Federal
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March 27, 2025
Final APAs Dipped Slightly From 2023 Record High, IRS Says
The Internal Revenue Service finalized slightly fewer advance pricing agreements for U.S. multinational corporations in 2024 following a record high in the previous year, according to an agency report released Thursday.
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March 27, 2025
Payroll Co. Hid IRS Interest Money From Clients, Court Told
A payroll provider for a maintenance company never passed along interest payments from the Internal Revenue Service related to its clients' pandemic-era relief claims, the company alleged in a proposed class action filed in Washington federal court.
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March 27, 2025
9th Circ. Won't Stay Injunction Compelling Fed. Worker Rehire
A split Ninth Circuit panel has refused to block an injunction compelling the Trump administration to reinstate about 16,000 probationary employees to six federal agencies, saying the administration will likely lose its argument that the agencies weren't acting on an order from above when they fired the workers.
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March 27, 2025
NFTC Keeps Pushing For Standardized Pillar 2 Reporting
The National Foreign Trade Council reiterated its request for the OECD to ensure a standardized approach to acquiring the cross-jurisdiction information required for Pillar Two global minimum tax returns, noting its members still have confidentiality concerns.
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March 26, 2025
Sotomayor Urges Caution On Nondelegation Doctrine Revamp
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned her colleagues during oral arguments Wednesday against using a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's administration of a broadband subsidy program as a way to resurrect the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine. Several conservative justices, however, seemed willing to disregard that admonition.
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March 26, 2025
Senate Sends Repeal Of Crypto Broker Rule To Trump
The Senate passed legislation Wednesday that would repeal a final U.S. Treasury Department rule implementing additional reporting requirements for decentralized finance brokers such as cryptocurrency platforms, sending the resolution to President Donald Trump's desk to sign.
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March 26, 2025
Coalition Says Trump Admin Flouted Federal Rehiring Order
The Trump administration responded to an injunction compelling it to rehire over 15,000 fired probationary employees by placing them on leave, not bringing them back to work, a coalition of advocates for the workers told a California federal judge Wednesday, saying the administration hasn't complied with the injunction.
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March 26, 2025
Par Funding's Ex-CEO Gets 15½ Years For Racketeering, Fraud
Par Funding ex-CEO Joseph LaForte was sentenced to 15½ years in prison Wednesday for his role in running a $404 million racketeering conspiracy that prosecutors said involved him bilking the cash advance business's investors and threatening its borrowers with violence if they didn't pay up.
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March 26, 2025
Tax Court Erred In Ex-Braves' Easement Feud, 11th Circ. Told
Two former Atlanta Braves players reupped their arguments before the Eleventh Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court made grave errors in a case that slashed their conservation easement value, saying the federal government's failure to address those missteps shields the issues from legal scrutiny.
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March 26, 2025
Feds Seek 2 Years For Device-Maker's $2.4M Tax Evasion
A Floridian who made millions of dollars on medical devices and pled guilty to evading $2.4 million in taxes should be sentenced to between 24 and 30 months in prison for tax evasion based on the severity of his offense, the U.S. told a federal court Wednesday.
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March 26, 2025
Senate Approves Trump's Pick For Deputy Treasury Secretary
The Senate approved President Donald Trump's nomination of Michael Faulkender to the post of deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday, sending the economist back to the agency for a second tenure.
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March 26, 2025
Engineering Co. Owner Can't Deduct His Time, Tax Court Says
The owner of a Colorado engineering company cannot deduct the value of the time he spent working on software without showing any amounts actually paid, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Wednesday in upholding the majority of $135,000 in tax deficiencies, plus penalties, against the owner.
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March 26, 2025
Ex-UBS North America CEO's $4.9M FBAR Deal Gets OK
The former North American CEO for Swiss bank UBS will pay a $4.9 million judgment under a deal approved by a Connecticut federal court Wednesday that resolves the U.S. government's suit alleging he willfully neglected to file foreign bank account reports with the IRS for a decade.
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March 26, 2025
Goldstein's Devices Must Be Monitored, Judge Affirms
A Maryland federal judge on Tuesday rejected U.S. Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein's request to dismiss a bail condition that requires his electronic devices to be monitored out of concerns that he's been hiding millions in cryptocurrency from the government and could flee while facing tax evasion charges.
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March 26, 2025
Justices Rule Ch. 7 Trustee Can't Recover Tax Payments
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a Tenth Circuit decision allowing the bankruptcy trustee of a defunct Utah company to claw back $145,000 in federal taxes, saying the sections of the Bankruptcy Code relied upon by the trustee provide only a limited waiver of sovereign immunity.
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March 25, 2025
IRS Cuts May Delay Taxpayer Help Beyond 2025 Filing Season
IRS staff cuts and early retirements, driven by the White House's push to shrink government, will likely lead to longer phone hold times and reduced service and make it harder for taxpayers to get assistance for the remainder of the 2025 tax return filing season and beyond.
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March 25, 2025
Md. Bank Disputes IRS Denial Of Captive Tax Perk
A Maryland community bank is contesting in the U.S. Tax Court the Internal Revenue Service's decision to scrap two years' worth of tax deductions tied to a reinsurance captive, disputing the agency's findings that the arrangement had no economic purpose other than tax avoidance.
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March 25, 2025
Californian Must Allocate Half Of Income To Husband
A woman who filed returns separately from her husband must allocate half her income to him under California community property law, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Tuesday, determining the husband did indeed live in the state.
