Federal

  • January 09, 2025

    Delaware Law Firms Kick Off New Year With Atty Promotions

    As the new year gets underway, numerous Delaware law firms recently announced attorney promotions, including Bayard PA, Morris James LLP, Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP and Gordon Fournaris & Mammarella PA.

  • January 09, 2025

    IRS Gets First Dibs On $1M BP Oil Spill Payout, 11th Circ. Says

    The IRS gets first priority to a $1 million settlement BP paid to a staffing company that racked up $23 million in federal tax debt and went bankrupt following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed, denying an insurer's claim to the money.

  • January 08, 2025

    Ex-FBI Informant Who Smeared Bidens Gets 6 Years

    A former FBI informant who falsely told agents that a Ukrainian energy company had paid off President Joe Biden and his son Hunter was sentenced Wednesday in California federal court to six years in prison.

  • January 08, 2025

    Pension Plan Official's Estate Excused From Danish Tax Suit

    A New York federal court approved Wednesday an agreement for Denmark's tax authority to settle its claims against the estate of a pension plan official whose plan allegedly defrauded the agency out of $9 million.

  • January 08, 2025

    Final Treasury Regs Grow Low-Income Bonus Energy Credits

    New hydropower, nuclear, solar, geothermal and other nonpolluting energy facilities developed in areas designated as low-income communities are eligible for bonus investment tax credits under final regulations the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled Wednesday.

  • January 08, 2025

    H&R Block To Pay $7M Fine In False Ad Settlement With FTC

    Tax preparation giant H&R Block will pay a $7 million fine to help customers harmed by what the Federal Trade Commission called its deceptive advertising practices and make it easier for customers to downgrade to cheaper products under a settlement with the agency announced Wednesday.

  • January 08, 2025

    IRS Updates Guidance For Taxes In Employment Disputes

    The Internal Revenue Service updated guidance Wednesday related to disputes over whether individuals are considered employees for employment tax purposes as well as clarified situations in which an employer can remit unpaid taxes at reduced rates in cases where the employer treated an employee as a nonemployee.

  • January 08, 2025

    Consultant Owes Taxes, Fraud Penalties, Tax Court Says

    A healthcare consultant digitally altered documents to claim unwarranted deductions, including one for a three-day hospital stay the medical facility said never happened, according to a U.S. Tax Court ruling Wednesday that sustained $53,000 in taxes and fraud penalties against her.

  • January 08, 2025

    Worker Tax Credit Processing Delays Called Serious Problem

    Continued delays in processing employee retention tax credit claims is the most serious problem facing the Internal Revenue Service, the national taxpayer advocate said Wednesday in her annual report to Congress, recommending that the agency lift its moratorium on processing new claims.

  • January 08, 2025

    US, Swiss To Give Retirement Plans Lower Dividend Tax Rates

    The Swiss and U.S. competent authorities agreed to provide lower tax rates on dividends for several types of retirement entities such as trusts that run pensions, qualified annuity plans and individual plans under the two countries' tax treaty, the Swiss government said Wednesday.

  • January 08, 2025

    5th Circ. Remands Tax Restitution Nonpayment Sentence

    The Fifth Circuit ordered a lower court to reconsider its decision to send a woman who evaded taxes back to prison, saying it should hear her new argument that only a civil punishment was allowed for her failure to pay restitution after she was released.

  • January 08, 2025

    Feds Want 2 Years In Prison For Atty In Payroll Tax Fraud

    A former Ohio attorney who managed his wife's dental practice should spend at least two years in prison for causing $750,000 in federal tax losses and failing to pay employment taxes, prosecutors urged Wednesday, saying he used the business as a personal piggy bank.

  • January 08, 2025

    IRS Delays Thursday Deadlines For Carter Day Of Mourning

    Any federal tax payments or returns due Thursday can now be paid or filed Friday due to the national day of mourning for President Jimmy Carter, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.

  • January 07, 2025

    H&R Block Accused Of Negligence In Data Breach

    An H&R Block user who claims cybercriminals disseminated his personal information on the dark web, after a data breach at the tax preparation firm, accused the company in a proposed class action of failing to properly protect consumer data.

  • January 07, 2025

    Cos. Seek Pause Of Retention Credit Processing In Litigation

    Two companies that helped clients obtain pandemic-era employee retention tax credits asked Arizona federal district court Tuesday to pause the IRS' use of a system for automatically processing claims, saying harm caused by this process cannot be remedied after litigation.

