Federal

  • 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."

  • January 21, 2025

    Co. Seeks IRS Refund In $2.7M Captive Insurance Case

    A Delaware federal court should refund tax penalties a company paid on a $2.7 bill from the IRS for activities related to captive insurance companies and promoting abusive tax shelters, the company argued Tuesday, saying the government provided no proof it did anything wrong.

  • January 21, 2025

    Tribal Tax Status Regs Leave Energy Credit Access Up In Air

    While recently proposed regulations would provide long-awaited clarity that enterprises wholly owned by Native American tribes are exempt from federal taxes, the rules leave glaring questions open about whether tribes can access clean energy tax credits through business structures like joint ventures.

  • January 21, 2025

    Senate Finance Committee Approves Trump's Treasury Pick

    The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved Scott Bessent, President Donald Trump's nominee for treasury secretary, sending his nomination to the full Senate for a vote.

  • January 21, 2025

    Trump Order Places IRS Under Indefinite Hiring Freeze

    President Donald Trump said a hiring freeze that he ordered at federal government agencies will be harsher at the Internal Revenue Service, with the agency requiring an extra layer of review, with no specified end date, before hiring can restart.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

    Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 17, 2025

    Par Funding's Fraud Caused $288M In Losses, Pa. Judge Says

    Par Funding caused $288 million in losses stemming from a scheme to defraud investors who poured money into its cash advance business, a Pennsylvania federal judge said Friday, days after holding an evidentiary hearing where the government and the defendants sparred over dueling loss amounts.

  • January 17, 2025

    Feds Say Pa. Investment Adviser Stole $20M From Clients

    A Pennsylvania investment adviser's alleged misappropriation of more than $20 million worth of client funds has landed him criminal charges and civil enforcement action from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • January 17, 2025

    US Guidance On Amount B Carries Potential For Disputes

    Recent IRS guidance on a simplified and streamlined transfer pricing method for certain cross-border transactions, known as Amount B, suggests rulemakers want feedback on how it would work if it were made mandatory, but that approach could lead to controversy without global cooperation.

  • January 17, 2025

    Bill Aims To Extend Biogas Investment Credit Through 2025

    A bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would extend the clean energy investment tax credit available for certain biogas facilities' equipment through the end of 2025 instead of at the end of 2024, the bill's sponsors said Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • Geothermal Energy Has Growing Potential In The US

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    Bipartisan support for the geothermal industry shows that geothermal energy can be an elegant solution toward global decarbonization efforts because of its small footprint, low supply chain risk, and potential to draw on the skills of existing highly specialized oil and gas workers and renewable specialists, say attorneys at Weil.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy

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    The New York criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump typifies some of the greatest challenges that lawyers face in crafting persuasive presentations, providing lessons on how to handle bad facts, craft a simple story that withstands attack, and cross-examine with that story in mind, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • State-Regulated Cannabis Can Thrive Without Section 280E

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    Marijauna's reclassification as a Schedule III-controlled substance comes at a critical juncture, as removing marijuana from being subjected to Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code is the only path forward for the state-regulated cannabis industry to survive and thrive, say Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie and Sammy Markland at FTI Consulting.

  • Asset Manager Exemption Shifts May Prove Too Burdensome

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    The U.S. Department of Labor’s recent change to a prohibited transaction exemption used by retirement plan asset managers introduces a host of new costs, burdens and risks to investment firms, from registration requirements to new transition periods, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs

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    The Internal Revenue Services' finalized Treasury Regulations addressing whether real estate investment trusts qualify as domestically controlled adopt the basic structure of previous proposals, but certain new and modified rules may mitigate the regulations' impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Should NIL Collectives Be Allowed Tax-Favored Status?

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    Arguments are being made for and against allowing organizations to provide charitable contribution tax deductions for donations used to compensate student-athletes, a practice with impacts on competition for student-athletes and overall tax fairness, but ultimately it is a question for Congress, say Andres Castillo and Barry Gogel at the University of Maryland School of Law.

  • Understanding The IRC's Excessive Refund Claim Penalty

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    Taxpayers considering protective refund claims pending resolution of major questions in tax cases like Moore v. U.S., which is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, should understand how doing so may also leave them vulnerable to an excessive refund claim penalty under Internal Revenue Code Section 6676, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert

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    As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic

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    Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • The Art Of Asking: Leveraging Your Contacts For Referrals

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    Though attorneys may hesitate to ask for referral recommendations to generate new business, research shows that people want to help others they know, like and trust, so consider who in your network you should approach and how to make the ask, says Rebecca Hnatowski at Edwards Advisory.

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