Federal

  • August 13, 2024

    Tax Court Nixes Loss Deduction, But Owners Owe No Penalty

    The Internal Revenue Service was right to determine a business created to provide guidance to real estate owners and investors couldn't claim loss deductions because its business had not actually started, the Tax Court said Tuesday, but the owners are not liable for an accuracy-related penalty.

  • August 13, 2024

    IRS Wrongly Denied Tomato Cos. Deductions, 9th Circ. Told

    Two companies that supply 40% of the United States' tomato paste and diced tomatoes told the Ninth Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court erred in keeping the companies from deducting the costs of restoring their production facilities before the actual restoration occurs.

  • August 13, 2024

    Firm Asks Court To Reconsider $1.5M Freeze In Tax Dispute

    A Baltimore law firm that sued the IRS for freezing $1.5 million in its operating account to satisfy a client's tax debts told a Maryland federal court it was "dead wrong" in denying the firm's request to release the money without going to trial.

  • August 13, 2024

    Tax Court Design Violates US Law, Widow Tells 11th Circ.

    The widow of a grocery store butcher fighting a tax liability upheld by the U.S. Tax Court has told the Eleventh Circuit that the decision should be sent back for reconsideration, arguing that a provision restricting the president's power to remove Tax Court judges is unconstitutional.

  • August 13, 2024

    IRS Announces Sept. Meeting On Advisory Council Report

    The Internal Revenue Service's Advisory Council will hold a public meeting on Sept. 5 to discuss a future report from the council, the agency announced Tuesday.

  • August 12, 2024

    Accused Accounting Prof Is No Tax Expert, NJ Jury Told

    New Jersey federal jurors were urged Monday to keep one word at the front of their minds as they listen to the government present its case against an accounting professor accused of failing to report $3.3 million in income from a pharmacy he co-owned with his wife: willful.

  • August 12, 2024

    Tax Court Tosses Deficiency Challenge Over Validity

    The U.S. Tax Court cannot rule on a man's challenge to an Internal Revenue Service deficiency notice because the agency failed to show it correctly mailed the notice, rendering it invalid, and the case must be dismissed, the court said Monday. 

  • August 12, 2024

    UN Eyes Two Early Changes For Tax Pact In Latest Draft

    Diplomats would draft two legally binding protocols under the United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation while creating the convention itself under the latest draft guidance for negotiators after they select from a shortlist of possible topics, including the digital economy and wealth taxation.

  • August 12, 2024

    IRS Lacks Broad Plan To Replace Old IT Systems, TIGTA Says

    The Internal Revenue Service lacks an agency-wide program to identify and then update, replace or retire legacy information technology systems, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported Monday.

  • August 12, 2024

    Past Tax Ideas Offer Insight Into A Harris-Walz Presidency

    An analysis of tax proposals previously put forth by Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats' presumptive nominees for president and vice president, indicates they could pursue a tax agenda geared toward providing tax relief to middle- and lower-income Americans.

  • August 12, 2024

    FedEx Misreads Chevron Ruling In $85M Tax Dispute, US Says

    FedEx wrongly believes the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the Chevron doctrine precludes the U.S. Treasury Department from promulgating regulations to stop tax cheats and prevent FedEx from claiming $84.6 million in tax credits, the U.S. government told a Tennessee federal court.

  • August 12, 2024

    Judge OKs IRS To Review Bank Docs Of Exec In Bitcoin Probe

    The Internal Revenue Service can review the sequestered bank records of a cryptocurrency executive charged in a 2020 bitcoin fraud investigation, a Texas federal judge ruled, finding the agency had properly notified the executive and his company of summonses it had issued to their banks.

  • August 12, 2024

    Transparency Act Snowball Fears A 'Mirage,' Treasury Says

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury is seeking to quell fears that the Corporate Transparency Act's disclosure requirements could set the stage for more invasive government data collection in a brief asking a Michigan federal judge to uphold the law as constitutional.

  • August 12, 2024

    IRS Extends Tax Deadlines For Minn. Storm Victims

    Minnesota taxpayers affected by severe storms and flooding have until February to file tax returns and make payments, the Internal Revenue Service said Monday.

  • August 12, 2024

    2 Experts OK'd For Danish Tax Agency In $2.1B Fraud Case

    Two experts will be allowed to testify in support of a suit by Denmark's tax agency accusing U.S. pension plans of participating in a $2.1 billion tax refund fraud scheme, a New York federal district court said, overruling the pension plans' objections.

