Federal
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June 13, 2025
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, featured announcements including that of a competent authorities arrangement with Denmark.
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June 13, 2025
Fed. Tax Bill Primed To Reignite Conformity Talks In States
The federal budget reconciliation bill's tax proposals, including extensions of certain elements of President Donald Trump's signature 2017 tax plan, are primed to rekindle debates among state lawmakers over how states should conform to the federal code.
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June 12, 2025
Dallas Developer Cleared Of Bribery Charges In Retrial
A Dallas jury cleared a real estate executive charged with attempting to bribe city council members in exchange for federal low income housing credits, finding the executive not guilty Thursday after the Fifth Circuit threw out his guilty verdict and ordered a retrial.
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June 12, 2025
GOP Tax Bill Penalizes Professionals, CPA Group Says
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by House Republicans penalizes accountants and other professionals and would unfairly eliminate a state and local tax deduction for certain pass-through entities, a national group of certified public accountants said Thursday.
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June 12, 2025
Spouse Had No Idea About Ex's Income, Tax Court Determines
A North Carolina woman who prepared joint tax returns for her and her now-ex husband had no idea of the multiple sources of unreported income paid to her former spouse, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday, granting her innocent spouse relief from his tax liability.
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June 12, 2025
Senate Confirms Former US Rep To Take IRS Helm
The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's nomination of former U.S. Rep. Billy Long to be Internal Revenue Service commissioner Thursday, clearing the path for him to begin a term that will end in November 2027.
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June 12, 2025
Bessent, Senate GOP Insist TCJA Extension Won't Hike Deficit
Senate Finance Committee Republicans and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent maintained Thursday that making permanent the expiring tax provisions in the 2017 tax overhaul would not raise the federal budget deficit, despite projections to the contrary.
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June 12, 2025
China Agrees To Loosen Rare Earth Restrictions, US Says
Chinese trade negotiators have agreed to lift export controls on rare-earth elements in exchange for the U.S. walking back a campaign to revoke visas for Chinese students, according to statements by U.S. officials, which experts said leave key issues unresolved.
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June 12, 2025
Avenatti Sheds 3 Years After 9th Circ. Orders Resentencing
A California federal judge on Thursday resentenced disbarred attorney Michael Avenatti to just over 11 years in federal prison for filching millions of dollars from his clients' settlement funds, reducing a 14-year sentence overturned by the Ninth Circuit and leaving Avenatti with about eight years left after time served.
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June 12, 2025
IRS Extends Deadline To Comply With Digital Asset Rules
Brokers of digital assets such as cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens will have another year to comply with new tax reporting requirements before facing penalties, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday in extending transition relief to the sale of digital assets through 2026.
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June 12, 2025
Biz Owner Who Faked Tax Docs Gets 4 Years For COVID Fraud
A business owner who used fabricated tax forms to secure $1 million in pandemic relief loans was sentenced to nearly four years in prison by a Colorado federal court after admitting one of the companies was inoperative and had no employees.
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June 12, 2025
Justices Reverse IRS Loss In Tax Collection Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the U.S. Tax Court did not have jurisdiction to review a New Jersey woman's collection dispute with the Internal Revenue Service after the agency stopped going after her unpaid taxes, reversing an earlier IRS loss.
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June 11, 2025
Ex-NASCAR Owner Pleads Guilty To Dodging Payroll Taxes
A former NASCAR team owner appeared in North Carolina federal court Wednesday to enter a guilty plea for his failure to pay payroll taxes, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement.
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June 11, 2025
Russia Must Face $5B Yukos Award Suit, DC Judge Rules
At D.C. federal judge on Wednesday denied Russia's bid to nix litigation filed by the financing arm of Yukos Oil Co. to enforce a nearly $5 billion arbitral award, saying the Kremlin's jurisdictional objections fell short.
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June 11, 2025
US Consultant In France Must Pay $2M In FBAR Penalties
An American energy consultant residing in France must pay more than $2 million in penalties for purposely not disclosing foreign bank accounts that held more than $3 million, as opposed to the under $30,000 initially reported, a D.C. federal court ruled.
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June 11, 2025
IRS Must Improve Online Taxpayer Identification, GAO Says
The Internal Revenue Service needs to enhance its oversight of the outside vendor it uses to verify taxpayer identities when users log in to file their returns or access online resources, the Government Accountability Office said Wednesday.
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June 11, 2025
Treasury Secretary Defends IRS Cuts, $3.8T Budget Bill
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told House lawmakers Wednesday that cutting IRS funding would strengthen the agency while the GOP's $3.8 trillion One Big Beautiful Bill Act would boost working-class living standards and spark a fresh wave of economic growth.
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June 11, 2025
Senate Dems' Bill Would Bar GILTI For 'Round-Tripped' Income
Income that is "round-tripped" to obtain tax advantages would become ineligible for the half-off corporate tax rate under the global intangible low-taxed income regime, based on a bill introduced Wednesday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and three other Senate Democrats.
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June 11, 2025
Trump Pick For IRS Chief Clears Key Senate Hurdle
President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service survived a key procedural vote Wednesday in the Senate, setting the stage for the chamber to proceed with a final vote on his confirmation.
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June 10, 2025
Vertex Says Tax Software Rival Purposely Destroyed Evidence
Tax compliance software company Vertex Inc. told a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday that Avalara intentionally destroyed and failed to preserve "key sources of electronically stored information crucially relevant" to Vertex's lawsuit accusing its rival of poaching workers to steal trade secrets.
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June 10, 2025
GOP Senators Vow To Maintain No Tax On Tips In Budget Bill
Senate Republicans said Tuesday they are likely to preserve the House's provisions that exempt tips from taxation and honor other campaign tax promises of President Donald Trump in the chamber's version of the budget bill.
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June 10, 2025
LA Real Estate Agent Admits Obstructing IRS
A Los Angeles commercial real estate broker pled guilty to obstructing the Internal Revenue Service's attempts to collect thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes by willfully hiding his income and assets from the agency, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
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June 10, 2025
Fed. Circ. Keeps Trump Tariffs In Place, Fast-Tracks Appeal
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday granted the federal government's bid to keep President Donald Trump's global tariffs in place while it appeals a U.S. Court of International Trade order striking them down on the grounds that they exceeded the president's authority.
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June 10, 2025
Fund Manager, Wife Can't Claim $1.9M Refund, Judge Rules
A Florida investment fund manager and his wife are not entitled to a $1.9 million income tax refund resulting from a depreciation deduction related to a private jet because the entity that purchased the jet was not operating as a business, a federal judge ruled.
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June 10, 2025
Ayahuasca Church Brings Religious Use Case To DC Circ.
An Iowa church that seeks to use a psychedelic drug in its rites filed a petition Monday with the D.C. Circuit seeking to compel federal drug enforcers to process an application for a religious exemption to the Controlled Substances Act, which has been pending for over six years.
Expert Analysis
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How BigLaw Executive Orders May Affect Smaller Firms
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.
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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.