Federal
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June 21, 2024
Supreme Court Leaves Lifeline For Billionaire Income Tax
The U.S. Supreme Court narrowed but did not entirely block the path to billionaire income tax legislation when the majority's opinion declined to weigh constitutional questions about taxing unrealized gains in its decision to uphold a mandatory repatriation levy.
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June 21, 2024
Fed. Circ. Backs Subsidy Duties For Canadian Wind Towers
A Canadian wind tower manufacturer can't get a break on countervailing duties despite being upfront about errors in its sales data, with the Federal Circuit ruling Friday that the errors raise the possibility of additional mistakes.
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June 21, 2024
IRS Urges 6th Circ. To Back Gold Broker's $3M Tax Bill
The Sixth Circuit should uphold about $3 million in tax liabilities against a self-employed gold and silver broker who failed to file returns for a decade, the IRS argued Friday, calling "frivolous" the man's argument that he isn't subject to federal income taxes.
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June 21, 2024
Couple Can't Hide Behind Preparer's Errors, Tax Court Says
A Georgia couple failed to show the U.S. Tax Court that their faulty filing was the result of trusting a competent tax adviser, leading the court to rule Friday that they were correctly assessed an accuracy-related penalty by the Internal Revenue Service.
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June 21, 2024
US Formally Suspends Part Of Tax Treaty With Russia
The U.S. government has provided formal notice to Russia suspending, via mutual agreement, parts of the countries' double-taxation treaty.
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June 21, 2024
Ayahuasca Church Is Not Tax-Exempt, DC Circ. Affirms
An Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its rites was correctly denied tax-exempt status, the D.C. Circuit affirmed Friday, saying the church's main purpose is using a federally illegal drug for which it lacked approval for religious use.
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June 21, 2024
Ex-Chicago Alderman Burke Can't Delay Sentencing
Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke can't postpone his Monday sentencing on charges of racketeering, extortion and bribery to await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the scope of federal bribery law, an Illinois federal judge ruled Friday, saying that decision will have "little or no impact" on Burke's fate.
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June 21, 2024
Ex-Mass. Pol Hit With New Charges In COVID Fraud Case
A former Massachusetts state senator already accused of pandemic-related fraud has been charged alongside his sister with attempting to cover up a scheme to make him eligible for unemployment benefits, the U.S. attorney's office announced Friday.
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June 21, 2024
IRS Has Spent $5.7B Of 2022 Funding Boost, TIGTA Finds
The Internal Revenue Service has spent $5.7 billion of the funding boost it received under the 2022 climate law as of March 31, including $2 billion to supplement its annual funding, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported Friday.
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June 21, 2024
11th Circ. Says Couple Can't Renew Fight Over S Corp. Income
A couple owe about $355,000 in back taxes after failing to prove that the U.S. Tax Court adopted an erroneous calculation by the IRS following a trial in which the couple were found liable for unreported income from their S corporation, the Eleventh Circuit ruled.
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June 21, 2024
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included updated lists of areas, including closed coal mines and factories, where developers can qualify for additional tax credits for building their clean energy projects.
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June 21, 2024
IRS Issues Draft Of Revised Research Credit Form
The Internal Revenue Service released a revised draft of the form used for claiming the research credit Friday, saying the changes would reduce taxpayers' burden.
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June 21, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Travers Smith, Potamitis Vekris
In this week's Taxation With Representation, RSK Group Ltd. gets a £500 million ($632 million) investment, Boston Scientific Corp. acquires Silk Road Medical Inc., Masdar takes a part of Terna Energy SA, and Tate & Lyle PLC buys CP Kelco from JM Huber Corp.
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June 20, 2024
Worker Retention Credit Freeze To Continue, IRS Chief Says
The Internal Revenue Service will keep in place its moratorium on processing new employee retention credit claims because of rampant fraud, the agency's commissioner told reporters Thursday, and will seek help from lawmakers before deciding on the program's future.
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June 20, 2024
IRS Issues Guidance For Early Withdrawal Penalty Exceptions
The Internal Revenue Service published guidance Thursday on exceptions to the 10% additional tax for those making permissible early retirement account withdrawals for emergency personal expenses and for victims of domestic abuse.
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June 20, 2024
Tax Court Says Man Can't Avoid Early Withdrawal Penalty
The Internal Revenue Service correctly determined that a Delaware man's early withdrawal of $137,000 from his retirement accounts in order to buy his brother's share of their dead mother's property did not qualify for the first-time homebuyer's exemption, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday.
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June 20, 2024
Tomato Cos. Can't Take Immediate Deductions, 9th Circ. Told
Two companies that supply 40% of the U.S.' tomato paste and diced tomatoes should not be allowed to deduct costs of restoring their production facilities before the actual restoration occurs, the IRS told the Ninth Circuit on Thursday in urging it to uphold a U.S. Tax Court ruling.
