Federal
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May 22, 2024
IRS Misses 10% Improper Payment Goal Again, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service again failed to reduce the rate at which it makes incorrect payments to 10% in 2023, a goal set by 2019 legislation, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Wednesday.
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May 22, 2024
'Ghost' Prepper, Feds Agree To Shut Down Tax Businesses
A Connecticut businessman accused by the federal government of "ghost preparing" his customers' taxes and inflating their refunds by putting false information on their IRS paperwork has agreed to shut down his businesses in a cashless settlement.
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May 22, 2024
BofA Deserves Tax Refunds On Merger Interest, 4th Circ. Told
The IRS should not have been allowed to keep the interest paid on 23 years' worth of tax underpayments by seven companies that merged into Bank of America, the company told the Fourth Circuit, arguing that the underpayments should be offset by overpayments under merger law.
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May 22, 2024
IRS Again Delaying Dividend Anti-Abuse Regs
The Internal Revenue Service is again extending the transition period for rules that govern certain financial transactions that could avoid withholding on dividend payments to foreign taxpayers, it announced Wednesday.
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May 21, 2024
FTC Noncompete Ban Raises Stakes For Nonprofit Hospitals
The Federal Trade Commission seems eager to apply its employee noncompete ban to healthcare, with a key target in mind: nonprofit healthcare providers that, in the agency's view, act more like for-profit businesses.
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May 21, 2024
House Sends Disaster Tax Relief Bill To Senate
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation Tuesday that would exclude disaster relief payments from a taxpayer's gross income, sending the bill to the Senate.
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May 21, 2024
Nixing Green Energy Tax Perks Would Be Tough For Trump
Former President Donald Trump has vowed to scrap Democrats' signature 2022 climate law should he get reelected in November, but following through on that campaign promise could prove difficult amid bipartisan support for many of the law's clean energy tax incentives and a potentially divided Congress.
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May 21, 2024
Wyden Expands Pharma Tax Investigation With Pfizer Inquiry
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden asked Pfizer to provide details on its tax practices to explain how the drug company has consistently paid tax rates that are significantly lower than the corporate tax rate in a letter released by the committee Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Option Agreement In $6.9M Sale Not A Sham, Tax Court Says
A Delaware gravel company and related companies that sold a freeway pit for $6.9 million under an option agreement, and then used it to enter into a like-kind exchange for another property, deferring the tax, was not a tax-avoidance sham, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
CohnReznick Adds PwC Partner To International Tax Practice
CohnReznick has a new principal in its international tax practice who previously served as a partner at PwC, the firm announced.
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May 21, 2024
Decision On Direct File Future Is Close, Werfel Says
The Internal Revenue Service is nearing a decision on the future of its free electronic tax return filing pilot program, Commissioner Daniel Werfel told reporters Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Oil Estate Off The Hook For $9M Gift Tax, Tax Court Rules
The estate of a woman who owned an oil company with her husband then terminated marital trusts after he died does not owe more than $9 million in gift taxes on the related transactions as the IRS had claimed, the U.S. Tax Court ruled.
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May 21, 2024
22 States Tell 11th Circ. Corp. Transparency Act Goes Too Far
The federal Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutionally displaces state authority and its enforcement would economically harm states and their residents, attorneys general from 22 states told the Eleventh Circuit, urging it to uphold a ruling that struck down the law.
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May 21, 2024
Senate Dems Float Tax-Advantaged Child Savings Accounts
Senate Democrats want to create tax-advantaged savings accounts to help children save from the time they are born, they said during a Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, but their Republican counterparts are unlikely to support proposals to create the accounts, claiming it would be too costly.
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May 21, 2024
Ways And Means Seeking Input On Possible TCJA Expiration
The House Ways and Means Committee is asking members of the public to share how increased taxes brought on by the possible expiration of the 2017 federal tax overhaul would impact them, the committee's Republican members said Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Valero Brings $37M Refund Claim Over Fuel Credit, Crude Tax
Energy company Valero is seeking $37 million in tax refunds for biomass fuel mixtures it said should've qualified for the alternative fuel tax credit and for claimed overpayments of crude tax, according to a complaint in Texas federal court.
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May 21, 2024
IRS Audit Selection Process May Introduce Bias, GAO Says
The Internal Revenue Service's process for auditing returns claiming refundable tax credits uses a measurement that may introduce unintentional bias against Black and low-income people into its automated selection system, according to a Government Accountability Office report made public Tuesday.
