Federal
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July 01, 2024
IRS Faces Rulemaking Pressure Following Chevron's Demise
The Internal Revenue Service will likely face more pressure to develop tax regulations that are more firmly grounded in the law and tailored to ensure certainty for individuals, businesses and other organizations after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision to overturn the decades-old Chevron doctrine.
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July 01, 2024
Feds Push To Keep IRS Agents Out Of Hunter Biden Tax Case
Two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers who Hunter Biden said wrongfully disclosed his confidential tax information should not be allowed to intervene in his suit against the U.S. government, the government told a D.C. federal court Monday.
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July 01, 2024
Pa. Man Gets 12 Years For $2M COVID-19 Funds Fraud
A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to approximately 12 years in prison following his convictions for bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and unlawful monetary transactions related to theft of federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
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July 01, 2024
Womble Bond Adds Int'l Tax Partner In Houston Office
Womble Bond Dickinson has added a partner to its corporate and securities group in Houston who will focus on tax law and cross-border transactions, the firm announced.
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July 01, 2024
Tax Court Again Rules Against Couple On Social Security Pay
A California couple should have included Social Security disability payments in their income on their federal tax return, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday, upholding an Internal Revenue Service determination against the couple in such a case for a second time.
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July 01, 2024
US-Taiwan Biz Groups Push For True Double-Tax Treaty
Top-ranking Senate members should push for the start of consultations on a bilateral tax treaty to avoid double taxation between the U.S. and Taiwan as opposed to measures already included in a stalled larger bill, two groups focused on business relations between the countries said.
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July 01, 2024
Nelson Mullins Adds 9-Attorney Tax Team In Houston
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP announced Monday that five partners and four other tax attorneys have joined its new Houston office from Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry, including a former Texas Supreme Court justice.
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July 01, 2024
Longtime IRS Trial Atty Joins Jones Day In NY
An attorney who spent his entire career at the IRS has moved to private practice at Jones Day, the firm said on Monday.
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July 01, 2024
Firm Can't Cast Off $1.5M Tax Levy In Alter Ego Case
A Baltimore law firm can't stop a $1.5 million tax levy that allowed the IRS to freeze its bank account, a Maryland federal judge ruled, saying the firm failed to prove at this point in its suit that one of its clients lacked an interest in the money.
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July 01, 2024
IRS Floats Taking Tax Payments Directly By Credit Card
Taxpayers using credit cards could sidestep third-party payment processors and make tax payments directly to the IRS under regulations the agency proposed Monday that align with the Taxpayer First Act.
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July 01, 2024
IRS Regs Would Tax Overpayment Interest On COVID Credits
Businesses, tax-exempt groups and some governmental entities could be taxed on overpayment interest received for erroneous refunds of pandemic relief tax credits under proposed Internal Revenue Service regulations released Monday.
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July 01, 2024
Top 3 Federal Tax Policies Of 2024: Midyear Report
Despite an energetic start of the year with the House's overwhelming passage of a bipartisan tax package negotiated between the chairs of the House and Senate's tax-writing committees, tax policy discussions in Congress have slowed down in the months since. Here, Law360 looks at the most consequential developments in federal tax policy from the first half of 2024.
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July 01, 2024
Supreme Court Widens Window To Challenge Federal Regs
Legal challenges to federal regulations can be brought outside the normal statute of limitations if someone isn't adversely affected until after the six-year window of time to file suit, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday.
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June 28, 2024
Chevron's End Is Just The Start For Energized Agency Foes
By knocking down a powerful precedent that has towered over administrative law for 40 years, the U.S. Supreme Court's right wing Friday gave a crowning achievement to anti-agency attorneys. But for those attorneys, the achievement is merely a means to an end, and experts expect a litigation blitzkrieg to materialize quickly in the aftermath.
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June 28, 2024
In Chevron Case, Justices Trade One Unknown For Another
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overrule a decades-old judicial deference doctrine may cause the "eternal fog of uncertainty" surrounding federal agency actions to dissipate and level the playing field in challenges of government policies, but lawyers warn it raises new questions over what rules courts must follow and how judges will implement them.
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June 28, 2024
The Tax Angle: IRS Budget Vote, TCJA's Racial Impact
From a look at an upcoming vote on IRS funding for fiscal 2025 to an analysis of GOP claims that tax incentives in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act benefited Black Americans, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of the week's developing tax stories.
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June 28, 2024
IRS Finalizes Broker Rules For Digital Asset Sales
Brokers of digital assets such as cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens will face tax reporting requirements for the first time similar to those for brokers of securities and other financial instruments under final regulations issued Friday by the Internal Revenue Service.
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June 28, 2024
Final Rules Exempt REITs From Stock Buyback Tax
Real estate investment trusts and regulated investment companies may be able to avoid the stock buyback tax but would still be required to keep records under final regulations on reporting and paying the tax released by Treasury and the IRS Friday.
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June 28, 2024
IRS Plans To Quickly Finalize Partnership Basis-Shifting Regs
The IRS is moving quickly to finalize partnership rules that target abusive tax avoidance using basis shifting within related partnerships, the agency's top attorney said Friday, asking practitioners to weigh in on the rulemaking so enforcement can properly target the problematic transactions.
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June 28, 2024
IRS Improves Availability But Can Do More, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service has improved the accessibility and availability of customer services in underserved, underrepresented and rural communities, but it could do more to expand into other geographic areas, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Friday.
