Federal

  • February 27, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revisit Tomato Paste Cos.' Deduction Claims

    The Ninth Circuit won't reconsider its ruling rejecting tax deductions claimed by a pair of tomato paste producers for facility upgrades, a split panel decided Thursday.

  • February 27, 2025

    EU Prepared To Retaliate Against US Over Tariffs, Officials Say

    European Union officials said Thursday that the bloc is prepared to retaliate against the U.S. if President Donald Trump follows through with tariffs on over $600 billion of goods, a situation that two law professors said risks becoming a trade war more than past disputes.

  • February 27, 2025

    Estate's $3M To Stepkids Deducted As Biz Deal, 11th Circ. Told

    The estate of a deceased corporate attorney told the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday that the U.S. government wrongly taxed $3 million claimed by his stepchildren, arguing that the amount was properly deducted as a contracted business transaction under the Internal Revenue Code.

  • February 27, 2025

    Goldstein Urges Judge To Lift Device Monitoring Requirement

    U.S. Supreme Court advocate and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein asked a Maryland federal judge Thursday to nix a condition of his pretrial release that requires him to have monitoring equipment installed on his electronic devices.

  • February 27, 2025

    KPMG Secures Arizona Approval To Operate Law Firm

    Arizona's supreme court on Thursday approved an alternative business structure license to allow accounting giant KPMG to run its own law firm in the U.S.

  • February 27, 2025

    Phishing Tax Scams Top IRS 'Dirty Dozen' List

    Taxpayers should watch out for email phishing scams, bad social media advice and people offering help to set up online accounts, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday in its "Dirty Dozen" list of tax scams for 2025.

  • February 27, 2025

    Biz Owner Not Owed For Tax Refund Wait, 8th Circ. Told

    A business owner who claimed the federal government owes him about $100,000 to make up for his lost business opportunities while he continued to wait for a claimed $100,000 tax refund is not entitled to the damages or the refund, the U.S. government told the Eighth Circuit.

  • February 26, 2025

    Ill. Tax Pro Gets 5½ Years For $1.1M IRS Payment Scheme

    A suburban Chicago tax professional who admitted he made $1.1 million by lying to clients about paying their tax liabilities and is already serving six years for carrying out a separate investment scheme must serve an additional 5½ years in prison for his conduct, an Illinois federal judge said Wednesday.

  • February 26, 2025

    Trump Orders Fed Agencies To Plan For Large Layoffs

    The White House is telling federal agencies to submit plans for "large-scale" layoffs by mid-March, accusing them of siphoning funding for "unproductive and unnecessary programs" and "not producing results for the American public."

  • February 26, 2025

    Police Supply Store, Others Ask 5th Circ. To Keep CTA Paused

    A Texas police supply store joined with Mississippi libertarians and several other parties asking the Fifth Circuit to keep the Corporate Transparency Act on hold, saying ending the stoppage of that law could force 32 million business entities to file beneficial ownership reports.

  • February 26, 2025

    IRS Spinoff Safe Harbors Not Seen As All-Purpose Reprieve

    Safe harbors proposed by the IRS would allow certain corporate spinoffs to get statutory tax-free treatment, but the bright-line requirements to qualify for these provisions reflect the tension between a blanket approach and the unique complexities of each transaction.

  • February 26, 2025

    House Panel Advances Bill To Repeal IRS DeFi Broker Rule

    House Ways and Means Committee Republicans advanced legislation that would repeal a final U.S. Treasury Department rule implementing additional reporting requirements for decentralized finance brokers.

  • February 26, 2025

    Coke's $2.7B Tax Bill Due To 'Bait And Switch,' 11th Circ. Told

    Coca-Cola urged the Eleventh Circuit to reverse a U.S. Tax Court decision putting the beverage giant on the hook for $2.7 billion in taxes, arguing the ruling excused the IRS' "blatant bait and switch" regarding how it allocates income from foreign affiliates.

  • February 26, 2025

    Tax Overhaul Designer Named Top Tax Adviser To Treasury

    An attorney who worked for Exxon Mobil and helped design the 2017 tax overhaul in President Donald Trump's first term has been appointed to serve as a top tax adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Treasury announced Wednesday.

  • February 25, 2025

    DC Judge Blocks Trump's Federal Funding Freeze

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from implementing a federal spending freeze while a group of nonprofits challenge the freeze, calling the measure "ill-conceived from the beginning."

  • February 25, 2025

    House Passes Budget Blueprint Allowing $4.5T In Tax Cuts

    The House of Representatives approved a budget blueprint Tuesday that would allow for the passage of up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, paving the way to renew the expiring provisions of President Donald Trump's signature 2017 tax overhaul.