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March 25, 2025
AICPA Suggests Changes To IRS Retirement Enrollment Rules
Final Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of the Treasury rules establishing automatic enrollment requirements for certain retirement plans should clarify that investment requirements are not applicable to certain plans, the American Institute of CPAs said in a letter released Tuesday.
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March 25, 2025
Tax Court Affirms Captive Insurance Premiums Nondeductible
Shareholders in a California company cannot deduct their premium payments for insurance coverage from a captive insurer, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Tuesday, saying the arrangement did not constitute insurance for federal tax purposes.
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March 25, 2025
IRS Must Hand Back $169M In ID Fees To Tax Pros
The IRS must pay nearly $169 million in refunds to tax return preparers for charging them excessive fees for special identification numbers, a D.C. federal judge ruled, a judgment the preparers requested after a decade of litigation but said includes flawed agency calculations.
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March 25, 2025
EU Wants Timeline For Blacklisted US Territories' Data Swaps
The European Union asked the U.S. to provide a concrete timeline for when it will set up a framework to begin automatic exchanges of information with three territories on the bloc's blacklist for uncooperative tax jurisdictions — the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa — according to a letter released Tuesday.
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March 25, 2025
Carlton Fields Adds Former Tax Law Professor In Atlanta
Carlton Fields has brought on a former tenured professor at Georgia State University College of Law to its team in Atlanta, strengthening its tax and business transactions practices with an attorney experienced in nonprofit law, tax and business matters, the firm announced Tuesday.
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March 24, 2025
IRS Abused Its Power In Levy Suit, Justices Told
A New Jersey woman should be allowed to continue challenging her tax debt in a property seizure hearing after the IRS withheld her tax refunds and dropped its levy pursuit, business and tax groups told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, saying the agency had abused its power.
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March 24, 2025
These 3 GOP Budget Questions Will Shape TCJA Talks
As Congress barrels toward negotiations over renewing expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Republican lawmakers are faced with several major budgetary decisions that will govern which proposals can be included in the bill they send to President Donald Trump's desk.
Expert Analysis
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Mitigating Tariff Risks For Healthcare In US And Canada
Healthcare stakeholders should take steps to evaluate the impact of cross-border tariffs, as the historically strong ties between Canada and the U.S. demonstrate the potential for real disruption and harm to the healthcare industry in both countries, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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4 Ways Women Attorneys Can Build A Legal Legacy
This Women’s History Month, women attorneys should consider what small, day-to-day actions they can take to help leave a lasting impact for future generations, even if it means mentoring one person or taking 10 minutes to make a plan, says Jackie Prester, a former shareholder at Baker Donelson.
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A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.
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Why NY May Want To Reconsider Its LLC Transparency Law
Against the backdrop of the myriad challenges to the federal Corporate Transparency Act, it may be prudent for New York to reconsider its adoption of the LLC Transparency Act, since it's unclear whether the Empire State's "baby-CTA" statute is still necessary or was passed prematurely, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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IRS Scrutiny May Underlie Move Away From NIL Collectives
The University of Colorado's January announcement that it was severing its partnership with a name, image and likeness collective is part of universities' recent push to move NIL activities in-house, seemingly motivated by tax implications and increased scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.
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7 Tips For Associates To Thrive In Hybrid Work Environments
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
As the vast majority of law firms have embraced some type of hybrid work policy, associates should consider a few strategies to get the most out of both their in-person and remote workdays, says James Argionis at Cozen O’Connor.
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IRS Should Revise Overbroad Microcaptive Regs
Rather than seeking to curtail use of congressionally sanctioned microcaptive insurance programs by imposing burdensome disclosure obligations, the Internal Revenue Service should revisit its recently finalized regulations and implement rules tailored to address areas of specific abuse, say attorneys at Zerbe Miller.
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Terraform Case May Be Bellwether For Crypto Enforcement
The prosecution of crypto company Terraform Labs and its CEO, Do Kwon, offers a unique test of the line between lawful and unlawful conduct in digital transactions, and the Trump administration’s posture toward the case will provide clues about its cryptocurrency enforcement agenda in the years to come, say attorneys at Brooks Pierce.
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How Law Firms Can Counteract The Loneliness Epidemic
The legal industry is facing an urgent epidemic of loneliness, affecting lawyer well-being, productivity, retention and profitability, and law firm leaders should take concrete steps to encourage the development of genuine workplace connections, says Michelle Gomez at Littler and Gwen Mellor Romans at Herald Talent.
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Texas Fraud Case Shows Dangers Of Faulty Crypto Reporting
The recent sentencing of a man who failed to properly report capital gains from bitcoin sales is a reminder that special attention must be given to the IRS' reporting requirements in order to stay out of the government's crosshairs, says Saverio Romeo at Fox Rothschild.
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Potential Impacts Of IRS' $1M Affiliate Pay Deduction Cap
If finalized, a recent Internal Revenue Service proposal expanding Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code to include the highly compensated employees of affiliates would make tracking which executives may be subject to the limit from year to year far more complex, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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5 Keys To Building Stronger Attorney-Client Relationships
Attorneys are often focused on being seen as the expert, but bonding with clients and prospects by sharing a few key personal details provides the basis for a caring, trusted and profoundly deeper business relationship, says Deb Feder at Feder Development.
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Notable Q4 Updates In Insurance Class Actions
In a continuation of trends in property and casualty insurance class actions, last quarter insurers struggled with defending the merits and class certification of sales tax and fee suits, and labor depreciation cases, but succeeded in dismissing privacy class actions at the pleading stages, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.