Federal

  • June 21, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Backs Subsidy Duties For Canadian Wind Towers

    A Canadian wind tower manufacturer can't get a break on countervailing duties despite being upfront about errors in its sales data, with the Federal Circuit ruling Friday that the errors raise the possibility of additional mistakes.

  • June 21, 2024

    IRS Urges 6th Circ. To Back Gold Broker's $3M Tax Bill

    The Sixth Circuit should uphold about $3 million in tax liabilities against a self-employed gold and silver broker who failed to file returns for a decade, the IRS argued Friday, calling "frivolous" the man's argument that he isn't subject to federal income taxes.

  • June 21, 2024

    Couple Can't Hide Behind Preparer's Errors, Tax Court Says

    A Georgia couple failed to show the U.S. Tax Court that their faulty filing was the result of trusting a competent tax adviser, leading the court to rule Friday that they were correctly assessed an accuracy-related penalty by the Internal Revenue Service.

  • June 21, 2024

    US Formally Suspends Part Of Tax Treaty With Russia

    The U.S. government has provided formal notice to Russia suspending, via mutual agreement, parts of the countries' double-taxation treaty.

  • June 21, 2024

    Ayahuasca Church Is Not Tax-Exempt, DC Circ. Affirms

    An Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its rites was correctly denied tax-exempt status, the D.C. Circuit affirmed Friday, saying the church's main purpose is using a federally illegal drug for which it lacked approval for religious use.

  • June 21, 2024

    Ex-Chicago Alderman Burke Can't Delay Sentencing

    Former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke can't postpone his Monday sentencing on charges of racketeering, extortion and bribery to await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the scope of federal bribery law, an Illinois federal judge ruled Friday, saying that decision will have "little or no impact" on Burke's fate.

  • June 21, 2024

    Ex-Mass. Pol Hit With New Charges In COVID Fraud Case

    A former Massachusetts state senator already accused of pandemic-related fraud has been charged alongside his sister with attempting to cover up a scheme to make him eligible for unemployment benefits, the U.S. attorney's office announced Friday.

  • June 21, 2024

    IRS Has Spent $5.7B Of 2022 Funding Boost, TIGTA Finds

    The Internal Revenue Service has spent $5.7 billion of the funding boost it received under the 2022 climate law as of March 31, including $2 billion to supplement its annual funding, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported Friday.

  • June 21, 2024

    11th Circ. Says Couple Can't Renew Fight Over S Corp. Income

    A couple owe about $355,000 in back taxes after failing to prove that the U.S. Tax Court adopted an erroneous calculation by the IRS following a trial in which the couple were found liable for unreported income from their S corporation, the Eleventh Circuit ruled.

  • June 21, 2024

    Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin

    The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included updated lists of areas, including closed coal mines and factories, where developers can qualify for additional tax credits for building their clean energy projects.

  • June 21, 2024

    IRS Issues Draft Of Revised Research Credit Form

    The Internal Revenue Service released a revised draft of the form used for claiming the research credit Friday, saying the changes would reduce taxpayers' burden.

  • June 21, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Travers Smith, Potamitis Vekris

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, RSK Group Ltd. gets a £500 million ($632 million) investment, Boston Scientific Corp. acquires Silk Road Medical Inc., Masdar takes a part of Terna Energy SA, and Tate & Lyle PLC buys CP Kelco from JM Huber Corp.

  • June 20, 2024

    Worker Retention Credit Freeze To Continue, IRS Chief Says

    The Internal Revenue Service will keep in place its moratorium on processing new employee retention credit claims because of rampant fraud, the agency's commissioner told reporters Thursday, and will seek help from lawmakers before deciding on the program's future.

  • June 20, 2024

    IRS Issues Guidance For Early Withdrawal Penalty Exceptions

    The Internal Revenue Service published guidance Thursday on exceptions to the 10% additional tax for those making permissible early retirement account withdrawals for emergency personal expenses and for victims of domestic abuse.

  • June 20, 2024

    Tax Court Says Man Can't Avoid Early Withdrawal Penalty

    The Internal Revenue Service correctly determined that a Delaware man's early withdrawal of $137,000 from his retirement accounts in order to buy his brother's share of their dead mother's property did not qualify for the first-time homebuyer's exemption, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday.

  • June 20, 2024

    Tomato Cos. Can't Take Immediate Deductions, 9th Circ. Told

    Two companies that supply 40% of the U.S.' tomato paste and diced tomatoes should not be allowed to deduct costs of restoring their production facilities before the actual restoration occurs, the IRS told the Ninth Circuit on Thursday in urging it to uphold a U.S. Tax Court ruling.

  • June 20, 2024

    Casinos Must Fight Hotel Tax In State Court, 5th Circ. Says

    Owners of two Louisiana casinos with attached hotels must challenge Baton Rouge in state court, rather than federal court, over taxes the city says they owe on free hotel stays they gave patrons, the Fifth Circuit ruled, saying the state is entitled to deference.

  • June 20, 2024

    Housing, Child Care Top Dem. Senators' 2025 Tax Deal Goals

    Senate Democrats plan to prioritize tax policies that will make child care and housing more affordable in the midst of the debate over the extension of the 2017 tax law's expiring provisions in 2025, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden told reporters Thursday.

  • June 20, 2024

    Dickinson Wright Brings On McDermott, Bell Nunnally Attys

    Dickinson Wright PLLC added a pair of new members who include a commercial finance and real estate attorney from Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP based in Austin, Texas, and a tax and incentives attorney from McDermott Will & Emery LLP in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

  • June 20, 2024

    Tax Court Errs In Deeming Loans As Equity, 11th Circ. Told

    A Florida business owner deserves tax deductions on loans his companies made to residential development projects that became worthless during the Great Recession, he told the Eleventh Circuit in a bid to reverse a Tax Court decision that classified the loans as equity.

