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and IRS have announced for curtailing operations, and potential strategies for mitigating challenges that may arise while agency functions are limited, say attorneys at Cleary.

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