Federal
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July 24, 2024
NC Man Gets Prison, $4.4M Fine For Stealing From Customers
A North Carolina businessman who admitted to stealing customers' bank and credit account information and spending their funds at casinos has been ordered to serve almost three years in prison and to pay a penalty of more than $4.4 million, prosecutors announced this week.
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July 24, 2024
Atty Can't Deduct Car Racing Costs As Ads, US Tells 10th Circ.
A personal injury lawyer who also races cars shouldn't be allowed to deduct about $300,000 for racing-related costs as ordinary business advertising expenses because they're unrelated to his law practice, the U.S. government told the Tenth Circuit on Wednesday.
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July 24, 2024
Senate Tees Up Votes On Two Tax Court Nominees
The U.S. Senate set the stage Wednesday for the chamber to proceed with votes on two of President Joe Biden's picks for U.S. Tax Court seats.
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July 24, 2024
IRS' $15M Jeopardy Assessment OK'd In Offshore Tax Fight
A Florida federal court has upheld a $15 million immediate tax assessment against a man who transferred his father's estate into trusts for himself and his mother and refused to pay what the IRS claimed was tax debt on his father's undisclosed offshore accounts.
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July 24, 2024
IRS Sets Criteria For Carbon Capture Credit Life Cycle Report
The Internal Revenue Service detailed standards and procedures Wednesday for a written report on a carbon sequestration facility's greenhouse gas emissions that project owners must submit and get agency approval on before claiming the carbon oxide tax credit.
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July 24, 2024
Affordable Housing Pro Moves Practice To Nelson Mullins
An attorney who specializes in advising clients on completing affordable housing development projects has recently moved her practice to Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough's Pittsburgh office.
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July 24, 2024
New Jersey Joining IRS Free E-File Program in 2025
The IRS' Direct File free electronic tax return filing program will be available in New Jersey in the 2025 tax filing season, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.
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July 24, 2024
Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Tax Suit Seeking $35M In Gold Coins
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims correctly tossed a man's lawsuit seeking more than $35 million in gold coins as restitution for claims regarding a decades-old tax bill, as that court does not have jurisdiction, a Federal Circuit panel affirmed Wednesday.
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July 24, 2024
Senate Finance Committee Holding Tax Court Noms Session
The Senate Finance Committee will host an open executive session Thursday to consider three nominations to the U.S. Tax Court, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Wednesday.
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July 24, 2024
Dentons Brings On Former Big 4 Exec As New Global CEO
Global law firm Dentons, which has made a name for itself by aggressive growth through combinations, has tapped a new global chief executive officer with leadership experience at accounting giant EY, the firm's first change at the top in over a decade.
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July 23, 2024
Cannabis Industry Stakeholders Weigh In On Rescheduling
As the period for public comment on the Biden administration's proposal to reclassify marijuana came to a close Monday, anti-legalization activists, marijuana industry advocates and state cannabis regulators each submitted their thoughts on the potential policy shift.
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July 23, 2024
House Delays Vote On FY25 IRS Budget Legislation
The House delayed an expected vote Tuesday on the Internal Revenue Service's budget for fiscal 2025, casting doubt on whether GOP lawmakers will meet their goal of passing the funding bill before Congress' annual August recess begins next week.
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July 23, 2024
Newell Says IRS Misapplied Pricing Law In $124M Dispute
Newell Brands told the U.S. Tax Court the Internal Revenue Service misapplied transfer pricing law to levy almost $124 million in additional taxes and penalties.
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July 23, 2024
White House Taps VA Official To Helm Tax Watchdog
President Joe Biden has nominated a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs investigator to serve as Treasury inspector general for tax administration, the Internal Revenue Service's federal watchdog, the White House announced Tuesday.
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July 23, 2024
Feds Urge 6th Circ. To Affirm Pharma Owner's Fraud Sentence
The Sixth Circuit should affirm a district court's fraud convictions, nearly five-year sentence and $7 million restitution order against an Ohio pharmaceutical salesman who underreported his income to reduce his tax liability in a multimillion-dollar scheme involving bogus insurance billings, the federal government said.
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July 23, 2024
Farm Owner Must Boost Taxable Income, 8th Circ. Told
An Arkansas company that leases farmland must raise its reported income by $230,000 because it failed to get permission from the IRS to change its accounting method, the U.S. told the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday in asking it to uphold a U.S. Tax Court ruling.
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July 23, 2024
IRS Notice Signals Direction On Corp. AMT Regs, Official Says
An Internal Revenue Service notice regarding the U.S. corporate alternative minimum tax can be read as a signal about how the agency will more broadly address the measure's potential for counting offshore income twice, an IRS official said Tuesday.
