Federal
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June 13, 2025
Fed. Tax Bill Primed To Reignite Conformity Talks In States
The federal budget reconciliation bill's tax proposals, including extensions of certain elements of President Donald Trump's signature 2017 tax plan, are primed to rekindle debates among state lawmakers over how states should conform to the federal code.
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June 12, 2025
Dallas Developer Cleared Of Bribery Charges In Retrial
A Dallas jury cleared a real estate executive charged with attempting to bribe city council members in exchange for federal low income housing credits, finding the executive not guilty Thursday after the Fifth Circuit threw out his guilty verdict and ordered a retrial.
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June 12, 2025
GOP Tax Bill Penalizes Professionals, CPA Group Says
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by House Republicans penalizes accountants and other professionals and would unfairly eliminate a state and local tax deduction for certain pass-through entities, a national group of certified public accountants said Thursday.
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June 12, 2025
Spouse Had No Idea About Ex's Income, Tax Court Determines
A North Carolina woman who prepared joint tax returns for her and her now-ex husband had no idea of the multiple sources of unreported income paid to her former spouse, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday, granting her innocent spouse relief from his tax liability.
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June 12, 2025
Senate Confirms Former US Rep To Take IRS Helm
The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's nomination of former U.S. Rep. Billy Long to be Internal Revenue Service commissioner Thursday, clearing the path for him to begin a term that will end in November 2027.
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June 12, 2025
Bessent, Senate GOP Insist TCJA Extension Won't Hike Deficit
Senate Finance Committee Republicans and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent maintained Thursday that making permanent the expiring tax provisions in the 2017 tax overhaul would not raise the federal budget deficit, despite projections to the contrary.
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June 12, 2025
China Agrees To Loosen Rare Earth Restrictions, US Says
Chinese trade negotiators have agreed to lift export controls on rare-earth elements in exchange for the U.S. walking back a campaign to revoke visas for Chinese students, according to statements by U.S. officials, which experts said leave key issues unresolved.
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June 12, 2025
Avenatti Sheds 3 Years After 9th Circ. Orders Resentencing
A California federal judge on Thursday resentenced disbarred attorney Michael Avenatti to just over 11 years in federal prison for filching millions of dollars from his clients' settlement funds, reducing a 14-year sentence overturned by the Ninth Circuit and leaving Avenatti with about eight years left after time served.
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June 12, 2025
IRS Extends Deadline To Comply With Digital Asset Rules
Brokers of digital assets such as cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens will have another year to comply with new tax reporting requirements before facing penalties, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday in extending transition relief to the sale of digital assets through 2026.
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June 12, 2025
Biz Owner Who Faked Tax Docs Gets 4 Years For COVID Fraud
A business owner who used fabricated tax forms to secure $1 million in pandemic relief loans was sentenced to nearly four years in prison by a Colorado federal court after admitting one of the companies was inoperative and had no employees.
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June 12, 2025
Justices Reverse IRS Loss In Tax Collection Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the U.S. Tax Court did not have jurisdiction to review a New Jersey woman's collection dispute with the Internal Revenue Service after the agency stopped going after her unpaid taxes, reversing an earlier IRS loss.
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June 11, 2025
Ex-NASCAR Owner Pleads Guilty To Dodging Payroll Taxes
A former NASCAR team owner appeared in North Carolina federal court Wednesday to enter a guilty plea for his failure to pay payroll taxes, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement.
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June 11, 2025
Russia Must Face $5B Yukos Award Suit, DC Judge Rules
At D.C. federal judge on Wednesday denied Russia's bid to nix litigation filed by the financing arm of Yukos Oil Co. to enforce a nearly $5 billion arbitral award, saying the Kremlin's jurisdictional objections fell short.
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June 11, 2025
US Consultant In France Must Pay $2M In FBAR Penalties
An American energy consultant residing in France must pay more than $2 million in penalties for purposely not disclosing foreign bank accounts that held more than $3 million, as opposed to the under $30,000 initially reported, a D.C. federal court ruled.
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June 11, 2025
IRS Must Improve Online Taxpayer Identification, GAO Says
The Internal Revenue Service needs to enhance its oversight of the outside vendor it uses to verify taxpayer identities when users log in to file their returns or access online resources, the Government Accountability Office said Wednesday.
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June 11, 2025
Treasury Secretary Defends IRS Cuts, $3.8T Budget Bill
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told House lawmakers Wednesday that cutting IRS funding would strengthen the agency while the GOP's $3.8 trillion One Big Beautiful Bill Act would boost working-class living standards and spark a fresh wave of economic growth.
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June 11, 2025
Senate Dems' Bill Would Bar GILTI For 'Round-Tripped' Income
Income that is "round-tripped" to obtain tax advantages would become ineligible for the half-off corporate tax rate under the global intangible low-taxed income regime, based on a bill introduced Wednesday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and three other Senate Democrats.
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June 11, 2025
Trump Pick For IRS Chief Clears Key Senate Hurdle
President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service survived a key procedural vote Wednesday in the Senate, setting the stage for the chamber to proceed with a final vote on his confirmation.