  • February 25, 2025

    IRS Top Operating Officer To Serve As Acting Commissioner

    The Internal Revenue Service's chief operating officer will become its acting commissioner, replacing current acting commissioner Douglas O'Donnell, who took on the role just last month, the U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday.

  • February 25, 2025

    Tax Court Reaffirms Suzanne Somers' Estate Owes $2.7M

    The U.S. Tax Court on Tuesday reaffirmed roughly $2.7 million in tax liabilities against television producer Alan Hamel and the estate of his wife, actor Suzanne Somers, finding a Treasury regulation it had relied on in its initial decision was sound.

  • February 25, 2025

    Texas Tax Pros Criticize Proposal To Advise IRS Disclosures

    Texas accountants objected to a proposed federal regulation that would require them to advise clients who have broken tax laws to make disclosures to the IRS, saying in a letter to the agency released Tuesday that it would likely create a conflict when clients have criminal exposure.

  • February 25, 2025

    Manufacturers Ask To Suspend Biden-Era Reporting Rules

    Tax regulations governing partnerships and corporations passed by the outgoing Biden administration should be suspended — or outright retracted — because they conflict with the Trump administration's priorities, the National Association of Manufacturers said in a letter to the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department released Tuesday.

  • February 25, 2025

    10th Circ. Asked To Rethink Denying Atty's Racing Deductions

    A Denver personal injury lawyer asked the Tenth Circuit to reconsider its decision barring his $300,000 tax deduction for car-racing costs as professional advertising, saying the court deprived him of due process in dismissing his argument that the IRS wrongly denied him a chance to settle.

  • February 24, 2025

    DC Judge Wary Of Constitutionality Of Musk's DOGE

    A D.C. federal judge on Monday questioned the constitutionality of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency while expressing skepticism that groups challenging the department's access to federal systems housing Americans' sensitive data had established the irreparable harm needed to block access.

  • February 24, 2025

    Eaton's Foreign Tax Credits Rejected By Tax Court

    The U.S. Tax Court rejected foreign tax credits that Eaton Corp. had claimed on its lower-tier overseas entities' income taxes for 2007 and 2008, saying in a Monday opinion that its overseas ownership structure had disqualified the multinational power management company.

  • February 24, 2025

    Investor Settles In $2.1B Danish Tax Fraud Case

    A U.S. investor who was among those accused by Denmark's tax agency of participating in a $2.1 billion tax fraud scheme related to fraudulently claiming refunds on tax withheld from stock dividends has reached a settlement, according to New York federal court documents filed Monday.

  • February 24, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear Challenge To Colo. Tax Ballot Title Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a ruling by the Tenth Circuit that a Colorado law requiring that financial impacts be included in the titles of some tax-related ballot initiatives does not cause "improperly compelled" speech.

Expert Analysis

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity

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    Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review

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    For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On

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    Career prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice often pride themselves on their ability to remain apolitical in order to ensure consistency and keep the department’s mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.

  • What Higher Education Can Expect From A 2nd Trump Admin

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    The election of Donald Trump for a second presidential term has far-reaching ramifications for colleges and universities — come January, institutions can expect a crackdown on DEI, increased scrutiny of campus protests, a rollback of the Biden administration's Title IX rules and more, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • Expect Surging Oil And Gas Industry Under New Trump Admin

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    Throughout his recent campaign, President-elect Donald Trump promised increased oil and natural gas production and reduced reliance on renewables — and his administration will likely bring more oil and gas dealmaking, faster federal permitting and attempts to roll back incentives for green energy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • Cos. Should Inventory Issues To Prep For New Congress

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    As the legislative and oversight agendas of the 119th Congress come into sharper focus, corporate counsel should assess and plan for areas of potential oversight risk — from tax policy changes to supply chain integrity — even as much uncertainty remains, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Conservation Easement Cases Weave Web Of Uncertainty

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    Much of the IRS and Justice Department’s recent success in prosecuting syndicated conservation easement cases can be attributed to the government’s focus on the so-called PropCo ratio, which could indicate treacherous waters ahead for participants and their advisers, even under the incoming Trump administration, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?

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    Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session

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    As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.

  • What Trump's 2nd Presidency Could Mean For Crypto Sector

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    Trump's second term will bring a fundamental shift from the Biden administration's approach to crypto-asset regulation and banking supervision, with the most significant changes likely taking effect in the first two quarters of 2025 and broader policy shifts emerging over the next year, say attorneys at Cahill.

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