Federal
-
April 21, 2025
US, Italy Say Tech Cos. Must Not Face Discriminatory Taxes
Italy and the U.S. agree that discrimination tech companies face in the form of digital services taxes must end in order to enable investments from those companies, according to a joint statement by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Donald Trump.
-
April 21, 2025
US Asks 4th Circ. To Pause Review Of Corp. Transparency Act
The U.S. government urged the Fourth Circuit to pause a challenge brought by community associations against an information disclosure law aimed at small businesses, arguing that the U.S. Treasury Department's newly narrowed rules could moot the claims.
-
April 21, 2025
Unions Score Block On Orders To Fire Probationary Workers
A California federal judge blocked the Office of Personnel Management from ordering federal agencies to fire probationary employees and stopped several agencies from heeding its directives, but he declined to order them to rehire the workers they've already let go.
-
April 21, 2025
Former Ohio Atty Gets Prison Over Unpaid Payroll Taxes
A former Ohio attorney who admitted that he failed to pay $750,000 in payroll taxes while managing his wife's dental practice has been sentenced to six months in prison after telling a federal judge that he did not intend to steal from the government, according to an order signed Monday.
-
April 21, 2025
Eateries Owner Gets 3 Years For Tax, COVID Fraud
A restaurant owner who committed tax crimes and illegally collected more than $1.7 million in pandemic relief money was sentenced to more than three years in prison by a California federal judge, a fraction of the sentence urged by prosecutors who pointed to millions in cash hidden in his bedroom.
-
April 21, 2025
Ex-Atty Can't Duck Depo In $1.8M FBAR Case, NY Judge Says
A retired attorney cannot avoid testifying about the mental state of a former client whose estate faces $1.8 million in penalties for an undisclosed Swiss bank account, a New York federal court ruled, holding that the information is not privileged.
-
April 21, 2025
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's latest weekly bulletin, dated Monday, included its joint call with the U.S. Treasury Department for recommendations for its 2025-26 priority guidance plan.
-
April 19, 2025
Up Next At High Court: Preventive Healthcare, LGBTQ Books
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in five cases this week, including disputes over the constitutionality of a task force that sets preventive healthcare coverage requirements, a school district's introduction of LGBTQ-themed storybooks and whether parties can establish standing based on harms affecting third parties.Â
-
April 18, 2025
Ex-Mass. Transit Worker Gets 6 Years For Fraud, Tax Evasion
A former assistant chief engineer for the Boston commuter rail system was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for crimes including failing to withhold and pay federal taxes on income from two illegal schemes, prosecutors said Friday.
-
April 18, 2025
Trump Ousts New IRS Acting Chief Days After Appointment
The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump will appoint the U.S. Treasury Department's deputy secretary to be the acting IRS commissioner to replace a former special agent who was appointed to the role days before.
-
April 18, 2025
Swiss-Italian Man Seeks To Block IRS Getting Data From Apple
A Swiss-Italian man is seeking to quash an IRS summons on Apple Inc. to produce records linked to his account as part of a probe into his Swiss income tax liabilities, according to a petition filed in California federal court.
-
April 18, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Simpson Thacher
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Global Payments Inc. buys Worldpay from GTCR and FIS, Intel Corp. sells a stake in its Altera business to Silver Lake, KKR acquires OSTTRA from S&P Global and CME Group, and Canada's Capital Power Corp. nabs two U.S. natural gas power plants.
-
April 18, 2025
IRS Outlines Plan To Advance Whistleblower Program
The Internal Revenue Service released an operating plan for its whistleblower program Friday, saying it aims to enhance the claim submission process, safeguard whistleblower information and keep whistleblowers informed on the status of their claims.
-
April 17, 2025
IRS Plans To End Partnership Basis-Shifting Regs
The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday it plans to revoke partnership basis-shifting regulations, which were finalized in early January to compel businesses engaged in such potentially abusive tax avoidance strategies to report them under the threat of penalty.
-
April 17, 2025
Tax Court Upholds IRS Collection Actions Against Couple
The U.S. Tax Court upheld Thursday the Internal Revenue Service's proposed collection actions against a couple, saying that an agency settlement officer did not abuse her discretion in sustaining a lien.
