Federal

  • January 14, 2025

    House GOP Urges TCJA Permanency At First 2025 Tax Hearing

    The 2017 tax law's expiring provisions, including the opportunity zone tax incentives, credit for advanced manufacturing and child tax credit expansion, must be made permanent as soon as possible, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith said Tuesday.

  • January 14, 2025

    IRS Floats Counting Affiliate Pay In $1M Pay Deduction Cap

    Compensation from affiliates of publicly traded companies would count toward the $1 million limit on tax deductions for performance-based pay of high-earning employees under rules proposed Tuesday by the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service.

  • January 14, 2025

    Man Didn't Prove Travel, Vehicle Deductions, Tax Court Says

    An Ohio man the IRS said incorrectly claimed nearly $14,000 in travel- and vehicle-related costs failed to substantiate them, the U.S. Tax Court said Tuesday, including failing to remember the names of trade shows he said he attended in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • January 14, 2025

    Easement Worth $1M, Not $18M, Gov't Tells 11th Circ.

    The U.S. Tax Court was right to believe expert testimony that a claimed conservation easement donation of roughly $18 million was only worth $1 million, the government told the Eleventh Circuit, urging it to reject the donors' claims that the expert was unreliable.

  • January 14, 2025

    IRS Appoints 18 Members To Advisory Council

    The Internal Revenue Service appointed 18 new members to its advisory council to serve three-year terms starting this month, the agency said Tuesday.

  • January 14, 2025

    IRS Releases Latest Surprise Healthcare Bill Calculation Rate

    The Internal Revenue Service provided Tuesday a percentage increase for calculating certain out-of-network healthcare coverage for 2025 under legislation that barred surprise medical bills.

  • January 14, 2025

    Trump Announces Plans To Create 'External Revenue Service'

    President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he planned to create an "External Revenue Service" that would collect tariffs and revenue from foreign countries.

  • January 14, 2025

    IRS Updates Scam Protections For 2025 Filing Season

    The Internal Revenue Service announced changes Tuesday for the 2025 tax filing season designed to help protect taxpayers and tax professionals from scams and schemes, including updates to certain forms and increasing reviews and education.

  • January 14, 2025

    Feds Ask 2 Years For Ex-Pol On Tax, Pandemic Aid Charges

    A former Massachusetts state senator should spend two years in prison after being convicted of illegally obtaining unemployment assistance and filing a false tax return, the federal government argued, citing the "greed" at the heart of the politician's conduct.

  • January 14, 2025

    DOL Finalizes ERISA Voluntary Correction Program Changes

    The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm has finalized changes to a program allowing retirement plan managers to voluntarily self-correct when they fail to forward employee contributions on time or make other transaction errors, according to a notice the agency posted online Tuesday.

  • January 13, 2025

    Special Counsel Slams Biden's Critique Of Son's Prosecution

    The special counsel who oversaw the investigation into Hunter Biden, which was wiped out by a presidential pardon, released a report published Monday criticizing President Joe Biden's "baseless accusations" that his son was "selectively" prosecuted and warning that such comments threaten "the integrity of the justice system as a whole."

  • January 13, 2025

    Feds Say Par Funding Fraud Caused $404M In Losses

    Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent hours in a marathon hearing Monday trying to convince a Pennsylvania judge of how much financial damage they thought the principals of the Par Funding merchant lending business did by allegedly fleecing investors, with the government pushing for a $404 million figure.

  • January 13, 2025

    IRS Puts Out Spinoff Rules, Multiyear Reporting Regime

    The Internal Revenue Service released proposed regulations Monday for a narrow set of corporate separation transactions, known as spinoffs, that the agency will approve as tax-free ahead of time, alongside guidance detailing multiyear reporting requirements for those deals.

  • January 13, 2025

    AGs, Lobbyists Ask Justices To Keep Shell Co. Law Blocked

    The U.S. Supreme Court should deny the federal government's emergency application to stay a Texas district court's injunction on a law aimed at cracking down on crimes committed with shell companies, according to numerous state attorneys general and interest groups and a handful of small businesses.

  • January 13, 2025

    Tax Firm Asks Court To Ax Final IRS Microcaptive Rules

    A global tax services provider asked a Texas federal court to vacate finalized tax rules requiring the reporting of certain transactions involving captive insurance companies deemed as potentially abusive, arguing the guidance goes beyond the agency's authority.

  • January 13, 2025

    Sen. Warren To Grill Treasury Pick On Trump's Tax Agenda

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., plans to ask Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent at his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday about President-elect Donald Trump's tax agenda and plans for the Internal Revenue Service, according to a letter she sent the nominee.

