Federal
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July 17, 2024
Woman Can't Escape Suit Over Partner's $1.1M FBAR Debt
A woman whose late romantic partner owed $1.1 million in reporting penalties on hidden financial accounts in France and Switzerland can't stop the government from pursuing a suit against her for half the value of her home, a New York federal court ruled.
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July 17, 2024
Baker McKenzie Adds EY Partner To Mexico City Office
Baker McKenzie has appointed a new partner from EY Mexico to its North American tax practice group in Mexico City.
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July 16, 2024
Intracompany Prices Should Reflect Acquired IP, Panelists Say
When one company buys another for its intellectual property, the subsequent pricing of that asset between the now-related entities should reflect the value of what was acquired, transfer pricing specialists said Tuesday at a conference in Washington, D.C.
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July 16, 2024
More Geographic Adjustments 'On The Table' For Amount B
Countries' ability to make further adjustments for geographic differences in the streamlined transfer pricing approach known as Amount B — part of the OECD's plan for reallocating taxing rights among jurisdictions — is "still on the table," an official from the organization said Tuesday.
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July 16, 2024
Tycoon's Pilot Says Feds' Stock Tip Claims Don't Add Up
A private pilot who used to work for convicted insider trader and U.K. billionaire Joe Lewis is arguing federal prosecutors can't use allegations that his own trades were suspicious to ramp up a sentence for a separate tax evasion charge.
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July 16, 2024
7th Circ. Says Foreign Retirement Not Shielded In Bankruptcy
A professor who filed for bankruptcy in Illinois can't protect his Canadian retirement account from creditors because the account is ineligible under a state law shielding accounts that qualify as retirement plans under the Internal Revenue Code, the Seventh Circuit ruled Tuesday.
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July 16, 2024
Tax Court Grants Installment Gain Recognition On Stock Sales
The U.S. Tax Court rejected Tuesday a claim by the IRS that a man and his cousin who had each sold stock in 2002 to an employee stock ownership trust for more than $4 million had to recognize the entirety of their deferred gain the following year.
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July 16, 2024
Connecticut Contractor Fined $1.75M For Tax Evasion
A Connecticut contractor was ordered to pay a $1.75 million fine for evading federal corporate and individual income taxes from 2006 through 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
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July 16, 2024
DC Circ. Upholds Dismissal Of Tax Whistleblower Award Case
The D.C. Circuit upheld Tuesday the U.S. Tax Court's dismissal of a Mississippi man's case seeking review of the denial of his whistleblower claim for 30% of the revenue collected by an Internal Revenue Service offshore voluntary disclosure program.
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July 16, 2024
Tax Court Says Deductions Properly Disallowed By IRS
A New York couple was properly denied tens of thousands of dollars worth of deductions on their federal income taxes by the Internal Revenue Service, since the pair neither qualified nor adequately substantiated their claims, the U.S. Tax Court said Tuesday.
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July 16, 2024
Contractor Asks Justices To Review $1.3M R&D Credit Suit
A construction company's shareholders asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision revoking their tax refund for the company's $1.3 million in claimed research credits, saying the Fifth Circuit wrongly deferred to the Internal Revenue Service in stopping their case from going to trial.
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July 16, 2024
Rising Star: Skadden's Melinda Gammello
Melinda Gammello of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP has advised numerous clients before the U.S. Tax Court and elsewhere on complex tax matters, including transfer pricing issues and the treatment of financial transactions within a company, earning her a spot among the tax law practitioners under 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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July 16, 2024
The 2024 Diversity Snapshot: What You Need To Know
Law firms' ongoing initiatives to address diversity challenges have driven another year of progress, with the representation of minority attorneys continuing to improve across the board, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Here's our data dive into minority representation at law firms in 2023.
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July 16, 2024
These Firms Have The Most Diverse Equity Partnerships
Law360’s law firm survey shows that firms' efforts to diversify their equity partner ranks are lagging. But some have embraced a broader talent pool at the equity partner level. Here are the ones that stood out.
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July 16, 2024
Applicable Federal Interest Rates To Drop In August
Applicable federal rates for income tax purposes will decrease in August, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday, the second month-to-month drop in a row.
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July 16, 2024
3 Tax Reg Groups That May Be Shaky After High Court Rulings
The U.S. Supreme Court issued two rulings that, when combined, open up long-standing federal regulations to challenges without judicial deference to agencies — a pairing that could weaken several categories of tax rules, including guidance issued under the 2017 federal overhaul. Here, Law360 looks at three batches of tax regulations that may be vulnerable in the aftermath of the high court's decisions.
