Federal
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May 15, 2024
Pension Plan Segment Rates Increase In May
Segment rates for calculating pension plan funding rose in May, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
IRS Working To Prevent Child Support Collection Disruption
The Internal Revenue Service is working to prevent disruption of federal tax refund offsets — including garnishment for owed child support — affecting Native American tribal governments and other taxpayers, the agency said.
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May 14, 2024
Northwestern Settles Tax Law Prof's Age Bias Suit
Northwestern University agreed to settle a law school professor's age bias suit filed in Illinois federal court claiming he was given smaller raises year-over-year in comparison with his younger colleagues after he cast aside the institution's push for him to retire early.
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May 14, 2024
Law Prof Comes To Treasury's Aid In 3M Transfer Pricing Fight
The U.S. Department of the Treasury did not act arbitrarily when it wrote transfer pricing regulations that allowed the government to disregard foreign legal restrictions on royalty payments when allocating income to 3M from an affiliate, a law professor told the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday.
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May 14, 2024
Yellen, Werfel Urged To Make E-Filing Program Permanent
The Internal Revenue Service's pilot program for free electronic tax return filing should be made permanent and grown, a coalition of groups that endorse the project told IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter Tuesday.
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May 14, 2024
Billionaire's Pilot Cops To Tax Count, Avoids Insider Trial
A pilot from Virginia accused of profiting from stock tips fed to him by British billionaire Joe Lewis on Tuesday copped to dodging taxes on $500,000 of income from Lewis' company, in a plea deal that avoids an insider trading trial.
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May 14, 2024
Microsemi Calls IRS' Penalty Approval 'Woefully Inadequate'
An Internal Revenue Service supervisor's sign-off on a transfer pricing penalty for Microsemi was "woefully inadequate" to meet statutory requirements for penalty approval, the semiconductor manufacturer told the U.S. Tax Court.
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May 14, 2024
Ex-Husch Blackwell, Dykema Atty Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion
A former Husch Blackwell LLP partner who helped launch Dykema Gossett PLLC's Milwaukee office two years ago has agreed to plead guilty in Wisconsin federal court to willfully evading paying income tax, which could land him in prison for over a year and will force him to pay almost $4 million in restitution to the IRS.
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May 14, 2024
Big Refund Filings Could Be Improper, IRS Says
Inaccurate advice from social media, as well as a series of tax scams, has resulted in an increase in questionable, inflated refund claims, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.
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May 14, 2024
ER Doc Can't Deduct His Film Co.'s Costs, 5th Circ. Told
An emergency room doctor with a passion for music was correctly denied business deductions for his unprofitable production company, the IRS told the Ninth Circuit in asking it to uphold a U.S. Tax Court ruling that found the doctor owed more than $59,000 in taxes and penalties.
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May 14, 2024
IRS Floats Property Rule Changes On Interest Capitalization
The Internal Revenue Service floated changes Tuesday to the interest capitalization requirements for improvements constituting property production, including removing the so-called associated property rule that was invalidated by the Federal Circuit.
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May 14, 2024
Ex-Whiteford Taylor Business Co-Chair Joins Baker Donelson
Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC has welcomed a new shareholder who spent more than a decade with the Internal Revenue Service and previously co-chaired Whiteford Taylor & Preston LLP's business department, the firm announced on Monday.
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May 14, 2024
IRS Finalizes Slash Of Preparer ID Fee
The Internal Revenue Service will reduce the cost to apply for or renew a preparer tax identification number by nearly 50%, the agency said in a final rule released Tuesday.
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May 13, 2024
NJ Fraudster Gets More Prison Time, Owes $6M For Tax Evasion
A New Jersey man who was convicted of dodging taxes on more than $16 million he stole from securities fraud victims was handed a six-year prison sentence — most of which will be served simultaneously with his fraud sentence — and ordered to pay over $6 million in restitution during a Garden State federal court hearing Monday in which he denied the crimes.
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May 13, 2024
Corp. Transparency Act An Overbroad Dragnet, 11th Circ. Told
Congress exceeded its authority in passing the Corporate Transparency Act, which prompted the U.S. Treasury Department to solicit personal information for law enforcement purposes from those that registered and owned state-registered entities, a small-business group told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday.