  • January 13, 2025

    Tax Court Spares Woman From Fine For Frivolous Arguments

    A woman who frivolously claimed her wages were nontaxable owes $15,700 in taxes and penalties, but she doesn't owe a fine for making groundless arguments, the U.S. Tax Court said in an opinion Monday.

  • January 13, 2025

    IRS Eases Process Of Insurance Co. Alternate Tax Revocation

    The Internal Revenue Service laid out a streamlined process Monday by which certain insurance companies that took an elective application of an alternative tax may obtain automatic consent to revoke that election.

  • January 13, 2025

    The Tax Angle: GOP Lawmakers Grapple With TCJA Renewal

    From a look at Congress setting parameters for consideration of legislation to renew the GOP's 2017 tax overhaul law to other upcoming tax action in the House and Senate, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of the week's developing tax stories.

  • January 13, 2025

    Tax-Exempt Regs Should Cover Trust Payments, Tribes Say

    Five tribal leaders told the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday that trust payments distributed to members, including those issued to minors and special-needs individuals, should be included among the tribal welfare benefits that recent proposed rules would exempt from federal income taxes.

  • January 13, 2025

    Ariz. Taking Rebate Tax Fight With IRS To 9th Circ.

    Arizona is turning to the Ninth Circuit its battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the federal taxation of its 2023 rebates to taxpayers with dependents, the state told the lower court that dismissed its case.

  • January 13, 2025

    Trump Wants Higher SALT Cap, House Republican Says

    President-elect Donald Trump wants to increase the $10,000 federal cap on state and local tax deductions, a House Ways and Means Committee member said Monday.

  • January 13, 2025

    Tax-Lien Biz Atty Accused Of Duping Bank Can't Touch Money

    A Manhattan federal judge declined Monday to unfreeze assets on behalf of a former compliance lawyer accused of duping a bank into lending his tax-lien investment firm $20 million, complicating his plan to go to trial with private counsel.

  • January 13, 2025

    Justices Won't Review Reversal Of Firm's Tax Penalty Win

    The U.S. Supreme Court let stand Monday a Fifth Circuit decision overturning a jury ruling that a wealth management company didn't owe $579,000 in tax penalties because an employee's mental health problems excused the company's failure to file information returns on time.

  • January 12, 2025

    Justices To Review Whether Ex-Wife Can Challenge Tax Levy

    The U.S. Supreme Court will review a Third Circuit decision allowing a woman to continue challenging what she claims was an improper application of her tax payment to her ex-husband's bill even after the Internal Revenue Service stopped pursuing a proposed property seizure against her.

Expert Analysis

  • Why Biz Groups Disagree On Ending Chevron Deference

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    Two amicus briefs filed in advance of last month's U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo highlight contrasting views on whether the doctrine of Chevron deference promotes or undermines the stable regulatory environment that businesses require, say Wyatt Kendall and Sydney Brogden at Morris Manning.

  • US-Chile Tax Treaty May Encourage Cross-Border Investment

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    Provisions in the recently effective U.S.-Chile bilateral income tax treaty should encourage business between the two countries, as they reduce U.S. withholding tax on investment income for Chilean taxpayers, exempt certain U.S. taxpayers from Chilean capital gains tax, and clarify U.S. foreign tax credit rules, say attorneys at Kramer Levin.

  • A Look Ahead For The Electric Vehicle Charging Industry

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    This will likely be an eventful year for the electric vehicle market as government efforts to accelerate their adoption inevitably clash with backlash from supporters of the petroleum industry, say Rue Phillips at SkillFusion and Enid Joffe at Green Paradigm Consulting.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Planning A Defense As IRS Kicks Off Sports Losses Campaign

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    Sports team owners and partnerships face potential examination under the Internal Revenue Service’s recently announced sports industry losses campaign, and should be preparing to explain what drove their reported losses and assembling documentation to support their tax return positions and accounting methods, say Sheri Dillon and Jennifer Breen at Morgan Lewis.

  • What New Calif. Strike Force Means For White Collar Crimes

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    The recently announced Central District of California strike force targeting complex corporate and securities fraud — following the Northern District of California's model — combines experienced prosecutorial leadership and partnerships with federal agencies like the IRS and FBI, and could result in an uptick in the number of cases and speed of proceedings, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift

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    As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.

  • As Promised, IRS Is Coming For Crypto Tax Evaders

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    The IRS is fulfilling its promise to crack down on those who have neglected to pay taxes on cryptocurrency earnings, as demonstrated by recently imposed prison sentences, enforcement initiatives and meetings with international counterparts — suggesting a few key takeaways for taxpayer compliance, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • 5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money

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    As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52

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    Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.

  • Parsing Treasury's Proposed Clean Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules

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    Regulations recently proposed by the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury concerning two types of tax credits for clean hydrogen production facilities should resolve many of the most pressing questions around qualification for the credits — albeit in a relatively stringent manner, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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