Federal
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March 31, 2025
Trump's Tariff Bombardment Keeps Companies Guessing
U.S. importers are bracing for significant compliance cost increases as President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff announcement is expected on Wednesday, though recent comments made by the president indicate the duties could be less harsh.
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March 31, 2025
Justices Probe Wis. Denial Of Exemption To Catholic Charities
Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court seemed deeply skeptical Monday that Wisconsin was on firm constitutional grounds in denying an unemployment tax exemption to a group of Catholic charities because, as the state claimed, they were not operated primarily for religious purposes.
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March 31, 2025
Trump, Starmer Discuss Averting US Tariffs On UK Goods
President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed a possible deal between the U.S. and the U.K. to avoid U.S. tariffs from being imposed on goods such as cars and metals, the British government confirmed.
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March 28, 2025
The Tax Angle: Dems Prep For Tax Debate; CBO Eyes Deficits
From a look at a tax briefing for House Democrats on the expiring provisions of the Republicans' 2017 tax overhaul law to the latest Congressional Budget Office outlook on making the law permanent, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of the week's developing tax stories.
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March 28, 2025
Microcaptive Case Doesn't Curb Tax Collection, 10th Circ. Told
The IRS mischaracterized a lawsuit seeking to set aside guidance requiring additional reporting for microcaptive insurance arrangements, a plumbing supply company and its owners told the Tenth Circuit, saying their suit isn't barred because it doesn't restrain tax collection as the agency claimed.
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March 28, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Norton Rose, Latham, Ashurst
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Dollar Tree sells its Family Dollar business to private equity firms, eye care company Alcon buys medical technology company Lensar and Ithaca Energy PLC buys the U.K. subsidiary of Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd.
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March 28, 2025
Attorney Accused Of Tax Scam Wants Opposing Counsel Cut
An attorney accused by a precious metals dealer's partnership of selling it a tax scam asked a Colorado federal court to disqualify the partnership's attorney from the case, saying the lawyer has a conflict because he formerly represented her.
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March 28, 2025
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included the updated corporate monthly yield bond curve.
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March 27, 2025
LA Investor Loses Bid To Recoup Damages From IRS Seizure
A Los Angeles investor lost a bid in California federal court Thursday to recoup more than $500,000 in damages that, he said, stemmed from the IRS' unlawful seizure of his assets to pay off a $7.2 million late-filing penalty.
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March 27, 2025
Pfizer Tops Pharma Tax Avoidance, Senate Dems Say
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer had no taxable profits in its largest market, the U.S., after booking all its income in jurisdictions including Puerto Rico, Singapore and Ireland, according to a Senate Finance Committee report prepared by panel Democrats that was released Thursday.
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March 27, 2025
Ex-Atty Ran $840M Tax Evasion Scheme, DOJ Says
A former tax and real estate attorney ran a nationwide scheme that helped his customers avoid paying taxes on as much as $840 million in capital gains, the federal government told an Idaho federal court Thursday.
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March 27, 2025
US Ranked Low At Fighting Real Estate Money Laundering
The U.S. is the third-worst country when it comes to fighting money laundering in real estate because of a lack of regulations, according to a report ranking the national markets of 24 countries.
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March 27, 2025
Final APAs Dipped Slightly From 2023 Record High, IRS Says
The Internal Revenue Service finalized slightly fewer advance pricing agreements for U.S. multinational corporations in 2024 following a record high in the previous year, according to an agency report released Thursday.
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March 27, 2025
Payroll Co. Hid IRS Interest Money From Clients, Court Told
A payroll provider for a maintenance company never passed along interest payments from the Internal Revenue Service related to its clients' pandemic-era relief claims, the company alleged in a proposed class action filed in Washington federal court.
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March 27, 2025
9th Circ. Won't Stay Injunction Compelling Fed. Worker Rehire
A split Ninth Circuit panel has refused to block an injunction compelling the Trump administration to reinstate about 16,000 probationary employees to six federal agencies, saying the administration will likely lose its argument that the agencies weren't acting on an order from above when they fired the workers.
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March 27, 2025
NFTC Keeps Pushing For Standardized Pillar 2 Reporting
The National Foreign Trade Council reiterated its request for the OECD to ensure a standardized approach to acquiring the cross-jurisdiction information required for Pillar Two global minimum tax returns, noting its members still have confidentiality concerns.
