Federal

  • June 05, 2026

    11th Circ. Lets Man Fight $2.2M FBAR Penalties As Excessive

    A Georgia federal court correctly found that the owner of a sports equipment business willfully failed to disclose his foreign bank accounts, but it must give him a chance to challenge $2.2 million in resulting penalties as excessive under the Eighth Amendment, the Eleventh Circuit said.

  • June 05, 2026

    IRS To Release Guidance On Tax-Exempt Org. Pay Excise Tax

    The IRS is planning to issue proposed guidance on the expanded 21% excise tax on excess compensation at tax-exempt organizations, including updated definitions that align with changes passed under Republicans' 2025 tax overhaul, according to a notice released Friday.

  • June 05, 2026

    Abbott Says Timing Mismatch Lets $8B Gain Go Untaxed

    Abbott Laboratories asked the U.S. Tax Court to find that it needn't recognize an $8 billion gain in 2020 from transactions between several of its controlled foreign corporations because of a mismatch in the effective dates of different sections of the 2017 U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

  • June 05, 2026

    Judge Asks How FCC Ruling Affects $6.6M IRS Penalty Fight

    A Pennsylvania federal judge ordered briefing on how the U.S. Supreme Court's new decision upholding agency fines without a jury trial affects a $6.6 million tax penalty dispute, signaling potential reconsideration of last year's opinion in the case.

  • June 05, 2026

    Taxation With Representation: Simpson Thacher, Fried Frank

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. takes Taylor Morrison Home Corp. private, global real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson forms a residential joint venture with Netherlands pension services provider APG, and Wellington Management acquires Hartford Funds from insurer The Hartford.

  • June 05, 2026

    Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin

    The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, released Friday, included an extension for sponsors of certain defined contribution retirement plans to amend the plans to allow qualified long-term care distributions.

  • June 04, 2026

    Jury Hears Closings In Trial Over Alleged Tax Shelter Scheme

    Prosecutors told a Colorado federal jury Thursday that four individuals defrauded the government by using their businesses to help promote and sell abusive and illegal trust tax shelters, while the defendants argued they lacked knowledge of the alleged scheme and can't be held responsible.

  • June 04, 2026

    Bessent Mum On Details Of Trump-IRS Settlement

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave House Democrats few answers Thursday to their questions on the scope and limitations of President Donald Trump's settlement with the IRS over the leak of his tax data that includes an exemption from tax audits for Trump and members of his family.

  • June 04, 2026

    Tax Court Confirms IRS Computations In Easement Case

    A partnership, in objecting to IRS computations, improperly raised new arguments in a case where the U.S. Tax Court reduced a conservation easement deduction by over $10 million, the tax court said in upholding the agency's calculations, which included a 40% penalty.

  • June 04, 2026

    Feds Appeal Trade Court's Emergency Tariff Refund Order

    The federal government has appealed the U.S. Court of International Trade's order requiring refunds on all duties paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after the U.S. Supreme Court struck them down this year, according to filings in the trade court and Federal Circuit.

  • June 04, 2026

    IRS To Hold Hearing On Trump Accounts In July

    The Internal Revenue Service will hold a public hearing July 16 on proposed rules related to the new tax-advantaged brokerage accounts for newborns called Trump accounts, the agency said Thursday.

  • June 04, 2026

    Ex-Surgeon Agrees To $7.7M Tax Bill From Offshore Scheme

    A retired plastic surgeon reached a $7.7 million settlement with the federal government to resolve an Internal Revenue Service case alleging that he ran an offshore employee leasing scheme, according to an agreement filed in an Ohio federal court.

  • June 04, 2026

    Californian's Crypto Staking Rewards Taxable, Tax Court Says

    A California man's cryptocurrency staking rewards, in the form of additional tokens for supporting a blockchain platform, are taxable income, a U.S. Tax Court judge ruled Thursday, saying he could have converted the tokens into cash at any time.

  • June 04, 2026

    Goldstein Seeks Sentencing Delay, Citing New Tax Claims

    SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein renewed his push Wednesday in Maryland federal court for a delayed sentencing, saying prosecutors blindsided his defense by including additional uncharged years of alleged tax avoidance in the government's sentencing memorandum.

  • June 04, 2026

    Blanche's AG Bid Could Face Rocky Path In Senate

    Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will be tapped for the permanent role, but he might not have a smooth path to confirmation.

  • June 04, 2026

    Tax Court Didn't Err In Voiding $713M Deduction, IRS Says

    A real estate development partnership failed to show that the U.S. Tax Court made errors that undermined its ruling eliminating a $713 million deduction to the partnership for 2012, the IRS argued, saying the court shouldn't gratuitously decide issues that don't affect a case's disposition.