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July 15, 2024
Israeli Firm Seeks To Amend Suit Against GILTI Regs
The owner of an Israeli law firm asked a D.C. federal court to let him amend his challenge to regulations for the U.S. tax on global intangible low-taxed income after the D.C. Circuit determined parts of his arguments went unconsidered.
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July 15, 2024
4th Circ. Rejects Couple's $5.1M Easement Deduction
The Fourth Circuit rejected Monday a married couple's bid to revive a claimed $5.1 million conservation easement deduction, saying it represented a "remarkable" attempt to inflate the value of a 41-acre property that was worth just $652,000 the year before they donated it.
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July 15, 2024
Former Doctor Seeks Jail Release In FBAR Fight
An incarcerated former doctor asked a Michigan federal court Monday to lift its order of civil contempt for his failure to pay about $1 million in foreign account reporting penalties, saying he has done all he can to repatriate offshore securities.
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July 15, 2024
Widow To Pull $1.7M From Swiss Bank To Pay FBAR Penalties
A logger's widow agreed to pull about $1.7 million from her Swiss bank account to pay down penalties that her late husband's estate owes the IRS for his failure to report offshore accounts, according to a filing Monday in a Colorado federal court.
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July 15, 2024
AICPA Suggests Revising Foreign Trust Loan Anti-Abuse Rule
The U.S. Treasury Department should scrap or revise significantly an anti-abuse rule for nonresident aliens who receive loans from foreign trusts, which was included in proposed regulations on how to report foreign trust transactions, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants said in a letter published Monday.
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July 15, 2024
IBM Taps Jones Day To Take NY Royalty Tax Fight To Justices
IBM asked the U.S. Supreme Court for more time to submit a petition for review of a New York high court decision that upheld tax on royalties received from foreign affiliates, saying it recently retained Jones Day to handle the case.
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July 15, 2024
Akerman Brings On Chamberlain Hrdlicka Tax Pros In Atlanta
Akerman LLP announced Monday that it picked up a pair of new partners for its tax practice group in Atlanta who were previously with Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry.
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July 15, 2024
TIGTA Says IRS Can Improve Digital Currency Enforcement
While the IRS has carried out some enforcement actions related to virtual currency noncompliance and has launched a program focused on identifying taxpayers who leave digital assets off their returns, the agency has lots of room for improvement, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Monday.
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July 15, 2024
Truck Co. Qualifies For $500M Tax Safe Harbor, 6th Circ. Told
A Tennessee company asked the Sixth Circuit to shield it from more than $500 million in excise tax liabilities, saying a lower court correctly found that its refurbished trucks qualify for the safe harbor from the heavy-truck excise tax.
Expert Analysis
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Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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How FinCEN Proposal Expands RE Transaction Obligations
Against a regulatory backdrop foreshadowing anti-money laundering efforts in the real estate sector, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's proposed rule significantly expands reporting requirements for certain nonfinanced residential real estate transfers and necessitates careful review, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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What To Know About Employee Retention Credit Disclosures
Employers that filed potentially erroneous employee retention credit claims should take certain steps to determine whether the IRS’ voluntary disclosure program is a good fit and, if so, prepare a strong application before the window closes on March 22, say attorneys at Dentons.
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Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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Unpacking FinCEN's Proposed Real Estate Transaction Rule
Phil Jelsma and Ulrick Matsunaga at Crosbie Gliner take a close look at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recently proposed rulemaking — which mandates new disclosures for professionals involved in all-cash real estate deals — and discuss best next steps for the broad range of businesses that could be affected.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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The Corporate Transparency Act Isn't Dead Yet
After an Alabama federal court's ruling last week rendering the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, changes to the law may ultimately be required, but ongoing compliance is still the best course of action for most, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
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How New EU Tax And Transfer Pricing Rules May Affect M&A
Companies involved in mergers and acquisitions may need to adjust fiscal due diligence procedures to ensure they consider potential far-reaching effects of newly implemented transfer pricing measures, such as newly implemented global minimum tax and European Union anti-tax avoidance directives and proposals, says Patrick Tijhuis at BDO.
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Employers, Prep For Shorter Stock Awards Settlement Cycle
Companies that provide equity compensation in the form of publicly traded stock will soon have one less day to complete such transactions under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nasdaq rules — so employers should implement expedited equity compensation stock settlement and payroll tax deposit procedures now, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Demystifying IRS' Claims Of $851B Return On Investment
The IRS' recently released analysis, estimating a $851 billion return on the government’s $80 billion investment in the agency, represents a huge increase over its 2022 estimate and that of the Congressional Budget Office and may be best viewed as a best-case scenario, says Joyce Beebe at the Baker Institute.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.