Federal

  • January 24, 2025

    Law Students Scramble As Federal Gov't Yanks Job Offers

    Law students across the country are scrambling to figure out their next steps after a range of federal agencies yanked job and internship offers this week because of the new hiring freeze imposed by the Trump administration.

  • January 24, 2025

    House Bill Would Repeal Stock Buyback Tax

    The excise tax on stock buybacks would be repealed under legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

  • January 24, 2025

    Hunter Biden Pans IRS Agents' Appeal To Enter Privacy Suit

    Hunter Biden urged the D.C. Circuit to affirm a ruling preventing the IRS agents he has accused of improperly revealing his tax return information from intervening in his privacy suit against the U.S. government, saying the court should reject their claims about the importance of their participation.

  • January 24, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Latham, Simpson Thacher

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, a Brookfield private real estate fund acquires Divvy Homes' property portfolio and platform, Kantar Group proposes the sale of Kantar Media, and an Ares Management-led group buys a majority of Form Technologies Inc.'s common equity.

  • January 24, 2025

    Former Mass. Transit Facilities Engineer Admits $8.5M Fraud

    A former facilities engineer for the private company that runs Massachusetts' commuter rail lines has pled guilty to defrauding his former employer of approximately $8.5 million through a pair of schemes and failing to report the funds on his income tax returns.

  • January 24, 2025

    Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin

    The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included final regulations allowing an IRS supervisor to approve penalties anytime before the agency assess them as well as before it issues a preassessment notice subject to a U.S. Tax Court review, such as a deficiency notice.

  • January 23, 2025

    Madigan's Law Firm Profits Drove Corrupt Acts, Jury Told

    Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's ownership interest in his Chicago law firm and his entitlement to 50% of its profits was behind his efforts to extort property tax business from developers who needed approvals from state and local government for their projects, prosecutors told an Illinois federal jury Thursday.

  • January 23, 2025

    Taiwan Double-Tax Relief Floated In Senate After House OK

    The Senate Finance Committee introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday that would grant tax benefits to Taiwanese businesses in the U.S. and authorize the White House to negotiate a tax agreement with Taiwan, following the House of Representatives' approval of companion legislation.

  • January 23, 2025

    Tribe Member's Tax Debts Can Be Discharged, 10th Circ. Told

    The Tenth Circuit should overturn a lower court's finding that a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation's tax debts did not qualify for a discharge from bankruptcy, he told the appeals court, saying the debts weren't based on his actual income.

  • January 23, 2025

    Corporate Transparency Law Remains Flanked By Threats

    The Corporate Transparency Act is facing threats across the branches of government despite the U.S. Supreme Court pausing a nationwide injunction on it Thursday, with another universal injunction in place, other court battles underway and some Republican lawmakers targeting the law.

  • January 23, 2025

    New Reg Hurts Taxpayer's Penalty Argument, US Tells 5th Cir.

    Final regulations clarifying that an Internal Revenue Service supervisor can approve tax penalties at any time before the agency issues a deficiency notice undermines an appellant's arguments in a tax dispute, the U.S. government told the Fifth Circuit.

  • January 23, 2025

    Robocall Schemer's Estate Agrees To Pay $4.3M In Payroll Tax

    Federal prosecutors and the estate of a telemarketing company owner asked a Michigan federal judge to approve a consent judgment ordering the estate to pay $4.3 million of the company's outstanding employment taxes.

  • January 22, 2025

    Madigan Used ComEd As 'Personal Piggy Bank,' Jurors Told

    Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his devoted surrogate Michael McClain conspired to enhance and preserve Madigan's power and line his pockets, both by steering business to the ex-speaker's law firm and rewarding his political allies with do-nothing jobs, prosecutors told an Illinois federal jury during closing arguments Wednesday.

  • January 22, 2025

    Seven Charged In $600 Million COVID Tax Credit Scheme

    Seven people have been accused of trying to defraud the federal government of more than $600 million by filing more than 8,000 false tax returns in what the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday called "the nation's largest COVID-19 tax credit scheme."

  • January 22, 2025

    GOP, Dems From High-Tax States Push To Kill SALT Cap

    Republican and Democratic lawmakers from high-tax states said Wednesday that raising or eliminating the $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction would be essential to gaining their support for a bill to renew expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax breaks.

  • January 22, 2025

    Renewing TCJA Will Deepen Economic Divide, Oxfam Says

    Renewing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would cost the U.S. more than $4.5 trillion in revenue that could be used to reduce economic inequality, nongovernmental organization Oxfam said in the release of its annual report on inequality.

