Federal

  • July 28, 2025

    SALT Cap Complexity Could Rewrite Tax Planning Strategies

    The new $40,000 cap on state and local tax deductibility in the GOP's 2025 tax overhaul will likely prompt a new wave of strategic tax planning activity among wealthy business owners and individuals seeking to maximize their deductions and make use of state-level workarounds before the temporary relief expires.

  • July 28, 2025

    Fired Worker Owes Tax On $1.5M Settlement, Tax Court Says

    A former PNC Investments LLC employee who won a defamation settlement after being fired must pay tax on the $1.5 million award, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday, rejecting the ex-worker's argument that the money didn't count as income.

  • July 28, 2025

    10th Circ. Says Carbon Group Can't Appeal Tax Assessment

    An entity that owns interest in a carbon producer can't appeal a $2 million tax assessment made by a Colorado county on a carbon unit operator that the entity owns interest in because the federal court doesn't have jurisdiction, the Tenth Circuit said Monday.

  • July 28, 2025

    Trailer Maker's Bid To Escape $4M Excise Taxes Dismissed

    A trailer manufacturer can't avoid more than $4 million in excise taxes, interest and penalties, a South Dakota federal court ruled, finding it couldn't rely on an exemption from a technical advice memorandum after Congress altered the definition of off-highway vehicles.

  • July 28, 2025

    US, Japanese Businessman Settle $11.6M FBAR Dispute

    A Japanese businessman and the federal government have settled their $11.6 million tax filing dispute after the man claimed a language barrier was to blame and the U.S. tried to push past a jury's verdict, according to a Hawaii federal court filing.

  • July 25, 2025

    Trump Trade Deals Do Little To Ease Importers' Concerns

    President Donald Trump's recently announced framework trade deals offer new insight into tariff rates for several countries come Aug. 1, but experts say unanswered questions about those agreements and others still at large continue to stifle longer-term planning, leaving importers in uncertain territory.

  • July 25, 2025

    Ex-Credit Suisse Client Gets 2½ Years For Hiding Assets

    A Florida federal judge on Friday sentenced a Colombian-American businesswoman and former Credit Suisse client to two and a half years in prison for conspiring with family members to hide more than $90 million in assets from the IRS through a series of foreign bank accounts.

  • July 25, 2025

    Mayo Clinic's $11.5M Tax Refund Affirmed By 8th Circ.

    The Mayo Clinic qualifies as an "educational organization" under federal tax law, making it eligible for a tax exemption for such organizations and meriting a nearly $11.5 million refund, the Eighth Circuit said Friday, affirming a federal district court.

  • July 25, 2025

    Vegas Workers Laud Tax Breaks On Tips, OT At Hearing

    The new federal tax deductions for tips and overtime pay will be extremely beneficial to working-class residents of Las Vegas, the House Ways and Means Committee heard from workers and others at a field hearing Friday, while Democrats criticized the temporary nature of the tax breaks.

  • July 25, 2025

    Rising Star: Gibson Dunn's Michael Q. Cannon

    Michael Q. Cannon of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has been the lead attorney on several high-profile cases, including playing a key role in advising on the tax aspects of the world's largest merger and acquisition deal in 2023, earning him a spot among the tax law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • July 25, 2025

    IRS Provides Guidance Meant To Speed Up Corporate Audits

    The Internal Revenue Service released guidance Friday that aims to make audits more efficient for corporate taxpayers, including by phasing out a document request process taxpayers had criticized as time-consuming and of little value.

  • July 25, 2025

    Legal Org. Urges DC Circ. To Reject Trump's Tariff Powers

    The D.C. Circuit should affirm a ruling that sided with toy makers and blocked President Donald Trump from using an international economic law to impose emergency tariffs because the law does not give the president the authority he claims, a legal organization argued.

  • July 25, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Weil, Freshfields, Linklaters

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, CC Capital and One Investment Management acquire Insignia Financial Ltd., catering giant Compass Group PLC acquires Dutch food and hospitality company Vermaat Groep BV, drugmaker Sanofi acquires biotech company Vicebio, and The Ether Machine launches as a public company.

  • July 25, 2025

    CPA Charged With $5M Fraud Involving 2 Law Firms

    A federal grand jury has charged an accountant with defrauding two law firms and other clients by selling them false tax benefits and pocketing more than $5 million from an account into which they made their payments, according to a superseding indictment in California federal court.

  • July 25, 2025

    Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin

    The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included an announcement revoking final regulations requiring brokers to report their digital asset sales.