-
April 17, 2025
Man's Deportation Looms After Tax Evasion Plea Stands
A Connecticut federal judge denied a man's attempt to vacate his guilty plea for tax evasion, despite accepting that his lawyers had misled him into believing that if he received no prison time he could avoid mandatory detention and likely deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
-
April 17, 2025
Harvard Says No Grounds For IRS To Deny Tax-Exempt Status
Harvard University said Thursday that there is no legal basis to rescind its tax-exempt status amid an investigation by President Donald Trump's administration into whether the university has violated the terms of that status.
-
April 17, 2025
Tax Court Denies Horse Breeders' Claimed Losses
A Louisiana couple who bred, boarded and trained horses were correctly denied $867,000 in loss deductions over six years, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday, because their activities weren't done for profit.
-
April 17, 2025
Judge Refuses To Recuse Himself In Ga. Defamation Case
A Georgia federal judge on Thursday refused to disqualify himself from presiding over a defamation case arising from a family dispute related to a tax preparation business, while also rejecting a bid to transfer the matter to a federal court in California.
-
April 16, 2025
Tax Court Says Hedge Fund Basket Options Abused Tax Perks
A Connecticut-based hedge fund has engaged in a complex stock-selling strategy using option contracts that the Internal Revenue Service had determined to be an abusive scheme to avoid paying high taxes on the capital gains, the U.S. Tax Court said Wednesday.
-
April 16, 2025
Plans To Shelve IRS Direct File Draw Democrats' Ire
The Trump administration's decision to shutter the Internal Revenue Service's Direct File pilot program was criticized heavily by congressional Democrats, who argued on Wednesday that the program was remarkably successful.
-
April 16, 2025
Union Denied More Time In Feds' Bid To Bless CBA Rebuke
A Kentucky federal judge has refused to delay an approaching hearing on the U.S. Department of the Treasury's bid to nullify its workers' union contracts, despite a union's assertion that it's been given little time to prepare for a consequential case and that it has yet to be served.
-
April 16, 2025
DC Judge Considers Bid To Block IRS Info Sharing With ICE
A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether immigrant advocacy groups have standing to block a tax information-sharing agreement between the IRS and immigration enforcement agencies, but she also outlined concerns that the agreement could be abused.
-
April 16, 2025
Cannabis Co. Drops Back Taxes Case Against 2 Payroll Firms
A Washington cannabis company has dropped claims against a pair of payroll services providers accused of leaving the cannabis company with a $172,500 tax bill after failing to pay the Internal Revenue Service on its behalf.
-
April 16, 2025
IRS Owes Worker A Refund On 401(k) Loan, Suit Says
The IRS is refusing to send money back to a worker who said a paid-off 401(k) loan was mistakenly counted as income in his tax return, according to a suit filed in Missouri federal court.
Expert Analysis
-
The Trade And Tax Issues Behind US-Canada Digital Tax Clash
The new Canadian digital services tax recently went into effect despite objections from the U.S., a controversy that represents an unusual mix of trade and tax policy, and many companies have been pondering how it will affect their e-commerce businesses, says Damon Pike at BDO.
-
Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
-
AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
-
A Look At How De Minimis Import Rules May Soon Change
The planned implementation of executive actions focused on the de minimis rule as it applies to shipments means companies should use this interval to evaluate the potential applicability and impact of Section 301, Section 201 or Section 232 duties on their products, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
-
Ruling On Foreign Dividend Break Offers 2 Tax Court Insights
In Varian v. Commissioner, the U.S. Tax Court allowed a taxpayer's deduction for dividends from foreign subsidiaries, providing clarity on how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision may affect challenges to Treasury regulations, and revealing a potential disallowance of foreign tax credits, say attorneys at Davis Polk.
-
Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners
Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
-
Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics
Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.
-
It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers
Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.
-
Avoid Getting Burned By Agencies' Solar Financing Spotlight
Recently coordinated reports and advisories from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission maximize the spotlight on the consumer solar financing market and highlight pitfalls for lenders to avoid in this burgeoning field, says Mercedes Tunstall at Cadwalader.
-
Tax Traps In Acquisitions Of Financially Distressed Targets
Excerpt from
Parties to the acquisition of an insolvent or bankrupt company face myriad tax considerations, including limitations on using the distressed company's tax benefits, cancellation of indebtedness income, tax lien issues and potential tax reorganizations.
-
Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls
Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.
-
How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
-
Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.