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May 13, 2024
US Tells DC Circ. Ayahuasca Church's Settlement Inapt
Federal regulators are telling the D.C. Circuit to ignore a recent settlement that will allow a Phoenix-based church to continue using ayahuasca in its ceremonies, saying it has nothing to do with the Iowa-based ayahuasca church challenging the IRS's refusal to give it tax-exempt status.
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May 13, 2024
House GOP Bills Target Foreign Funding To Tax-Exempt Orgs
The House Ways and Means Committee will vote Wednesday on a package of bills that would increase scrutiny of foreign donations to tax-exempt organizations, including legislation that would require those organizations to publicly report the donations, the Joint Committee on Taxation announced Monday.
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May 13, 2024
Biz Coalition Pushes Senate To Renew R&D Tax Break
The U.S. Senate should act quickly to renew a provision allowing research and development expenses to be immediately deductible, a coalition of businesses told the chamber's leaders in a letter Monday.
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May 13, 2024
2nd Circ. Won't Revive UBS Suit Over Disclosed Account Info
The Second Circuit declined Monday to revive a couple's suit accusing UBS of fraudulently flagging an account to the Internal Revenue Service, finding that any alleged harm resulting from an audit would have been caused by the agency itself.
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May 13, 2024
Tax Court Denies Calif. Women Innocent Spouse Relief
A California woman will not receive innocent spouse relief from a tax liability stemming from a joint return filed with her estranged husband, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday, saying any reasonable person would have questioned the return's accuracy.
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May 13, 2024
Texas Farming Couple Owe $1.9M, Tax Court Says
An oral surgeon and his wife who raised large deer and bass for hunting and ecotourism in Texas are on the hook for nearly $1.9 million in taxes, as a U.S. Tax Court decision issued Monday found that they weren't entitled to farming deductions.
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May 13, 2024
Energy Credit Program For Low-Income Areas To Open May 28
Applications for a clean-energy investment program that provides bonus tax credits for projects in low-income communities will open May 28, the Internal Revenue Service said Monday.
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May 13, 2024
Tax Lien Association Hires Industry Pro As GC
The National Tax Lien Association has found its new general counsel in an experienced attorney less than four months after the death of its longtime top attorney.
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May 13, 2024
Houston Truck Co. Doesn't Owe $2M Excise Tax, 5th Circ. Told
A Houston truck company that sells tires made by a Chinese manufacturer doesn't owe $2 million in import taxes because it's not legally the tire importer, the company told the Fifth Circuit in asking it to affirm a ruling that could split circuits.
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May 13, 2024
Semisubmersible Co. CEO Convicted Of Fraud, Fleeing Law
The CEO of a semisubmersible manufacturer has been convicted by a Hawaii federal jury of financial fraud, witness tampering and attempting to escape law enforcement in one of his company's ocean vessels.
Expert Analysis
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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What To Know About IRS' New Jet Use Audit Campaign
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced plans to open several dozen audits scrutinizing executive use of company jets, so companies should be prepared to show the business reasons for travel, and how items like imputed income and deduction disallowance were calculated, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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How FinCEN Proposal Expands RE Transaction Obligations
Against a regulatory backdrop foreshadowing anti-money laundering efforts in the real estate sector, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's proposed rule significantly expands reporting requirements for certain nonfinanced residential real estate transfers and necessitates careful review, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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What To Know About Employee Retention Credit Disclosures
Employers that filed potentially erroneous employee retention credit claims should take certain steps to determine whether the IRS’ voluntary disclosure program is a good fit and, if so, prepare a strong application before the window closes on March 22, say attorneys at Dentons.
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Business Litigators Have A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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Unpacking FinCEN's Proposed Real Estate Transaction Rule
Phil Jelsma and Ulrick Matsunaga at Crosbie Gliner take a close look at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recently proposed rulemaking — which mandates new disclosures for professionals involved in all-cash real estate deals — and discuss best next steps for the broad range of businesses that could be affected.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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The Corporate Transparency Act Isn't Dead Yet
After an Alabama federal court's ruling last week rendering the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, changes to the law may ultimately be required, but ongoing compliance is still the best course of action for most, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.
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How New EU Tax And Transfer Pricing Rules May Affect M&A
Companies involved in mergers and acquisitions may need to adjust fiscal due diligence procedures to ensure they consider potential far-reaching effects of newly implemented transfer pricing measures, such as newly implemented global minimum tax and European Union anti-tax avoidance directives and proposals, says Patrick Tijhuis at BDO.