  • July 24, 2025

    Judge Won't Block Exela Ch. 11 Plan For Claims Dilution Suit

    A Texas bankruptcy judge Thursday declined to stop automation technology group Exela from exiting Chapter 11 next week, but said he would condition the over $1 billion debt-for-equity swap plan's effectiveness on a roughly 30% recovery rate for its general unsecured claims.

  • July 24, 2025

    IRS Can Levy Religious Group's Property, Split 9th Circ. Says

    The IRS can impose a lien on an Arizona residential property held by a religious organization to collect unpaid taxes owed by a bankrupt couple who had decision-making authority over the entity's finances and bank account, a divided Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday.

  • July 24, 2025

    EU Prepared To Impose €93B In Tariffs On US Goods

    The European Commission voted Thursday to impose tariffs on €93 billion ($109 billion) worth of U.S. goods if no trade deal is reached by August as the two sides continue negotiations.

  • July 24, 2025

    Construction Co. Owner Arrested In $2.9M Payroll Tax Scheme

    A New York City construction company owner was arrested on charges of failing to pay over $2.9 million in employment taxes and falsely claiming that his wife worked as one of his laborers, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • July 24, 2025

    Rising Star: McDermott's Michael Bruno

    Michael Bruno of McDermott Will & Emery LLP was tapped as lead tax counsel by two legendary athletes — Lionel Messi and Stephen Curry — for the rollouts of their respective beverage brands, earning him recognition as one of the tax attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • July 24, 2025

    GOP Reps. Urge IRS To Roll Back Economic Substance Ruling

    The Internal Revenue Service should withdraw a revenue ruling that invokes the economic substance doctrine to disregard certain intercompany transactions, 20 Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee said Thursday, arguing it leaves taxpayers uncertain about how to apply partnership tax laws to commercial transactions.

  • July 24, 2025

    Bets On Atty's Lien Biz Lost Millions, Investor Tells Jury

    A seasoned investor told a Manhattan federal jury Thursday that he heavily backed a tax-lien fund controlled by a lawyer now accused of fraud, ultimately losing $2.9 million in supposedly low-risk bets where such losses were "not supposed to be possible."

  • July 24, 2025

    8th Circ. Says Biz Owner Can't Claim $100K Tax Refund

    A business owner is not entitled to a $100,000 tax refund or compensation for lost business opportunities he said the government owed him for making him wait for it, the Eighth Circuit said, affirming an Iowa federal court's decision.

  • July 24, 2025

    IRS Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Schedules 7 August Meetings

    Six Taxpayer Advocacy Panel subcommittees will meet in August to discuss the Internal Revenue Service's customer service, followed by a joint committee session at the end of the month, the agency announced Thursday.

  • July 23, 2025

    Fla. Man Gets 5 Years In Jail For Hiding Swiss Bank Accounts

    A Florida federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a Miami man to five years in prison on a conspiracy-related count in connection with evading taxes on approximately $20 million he held in Swiss bank accounts and setting up trusts in an attempt to hide assets.

Expert Analysis

  • A Cold War-Era History Lesson On Due Process

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    The landmark Harry Bridges case from the mid-20th century Red Scare offers important insights on why lawyers must be free of government reprisal, no matter who their client is, says Peter Afrasiabi at One LLP.

  • How BigLaw Executive Orders May Affect Smaller Firms

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    Because of the types of cases they take on, solo practitioners, small law firms and public interest attorneys may find themselves more dramatically affected by the collective impact of recent government action involving the legal industry than even the BigLaw firms named in the executive orders, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Lawsuits Shouldn't Be Shadow Assets For Foreign Capital

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    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.

  • How To Accelerate Your Post-Attorney Career Transition

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    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.

  • Tariffs And FCA Create Perfect Storm For Importers

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    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.

  • US Reassessment Of OECD Tax Deal Is Right Move

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    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.

  • Measuring And Mitigating Harm From Discriminatory Taxes

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    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.

  • Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Leadership To BigLaw

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    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.

  • How The CRE Industry Is Adapting To Tariff Uncertainty

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    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.

  • Law Firm Executive Orders Create A Legal Ethics Minefield

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    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.

  • Trade Policy Shifts Raise Hurdles For Gov't And Cos. Alike

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    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.

  • Firms Must Embrace Alternative Billing Models Or Fall Behind

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    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.

  • How Attorneys Can Master The Art Of On-Camera Presence

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    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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