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June 28, 2024
IRS Whistleblower Office Overhaul In Process, Chief Says
The Internal Revenue Service is working through initiatives to improve its whistleblower program that were laid out in the agency's strategic operating plan, including improving systems and processes and drastically increasing staffing, the director of the agency's Whistleblower Office said Friday.
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June 28, 2024
NY Law Firm Botched Gas Co. Sale, Ex-Client Says
Albany, New York-based Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP is facing a lawsuit in New York federal court alleging it failed to properly structure the sale of a gas company and caused its owner to incur an avoidable tax liability.
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June 28, 2024
IRS Reminds Marijuana Businesses They Can't Get Tax Breaks
The Internal Revenue Service sought to remind taxpayers Friday that businesses selling marijuana, even in states where it's legal, are not entitled to federal tax deductions, saying some taxpayers are filing invalid claims for refunds through amended returns.
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June 28, 2024
Chevron Ruling No Sea Change For Tax Court, Judge Says
The U.S. Tax Court will continue to rely on the IRS and Treasury's expertise in the tax code following the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision to overturn the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine that directed courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous law, a judge said Friday.
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June 28, 2024
Spouse's Prenup Payments Count As Income, IRS Says
Support payments to a taxpayer from a former spouse made before they officially divorce constitute alimony and should be included in the taxpayer's gross income, the Internal Revenue Service said in a private letter ruling released Friday.
Expert Analysis
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Mallory Opinion Implicitly Overturned NC Sales Tax Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to review Quad Graphics v. North Carolina Department of Revenue, but importantly kicked the legs from under Quad's outcome a week later, stating in its Mallory decision that the high court has the prerogative to overrule its own decisions, says Richard Pomp at the University of Connecticut.
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How NIL Collectives Could Be Tax-Exempt After IRS Curveball
Since the Internal Revenue Service recently announced that numerous collectives creating paid name, image and likeness deals for collegiate student-athletes do not qualify for tax exemption, for-profit entities and alternative collective structures with incidental student-athlete benefits may be considered to fund NIL ventures, says David Kaufman at Thompson Coburn.
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Is This Pastime A Side-Gig? Or Is It A Hobby?
The recent U.S. Tax Court decision in Sherman v. Commissioner offers important reminders for taxpayers about the documentation and business practices needed to successfully argue that expenses can be deducted as losses from nonhobby income, says Bryan Camp at Texas Tech.
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Recent Provider Relief Fund Audits Are Just The Beginning
Though the Health Resources and Services Administration's initial audits of the Provider Relief Fund program appear to be limited in scope, fund recipients should prepare for additional oversight, scrutiny and disallowances as the HRSA ramps up its efforts, say Brian Lee and Christopher Frisina at Alston & Bird.
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Flawed Analysis Supports Common Law Tax Deficiency Ruling
The Colorado federal district court’s recent decision in Liberty Global, holding that the U.S. Department of Justice may assert a common law tax claim without the notice of tax deficiency required by the Internal Revenue Code, relies on a contorted reading of the statute and irrelevant case law, say Loren Opper and Christie Galinski at Miller Canfield.
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Review Of Repatriation Tax Sets Justices On Slippery Slope
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to review the constitutionality of the repatriation tax in Moore v. U.S. has implications for many tax rules involving unrealized amounts and could leave the court on the brink of invalidating large swaths of the Internal Revenue Code, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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IRS Guidance Powers Up Energy Tax Credit Transfers
Recent IRS guidance on the monetization of energy tax credits provides sufficient clarity for parties to start negotiating transfer agreements, but it is unclear when the registration process required for credits to change hands will be up and running, say attorneys at Shearman.
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Using Agreements To Cover Gaps In Hydrogen Storage Regs
The Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for energy storage have spurred investment in hydrogen storage and production, but given the lack of comprehensive regulations surrounding the sector, developers should carefully craft project and financing agreements to mitigate uncertainties, say Omar Samji and Sarah George at Weil, and attorney Manushi Desai.
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Secure 2.0 Takeaways From DOL's 2024 Budget Proposal
The U.S. Department of Labor’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal provides insight into the most pressing Secure 2.0 implementation issues, including establishment of a search database for finding lost retirement savings and developing guidance on the execution of newly authorized emergency savings accounts, say attorneys at Maynard Nexsen.
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Avoiding Negative Tax Consequences In Loan Modifications
Borrowers who may be caught in the dramatic uptick in nonperforming commercial real estate loans should consider strategies to avoid income and capital gains tax that may be triggered by loan modifications, says Aman Badyal at Glaser Weil.
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Benefits And Beyond: Fixing Employee Contribution Failures
Employers must address employee contribution failures promptly in order to avoid losing significant tax benefits of 401(k) or 403(b) plans, but the exact correction procedures vary depending on whether contributions were less than or greater than intended, say attorneys at Seyfarth Shaw.
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Now Is The Time For State And Local Sales Tax Simplification
In the five years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, state and local governments increasingly rely on sales tax, but simple changes are needed to make compliance more manageable for taxpayers, wherever located, without unduly burdening interstate commerce, says Charles Maniace at Sovos.
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Recent Bills Show Congress' Growing Maturity On Cannabis
Though two recently introduced cannabis reform bills, the Prepare Act and the Small Business Tax Equity Act, are unlikely to pass in this Congress, they demonstrate a new level of focus and sophistication on the part of lawmakers as it relates to cannabis at the federal level, says Irina Dashevsky at Greenspoon Marder.