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July 23, 2024
Winston & Strawn Adds MoFo Tax Pro As Partner In NY
Winston & Strawn LLP has added a transactional tax specialist from Morrison Foerster LLP as a partner with the firm's transactions department and tax practice in New York.
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July 23, 2024
Former Doctor To Be Released From Jail In FBAR Fight
A former doctor will be released from U.S. custody after a Michigan federal court lifted Tuesday an order of civil contempt against him for failure to pay about $1 million in foreign account reporting penalties.
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July 23, 2024
Orrick Hires Ex-Winston & Strawn Tax Partner In Chicago
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced the hiring of a former partner at Winston & Strawn LLP for its renewables tax equity and tax credit team.
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July 23, 2024
11th Circ. Should Uphold Tax Court Protection, IRS Says
The Eleventh Circuit should uphold a U.S. Tax Court ruling that denied a widow tax relief and also rejected her claim that Tax Court judges have unconstitutional job protection, the Internal Revenue Service told the circuit court.
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July 23, 2024
5-Hour Energy Partner Owes No Tax On Sale, DC Circ. Says
The D.C. Circuit found Tuesday that a Canadian citizen's $6.5 million in gains from her sale of a U.S. partnership interest in a company that sold 5-hour Energy drinks was not federally taxable as inventory income, reversing a U.S. Tax Court ruling.
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July 23, 2024
IRS Makes Corrections To 2 Proposed Regulations
The Internal Revenue Service issued a handful of corrections Tuesday to two notices of proposed rulemaking, one regarding certain partnership related-party basis adjustment transactions and the other interest capitalization requirements for improvements to designated property.
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July 22, 2024
3 Policies Tax Pros Want Congress To Pass This Year
As momentum around the House-passed tax break bill has fizzled and election season ramps up, tax experts hope lawmakers use what little time they have left to extend expired research tax breaks, approve the Taiwanese tax agreement and pass disaster relief before the end of the year. Here are three policy changes tax professionals think Congress should make before the end of the year.
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July 22, 2024
CPAs Back Bill To Apply Mailbox Rule To Electronic Returns
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants said Monday that it endorsed a congressional proposal that would apply what is known as the mailbox rule to electronically submitted tax returns and shift the deadlines for estimated tax payments to intervals that are actually quarterly.
Expert Analysis
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Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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Unpacking FinCEN's Proposed Real Estate Transaction Rule
Phil Jelsma and Ulrick Matsunaga at Crosbie Gliner take a close look at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recently proposed rulemaking — which mandates new disclosures for professionals involved in all-cash real estate deals — and discuss best next steps for the broad range of businesses that could be affected.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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The Corporate Transparency Act Isn't Dead Yet
After an Alabama federal court's ruling last week rendering the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, changes to the law may ultimately be required, but ongoing compliance is still the best course of action for most, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
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How New EU Tax And Transfer Pricing Rules May Affect M&A
Companies involved in mergers and acquisitions may need to adjust fiscal due diligence procedures to ensure they consider potential far-reaching effects of newly implemented transfer pricing measures, such as newly implemented global minimum tax and European Union anti-tax avoidance directives and proposals, says Patrick Tijhuis at BDO.
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Employers, Prep For Shorter Stock Awards Settlement Cycle
Companies that provide equity compensation in the form of publicly traded stock will soon have one less day to complete such transactions under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Nasdaq rules — so employers should implement expedited equity compensation stock settlement and payroll tax deposit procedures now, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Demystifying IRS' Claims Of $851B Return On Investment
The IRS' recently released analysis, estimating a $851 billion return on the government’s $80 billion investment in the agency, represents a huge increase over its 2022 estimate and that of the Congressional Budget Office and may be best viewed as a best-case scenario, says Joyce Beebe at the Baker Institute.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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A Proposal For Fairer, More Efficient Innocent Spouse Relief
Adding a simple election to the current regulatory framework for innocent spouse claims would benefit both taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service by alleviating the undue burdens placed on those the program was intended to help and improving agency collections in such cases, says Laurie Kazenoff at Kazenoff Tax.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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Proposed Hydrogen Tax Credit Regs May Be Legally Flawed
While the recently proposed regulations for the new clean hydrogen production tax credit have been lauded by some in the environmental community, it is unclear whether they are sufficiently grounded in law, result from valid rulemaking processes, or accord with other administrative law principles, say Hunter Johnston and Steven Dixon at Steptoe.
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Navigating ACA Reporting Nuances As Deadlines Loom
Stephanie Lowe at Liebert Cassidy walks employers through need-to-know elements of Affordable Care Act reporting, including two quickly approaching deadlines, the updated affordability threshold, strategies for choosing an affordability safe harbor, and common coding pitfalls.
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6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.