Federal
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August 14, 2024
Tax Court Judge Again Deems CPA's Refund Claim Frivolous
A U.S. Tax Court judge rejected a certified public accountant's calculation that the IRS owed him a nearly $30,000 tax refund, repeating her opinion that the CPA was making frivolous arguments in claiming he owed no taxes on his income.
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August 14, 2024
Medical Device Maker Pleads Guilty To $2.4M Tax Evasion
A man who made millions of dollars on medical devices and sold one purporting to eradicate viruses by using sound waves pled guilty to evading $2.4 million in taxes in a trust scheme involving his girlfriend, according to Florida federal court documents.
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August 14, 2024
DC Tax Relief Can Aid Office Projects, But It's No 'Silver Bullet'
While tax relief programs may help a handful of office conversion projects in Washington, D.C., and make financial sense, much more needs to happen to bring the city's struggling downtown back to life again, real estate experts say.
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August 13, 2024
Hunter Biden Says Corruption Claims Don't Belong In Tax Trial
Hunter Biden has urged a California federal judge to bar a jury weighing his tax charges from hearing any allegations of corruption regarding foreign sources of income for fear it would "insinuate extraneous, politically charged matters" into the trial.
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August 13, 2024
Gov't Seeks To Use Liens To Nab Decades-Old $2.8M Tax Debt
A businessman and his trust face the prospect of losing a New York property as the Internal Revenue Service asked a federal court to set aside conveyances to him of property with IRS tax liens and collect on a $2.8 million tax debt.
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August 13, 2024
Walz Backed Tax Hikes Funding Plans For Children, Families
As Minnesota's governor, Democrat Tim Walz, now the presumed vice presidential nominee of his party, separated himself from most other governors by signing into law numerous tax increases funding progressive priorities such as a paid family leave plan and the nation's largest child tax credit.
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August 13, 2024
Treasury's Loss Rules Take Broad Approach To Min. Tax Deal
The U.S. Treasury Department recently dashed the hopes of multinational corporations seeking regulations that would have carved out an international minimum tax agreement from interacting with long-standing domestic rules aimed at preventing companies from using the same economic loss twice.
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August 13, 2024
Partnerships' Easement Fight Ends As Gov't Drops IRS Notice
An Alabama federal judge dismissed a complaint by dozens of partnerships claiming they shouldn't have to comply with an IRS notice regarding conservation easement transactions, following an Eleventh Circuit ruling upholding the notice as invalid and the government's agreement not to enforce it.
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August 13, 2024
IRS Delays Tax Deadlines In Vermont After Hurricane Debby
Taxpayers in Vermont will be given until Feb. 3 to file individual and business tax returns and make payments after the state was hit by Hurricane Debby, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.
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August 13, 2024
Tax Court Nixes Loss Deduction, But Owners Owe No Penalty
The Internal Revenue Service was right to determine a business created to provide guidance to real estate owners and investors couldn't claim loss deductions because its business had not actually started, the Tax Court said Tuesday, but the owners are not liable for an accuracy-related penalty.
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August 13, 2024
IRS Wrongly Denied Tomato Cos. Deductions, 9th Circ. Told
Two companies that supply 40% of the United States' tomato paste and diced tomatoes told the Ninth Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court erred in keeping the companies from deducting the costs of restoring their production facilities before the actual restoration occurs.
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August 13, 2024
Firm Asks Court To Reconsider $1.5M Freeze In Tax Dispute
A Baltimore law firm that sued the IRS for freezing $1.5 million in its operating account to satisfy a client's tax debts told a Maryland federal court it was "dead wrong" in denying the firm's request to release the money without going to trial.
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August 13, 2024
Tax Court Design Violates US Law, Widow Tells 11th Circ.
The widow of a grocery store butcher fighting a tax liability upheld by the U.S. Tax Court has told the Eleventh Circuit that the decision should be sent back for reconsideration, arguing that a provision restricting the president's power to remove Tax Court judges is unconstitutional.
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August 13, 2024
IRS Announces Sept. Meeting On Advisory Council Report
The Internal Revenue Service's Advisory Council will hold a public meeting on Sept. 5 to discuss a future report from the council, the agency announced Tuesday.
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August 12, 2024
Accused Accounting Prof Is No Tax Expert, NJ Jury Told
New Jersey federal jurors were urged Monday to keep one word at the front of their minds as they listen to the government present its case against an accounting professor accused of failing to report $3.3 million in income from a pharmacy he co-owned with his wife: willful.
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August 12, 2024
Tax Court Tosses Deficiency Challenge Over Validity
The U.S. Tax Court cannot rule on a man's challenge to an Internal Revenue Service deficiency notice because the agency failed to show it correctly mailed the notice, rendering it invalid, and the case must be dismissed, the court said Monday.
