Federal
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October 07, 2024
Jury Finds Professor Hid Foreign Bank Accounts
An 86-year-old former college professor faces more than $500,000 plus interest in penalties after a jury found that he had deliberately failed to report his foreign bank accounts in Switzerland and Turkey, according to documents filed in a California federal court.
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October 07, 2024
Treasury Proposes Exempting Tribal Cos. From Income Tax
Tribal-owned businesses would not be subject to federal income tax under proposed regulations released Monday by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, a move that would also allow such entities to be eligible to receive direct cash payments in lieu of clean energy tax credits.
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October 07, 2024
Henderson Franklin Adds Tax Pro To Florida Offices
A tax attorney who formerly practiced at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC has joined Henderson Franklin Starnes & Holt PA's business and tax planning department and will work from the firm's Florida offices in Fort Myers and Naples.
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October 07, 2024
Man Who Faced Espionage Case Gets Probation Over Taxes
A Chinese engineer initially accused of illegally exporting documents on military aircraft to China was given probation and fined for failing to report about $1.4 million in business income by a Texas federal court after the government dropped its export charges.
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October 07, 2024
11th Circ. Balks At Ex-Braves' $47M Easement Case
Former Atlanta Braves players John Smoltz and Ryan Klesko, challenging a U.S. Tax Court ruling that slashed the value of a conservation easement deduction by 90%, won't have their appeal heard by the Eleventh Circuit after the court said Monday the duo had jumped the gun on challenging the decision before it was made final.
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October 07, 2024
Mich. Couple Owe $3.3M Tax Debt, US Says
A Michigan federal court should order the sale of three properties held by a real estate company to satisfy the roughly $3.3 million tax debt of a couple who are the company's nominee owners, the U.S. government said in a complaint Monday.
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October 07, 2024
IRS Finalizes Conservation Easement Reporting Rules
The IRS released final regulations Monday that impose additional reporting requirements under the threat of penalty for partnerships that abuse a conservation easement tax deduction after the agency suffered major losses in court battles that invalidated the original 2017 rules for violating administrative law.
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October 07, 2024
DC Circ. Skeptical Of Tax Tipster's Whistleblower Award Bid
D.C. Circuit judges seemed skeptical Monday of a tax tipster's claim that the U.S. Tax Court had jurisdiction over his case seeking to overturn the IRS' denial of a whistleblower award, saying during oral arguments that the agency had found his tips unproductive early on.
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October 07, 2024
Justices Won't Review Contractor's $1.3M R&D Credit Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand Monday a Fifth Circuit decision denying a construction company's shareholders a six-figure tax refund for the company's $1.3 million research credit claim, denying a petition.
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October 07, 2024
TCJA Extension, Biz Tax Cut To Reward Top 5%, Report Says
Former President Donald Trump's planned extension of the 2017 tax cuts and lowering of corporate rates contribute most among his platform to lowering taxes for the wealthiest 5% and hiking them for everyone else, the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said Monday in a report.
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October 04, 2024
Defunct Yoga Studios' Founder Cops To Tax Evasion
The founder of a defunct chain of prominent and lucrative yoga studios who was accused of hiding $1.6 million in income from the Internal Revenue Service pled guilty to tax evasion, New York federal prosecutors said Friday.
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October 04, 2024
DC Circ. Won't Reconsider Whistleblower's $690M Claim
The D.C. Circuit on Friday rejected a whistleblower's request that it rehear a ruling upholding the denial of up to $690 million, or 30%, of the $2.3 billion collected in an Internal Revenue Service offshore voluntary disclosure program.
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October 04, 2024
Fed. Circ. Revives HR Co.'s $1.6M Tax Penalty Refund Bid
A human resources company that sought $1.6 million in tax penalty refunds should not have been rejected for its failure to attach power-of-attorney forms to its requests, the Federal Circuit said Friday in vacating a decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
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October 04, 2024
Promise Of OECD's Payments Tax Treaty Called Into Question
The OECD-designed tool to provide developing countries with better means to apply a minimum tax on income sent from their jurisdictions to low-taxed entities within a corporate group is inadequate to address those countries' revenue needs, tax policy organizations said.