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June 10, 2025
Vertex Says Tax Software Rival Purposely Destroyed Evidence
Tax compliance software company Vertex Inc. told a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday that Avalara intentionally destroyed and failed to preserve "key sources of electronically stored information crucially relevant" to Vertex's lawsuit accusing its rival of poaching workers to steal trade secrets.
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June 10, 2025
GOP Senators Vow To Maintain No Tax On Tips In Budget Bill
Senate Republicans said Tuesday they are likely to preserve the House's provisions that exempt tips from taxation and honor other campaign tax promises of President Donald Trump in the chamber's version of the budget bill.
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June 10, 2025
LA Real Estate Agent Admits Obstructing IRS
A Los Angeles commercial real estate broker pled guilty to obstructing the Internal Revenue Service's attempts to collect thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes by willfully hiding his income and assets from the agency, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
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June 10, 2025
Fed. Circ. Keeps Trump Tariffs In Place, Fast-Tracks Appeal
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday granted the federal government's bid to keep President Donald Trump's global tariffs in place while it appeals a U.S. Court of International Trade order striking them down on the grounds that they exceeded the president's authority.
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June 10, 2025
Fund Manager, Wife Can't Claim $1.9M Refund, Judge Rules
A Florida investment fund manager and his wife are not entitled to a $1.9 million income tax refund resulting from a depreciation deduction related to a private jet because the entity that purchased the jet was not operating as a business, a federal judge ruled.
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June 10, 2025
Ayahuasca Church Brings Religious Use Case To DC Circ.
An Iowa church that seeks to use a psychedelic drug in its rites filed a petition Monday with the D.C. Circuit seeking to compel federal drug enforcers to process an application for a religious exemption to the Controlled Substances Act, which has been pending for over six years.
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June 10, 2025
Judge Denies Gov't Bid To Toss Law Firm's Payroll Tax Suit
The U.S. government cannot throw out a boutique law firm's suit that seeks a refund of $282,000 in pandemic-era worker retention credits and a pause on payroll tax enforcement, a Connecticut federal judge ruled Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
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Evolving Federal Rules Pose Further Obstacles To NY LLC Act
Following the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent changes to beneficial ownership information reporting under the federal Corporate Transparency Act — dramatically reducing the number of companies required to make disclosures — the utility of New York's LLC Transparency Act becomes less apparent, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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Alternative Business Structures Raise Ethics Questions
The new KPMG law firm, launched in Arizona following that state's repeal of the prohibition on fee sharing with nonlawyers, raises a number of important practice questions, both for the firm and those law firms seeking to partner with it, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O’Connor.
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The IRS Shouldn't Go To War Over Harvard's Tax Exemption
If the Internal Revenue Service revokes Harvard's tax-exempt status for violating established public policy — a position unsupported by currently available information — the precedent set by surviving the inevitable court challenge could undercut the autonomy and distinctiveness of the charitable sector, says Johnny Rex Buckles at Houston Law Center.
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Mitigating Import Risks Around Southeast Asian Solar Cells
The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent final determinations in its antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into solar cells produced in certain Southeast Asian countries make it important for U.S. purchasers to consider risk mitigation strategies, including modifying supply chains and contractually assigning import responsibilities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Reassessing Corporate Separateness After Explosion Of LLCs
Following the dramatic increase of limited liability companies in the U.S., the Corporate Transparency Act's enactment and the Trump administration's subsequent narrowing of that law, it's worth revisiting the underlying legal principles that govern shell companies in order to remedy the problems that initially motivated the CTA, says Jeff Newton at Omni Bridgeway.
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Crisis Management Lessons From The Parenting Playbook
The parenting skills we use to help our kids through challenges — like rehearsing for stressful situations, modeling confidence and taking time to reset our emotions — can also teach us the fundamentals of leading clients through a corporate crisis, say Deborah Solmor at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Cara Peterman at Alston & Bird.
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Immunity Waiver Ruling A Setback For Ch. 7 Trustees
While governmental units should welcome the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in U.S. v. Miller restricting the reach of the Bankruptcy Code's sovereign immunity waiver, Chapter 7 trustees now have a limited ability to maximize bankruptcy estates, says Dan Prieto at Jones Day.
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Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw
While the move to private practice brings a learning curve, it also brings chances to learn new skills and grow your network, requiring a clear understanding of how your skills can complement and contribute to a firm's existing practice, and where you can add new value, says Meghann Donahue at Covington.
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Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them
Like all transactions, litigation finance deals can sometimes collapse, but understanding the most common reasons for failure, including a lack of trust or a misunderstanding of deal terms, can help both parties avoid problems, say Rebecca Berrebi at Avenue 33 and Boris Ziser at Schulte Roth.
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A 2-Step System For Choosing A Digital Asset Reporting Path
Under the Internal Revenue Service's new digital asset reporting regulation, each type of asset may have three potential reporting destinations, so a detailed testing framework can help to determine the appropriate path, says Keval Sonecha at Sonecha & Amlani.
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How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients
Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.
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3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims
Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.
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IRS And ICE Info Sharing Could Drive Payroll Tax Enforcement
Tax crimes are historically difficult to prosecute, but the Internal Revenue Services’ recent agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share taxpayer records of non-U.S. citizens could be used to enhance payroll tax-related enforcement against their employers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.