  • January 22, 2025

    Sheriff's Fund Withdrawal Not Embezzlement, Tax Court Says

    A former county sheriff did not embezzle money from an account used to buy food for prisoners when she invested the funds in a business that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Wednesday in a dispute over whether she owed taxes on the money.

  • January 22, 2025

    GOP Again Floats Reciprocal Taxes In Affront To Global Deal

    Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday renewed their proposal for reciprocal taxes against countries that participate in an international minimum tax agreement, following up on President Donald Trump's rejection of the global accord.

  • January 22, 2025

    Wyden Urges National Standard For Hemp Regulation

    Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., rallied on Wednesday for his bill that would beef up regulation of products with hemp-derived cannabinoids in order to protect consumers, particularly children.

  • January 22, 2025

    Foreclosed Property Owner's Claims Too Late, Tax Court Says

    The U.S. Tax Court sustained more than $100,000 in tax liabilities Wednesday against the owner of foreclosed properties, saying she is not entitled to deductions for net operating losses and capital loss carry-forwards that she claimed late.

  • January 22, 2025

    Captive Insurance Co. Head Seeks Tax-Shelter Fine Refund

    A tax attorney who heads a business that creates captive insurance companies said the IRS wrongly accused him of promoting an abusive tax shelter, telling an Ohio federal court the agency owes him a refund of penalties he handed over.

  • January 21, 2025

    Tax Court Slashes $33M Easement Deduction

    The U.S. Tax Court reduced a partnership's claimed $33 million tax deduction for a donation of a Georgia conservation easement Tuesday, saying the easement was only worth $4.7 million, partly because the partnership overestimated its development potential in a rural area.

  • January 21, 2025

    IRS Office Can't Verify Low-Income Aid Meets Requirements

    The Internal Revenue Service office in charge of a program that provides assistance to low-income people dealing with tax disputes can't access information that would allow it to make sure grant recipients meet requirements, potentially harming the program's effectiveness, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Tuesday.

  • January 21, 2025

    Expat Facing $6.9M In FBAR Penalties, Interest

    An American woman living in Switzerland faces $6.9 million in penalties, interest and late fees because she did not report her accounts that were held at a Swiss bank, the U.S. government told a D.C. federal court.

  • January 21, 2025

    Union Calls For Block To Trump's Federal Workers Order

    President Donald Trump must halt efforts to enforce his executive order easing the process to fire certain federal employees, the National Treasury Employees Union argued in a lawsuit, claiming thousands of workers could be at risk of termination "for any reason including political agenda."

Expert Analysis

  • Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers

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    BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.

  • What DOL Fiduciary Rule Means For Private Fund Managers

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    Attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss how the U.S. Department of Labor's recently released final fiduciary rule, which revises the agency's 1975 regulation, could potentially cause private fund managers' current marketing practices and communications to be considered fiduciary advice, and therefore subject them to strict prohibitions.

  • Money, Money, Money: Limiting White Collar Wealth Evidence

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    As courts increasingly recognize that allowing unfettered evidence of wealth could prejudice a jury against a defendant, white collar defense counsel should consider several avenues for excluding visual evidence of a lavish lifestyle at trial, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • How Associates Can Build A Professional Image

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    As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.

  • Navigating New Safe Harbor For Domestic Content Tax Credits

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    The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s recent notice simplifying domestic content calculations for certain solar, onshore wind and battery storage projects, which directly acknowledges the difficulty for taxpayers in gathering data to support a domestic content analysis, should make it easier to qualify additional domestic content bonus tax credits, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age

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    As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 'Energy Communities' Update May Clarify Tax Credit Eligibility

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    A recent IRS notice that includes updated lists of locations where clean energy projects can qualify for additional tax credits — based 2023 unemployment data and placed-in-service dates — should help provide clarity regarding project eligibility that sponsors and developers need, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing

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    When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians

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    Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent

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    As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.

  • How Cannabis Rescheduling May Alter Paraphernalia Imports

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    The Biden administration's recent proposal to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana use raises questions about how U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement policies may shift when it comes to enforcing a separate federal ban on marijuana accessory imports, says R. Kevin Williams at Clark Hill.

  • NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It

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    The recent House v. NCAA settlement in California federal court, in which the NCAA agreed to allow schools to directly pay March Madness television revenue to their athletes, may send outside name, image and likeness collectives in-house, says Mike Ingersoll at Womble Bond.

  • Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

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