  • January 07, 2025

    7th Circ. Upholds Tax Penalties For Life Insurance Scammer

    The Seventh Circuit upheld Tuesday nearly $400,000 in tax penalties against a man who served prison time for falsifying his returns as part of a scheme to poison his wife and collect on a $20 million life insurance policy.

  • January 07, 2025

    Treasury Finalizes Clean Electricity Tax Credit Regs

    The U.S. Treasury Department released final regulations Tuesday for a pair of new tax credits that reward various types of electricity generation from technologies that don't emit greenhouse gases, replacing recently expired incentives that benefited only renewable energy sources.

  • January 07, 2025

    Lowenstein Sandler Elects 5-Atty Partner Class For 2025

    Lowenstein Sandler LLP announced a class of five new partners for 2025 this week, drawing on attorneys working from New York and New Jersey and bringing expertise in tax law, environmental law, white collar defense and more.

  • January 07, 2025

    Baker McKenzie Adds Tax Partners In California And New York

    Baker McKenzie is fortifying its tax practice by hiring a partner in San Francisco with experience in planning tax positions and handling controversies for technology-driven companies and rehiring another in New York who is skilled at state taxes and journalism.

  • January 07, 2025

    BankUnited's $40M Tax Refund Bid Too Late, Judge Rules

    BankUnited is not owed a nearly $40 million tax refund stemming from losses it incurred when it took over a failed bank because it requested the refund too late, a Florida federal judge ruled Tuesday, agreeing with the U.S. government.

  • January 06, 2025

    Trump Selects Long Island Judge For EDNY's Top Prosecutor

    President-elect Donald Trump, who was born in Queens, has picked a Long Island state court judge to serve as the next U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, according to an announcement made Monday on Truth Social.

  • January 06, 2025

    New Rules Won't Lift Political Clouds Over Hydrogen Projects

    The Biden administration's new rules to make hydrogen production tax credits more accessible for project developers and investors may not move the needle much for the industry given President-elect Donald Trump's vow to at least partially repeal the statute that created the credits.

  • January 06, 2025

    House Speaker Sets April Target For Tax Law Extension Vote

    The House of Representatives will send a reconciliation bill to the Senate by the end of April that will include major Republican priorities, including the renewal of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions scheduled to expire at the end of the year, House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

  • January 06, 2025

    Judge Allows Sale Of Shared Dental Practice To Satisfy Taxes

    The federal government can foreclose on a jointly owned dental practice to satisfy the roughly $500,000 tax debt of one of its partners, a New Jersey federal court ruled Monday, rejecting the request of a partner dentist who urged the court to spare his share.

  • January 06, 2025

    Convicted Atty Who 'Lost Everything' Fights To Keep License

    A Philadelphia-based personal injury attorney who was convicted for not paying income tax on more than $8 million in revenue he earned and for failing to pay almost $60,000 in payroll taxes argued Monday he should not permanently lose his ability to practice law in New Jersey.

Expert Analysis

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Ex-Chicago Politician's Case May Further Curb Fraud Theories

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Thompson v. U.S. to determine whether a statement that is misleading but not false still violates federal law, potentially heralding the court’s largest check yet on prosecutors’ expansive fraud theories, with significant implications for sentencing, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Tariffs' Economic Downsides Outweigh Potential Revenue

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    Import tariffs proposed by the campaign of former president Donald Trump would generate revenue like other taxes, but policymakers must consider the net-negative impact of associated consumer and downstream-industry costs, harm to exporters, potential foreign retaliation and reduction in economic output, says Erica York at the Tax Foundation.

  • Navigating The Last Leg Of The Worker Retention Tax Credit

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    Whether a business has applied for the pandemic-era employee retention tax credit, received a denial letter or is still considering making a claim before the April 15 deadline, it should examine recent developments significantly affecting the program before planning next steps, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.

  • How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program

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    During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.

  • Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.

  • Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys

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    Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.

  • Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code

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    As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.

  • What To Make Of Dueling Corporate Transparency Act Rulings

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    Although challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act abound — as highlighted by recent federal court decisions from Alabama and Oregon taking opposite positions on its constitutionality — the act is still law, so companies should comply with their filing requirements or face the potential consequences, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

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