Federal
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October 07, 2025
Approach The Bench: Judge Kaplan On Suit Against The Gov't
U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Elaine Kaplan's docket doesn't always garner attention in the same way trial court cases do, but that may change as the executive branch makes sweeping budget and policy changes that could lend more political significance to monetary claims against the government.
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October 07, 2025
Estate's $17M Transfer Not Tax-Related, 5th Circ. Told
The estate of a woman who inherited her husband's oil business and was the victim of elder abuse told the Fifth Circuit that it had multiple reasons unrelated to avoiding estate tax for setting up a partnership and transferring $17 million into it just before she died.
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October 07, 2025
IRS Provides Grace Period For Int'l Money Transfer Tax Errors
U.S. financial institutions that handle overseas money transfers won't immediately face penalties if they fail to accurately deposit new excise taxes that are required under the budget reconciliation bill enacted in July, the Internal Revenue Service announced Tuesday.
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October 07, 2025
TCJA Designer Tapped For Deputy Treasury Role
An architect of the 2017 federal tax overhaul has been appointed to serve as second-in-command at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Secretary Scott Bessent announced Tuesday.
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October 06, 2025
Homeowners Group Denied Social Welfare Tax Break
A Texas homeowners association doesn't qualify for an exemption from federal income tax available to social welfare nonprofit organizations, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday.
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October 06, 2025
Fed. Circ. Partially Revives German Steel Co.'s Dumping Suit
The U.S. Commerce Department cannot use a German steelmaker's likely sales prices as a proxy for the cost of producing nonprime steel plates, but the company acted too late to argue for categorizing some plates separately as it challenges Commerce's antidumping investigation, the Federal Circuit said Monday.
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October 06, 2025
IRS Cyber Crime Executive Named Interim Compliance Chief
An Internal Revenue Service criminal investigations executive who founded the division's cyber crimes sections will temporarily take on an elevated role overseeing all agency enforcement operations, the IRS announced Monday.
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October 06, 2025
Tax Court Denies IT Co.'s $45M Capital Loss Penalty Challenge
The U.S. Tax Court rejected on Monday an information technology company's bid to skirt a $45 million penalty related to the IRS' denial of its $651 million capital loss deduction, saying the agency did not violate the Administrative Procedure Act in asserting the fine.
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October 06, 2025
Social Security Chief Adds Duties As Inaugural CEO Of IRS
The current administrator of the Social Security Administration is adding a new role as the Internal Revenue Service's first chief executive officer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Monday.
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October 06, 2025
High Court Won't Review CPA's 'Unbecoming' Tax Challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a case Monday in which a U.S. Tax Court judge found that a certified public accountant's claims that his wages weren't taxable were meritless and "unbecoming" of a professional accountant.
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October 03, 2025
Some Longtime Legal Blogs Go Quiet As Platform Shuts Down
When the online publishing platform Typepad launched more than two decades ago, it became a hub for a then-growing community of law professors and legal bloggers. Its closure this week marked the end of an era that has found some bloggers looking for new homes or opting to call it quits.
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October 03, 2025
Justices To Weigh Compensation In Tax-Foreclosure Sale
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up a case contending that a deceased homeowner's estate was denied its constitutionally owed compensation when a Michigan county sold a tax-foreclosed property at a fraction of its fair market value.
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October 03, 2025
DC Circ. Split On Challenge To IRS-ICE Info-Sharing Deal
D.C. Circuit judges seemed split Friday over whether an information-sharing agreement between immigration authorities and the IRS complies with taxpayer privacy protections, with one judge noting during oral arguments that the government immigration arm requesting the tax information appears unauthorized to make the requests.
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October 03, 2025
Hobby Lobby's $85M Charity Case Needs Trial, Tax Court Says
A trial is needed to determine whether Hobby Lobby's owners themselves were responsible for missing important information that led the IRS to reject their nearly $85 million charitable deduction tied to artifact donations, the U.S. Tax Court ruled.
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October 03, 2025
Getting It Right: An Economist On Transfer Pricing
Michael McDonald, who retired from EY last month, spent most of his career at the U.S. Treasury Department, working on rules governing how related companies should calculate the value of intangible assets transferred between them, then later contributed to the massive rewrite of international tax rules by the OECD in 2015. McDonald reflected on both projects in an interview with Law360.
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October 03, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Paul Weiss, Cravath
In this week's Taxation With Representation, video game maker Electronic Arts agrees to be acquired by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners; online mortgage giant Rocket closes its acquisition of rival Mr. Cooper Group; and Berkshire Hathaway acquires international energy company Occidental's chemical business.
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October 03, 2025
8th Circ. Won't Review Teachers' Union Taxpayer Ruling
The full Eighth Circuit will not review a split panel decision ruling that taxpayers could challenge a Minnesota school district's paid leave policy that allows teachers to take paid time off to work for their union.
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October 03, 2025
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included 39 additions to the list of chemical substances subject to the Superfund excise taxes assessed to importers.
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October 02, 2025
Investors Claim $1.7M Stolen In Colorado Pot Co. Fraud
The partial owner of a now-defunct marijuana company in Boulder, Colorado, has been accused in a state court lawsuit of conning investors out of more than $1.7 million by claiming they were buying into a grow and dispensary operation while actually pocketing "some or all" of the money.
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October 02, 2025
IRS Data-Sharing Case Won't Be Paused For Gov't Shutdown
The U.S. Department of Justice must still submit court-ordered information in a lawsuit challenging the Internal Revenue Service's sharing of tax data with immigration authorities by Oct. 24, a D.C. federal judge ruled, despite the federal government shutdown that began Wednesday.