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June 20, 2024
Casinos Must Fight Hotel Tax In State Court, 5th Circ. Says
Owners of two Louisiana casinos with attached hotels must challenge Baton Rouge in state court, rather than federal court, over taxes the city says they owe on free hotel stays they gave patrons, the Fifth Circuit ruled, saying the state is entitled to deference.
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June 20, 2024
Housing, Child Care Top Dem. Senators' 2025 Tax Deal Goals
Senate Democrats plan to prioritize tax policies that will make child care and housing more affordable in the midst of the debate over the extension of the 2017 tax law's expiring provisions in 2025, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden told reporters Thursday.
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June 20, 2024
Dickinson Wright Brings On McDermott, Bell Nunnally Attys
Dickinson Wright PLLC added a pair of new members who include a commercial finance and real estate attorney from Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP based in Austin, Texas, and a tax and incentives attorney from McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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June 20, 2024
Tax Court Errs In Deeming Loans As Equity, 11th Circ. Told
A Florida business owner deserves tax deductions on loans his companies made to residential development projects that became worthless during the Great Recession, he told the Eleventh Circuit in a bid to reverse a Tax Court decision that classified the loans as equity.
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June 20, 2024
Tax Preparer With $38M In Refunds Cops To S-Corp. Scam
The owner of a tax preparation business that secured $38 million in federal refunds for customers pled guilty to helping prepare false returns and admitted he required clients to establish empty corporations to lower their tax bills illegally, according to his plea agreement in a California federal court.
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June 20, 2024
Repatriation Tax Doesn't Violate Constitution, Justices Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 2017 federal tax overhaul's mandatory repatriation levy on Thursday, finding the measure applies to the earnings of foreign corporations with U.S. shareholders and therefore does not raise constitutional questions about taxing unrealized income.
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June 18, 2024
Ore. To Adopt IRS' Free E-File Program For 2025 Season
Oregon will participate in the Internal Revenue Service's Direct File free online tax filing program when it returns for the 2025 filing season, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS announced Tuesday.
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June 18, 2024
Corporate Rate Revenue To Decrease After 2025, CBO Says
Corporate income tax receipts will steadily decrease after 2025 in relation to gross domestic product due to expiration of many of the 2017 tax law's provisions, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report released Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
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NFT Tax Guidance Shows IRS Interest In Crypto Enforcement
The IRS' first ever guidance addressing the federal income tax treatment of NFTs indicates the agency could take a potentially aggressive stance in enforcing U.S. tax laws in the NFT and crypto spaces, which could have a significant impact on the self-directed IRA market, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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Substantiation Is Key When Gifting Crypto To Charity
A recent Internal Revenue Service memorandum makes clear that the agency will require substantiation when gifting cryptocurrency to charity, even for relatively small amounts, so donors need to be aware of the important differences between crypto and typical cash donations, says Sheryl Morrison at Lathrop GPM.
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Senate Credit Suisse Report Puts Attention On Banks, Trusts
The Senate Finance Committee's recent finding that Credit Suisse violated a plea agreement struck over its role in enabling offshore tax evasion has important ramifications for banks and trusts, including how they onboard, document and report on transactions relevant to U.S. reporting requirements, say Will Barry and Ian Herbert at Miller & Chevalier.
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Seeking IRS Accountability For Faulty Microcaptive Notice
Like the taxpayers in Standard Insurances v. U.S. seeking to expand earlier wins in microcaptive insurance cases that limit IRS use of improperly obtained information, others should consider ways to hold the agency accountable and provide incentive for it to follow the law going forward, says Joshua Smeltzer at Gray Reed.
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Biden Admin. Proposals Both Encourage And Thwart EV Adoption
While the Biden administration has been aggressively focused on promoting electric vehicles from the start, its recently issued guidance on EV tax credits and its restrictive new auto emissions proposal create a sense of implementation whiplash that may frustrate manufacturers and consumers, says Levi McAllister at Morgan Lewis.
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Heed PCAOB's Warning On Proof-Of-Reserves Reports
While directed at investors, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's recent advisory on proof-of-reserves reports is a timely and stark warning to crypto entities, as well as their customers and accounting firms, to tread carefully in their reliance on these reports as proof of financial stability, say Patrick Bryan and Deborah Meshulam at DLA Piper.
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Cos. Should Heed IRS Warnings About Employee Tax Credit
The IRS has recently been cautioning employers claiming the pandemic-related employee retention credit to carefully review all the eligibility requirements and be wary of relying on third-party advisers regarding their qualification for the credit, say Eric Pearson and Timothy Voigtman at Foley & Lardner.
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Renewable Energy M&A Is Still Strong, Despite Challenges
The recent history of renewable energy has included ongoing supply chain issues, legislative challenges and rising interest rates — but mergers and acquisitions in the sector are expected to remain robust this year, fueled by growing demand and Inflation Reduction Act incentives, say consultants at FTI Consulting.
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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.