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May 21, 2024
Strategic Hiring Was The New Normal For BigLaw In 2023
The 400 largest law firms by headcount in the U.S. grew more slowly in 2023 than in the previous two years, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP surpassed the 3,000-attorney threshold, according to the latest Law360 ranking.
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May 21, 2024
The Law360 400: Tracking The Largest US Law Firms
The legal market expanded more tentatively in 2023 than in previous years amid a slowdown in demand for legal services, especially in transactions, an area that has been sluggish but is expected to quicken in the near future.
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May 20, 2024
Ex-IRS Agent, Five Others Sentenced In COVID Fraud Scheme
A former Internal Revenue Service agent, his brother and four other defendants have pled guilty to participating in a scheme that netted more than $3 million in fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic relief loans.
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May 20, 2024
Transparency Act Violates Constitution, Groups Tell 11th Circ.
The Corporate Transparency Act's reporting requirements violate the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination and other constitutional provisions, libertarian think tank Cato Institute and others said Monday in urging the Eleventh Circuit to uphold an Alabama district court's ruling against the law.
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May 20, 2024
Opportunity Zones Helped Restore Pa. City, House Panel Told
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's provisions, especially the law's opportunity zones aimed at boosting economic investment in distressed communities, have been integral in the economic restoration of Erie, Pennsylvania, panelists told the House Ways and Means Committee's tax policy subcommittee Monday.
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May 20, 2024
Lawmakers Ask IRS For Broader, Permanent Free E-File Plan
More than 135 Democratic and Independent members of Congress urged Internal Revenue Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter to expand the IRS' pilot program for free electronic tax return filing and make it permanent.
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May 20, 2024
2 House GOP Chairs Seek Study Of Premium Tax Credit Plan
The Republican chairmen of the House Ways and Means and Budget committees want the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation to study the impact of making the expanded Affordable Care Act premium tax credits permanent.
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May 20, 2024
IRS Guidance Plan Should Cover Corp. AMT, AICPA Says
The Internal Revenue Service should provide guidance on the definitions and applications of the 15% corporate alternative minimum tax, among other topics, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants said in comments published by the agency Monday.
Expert Analysis
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The Nuts And Bolts Of IRS Domestic Content Tax Credit
Recent IRS guidance provides specifics on how renewable energy projects can qualify for bonus tax credits by meeting U.S. domestic content rules, but also creates a qualification framework that will be complicated for project developers to navigate, say Scott Cockerham and Wolfram Pohl at Orrick.
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How Cities Can Tackle Post-Pandemic Budgeting Dilemmas
Due to increasing office vacancies around the country, cities may consider politically unpopular actions to avoid bankruptcy, but they could also look to the capital markets to ride out the current real estate crisis and achieve debt service savings to help balance their budgets, say attorneys at Cadwalader.
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Guidance Adds Clarity To Energy Communities Bonus Credits
Recent IRS guidance on the Inflation Reduction Act's changes to tax credits for renewable energy projects offers much-needed pointers for developers and financing parties, and should allow them to more comfortably incorporate special bonus credits for projects in energy communities into their transactions, say Jorge Medina and Ira Aghai at Shearman.
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Taxing The Digital Economy: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
U.S. tech companies should watch for important developments in international taxation, including the resolution of Apple's decade-old state aid case, growing frustration with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's global tax plan and adoption of the digital services tax instead, says Joyce Beebe at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
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Big Tax Changes For Multinational Cos. In Budget Proposal
The Biden administration’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposes changes that would materially alter decades-old Internal Revenue Code provisions, requiring a shift in multinational corporations' tax planning strategies comparable to that required after enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, say Xenia Garofalo and Kyle Colonna at Eversheds Sutherland.
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SVB Collapse Reinvigorates Bank Accounting Debate
Silicon Valley Bank's sudden collapse revives questions over whether fair value or amortized cost accounting is the most appropriate for banks' financial reporting — a controversy that's crucial for understanding what information could have helped market participants better understand SVB's financial condition, say consultants at Analysis Group.
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Brownfield Renewables Guidance Leaves Site Eligibility Murky
Recent IRS guidance sheds some light on the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for renewable energy development on contaminated sites — but the eligibility of certain sites for brownfield status remains uncertain, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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Get Ready For IRS Criminal Crackdown On Crypto
Recent developments at the IRS, from a new operating plan to the announcement of a centralized data center, signal that the agency is ramping up criminal enforcement against those using digital assets to evade tax liabilities — and given its high conviction rate, companies and individuals must prioritize compliance, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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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.