Federal
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July 11, 2024
House GOP Urges USTR To Probe Canada Digital Services Tax
The U.S. trade representative should immediately launch an investigation into Canada's recently enacted digital services tax and determine if trade actions are necessary to protect American interests, U.S. House Ways and Means Republicans said in a letter Thursday.
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July 11, 2024
Tax Court Denies Real Estate Loss Deduction To Builder
The U.S. Tax Court said Thursday that it didn't believe a man who claimed to work an extra 48 hours a week beyond his regular full-time job to build a short-term rental property, denying him a $22,000 rental real estate loss deduction reserved for real estate professionals.
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July 11, 2024
ABA Attys Seek To Avoid Reporting Foreign Trust Loans
The American Bar Association's tax, real estate and trust attorneys are seeking to prevent the U.S. Treasury Department from tightening reporting requirements for the exemption of loans from foreign trusts, which are often used by wealthy families and in succession planning, according to a consultation response.
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July 11, 2024
Railroad Benefits Are Taxable, Tax Court Says
A retired railroad worker and his wife must include benefits from the Railroad Retirement Board in their taxable income, having failed to prove that the benefits are nontaxable due to their disabilities, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday.
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July 11, 2024
Ex-Leaders Ask Biden For Int'l Coordination On Billionaire Tax
President Joe Biden should get behind Brazil's proposal for the Group of 20 nations to coordinate a minimum tax on billionaires, nearly 20 former presidents and prime ministers from countries such as Canada, France and South Korea said in an open letter.
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July 11, 2024
IRS Proposes 'Basket Contracts' As Listed Transactions
The Internal Revenue Service proposed rules Thursday that would flag so-called basket option contracts as potentially abusive listed transactions, imposing additional reporting requirements under the threat of penalty for individuals and businesses involved in such arrangements.
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July 11, 2024
Low-Speed EV Maker Sues Treasury Over Blocked Tax Credits
The U.S. Department of the Treasury violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it passed final regulations excluding low-speed vehicles from qualifying for clean vehicle tax credits, a maker of low-speed electric cars told a D.C. federal court.
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July 11, 2024
IRS Crackdown Yields $1B From Millionaires, Treasury Says
The Internal Revenue Service collected more than $1 billion from millionaires with large tax debts through an enforcement initiative against high-income, high-wealth taxpayers who hadn't paid their tax bills, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said Thursday.
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July 10, 2024
Ex-VP Of Fla. Aerospace Co. Sentenced To Prison For Fraud
The former vice president of a Miami-based aerospace company was sentenced to just over a year in federal prison after he pled guilty to fraud-related charges in connection to a scheme that involved embezzling millions of dollars and splitting the proceeds with a co-conspirator.
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July 10, 2024
Engineer Who Faced Export Charges Cops To Tax Counts
A Chinese-born engineer has pled guilty to two counts of filing a false tax return related to allegations that he and his wife omitted gross income from their tax returns between 2015 and 2019, after Texas federal prosecutors initially charged the couple with export violations and fraud.
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July 10, 2024
Tax Court Nominees Vow To Sort Out Post-Chevron Cases
Three nominees for spots on the U.S. Tax Court assured Senate lawmakers Wednesday that they could resolve cases involving federal regulations and congressional intent after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference doctrine.
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July 10, 2024
OECD Publishes Pillar 2 Technical Reporting Language Draft
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development published a draft of technical details required to digitally input and disseminate information required for Pillar Two global minimum tax returns Wednesday.
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July 10, 2024
Americans Overseas Ask for Clarity In Foreign Trust Regs
An advocacy group representing U.S. citizens living abroad urged the U.S. Treasury Department to clarify proposed rules for reporting transactions with foreign trusts, contending that guidance should explain which common pension arrangements are exempt from disclosure obligations.
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July 10, 2024
IRS Says Related Biz Arms Must Each Apply For Fuel Credit
Two related business departments that are both clean fuel producers and that have their own employer identification numbers must each apply on their own for the clean fuel production credit, the Internal Revenue Service said in an FAQ released Wednesday.
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July 10, 2024
Chevron's End Won't Affect Cubs Sale Tax Suit, 7th Circ. Told
An anti-abuse rule the IRS is using to push for taxes on gains from Tribune Media Co.'s sale of the Chicago Cubs is not threatened by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the Chevron deference doctrine, an attorney for the IRS told the Seventh Circuit on Wednesday.
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July 10, 2024
IRS Issues Electricity Credit Reference Price For Wind
The Internal Revenue Service released a 2024 reference price for determining the availability of the renewable electricity production credit for wind energy facilities in a notice issued Wednesday.
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July 10, 2024
House Dems Seek IRS Review Of Groups' Church Status
A group of House Democratic lawmakers asked the Internal Revenue Service to review the tax exemptions of conservative advocacy groups that they contend have improperly received tax-exempt status as churches, according to a letter released Wednesday.
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July 10, 2024
5th Circ. Told 'Pay To Litigate' Rule Doesn't Bar Refund Suit
A couple arguing the IRS failed to apply their tax overpayments to deficiencies claimed by the agency asked the Fifth Circuit to reverse a lower court's dismissal of their suit on the grounds that they hadn't paid their bill, saying the decision effectively asks them to pay twice.
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July 09, 2024
IRS Funding At Stake In 2025 Tax Cut Negotiations
Lawmakers are girding for battle over the soon-to-expire individual tax cuts in the 2017 tax law, and IRS funding will be central to the debate at a time when the agency may be in need of additional resources due to changes in law.
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July 09, 2024
House Panel OKs Tax Breaks For More Education Expenses
The House Ways and Means Committee sent several education-related tax bills to the full House of Representatives on Tuesday, including legislation that would make additional elementary and secondary school expenses eligible for tax-advantaged education savings accounts.
