Federal

One Certainty As Tariff Refunds Start: 'There Will Be Litigation'

Chris Villani

The launch of the refund process for tariffs struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court marks the start of lengthy and multifaceted court battles as companies fight with consumers — and amongst themselves — about who gets a slice of the $166 billion pie, experts told Law360.

AI Missteps Could Prompt Tax Court To Adopt Misuse Rules

Kat Lucero

As the U.S. Tax Court continues to encounter false information generated by artificial intelligence, practitioners are urging the court to set some guidance to curb misuse of the technology and reduce the burden on judicial reviewers to catch those errors.

Spinoff Landscape Unclear In Wake Of Tossed IRS Guidance

Natalie Olivo
Senior Tax Correspondent

The Internal Revenue Service has scrapped controversial guidance that limited the types of spinoff transactions that revenue officials would approve as tax-free ahead of time, but the path to seeking the agency's blessing for certain intercompany reorganizations remains hazy.

Steps To Consider As DOJ Launches Fraud Division

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

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.

Hungary CPAC Funding Probe Could Implicate US Entities

A Hungarian anti-corruption investigation into claims that the former prime minister used taxpayer funds to support the Conservative Political Action Conference could include potential cross-border political and financial dimensions that create multiple touchpoints for U.S. regulatory and enforcement interest, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

Mitigating Multistate Risks As California Expands Tax Reach

Though California's new sourcing rules and extension of the pass-through entity election have created uncertainty, practitioners should file protective returns to respect the law's ambiguity and take certain other steps to protect clients from the costs of losing a future audit, says attorney Delina Yasmeh.

E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On ESI Control

Several recent federal court decisions have perpetuated a split over what constitutes “control” of electronically stored information — with judges divided on whether the standard should turn on a party's legal right or practical ability to obtain the information, say attorneys at Sidley.

Anticipating The Justices' Potential Ruling On Tax Takings

Recent oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court case Pung v. Isabella focused on rules for valuation, timing and administrability of tax auction proceeds and whichever method the court adopts for determining just compensation, it will have far-reaching impacts on tax collection, homeowners' equity and the secondary market for tax-foreclosed property, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

2 Discovery Rulings Break With Heppner On AI Privilege Issue

While a New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner suggests that some litigants’ communications with AI tools are discoverable, two other recent federal court decisions demonstrate that such interactions generally qualify for work-product protection under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, says Joshua Dunn at Brown Rudnick.

CBP's $166B Tariff Refund Portal Needs 4 Safeguards

Before launching its automated web portal to process tariff-refund disbursements on April 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection should apply the expensive lessons learned from the pandemic-era employee retention credit, says Peter Gariepy at RubinBrown.

How Developers Can Leverage The New Markets Tax Credit

An increased regulatory focus on affordable housing raises important legal considerations for structuring transactions using the oft overlooked New Markets Tax Credit, which can fill a gap in affordable for-sale housing financing by lowering community developer costs but comes with unique compliance, structuring and documentation demands, say attorneys at Stinson.

Calculating Damages In IEEPA Tariff Refund Litigation

To calculate damages in the spate of refund litigation triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the central question will be how to determine where in the supply chain their economic burden ultimately came to rest, say analysts at Charles River Associates.

Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

Mich. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

Michigan's financial services sector saw several significant developments in 2026's first quarter, including the state Department of Insurance and Financial Services' issuance of a bulletin on the use of artificial intelligence and the Michigan House's introduction of a bill based on the Model Money Transmission Modernization Act, say attorneys at Dykema.