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October 02, 2025
IRS Capacity For 2026 In Danger Due To Cuts, TIGTA Warns
Staffing losses at the Internal Revenue Service could cause tax refund delays and allow $360 million in fraudulent returns to go unchecked this coming tax season, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration warned Thursday.
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October 02, 2025
Yoga Biz Co-Owner Gets 2 Years For 8-Year, $2.3M Tax-Dodge
A Manhattan federal judge sentenced former Yoga to the People co-owner Michael Anderson to two years in prison Thursday, after the onetime yoga studio executive admitted failing to file tax returns for eight years as he earned some $3 million.
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October 02, 2025
11th Circ. Urged To Uphold Cut To $17M Easement Deduction
The U.S. Tax Court correctly slashed a partnership's $17 million tax deduction for donating a conservation easement, the government told the Eleventh Circuit, urging it to uphold a ruling that accused the group of trying to "fleece the public" by claiming the land was ripe for mining.
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October 02, 2025
Baker McKenzie Brings New Suit Against Ex-Associate In DC
A former Baker McKenzie tax attorney who publicly accused the firm's Washington, D.C., managing partner of sexual assault was previously in a relationship with the managing partner's son, the firm has said in a revised defamation complaint.
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October 01, 2025
Wyden Probes Crypto Investor's Possible Tax Bill Dodging
The Senate Finance Committee's Democratic staff is investigating whether a billionaire cryptocurrency investor improperly avoided more than $100 million in U.S. taxes by misrepresenting his residency in Puerto Rico and taking advantage of a tax program available to residents, committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Lawsuits Shouldn't Be Shadow Assets For Foreign Capital
Third-party litigation financing amplifies inefficiencies from litigation and facilitates national exposure to foreign influence in the U.S. justice system, so full disclosure of financing arrangements should be required as a matter of institutional integrity, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
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How To Accelerate Your Post-Attorney Career Transition
Professionals seeking to transition to nonattorney careers may encounter skepticism as nontraditional candidates, but there are opportunities for thought leadership and to leverage speaking and writing to accelerate a post-attorney career transition, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Evgeny Efremkin at Toronto Metropolitan University.
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Tariffs And FCA Create Perfect Storm For Importers
The Trump administration's aggressive tariff policies pose a high risk to certain importation practices that are particularly likely to trigger False Claims Act enforcement, say attorneys at Jeffer Mangels.
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US Reassessment Of OECD Tax Deal Is Right Move
The wholesale U.S. reevaluation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's global tax deal ordered by President Donald Trump is a positive step that could ultimately create a more durable international tax system, says Anne Gordon at the National Foreign Trade Council.
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Measuring And Mitigating Harm From Discriminatory Taxes
In response to new tariffs and other recent "America First Trade Policy" pronouncements, corporations should assess and take steps to minimize their potential exposure to discriminatory and reciprocal tax measures that are likely to come, say economists at Charles River Associates.
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Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Leadership To BigLaw
The move from government service to private practice can feel like changing one’s identity, but as someone who has left the U.S. Department of Justice twice, I’ve learned that a successful transition requires patience, effort and the realization that the rewards of practicing law don’t come from one particular position, says Richard Donoghue at Pillsbury.
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How The CRE Industry Is Adapting To Tariff Uncertainty
Amid uncertainty about pending tariffs and their potential ripple effects, including higher material costs, supply chain delays and tighter margins, commercial real estate industry players are focusing on strategic planning and risk mitigation, says Daniel Diaz Leyva at Day Pitney.
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Law Firm Executive Orders Create A Legal Ethics Minefield
Recent executive orders targeting BigLaw firms create ethical dilemmas — and raise the specter of civil or criminal liability — for the government attorneys tasked with implementing them and for the law firms that choose to make agreements with the administration, say attorneys at Buchalter.
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Trade Policy Shifts Raise Hurdles For Gov't And Cos. Alike
The persistent tension between the Trump administration's fast-moving and aggressive trade policies and the compliance-heavy nature of the trade industry creates implementation challenges for both the business community and the government, says Sara Schoenfeld at Kamerman.
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Firms Must Embrace Alternative Billing Models Or Fall Behind
As artificial intelligence tools eliminate inefficiencies and the Big Four accounting firms enter the legal market, law firms that pivot from the entrenched billable hour model to outcomes-based pricing will see a distinct competitive advantage, says attorney William Brewer.
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How Attorneys Can Master The Art Of On-Camera Presence
As attorneys are increasingly presented with on-camera opportunities, they can adapt their traditional legal skills for video contexts — such as virtual client meetings, marketing content or media interviews — by understanding the medium and making intentional adjustments, says Kerry Barrett.
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Adapting To Private Practice: From Fed. Prosecutor To BigLaw
Making the jump from government to private practice is no small feat, but, based on my experience transitioning to a business-driven environment after 15 years as an assistant U.S. attorney, it can be incredibly rewarding and help you become a more versatile lawyer, says Michael Beckwith at Dickinson Wright.
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Justices' False Statement Ruling Curbs Half-Truth Liability
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Thompson v. U.S. decision clarified that a federal statute used to prosecute false statements made to bank regulators only criminalizes outright falsehoods, narrowing prosecutors’ reach and providing defense counsel a stronger basis to challenge indictments of merely misleading statements, says Tamara de Silva at De Silva Law Offices.