  • August 12, 2024

    'Survivor' Winner Is True Owner In Property Dispute, US Says

    The winner of the first "Survivor" television season is the true owner of disputed property that should be sold to pay down his $3.3 million in tax liabilities, the government told a Rhode Island federal court, rejecting claims that his sister is the owner.

  • August 10, 2024

    Kyocera Targets Treasury TCJA Reg, Seeking $7M Tax Refund

    The Treasury Department acted outside its bounds by issuing a regulation changing the effective date of the 2017 tax overhaul, electronics maker Kyocera argued as it urged a South Carolina federal court to void the regulation and approve the company's claim for $7 million tax refund.

  • August 09, 2024

    6th Circ. Partially Revives Crypto IRS Reporting Challenge

    The Sixth Circuit issued a mixed ruling Friday in a suit brought by a group of cryptocurrency users challenging the IRS' pending mandate to report large crypto transactions, reversing the dismissal of the suit's Fourth and First Amendment violation claims but affirming that some of the case's claims are not ripe.

  • August 09, 2024

    Partnership Clarity Expected In First Offshore Profits Rules

    Tax attorneys anticipate answers to several questions about how partnerships should properly track, report and attribute foreign income previously taxed in the U.S. when the first round of long-awaited proposed rules is published.

  • August 09, 2024

    3rd Circ. Kicks $1M Case To Tax Court Over IRS Violation

    The Third Circuit sent a man's protest of a lien seeking over $1 million in unpaid employee payroll taxes back to the U.S. Tax Court on Friday because the IRS violated an automatic stay on the proceedings triggered by a bankruptcy proceeding.

  • August 09, 2024

    IRS Wrongly Penalizes For Unreported Inheritance, Court Told

    The Internal Revenue Service violated the constitutional rights of a California woman when penalizing her $92,000 for failing to report inheriting $350,000 from a parent who had lived in the U.K., the woman told a federal court.

  • August 09, 2024

    Israel Resident Says She Was Never Notified Of $9M Tax Debt

    The daughter of a dead Brooklyn rabbi was a permanent resident of Israel in the early years of this century and never received IRS notices about $9.2 million in taxes and penalties, she told a New York court Friday in arguing that she doesn't owe the money.

  • August 09, 2024

    IRS Delays Tax Deadlines In 4 States After Hurricane Debby

    Following Hurricane Debby, all South Carolina taxpayers as well as many in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia will now be given until Feb. 3 to file individual and business tax returns and make payments, the Internal Revenue Service said Friday.

  • August 09, 2024

    Pa. Firm Seeks Over $790K In Employee Retention Credit

    The Internal Revenue Service has failed to pay Ostroff Injury Law PC the more than $790,000 it is owed in pandemic-era employee retention credits, the Pennsylvania firm alleges in a federal court complaint, despite satisfying two separate tests the firm says qualify it for the relief.

  • August 09, 2024

    IRS Direct File To Be Offered In Connecticut Next Year

    The Internal Revenue Service's free electronic tax filing program known as Direct File will be available in Connecticut for the 2025 tax filing season, the agency and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • Tracking Implementation Of IRA Programs As Election Nears

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    As the Biden administration races to cement key regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, a number of the law's programs and incentives are at risk of delay or repeal if Republicans retake control of Congress, the White House or both — so stakeholders should closely watch ongoing IRA implementation and guidance, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule

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    Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.

  • Takeaways From Justices' Redemption Insurance Decision

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Connelly v. U.S. examines how to determine the fair market value of shares in a closely held company for estate tax purposes, and clarifies how life insurance held by the company to enable redemption of a decedent’s shares affects that calculation, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.

  • 6 Tips For Maximizing After-Tax Returns In Private M&A Deals

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    With potential tax legislation likely to spur a surge in private business sales, sellers can make the most of after-tax proceeds with strategies that include price allocation and qualified investment options, say Isaac Grossman and Daniel Studin at Morrison Cohen.

  • After A Brief Hiccup, The 'Rocket Docket' Soars Back To No. 1

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    The Eastern District of Virginia’s precipitous 2022 fall from its storied rocket docket status appears to have been a temporary aberration, as recent statistics reveal that the court is once again back on top as the fastest federal civil trial court in the nation, says Robert Tata at Hunton.

  • Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers

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    BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.

  • What DOL Fiduciary Rule Means For Private Fund Managers

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    Attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss how the U.S. Department of Labor's recently released final fiduciary rule, which revises the agency's 1975 regulation, could potentially cause private fund managers' current marketing practices and communications to be considered fiduciary advice, and therefore subject them to strict prohibitions.

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