Federal
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March 12, 2025
Tariffs Prompt Chipmakers To Look At Manufacturing Moves
The U.S. semiconductor industry is considering moving manufacturing operations to the U.S. and elsewhere as a tariff-mitigation strategy with President Donald Trump threatening to levy the sector and its supply chains, professionals told Law360.
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March 12, 2025
Railroad Worker Says Board Schemed To Overtax Retirees
Retired railroad workers were incorrectly directed by the federal retirement board overseeing their funds to report millions of dollars in nontaxable benefits as taxable income in a scheme to line the board's pockets, a retiree said in a proposed class action in Texas federal court.
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March 11, 2025
5th Circ. Hopes For 'Sanity' In Backing Legal Malpractice Arb.
Untangling a "ridiculous" arbitration proceeding that produced four contradictory awards in a legal malpractice dispute, the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed three awards and most of another, adding that the parties are "free to arbitrate another day" in the hope that their disagreements will be resolved "for the sake of sanity."
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March 11, 2025
Trump, Ontario Back Down After Two-Day Trade Flare-Up
President Donald Trump called off additional tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum Tuesday after the Ontario government dropped a briefly imposed surcharge on electricity exports, the White House told Law360 on Tuesday evening.
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March 11, 2025
Retailer Fights US On Overriding Jury In $11.6M FBAR Case
A federal jury in Hawaii was justified in finding that an international businessman hadn't willfully failed to report his foreign bank accounts in an $11.6 million dispute, and the U.S. government is not entitled to an overruled verdict or new trial, he told the court.
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March 11, 2025
House Passes Repeal Of IRS DeFi Broker Reporting Rule
The House passed legislation Tuesday that would repeal a final U.S. Treasury Department rule implementing additional reporting requirements for decentralized finance brokers.
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March 11, 2025
House Passes Short-Term Funding Bill With IRS Money Freeze
The Internal Revenue Service would continue to be blocked from accessing more than $20 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding under legislation passed Tuesday by the House of Representatives, paving the way for the government to keep running past this coming Friday.
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March 11, 2025
With Guardrails, AI Is A Valuable Tax Tool, Tax Pros Say
Relevance of artificial intelligence in the tax world is expanding rapidly, and individuals and businesses should consider using it as long as cautions and guidelines are in place, tax professionals who have adopted the technology said Tuesday.
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March 11, 2025
Energy Tax Credit Regs Foster Confidence Amid Uncertainty
Despite uncertainty over the future of the Inflation Reduction Act's clean energy tax credits, the abundance of rules that has been released on them has provided stability for development projects that practitioners say should hold for the next few years.
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March 11, 2025
12 Govs. Assert States' Sovereignty Against CTA In 5th Circ.
A dozen Republican governors, led by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, urged the Fifth Circuit to maintain a nationwide block of enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act, arguing the law undermines the traditional authority states have to regulate businesses.
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March 11, 2025
Tax Court Releases Ex-Wife From Shared Tax Debt
An ex-wife is not liable for taxes and penalties that sprang from her former husband's job, the U.S. Tax Court said Tuesday after considering the woman's explanation that the pair filed their return jointly while they were still married but living separately.
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March 11, 2025
Carlton Fields Tax Ace Jumps To Trenam Law In Fla.
Florida's Trenam Law has added a past chair of the tax section of the state bar after her 25-year stint at Carlton Fields PA.
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March 11, 2025
Goldstein Wants Look At Testimony On Alleged Obstruction
U.S. Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein asked a Maryland federal judge to let him see grand jury material related to the government's claim that he offered to pay a potential witness cryptocurrency in his tax evasion case.
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March 11, 2025
Business Owner Denies Evading Taxes In Sports Betting Ring
The owner of an insurance salvage company denied accusations in a California federal court that he evaded taxes in connection with a multimillion-dollar illegal sports betting ring, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
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March 11, 2025
IRS Issues Corp. Bond Monthly Yield Curve For March
The Internal Revenue Service published Tuesday the corporate bond monthly yield curve for March for use in calculations for defined benefit plans, as well as corresponding segment rates and other related provisions.
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March 10, 2025
Alsup Refuses To Vacate Hearing Into OPM Mass Firings
U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Monday denied the Trump administration's request to vacate an upcoming evidentiary hearing into the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's mass firings of probationary federal employees, and required OPM director Charles Ezell to appear in person or else be deposed.
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March 10, 2025
Cutting IRS Staff May Shift Audit Burden To States, Pros Say
A possible cut in half of the number of Internal Revenue Service employees, floated by President Donald Trump's administration, could profoundly affect state tax administration, particularly if states become more responsible for auditing federal taxable income, tax pros said Monday.
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March 10, 2025
Ex-Credit Suisse Client Pleads Guilty To Hiding $90M
A Colombian-American businesswoman and former Credit Suisse client pled guilty Monday in Florida federal court to conspiring with family members to hide more than $90 million in assets from the IRS through a series of foreign bank accounts.
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March 10, 2025
Feds Sue FDIC For $1.9M For First Republic Tax Bill
The U.S. government sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in D.C. federal court as receiver for the failed First Republic Bank, alleging the bank understated its withholding tax for U.S.-sourced income of foreigners and now owes almost $2 million to the federal government.
