Federal
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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.
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October 03, 2024
3M Tells 8th Circ. Chevron's End Dooms IRS In $24M Dispute
Multinational conglomerate 3M said Thursday that the U.S. Supreme Court's striking down of Chevron deference dictates that the Eighth Circuit overturn a U.S. Tax Court decision that supported the IRS' reallocation of $24 million from the company's Brazilian affiliate.
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October 03, 2024
IRS Used $2B Of Funding Boost For Operating Expenses
The IRS has used $2 billion of the funding boost it received under the Inflation Reduction Act to supplement its annual funding, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
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October 03, 2024
IRS Missing Out On $1.4B In Taxes On Gambling Winnings
The Internal Revenue Service's failure to enforce income tax filing requirements for recipients of a form to report gambling winnings has cost it an estimated roughly $1.4 billion in additional tax revenue, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday.
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October 03, 2024
IRS Issues Part-Time Worker 403(b) Retirement Plan Guidance
The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury Department published guidance Thursday on how long-term, part-time employees' Internal Revenue Code Section 403(b) retirement plans will be affected by the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022, which will apply to such plans starting in 2025.
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October 03, 2024
K&L Gates Boosts Houston Shop With Ernst & Young Tax Ace
K&L Gates LLP strengthened its Houston office this week with the hire of a tax partner with nearly three decades of expertise in advising multinational corporations on U.S. taxation on cross-border acquisitions and other transactions.
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October 03, 2024
Calif. Can't Delay Bank's $20.7M Tax Refund, FDIC Tells Court
A California tax collection agency shouldn't be allowed to delay a $20.7 million tax refund it owes the shuttered Signature Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. told a New York federal court, saying that as the bank's receiver, it's entitled to the money now.
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October 03, 2024
Tax Deadlines Delayed For Victims Of Wash. Reservation Fires
Taxpayers on the Yakama Nation's reservation in Washington state will have until Feb. 3 to file individual and business tax returns and make payments following wildfires, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.
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October 03, 2024
Ch. 7 Invalidates $4M Worker Retention Credit Suit, Gov't Says
A road construction company can't sue the Internal Revenue Service for a tax refund for pandemic-era worker credits because its claims stemmed from Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, the federal government told a Florida federal court.
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October 02, 2024
NY Man Posed As Exec To Steal $810K Tax Refund, Feds Say
A New York man has been charged with intercepting an unnamed Connecticut investment firm's $810,337 tax refund and then impersonating an executive of the company to steal most of it.
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October 02, 2024
IRS Makes Progress On Retention Credit Fraud, TIGTA Says
The IRS has made multiple improvements to address false claims for the COVID-19-era employee retention credit, including updating messaging and beefing up certain tax return filters to identify problematic claims, but there is still room for improvement, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Wednesday.
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October 02, 2024
Stopgap Gov't Funding Law May Hinder IRS Improvements
The IRS may need to redirect funds from its 2022 funding boost intended for agency improvements in order to cover routine operations, reducing funds available for planned upgrade projects, due to the stopgap appropriations bill Congress passed last week.
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October 02, 2024
9th Circ. Upholds 14 Years For Ex-Deputy's Tax, Fraud Crimes
A former sheriff's deputy who was ordered to pay $7.6 million in restitution and sentenced to 14 years in prison for tax crimes and wire fraud lost his bid to vacate his sentence Wednesday when the Ninth Circuit decided he wasn't unfairly denied a new attorney.
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October 02, 2024
IRS Says European Energy Exchange Is A Qualified Exchange
The European Energy Exchange is a qualified board or exchange for purposes of mark-to-market contracts under Internal Revenue Code Section 1256(g)(7)(C), the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.
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October 02, 2024
IRS Too Lax On Tax Prep Partners' Data Practices, TIGTA Says
The IRS isn't doing enough to oversee the data protection practices of the tax preparation businesses in its Free File program and has never removed a partner from the program despite some having been sanctioned for unauthorized disclosures of taxpayer information, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Wednesday.
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October 02, 2024
US Seeks To Drop $1M Tax Suit Against Sleep Clinic Founder
The U.S. government seeks to drop its case against a sleep clinic founder and his wife, whom it had accused of hiding assets, after the couple agreed to pay their tax liabilities in full, according to a filing in California federal court Wednesday.
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October 01, 2024
VP Nominees Vance, Walz Spar Over Tax Cuts
Vice presidential candidates Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Gov. Tim Walz, D-Mich., laid out their plans for federal tax cuts to create affordable housing and child care, spark new business growth and increase manufacturing during a nationally televised debate Tuesday night.
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October 01, 2024
IRS Delays Deadlines, Grants Other Relief Following Helene
Taxpayers in all or part of seven states will have until May 1 to file individual and business tax returns and make payments after Hurricane Helene hit the area, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday, while also granting dyed diesel penalty relief as well.
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October 01, 2024
Tax Deadlines Extended For Victims Of Israel-Hamas War
The Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday that it will postpone tax return and payment deadlines to Sept. 30, 2025, for those affected by the Israel-Hamas war across 2023 and 2024.
Expert Analysis
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NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It
The recent House v. NCAA settlement in California federal court, in which the NCAA agreed to allow schools to directly pay March Madness television revenue to their athletes, may send outside name, image and likeness collectives in-house, says Mike Ingersoll at Womble Bond.
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Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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BF Borgers Clients Should Review Compliance, Liability
After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently announced enforcement proceedings against audit firm BF Borgers for fabricating audit documentation for hundreds of public companies, those companies will need to follow special procedures for disclosure and reporting — and may need to prepare for litigation from the plaintiffs bar, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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What Updated PLR Procedure May Mean For Stock Spin-Offs
A recently published Internal Revenue Service revenue procedure departs from commonly understood interpretations of the spinoff rules by imposing more stringent standards on companies seeking private letter rulings regarding tax-free stock spinoff and split-off transactions, and may presage regulatory changes that would have the force of law, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Proposed Cannabis Reschedule Sidesteps State Law Effects
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent proposal to move cannabis to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act provides certain benefits, but its failure to address how the rescheduling would interact with existing state cannabis laws disappointed industry participants hoping for clarity on this crucial question, says Ian Stewart at Wilson Elser.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
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Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
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New Crypto Reporting Will Require Rigorous Recordkeeping
The release of a form for reporting digital asset transactions is a pivotal moment in the Internal Revenue Service's efforts to track cryptocurrency activities that increases oversight by requiring brokers to report investor sales and exchanges, say Shaina Kamen and Max Angel at Holland & Knight.
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Geothermal Energy Has Growing Potential In The US
Bipartisan support for the geothermal industry shows that geothermal energy can be an elegant solution toward global decarbonization efforts because of its small footprint, low supply chain risk, and potential to draw on the skills of existing highly specialized oil and gas workers and renewable specialists, say attorneys at Weil.