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August 12, 2024
UN Eyes Two Early Changes For Tax Pact In Latest Draft
Diplomats would draft two legally binding protocols under the United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation while creating the convention itself under the latest draft guidance for negotiators after they select from a shortlist of possible topics, including the digital economy and wealth taxation.
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August 12, 2024
IRS Lacks Broad Plan To Replace Old IT Systems, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service lacks an agency-wide program to identify and then update, replace or retire legacy information technology systems, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported Monday.
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August 12, 2024
Past Tax Ideas Offer Insight Into A Harris-Walz Presidency
An analysis of tax proposals previously put forth by Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats' presumptive nominees for president and vice president, indicates they could pursue a tax agenda geared toward providing tax relief to middle- and lower-income Americans.
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August 12, 2024
FedEx Misreads Chevron Ruling In $85M Tax Dispute, US Says
FedEx wrongly believes the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the Chevron doctrine precludes the U.S. Treasury Department from promulgating regulations to stop tax cheats and prevent FedEx from claiming $84.6 million in tax credits, the U.S. government told a Tennessee federal court.
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August 12, 2024
Judge OKs IRS To Review Bank Docs Of Exec In Bitcoin Probe
The Internal Revenue Service can review the sequestered bank records of a cryptocurrency executive charged in a 2020 bitcoin fraud investigation, a Texas federal judge ruled, finding the agency had properly notified the executive and his company of summonses it had issued to their banks.
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August 12, 2024
Transparency Act Snowball Fears A 'Mirage,' Treasury Says
The U.S. Department of the Treasury is seeking to quell fears that the Corporate Transparency Act's disclosure requirements could set the stage for more invasive government data collection in a brief asking a Michigan federal judge to uphold the law as constitutional.
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August 12, 2024
IRS Extends Tax Deadlines For Minn. Storm Victims
Minnesota taxpayers affected by severe storms and flooding have until February to file tax returns and make payments, the Internal Revenue Service said Monday.
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August 12, 2024
2 Experts OK'd For Danish Tax Agency In $2.1B Fraud Case
Two experts will be allowed to testify in support of a suit by Denmark's tax agency accusing U.S. pension plans of participating in a $2.1 billion tax refund fraud scheme, a New York federal district court said, overruling the pension plans' objections.
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August 12, 2024
'Survivor' Winner Is True Owner In Property Dispute, US Says
The winner of the first "Survivor" television season is the true owner of disputed property that should be sold to pay down his $3.3 million in tax liabilities, the government told a Rhode Island federal court, rejecting claims that his sister is the owner.
Expert Analysis
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After A Brief Hiccup, The 'Rocket Docket' Soars Back To No. 1
The Eastern District of Virginia’s precipitous 2022 fall from its storied rocket docket status appears to have been a temporary aberration, as recent statistics reveal that the court is once again back on top as the fastest federal civil trial court in the nation, says Robert Tata at Hunton.
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Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers
BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.
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What DOL Fiduciary Rule Means For Private Fund Managers
Attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss how the U.S. Department of Labor's recently released final fiduciary rule, which revises the agency's 1975 regulation, could potentially cause private fund managers' current marketing practices and communications to be considered fiduciary advice, and therefore subject them to strict prohibitions.
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Money, Money, Money: Limiting White Collar Wealth Evidence
As courts increasingly recognize that allowing unfettered evidence of wealth could prejudice a jury against a defendant, white collar defense counsel should consider several avenues for excluding visual evidence of a lavish lifestyle at trial, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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How Associates Can Build A Professional Image
As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.
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Navigating New Safe Harbor For Domestic Content Tax Credits
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s recent notice simplifying domestic content calculations for certain solar, onshore wind and battery storage projects, which directly acknowledges the difficulty for taxpayers in gathering data to support a domestic content analysis, should make it easier to qualify additional domestic content bonus tax credits, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.
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Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age
As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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'Energy Communities' Update May Clarify Tax Credit Eligibility
A recent IRS notice that includes updated lists of locations where clean energy projects can qualify for additional tax credits — based 2023 unemployment data and placed-in-service dates — should help provide clarity regarding project eligibility that sponsors and developers need, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.
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How Cannabis Rescheduling May Alter Paraphernalia Imports
The Biden administration's recent proposal to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana use raises questions about how U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement policies may shift when it comes to enforcing a separate federal ban on marijuana accessory imports, says R. Kevin Williams at Clark Hill.
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NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It
The recent House v. NCAA settlement in California federal court, in which the NCAA agreed to allow schools to directly pay March Madness television revenue to their athletes, may send outside name, image and likeness collectives in-house, says Mike Ingersoll at Womble Bond.