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March 26, 2025
Sotomayor Urges Caution On Nondelegation Doctrine Revamp
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned her colleagues during oral arguments Wednesday against using a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's administration of a broadband subsidy program as a way to resurrect the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine. Several conservative justices, however, seemed willing to disregard that admonition.
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March 26, 2025
Senate Sends Repeal Of Crypto Broker Rule To Trump
The Senate passed legislation Wednesday that would repeal a final U.S. Treasury Department rule implementing additional reporting requirements for decentralized finance brokers such as cryptocurrency platforms, sending the resolution to President Donald Trump's desk to sign.
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March 26, 2025
Coalition Says Trump Admin Flouted Federal Rehiring Order
The Trump administration responded to an injunction compelling it to rehire over 15,000 fired probationary employees by placing them on leave, not bringing them back to work, a coalition of advocates for the workers told a California federal judge Wednesday, saying the administration hasn't complied with the injunction.
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March 26, 2025
Par Funding's Ex-CEO Gets 15½ Years For Racketeering, Fraud
Par Funding ex-CEO Joseph LaForte was sentenced to 15½ years in prison Wednesday for his role in running a $404 million racketeering conspiracy that prosecutors said involved him bilking the cash advance business's investors and threatening its borrowers with violence if they didn't pay up.
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March 26, 2025
Tax Court Erred In Ex-Braves' Easement Feud, 11th Circ. Told
Two former Atlanta Braves players reupped their arguments before the Eleventh Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court made grave errors in a case that slashed their conservation easement value, saying the federal government's failure to address those missteps shields the issues from legal scrutiny.
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March 26, 2025
Feds Seek 2 Years For Device-Maker's $2.4M Tax Evasion
A Floridian who made millions of dollars on medical devices and pled guilty to evading $2.4 million in taxes should be sentenced to between 24 and 30 months in prison for tax evasion based on the severity of his offense, the U.S. told a federal court Wednesday.
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March 26, 2025
Senate Approves Trump's Pick For Deputy Treasury Secretary
The Senate approved President Donald Trump's nomination of Michael Faulkender to the post of deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday, sending the economist back to the agency for a second tenure.
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March 26, 2025
Engineering Co. Owner Can't Deduct His Time, Tax Court Says
The owner of a Colorado engineering company cannot deduct the value of the time he spent working on software without showing any amounts actually paid, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Wednesday in upholding the majority of $135,000 in tax deficiencies, plus penalties, against the owner.
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March 26, 2025
Ex-UBS North America CEO's $4.9M FBAR Deal Gets OK
The former North American CEO for Swiss bank UBS will pay a $4.9 million judgment under a deal approved by a Connecticut federal court Wednesday that resolves the U.S. government's suit alleging he willfully neglected to file foreign bank account reports with the IRS for a decade.
Expert Analysis
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Cos. Should Inventory Issues To Prep For New Congress
As the legislative and oversight agendas of the 119th Congress come into sharper focus, corporate counsel should assess and plan for areas of potential oversight risk — from tax policy changes to supply chain integrity — even as much uncertainty remains, say attorneys at WilmerHale.
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Conservation Easement Cases Weave Web Of Uncertainty
Much of the IRS and Justice Department’s recent success in prosecuting syndicated conservation easement cases can be attributed to the government’s focus on the so-called PropCo ratio, which could indicate treacherous waters ahead for participants and their advisers, even under the incoming Trump administration, say attorneys at Polsinelli.
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So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?
Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.
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Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session
As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.
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What Trump's 2nd Presidency Could Mean For Crypto Sector
Trump's second term will bring a fundamental shift from the Biden administration's approach to crypto-asset regulation and banking supervision, with the most significant changes likely taking effect in the first two quarters of 2025 and broader policy shifts emerging over the next year, say attorneys at Cahill.
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Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being
As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.
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Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win
A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources
Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.
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How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment
Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.
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Ex-Chicago Politician's Case May Further Curb Fraud Theories
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Thompson v. U.S. to determine whether a statement that is misleading but not false still violates federal law, potentially heralding the court’s largest check yet on prosecutors’ expansive fraud theories, with significant implications for sentencing, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
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Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity
Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.
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Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules
The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.