  • June 03, 2026

    Dems Press Bessent On 'Weaponization' Fund, Trump Audits

    Senate Democrats questioned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday about details of a settlement that included a since-dropped plan for a $1.8 billion fund that could have been used to pay off Jan. 6 defendants and an exemption from IRS audits for President Donald Trump and members of his family.

  • June 03, 2026

    Texas Instruments Defends Deductions For Exercised Options

    Texas Instruments challenged total deficiencies of $47.9 million for 2018 and 2019, much of it from the IRS' disallowance of deductions for deferred compensation, such as exercised stock options, under an approach consistent with a 2022 agency advice memorandum.

  • June 03, 2026

    Purdue Pharma Heir Sues Son Over Sackler Matriarch's Estate

    Former Purdue Pharma LP President Richard Sackler has appealed a Connecticut probate court decision favoring his son David Sackler in a dispute over his mother Beverly Sackler's estate, saying a judge ignored self-dealing rules when approving his son's request to assign trust interests to a public charity.

  • June 03, 2026

    Goldstein Cites Addiction To Avoid Time, DOJ Seeks 8 Years

    Federal prosecutors recommended a 97-month prison sentence for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, telling a Maryland federal court he has bilked the government out of more than $9.5 million in unpaid taxes. Goldstein, meanwhile, asked for a suspended sentence and supervised release, citing a "severe and longstanding gambling addiction."

  • June 03, 2026

    Graham Pushes Federal Tort Path After DOJ Drops $1.8B Fund

    The U.S. Department of Justice seemed, at least briefly, to support a Republican senator's alternative solution to the "anti-weaponization" $1.8 billion fund that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday the department is abandoning.

  • June 03, 2026

    USTR Floats Double-Digit Tariffs On Basis Of Forced Labor

    Sixty economies are facing added tariffs of either 10% or 12.5% on their exports to the U.S. following investigations by the U.S. Trade Representative's Office into countries' protections against the importing of goods produced with forced labor.

  • June 03, 2026

    Iran War Driving Slower Growth, Surging Inflation, OECD Says

    The Iran war is driving slower growth and surging inflation across the global economy, and U.S. tariff policy is adding to uncertainty, the OECD said Wednesday during a virtual news conference.

  • June 03, 2026

    Trust Tax Scheme Leader Gets More Than 7 Years In Prison

    A Texan who led an $8.5 million tax scheme involving trusts was sentenced to more than seven years in prison, making him the last defendant to be sentenced in a family-run operation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • June 03, 2026

    USTR Seeks Input On China Preferential Trade Mechanism

    The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced what it is calling a government-to-government mechanism that will manage bilateral trade between the U.S. and China, including by considering tariff cuts, and asked for public comments on the program's development.

Expert Analysis

  • Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

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    While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

  • How To Limit Accounting Fraud Risk As SEC Focus Persists

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    Despite the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's pullback on crypto, cybersecurity and recordkeeping cases, accounting fraud remains a core enforcement priority, making it important for public companies and auditors to strengthen controls, investigations and whistleblower processes, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Speed Jigsaw Puzzling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My passion for speed puzzling — I can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in under 50 minutes — has sharpened my legal skills in more ways than one, with both disciplines requiring patience, precision and the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind while working through the details, says Tazia Statucki at Proskauer.

  • Documenting Business Purpose After IRS' 10th Circ. Win

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    Following the Tenth Circuit’s recent Liberty Global v. U.S. decision, which held the economic substance doctrine does not require a threshold relevancy determination, taxpayers can prepare for potential audits by maintaining contemporaneous documentation and taking other steps that demonstrate the business purpose of transactions, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • 2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

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    The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

  • How Data Center Accounting May Draw Enforcement Scrutiny

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    As public and media scrutiny of the data center industry intensifies, regulators, enforcement authorities and Congress will likely focus on accounting judgments that rely on aggressive assumptions, opaque financing structures or rapidly evolving collateral classes, heightening the risk of investigations and inquiries, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Improving Well-Being In Law, 10 Years After Landmark Study

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    An important 2016 study revealed significant substance abuse and mental health issues among lawyers, and while the findings helped normalize the conversation around these topics, a decade later, structural change is still needed, says Denise Robinson at PLI.

  • How To Gear Up For Trump's Pharma Tariffs

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    President Donald Trump's proclamation establishing tariffs on certain pharmaceutical products holds a few areas of ambiguity that companies should review and prepare for before the tariffs come into effect later this year, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Steps To Consider As DOJ Launches Fraud Division

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    The establishment this month of the National Fraud Enforcement Division within the U.S. Department of Justice is a significant reorganization that suggests an increase in enforcement activity involving federally funded programs but leaves a number of important questions unanswered, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • What To Expect From The SEC's New SOX Group

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    In a potential shift away from Public Company Accounting Oversight Board enforcement, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's formation of a new group to investigate and litigate potential violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act brings both risks and benefits for auditors, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

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