Federal
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August 08, 2024
US Asks 2nd Circ. To Uphold IRS Lien For $4.2M Restitution
The Internal Revenue Service should be allowed to proceed with a lien to collect some $4.2 million in restitution from a man who pled guilty to three counts of tax fraud, the U.S. told the Second Circuit.
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August 07, 2024
Weak Link Doomed $690M Whistleblower Claim, DC Circ. Says
A whistleblower could not get up to $690 million, or 30% of the $2.3 billion collected in an Internal Revenue Service offshore voluntary disclosure program, because the connection between his actions and the program was weak, the D.C. Circuit said Wednesday.
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August 07, 2024
Waste Co. Not Entitled To Audit Records, IRS Tells Court
Garbage-hauling giant Waste Management Inc. is not entitled to the IRS' tax files on the company from 2017, including audit records, because some documents contain return information of third parties, the agency said Wednesday.
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August 07, 2024
5th Circ. Grapples With 'Ridiculous' $100M Arbitration
A Fifth Circuit panel struggled to make sense out of a "ridiculous" arbitration proceeding that produced four contradictory arbitration awards in a legal malpractice dispute, one awarding $100 million, pressing both sides during oral arguments Wednesday to give answers about how the "spectacle" unfolded.
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August 07, 2024
'Looting' Of Co. Doesn't End S Corp. Status, Tax Court Says
While a co-owner of a California S corporation may have been the victim of two other owners "looting" the company through disproportionate distributions, such actions didn't dissolve its S corporation status, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Wednesday.
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August 07, 2024
Pension Plans' Expert Testimony Limited In $2B Tax Fraud Suit
A New York federal court decided to exclude portions of an expert's testimony on behalf of pension plans that are accused of seeking to defraud Denmark's tax agency in a $2.1 billion tax refund fraud scheme.
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August 07, 2024
Tax Court's Economic Substance Foray May Clarify Limits
A U.S. Tax Court judge plans to address an ill-defined provision governing the relevance of the economic substance doctrine in a microcaptive insurance case, offering the courts another chance to clarify an anti-abuse tool the IRS has been deploying more often.
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August 07, 2024
US Taxpayers Claimed $8.4B In Energy Credits In 2023
Taxpayers claimed $6.3 billion is residential clean energy credits and $2.1 billion in energy-efficient home improvement credits in 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.
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August 06, 2024
US Wants Israeli Businessman Sanctioned In $3.6M FBAR Suit
An Israeli businessman should be sanctioned for defying a Washington federal court's discovery orders by a default judgment in the U.S. government's $3.6 million case over his unreported foreign bank accounts and by another order to comply, the government said Tuesday.
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August 06, 2024
Wind Tower Co. Asks Full Fed. Circ. To Revisit Subsidy Duties
A Federal Circuit panel wrongly concluded that a 10% depreciation rate for deducting costs related to manufacturing facilities set by Canadian law was an unfair trade subsidy that justified countervailing trade duties, a wind tower manufacturer told the court in seeking a rehearing.
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August 06, 2024
Businessman Found To Owe Over $2.9M In FBAR Fines
A U.S. inventor and businessman who had been based in Hong Kong and started a company there must pay over $2.9 million in penalties for failing to report his overseas bank accounts for eight years, a Virginia federal judge ruled Tuesday.
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August 06, 2024
Tax Compliance Costs US Economy $546B, Report Says
The billions of hours spent completing Internal Revenue Service forms and tax returns, along with out-of-pocket compliance costs, ultimately costs the U.S. economy over $546 billion, the Tax Foundation reported Tuesday.
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August 06, 2024
IRS Error Doesn't Enable Kyocera's $7M Refund Suit, US Says
Electronics maker Kyocera can't seek a $7 million tax refund in federal district court because it owed taxes when it filed its original complaint, a fact that isn't changed by IRS' improper abatement of the company's liabilities before it filed an amended complaint, the government argued.