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July 09, 2024
Dems Request Special Counsel To Probe Justice Thomas Gifts
Two Democratic senators have asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' failure to disclose various gifts received during his tenure on the high court amounts to chargeable ethics violations or tax crimes.
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July 09, 2024
IRS Errors Foul $51M Levy, Calif. Man's Estate Tells Tax Court
The Internal Revenue Service made a slew of errors in determining a California man's estate faces a $46.2 million estate tax deficiency and a $4.6 million penalty, the estate's executor told the U.S. Tax Court.
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July 09, 2024
Veriwave Telco Faces FCC Action Over 'Tax Relief' Robocalls
The Federal Communications Commission is moving to block robocalls about purported "tax relief" programs from a Delaware-based telecommunications company, announcing in an order Monday that Veriwave Telco had another 14 days to demonstrate compliance with the agency's rules or risk having downstream providers cut its traffic.
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July 09, 2024
Senate Tax Panel To Consider 3 Tax Court Nominees
The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday to consider three U.S. Tax Court judge nominees, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the panel's chairman, said in a statement Tuesday.
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July 09, 2024
5 Firms Steer $513M Ryan-Altus Cross-Border Tax Deal
Dallas-based tax services and software provider Ryan said Tuesday it has inked a deal to acquire the property tax business of Altus Group Ltd. for CA$700 million ($513.4 million), enlisting three firms to assist on a deal that will expand its footprint in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.
Expert Analysis
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Issues And Opportunities In Hydrogen Fuel Cell Development
A variety of tax incentives, funding opportunities and state programs have the potential to provide value across the hydrogen fuel cell business chain and alleviate existing hurdles, establishing a stronger business case for the continued development of hydrogen infrastructure, says Pamela Wu at Morgan Lewis.
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IRS Green Energy Tax Credit Notice Provides Needed Clarity
Recent IRS guidance clarifying how the government will determine energy community locations for purposes of bonus clean energy tax credits should help resolve risk allocation disagreements among financing parties and parties to merger and acquisition transactions, say Casey August and Paul Gordon at Morgan Lewis.
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SVB Collapse Highlights Ch. 11 Issues With Bank Holding Cos.
Amid recent banking turmoil, including Silicon Valley Bank's collapse and subsequent Chapter 11 filing of its parent company, distressed debt investors and board members must understand the distinct rules in bank holding company bankruptcies, including Bankruptcy Code provisions granting significant advantages to federal regulatory agencies like the FDIC, say attorneys at Skadden.
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9th Circ. Ruling Legitimizes Classwide Injury In Predominance
The Ninth Circuit's recent ruling that vacated class certification in Van v. LLR makes clear that the question of injury is highly relevant to the predominance analysis, and underscores the importance of making a persuasive argument that injury is individualized within the class, say attorneys at Skadden.
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IRS' Cost Method Update Is Favorable For RE Developers
The Internal Revenue Service's recent update to its alternative cost method will allow real estate developers to accelerate their cost recovery of improvements in certain circumstances and make it easier for practitioners to satisfy the method's tax compliance requirements, says Benjamin Oklan at Weil.
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The Key Issues Keeping Transfer Pricing A Top Tax Concern
Several challenges preventing a global economic reemergence from the pandemic era are making practitioners reevaluate commonly used transfer pricing models, and embrace new technologies and ways of doing business, say Farnaz Amini and Sophia Castro Jurado at Marcum.
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Cannabis Cos. Must Heed Growing Federal Investigatory Risks
As state-regulated cannabis markets expand rapidly, so too does government oversight, and industry participants must plan ahead to avoid potential liabilities related to workplace health and safety requirements, tax audits, securities regulations and foreign bribery laws, say Alicia Corona and Amy Rubenstein at Dentons.
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5 Ways Taxpayers Can Spot Employee Retention Credit Scams
On Monday, the Internal Revenue Service added the employee retention credit to its list of prevalent tax scams because of ERC promoters seeking to take advantage of employers, but taxpayers who may qualify for the credit can protect themselves by recognizing certain red flags, say attorneys at Potomac Law and Stout Risius.
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Could The Supreme Court Legalize Marijuana Federally?
Amid slow legislative and executive movement on cannabis reform, it’s worth examining whether the U.S. Supreme Court could provide a pathway to federal cannabis legalization — a decision that would surely require strange bedfellows given the court’s current ideological makeup, say Whitt Steineker and Mason Kruse at Bradley Arant.
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Tax Pitfalls To Avoid In Employment Litigation Settlements
Downsizing companies should keep certain questions in mind when settling claims with departing employees to ensure they understand associated tax withholding and reporting obligations, and avoid costly interest and penalties down the road, says Matthew Meltzer at Flaster Greenberg.
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Key Considerations For Taxpayers Deducting Crypto Losses
While a recent Internal Revenue Service memorandum is helpful in providing insight into how the agency is considering guidance related to cryptocurrency, questions remain with respect to whether a taxpayer can claim a tax deduction for cryptocurrency losses, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Justices' MoneyGram Opinion Could Spur State Legislation
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision that federal law governs the escheatment of over $250 million in unclaimed MoneyGram checks provides clarity for some issuers, but aspects of related common law remain uncertain and states may take the opportunity to pass multistate escheatment legislation, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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Justices Leave Questions Open On Dual-Purpose Atty Advice
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury on grounds that certiorari was improvidently granted leaves unresolved a circuit split over the proper test for deciding when attorney-client privilege protects a lawyer's advice that has multiple purposes, say Susan Combs and Richard Kiely at Holland & Hart.