  • June 20, 2024

    Tax Preparer With $38M In Refunds Cops To S-Corp. Scam

    The owner of a tax preparation business that secured $38 million in federal refunds for customers pled guilty to helping prepare false returns and admitted he required clients to establish empty corporations to lower their tax bills illegally, according to his plea agreement in a California federal court.

  • June 20, 2024

    Repatriation Tax Doesn't Violate Constitution, Justices Rule

    The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 2017 federal tax overhaul's mandatory repatriation levy on Thursday, finding the measure applies to the earnings of foreign corporations with U.S. shareholders and therefore does not raise constitutional questions about taxing unrealized income. 

  • June 18, 2024

    Ore. To Adopt IRS' Free E-File Program For 2025 Season

    Oregon will participate in the Internal Revenue Service's Direct File free online tax filing program when it returns for the 2025 filing season, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS announced Tuesday.

  • June 18, 2024

    Corporate Rate Revenue To Decrease After 2025, CBO Says

    Corporate income tax receipts will steadily decrease after 2025 in relation to gross domestic product due to expiration of many of the 2017 tax law's provisions, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report released Tuesday. 

  • June 18, 2024

    Tax Court Admonishes CPA For 'Unbecoming' Tax Positions

    A U.S. Tax Court judge warned a certified public accountant who challenged his $23,000 tax bill that his groundless arguments could cost him a fine, saying in an opinion Tuesday that his tax positions "are unbecoming of a CPA."

Expert Analysis

  • Preparing Your Legal Department For Pillar 2 Compliance

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    Multinational entities should familiarize themselves with Pillar Two of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s BEPs 2.0 project and prepare their internal legal tracking systems for related reporting requirements that may go into effect as early as January, says Daniel Robyn at Ernst & Young.

  • What Large Language Models Mean For Document Review

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    Courts often subject parties using technology assisted review to greater scrutiny than parties conducting linear, manual document review, so parties using large language models for document review should expect even more attention, along with a corresponding need for quality control and validation, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Participating In Living History Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My role as a baron in a living history group, and my work as volunteer corporate counsel for a book series fan association, has provided me several opportunities to practice in unexpected areas of law — opening doors to experiences that have nurtured invaluable personal and professional skills, says Matthew Parker at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Private Equity Owners Can Remedy Law Firms' Agency Issues

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    Nonlawyer, private-equity ownership of law firms can benefit shareholders and others vulnerable to governance issues such as disparate interests, and can in turn help resolve agency problems, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • Kentucky Tax Talk: Taking Up The Dormant Commerce Clause

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    Attorneys at Frost Brown examine whether the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to review Foresight Coal Sales v. Kent Chandler to consider whether a Kentucky utility rate law discriminates against interstate commerce, and how the decision may affect dormant commerce clause jurisprudence.

  • Prevailing Wage Rules Complicate Inflation Act Tax Incentives

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    Nicole Elliott and Timothy Taylor at Holland & Knight discuss the intersection between tax and labor newly created by the Inflation Reduction Act, and focus on aspects of recent U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of the Treasury rules that may catch tax-incentive seekers off guard.

  • Payroll Tax Evasion Notice Suggests FinCEN's New Focus

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    The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s recent notice advising U.S. financial institutions to report payroll tax evasion and workers' compensation schemes in the construction industry suggests a growing interest in tax enforcement and IRS collaboration, as well as increased scrutiny in the construction sector, say Andrew Weiner and Jay Nanavati at Kostelanetz.

  • How Taxpayers Can Prep As Justices Weigh Repatriation Tax

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    The U.S. Supreme Court might strike down the 2017 federal tax overhaul's corporate repatriation tax in Moore v. U.S., so taxpayers should file protective tax refund claims before the case is decided and repatriate previously taxed earnings that could become entangled in dubious potential Section 965 refunds, say Jenny Austin and Gary Wilcox at Mayer Brown.

  • IRS Foreign Tax Credit Pause Is Welcome Course Correction

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    A recent IRS notice temporarily suspending application of 2022 foreign tax credit regulations provides wanted relief for the many U.S. multinational companies and other taxpayers that otherwise face the risk of significant double taxation in their international operations, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • If Justices End Chevron Deference, Auer Could Be Next Target

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    If the U.S. Supreme Court decides next term to overrule its Chevron v. NRDC decision, it may open the door for a similar review of the Auer deference — the principle that a government agency can interpret, through application, ambiguous agency regulations, says Sohan Dasgupta at Taft Stettinius.

  • Tax Court Ruling Provides Helpful Profits Interest Guidance

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    A recent U.S. Tax Court decision holding that a partnership may exclude interests in a company that it indirectly received sheds light on related IRS guidance, including the proper valuation method for such interests, though the court's application of the method to the facts of this case appears flawed, say attorneys at Kramer Levin.

  • Mallory Ruling Doesn't Undermine NC Sales Tax Holding

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    Contrary to the conclusion reached in a recent Law360 guest article, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Mallory ruling shouldn't be read as implicitly repudiating the North Carolina Supreme Court’s sales tax ruling in Quad Graphics v. North Carolina Department of Revenue — the U.S. Supreme Court could have rejected Quad by directly overturning it, says Jonathan Entin at Case Western Reserve.

  • IRS Criminal Probe Spells Uncertainty For Malta Pension Plans

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    The IRS’ recent scrutiny of Malta pension plan arrangements — and its unusual issuance of criminal administrative summonses — confirms that it views many of these plans as illegal tax evasion schemes, and the road ahead will not be smooth and steady for anyone involved, say attorneys at Kostelanetz.

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