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March 10, 2025
Tax Court Rejects Break For Donations Of Clothing, Supplies
A couple who said they donated thousands of personal clothing items and supplies to a New York church are not entitled to a $285,000 tax deduction for charity because the two did not have the items correctly appraised, the Tax Court said Monday.
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March 10, 2025
Court Affirms FBAR Penalties Against Estate, Not Widow
The estate of a man who failed to report his Swiss bank accounts is liable for tax penalties of at least $2 million, an Idaho federal court determined, finding the man's widow off the hook.
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March 10, 2025
Tax Pro Rejoins Norton Rose From Reed Smith In Houston
Norton Rose Fulbright announced Monday that it has bulked up in the face of increased demand in the corporate transactions space with the return of a tax partner in Houston who came aboard from Reed Smith LLP.
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March 10, 2025
Tax Court Warns Couple Who Call Taxes Voluntary Gifts
A Utah couple who claimed they would not make a "gift" to the U.S. Treasury Department by paying their taxes owe about $21,000 to the IRS, plus penalties, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday, warning them against making frivolous arguments.
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March 10, 2025
Hyatt's $300M Rewards Fund Not Corp. Income, 7th Circ. Told
Hyatt told the Seventh Circuit it shouldn't have to report nearly $300 million in revenue from a rewards program fund owned by individual hotel owners, saying the U.S. Tax Court wrongly sided with the IRS in deciding the company should treat the money as its own.
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March 09, 2025
Short-Term Funding Bill Extends IRS Money Freeze
The Internal Revenue Service would continue to be blocked from accessing more than $20 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding under legislation that the House is expected to consider this week, a measure that overall would keep the government running past March 14.
Expert Analysis
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How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work
Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.
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Justices' Certiorari Denial Leaves Interstate Tax Questions
Since the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to review a Philadelphia resident’s claim that her Delaware state income taxes should be credited against her city wage tax liabilities, constitutional questions about state and local tax distinctions linger, and some states may continue to apply Supreme Court precedent differently, say attorneys at Dentons.
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Corp. Transparency Act's Future Under Treasury's Bessent
The Corporate Transparency Act’s ultimate fate faced uncertain terms at the end of 2024, but new U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's statements and actions so far demonstrate that he does not intend to ignore the law, though he may attempt to make modifications, say attorneys at Taylor English.
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A Look At A Possible Corporate Transparency Act Exemption
Attorneys at Kirkland offer a deep dive into the application of the Corporate Transparency Act's reporting requirements specifically to U.S.-domiciled co-issuers in typical collateralized loan obligation transactions, and consider whether such issuers may be able to assert an exemption from the CTA's reporting requirements.
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Inconsistent Injury-In-Fact Rules Hinder Federal Practice
A recent Third Circuit decision, contradicting a previous ruling about whether consumers of contaminated products have suffered an injury in fact, illustrates the deep confusion this U.S. Supreme Court standard creates among federal judges and practitioners, who deserve a simpler method of determining which cases have federal standing, says Eric Dwoskin at Dwoskin Wasdin.
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In-House Counsel Pointers For Preserving Atty-Client Privilege
Several recent rulings illustrate the challenges in-house counsel can face when attempting to preserve attorney-client privilege, but a few best practices can help safeguard communications and effectively assert the privilege in an increasingly scrutinized corporate environment, says Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics.
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Emerging Energy Trends Reflect Shifting Political Landscape
As the Trump administration settles in, some emerging energy industry trends, like expanded support for fossil fuel production, are right off of its wish list — while others, like the popularity of Inflation Reduction Act energy tax credits, and bipartisan support for carbon capture, reflect more complex political realities, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.
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Tax-Free Ways To Help Employees After The LA Wildfires
Following the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, there are various tax-free ways to give employees the resources and flexibility they need, including simpler methods like disaster relief payments under Internal Revenue Code Section 139 and leave-sharing programs, and others that require more planning, says Ligeia Donis at Baker McKenzie.
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Judge Should Not Have Been Reprimanded For Alito Essay
Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor's New York Times essay critiquing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for potential ethical violations absolutely cannot be construed as conduct prejudicial to the administration of the business of the courts, says Ashley London at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.
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Lights, Camera, Ethics? TV Lawyers Tend To Set Bad Example
Though fictional movies and television shows portraying lawyers are fun to watch, Hollywood’s inaccurate depictions of legal ethics can desensitize attorneys to ethics violations and lead real-life clients to believe that good lawyers take a scorched-earth approach, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
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Accountant-Owned Law Firms Could Blur Ethical Lines
KPMG’s recent application to open a legal practice in Arizona represents the first overture by an accounting firm to take advantage of the state’s relaxed law firm ownership rules, but enforcing and supervising the practice of law by nonattorneys could prove particularly challenging, says Seth Laver at Goldberg Segalla.
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AI Will Soon Transform The E-Discovery Industrial Complex
Todd Itami at Covington discusses how generative artificial intelligence will reshape the current e-discovery paradigm, replacing the blunt instrument of data handling with a laser scalpel of fully integrated enterprise solutions — after first making e-discovery processes technically and legally harder.
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When Innovation Overwhelms The Rule Of Law
In an era where technology is rapidly evolving and artificial intelligence is seemingly everywhere, it’s worth asking if the law — both substantive precedent and procedural rules — can keep up with the light speed of innovation, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.