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October 04, 2024
Former NJ Doctor Owes $4.8M In FBAR Penalties, Court Told
A former physician in New Jersey faces a tax bill of almost $5 million for failing to report 19 bank accounts he opened at Indian banks, the government told a federal court.
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October 04, 2024
IRS Probes Atty Over Promotion Of Deferred Law Firm Fees
The Internal Revenue Service is investigating a lawyer it suspects of promoting a scheme to illegally shield attorneys from taxes on legal fees, according to an Ohio federal court petition seeking to enforce summonses for documents in the case.
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October 04, 2024
Justices Accept Ex-Chicago Alderman's False Statement Case
The U.S. Supreme Court said Friday that it would review the conviction of an ex-Burke Warren MacKay & Serritella PC attorney and former Chicago alderman under a federal statute that prohibits making false statements to influence certain financial institutions.
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October 04, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Gibson Dunn, Weil, Simpson
In this week's Taxation with Representation, DirectTV buys EchoStar's video business for $10 billion, Marsh McLennan inks a $7.75 billion deal for McGriff Insurance, and PepsiCo closes a $1.2 billion deal to purchase Siete Foods.
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October 04, 2024
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included proposed regulations that would define which electric vehicle charging ports and other similar infrastructure that taxpayers can build in underserved communities to qualify for a tax credit.
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October 03, 2024
12 Lawyers Who Are The Future Of The Supreme Court Bar
One attorney hasn't lost a single U.S. Supreme Court case she's argued, or even a single justice's vote. One attorney is perhaps "the preeminent SCOTUS advocate." And one may soon become U.S. solicitor general, despite acknowledging there are "judges out there who don't like me." All three are among a dozen lawyers in the vanguard of the Supreme Court bar's next generation, poised to follow in the footsteps of the bar's current icons.
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October 03, 2024
US Partnership Excluded From Tax Treaty, Irish Court Says
A Delaware corporation with three Irish subsidiaries must pay Irish taxes on distributions to its U.S. partners because a U.S.-Ireland tax treaty designed to prevent double taxation does not apply, the Irish High Court ruled.
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October 03, 2024
Assisted Living Owner Can't Deduct Losses, Tax Court Says
The owner of an assisted living company may not deduct passive losses for a group home he renovated because he spent too few hours working on repairs to qualify as a real estate professional, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday.
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October 03, 2024
TIGTA Says $12.9B In Early Distributions Missing Added Tax
Roughly 2.8 million taxpayers in 2021 received early retirement distributions totaling $12.9 billion but did not pay the additional 10% tax or file for an exception, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday.
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October 03, 2024
Bankruptcy Doesn't Pause Tipster's Case, Tax Court Says
A tax tipster's bankruptcy filing doesn't pause his U.S. Tax Court case challenging the Internal Revenue Service's denial of his request for a whistleblower award, the Tax Court ruled Thursday, saying the award case doesn't concern his tax liability.
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October 03, 2024
IRS Expanding Scope Of Free Online Tax-Filing Program
The Internal Revenue Service will expand its free online tax-filing program to accommodate more types of income, credits and deductions in 2025, Commissioner Daniel Werfel said Thursday.
Expert Analysis
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A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue
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.
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Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
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.
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3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
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.
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Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem
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.
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Tracking Implementation Of IRA Programs As Election Nears
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.
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Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule
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.
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Takeaways From Justices' Redemption Insurance Decision
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.
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6 Tips For Maximizing After-Tax Returns In Private M&A Deals
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.
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After A Brief Hiccup, The 'Rocket Docket' Soars Back To No. 1
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.
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Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers
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.
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What DOL Fiduciary Rule Means For Private Fund Managers
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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Money, Money, Money: Limiting White Collar Wealth Evidence
As courts increasingly recognize that allowing unfettered evidence of wealth could prejudice a jury against a defendant, white collar defense counsel should consider several avenues for excluding visual evidence of a lavish lifestyle at trial, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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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.