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August 06, 2024
Ayahuasca Church Asks DC Circ. To Rethink Tax Status
An Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its rites asked the D.C. Circuit for an en banc rehearing after a panel determined the church was correctly denied tax-exempt status since its main purpose was using a federally illegal drug.
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August 06, 2024
Bressler Grows In NJ With New Litigation, Tax Experts
Bressler Amery & Ross PC added longtime experts in tax law, trusts and estates, and commercial litigation in a recent round of expansion in New Jersey announced this week.
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August 06, 2024
Treasury Floats Rules To Address Losses Under Pillar 2
The U.S. Treasury Department proposed regulations Tuesday that outline when foreign taxes under the Pillar Two international minimum tax agreement could trigger long-standing U.S. rules that aim to prevent companies from what is known as double-dipping the same economic loss.
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August 06, 2024
NC Software Execs Can't Unravel Payroll Tax Fraud Conviction
Two former software executives found guilty of failing to pay over $600,000 in employment taxes failed to clear a steep hurdle in trying to reverse their convictions, a North Carolina federal judge said in rejecting their bid for acquittal or a new trial.
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August 06, 2024
Ex-UBS Exec Calls $4.7M In FBAR Penalties Unconstitutional
A former executive for Swiss bank UBS' North American group told a Connecticut federal court the $4.7 million in penalties he faces for willful failure to report his foreign bank accounts are unconstitutionally excessive.
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August 06, 2024
Partnership Asks Tax Court To Toss $13M Credit Reduction
An Idaho partnership asked the U.S. Tax Court to throw out an Internal Revenue Service adjustment that reduced the value of an energy investment tax credit by $13 million, saying it never claimed the credit in the first place.
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August 06, 2024
Arnold & Porter Adds Abramson Cancer Center Chief Counsel
Throughout her career and while working in progressive leadership roles for the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Mir Masud-Elias, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP's newest counsel, has asked herself the same question: Is this role the best use of her time on Earth?
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August 06, 2024
Paul Hastings Gains Tax Pro In Dallas From McDermott
Paul Hastings announced Tuesday that its meteoric growth in Texas is continuing with the addition of a partner in Dallas who strengthens its global tax practice and came aboard from McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
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August 05, 2024
9th Circ. Rejects Calif. Couple's Informal Tax Refund Bid
A California couple who for years had a practice of overpaying their federal taxes missed a critical deadline to informally claim a nearly $700,000 tax overpayment, a Ninth Circuit panel ruled Monday, rejecting their request for a refund.
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August 05, 2024
FedEx Asserts Chevron Ruling Supports $84.6M Refund
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent rejection of the Chevron doctrine entitles FedEx to an $84.6 million tax refund by taking credits for foreign taxes it paid on offset earnings when repatriating overseas income, the package delivery giant told a Tennessee federal court.
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August 05, 2024
Truck Co. Can't Skirt $500M Excise Tax Bill, US Tells 6th Circ.
A Tennessee truck company failed to demonstrate its eligibility for a safe harbor that allowed it to escape from over $500 million in excise taxes and penalties over refurbished trucks it sold, the U.S. government told the Sixth Circuit, asking it to reverse a lower-court decision.
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August 05, 2024
Pension Plan Testimony Barred In $2B Danish Tax Fraud Case
U.S. pension plans have proposed irrelevant expert testimony in response to allegations of their participation in a $2.1 billion Danish tax fraud scheme, a New York federal judge ruled in excluding the testimony but leaving room to try again.
Expert Analysis
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How Associates Can Build A Professional Image
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.
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Navigating New Safe Harbor For Domestic Content Tax Credits
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.
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Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age
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.
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'Energy Communities' Update May Clarify Tax Credit Eligibility
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.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
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.
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
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.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
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.
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How Cannabis Rescheduling May Alter Paraphernalia Imports
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.
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NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It
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.
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Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.