Federal
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January 17, 2025
IRS Rewrites Residential Green Energy Credit FAQ
The Internal Revenue Service made substantial changes Friday to its fact sheet for the energy efficient home improvement and residential clean energy property tax credits.
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January 17, 2025
Meet The Key Players In Tom Goldstein's Tax-Crimes Case
The tax-evasion indictment of U.S. Supreme Court expert lawyer and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein features an eclectic cast of characters linked to his purported side career as a high-stakes poker player, including law firm partners, professional gamblers, a Texas billionaire, a movie producer and an actor.
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January 17, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Simpson Thacher, Covington
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Eli Lilly and Co. buys a precision breast cancer program, Applied Digital Corp. enters a financing agreement for its high-performance computing business, Clearwater Analytics buys Enfusion, and Lantheus Holdings Inc. buys Life Molecular Imaging Ltd.
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January 17, 2025
Ex-Pol's Atty Chided For Early Morning Sentencing Memo
The lawyer for a former Massachusetts state senator convicted of tax and pandemic aid fraud was scolded by a federal judge on Friday for filing a sentencing memo at 3:30 a.m. on the day of the hearing, then showing up late to court, forcing a postponement.
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January 17, 2025
Co. Suggests 4 Chemicals For Taxable Substances List
The Internal Revenue Service is seeking comments on proposals from Occidental Chemical Corp. to add four chemicals to the Internal Revenue Code's list of taxable substances, the agency said Friday.
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January 17, 2025
IRS Commissioner To Step Down As Trump Takes Office
Internal Revenue Commissioner Daniel Werfel is stepping down from his position in light of President-elect Donald Trump's intent to nominate former Rep. Billy Long to replace him, Werfel said in a message to the agency's employees Friday.
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January 17, 2025
Vanguard To Pay SEC, States $106M Over Surprise Tax Bills
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was joined by dozens of state regulators Friday in announcing a $106.4 million settlement with The Vanguard Group Inc. over claims that the company misled investors about the heightened capital gains taxes they would have to pay on certain retirement savings accounts.
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January 17, 2025
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included revised rules for companies that file consolidated federal income tax returns to modernize previous rules' terminology, including removing gender-specific pronouns.
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January 16, 2025
Trump's Treasury Pick Calls For Permanently Extending TCJA
Congress must permanently extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions set to expire this year to prevent the largest tax increase in history, Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Treasury secretary, told the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.
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January 16, 2025
Tax Court Denies Late Pass For Identity Theft
A California couple cannot challenge an Internal Revenue Service decision to levy their state tax refund because they missed the deadline for filing a petition by four years, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday, rejecting their request for an extension for dealing with identity theft.
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January 16, 2025
DOJ Tax Chief Touts Winning Court Record On Appeals
The U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division won an overwhelming majority of appeals in tax cases last year by prioritizing strong legal arguments in disputes that had the potential to significantly affect federal tax administration, the head of the division said Thursday.
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January 16, 2025
Tax Court Rejects Explanation For Unreported Wages
A woman owes taxes on nearly $19,000 of unreported income she said she reported on a gift tax return, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday, rejecting her argument that wages reported as gifts would not incur taxes.
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January 16, 2025
Tax Court Tosses Some Of Ind. Couple's Deduction Claims
The U.S. Tax Court had mixed responses Thursday related to an Indiana couple's claimed business deductions tied to a rental property as well as itemized deductions related to the husband's work as an electrician, allowing some while saying others weren't properly substantiated.
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January 16, 2025
IRS Explains Changing Elective Payment Accounting Periods
The IRS provided procedures Thursday for certain entities — including Native American tribes and state governments — that aren't required to file federal income tax returns but have chosen to make elective payments and want to change their taxable years to match their accounting periods.
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January 16, 2025
AmEx Inks $230M Deal Over DOJ, Fed Small Biz Sales Claims
American Express has signed a nonprosecution agreement and said Thursday it will pay about $230 million to end investigations by the Department of Justice and the Federal Reserve into the financial services company's previous sales practices for some small business customers in the U.S.
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January 16, 2025
Tax Court's 90-Day Deadline Is Not Fixed, 6th Circ. Told
A woman who missed the 90-day deadline for challenging her liabilities in the U.S. Tax Court told the Sixth Circuit on Thursday that the Internal Revenue Service has wrongly argued that case law proves the deadline is set in stone.
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January 16, 2025
SCOTUSblog Publisher Tom Goldstein Indicted In Tax Case
Tom Goldstein, a publisher of SCOTUSblog and one of the most experienced U.S. Supreme Court lawyers in the country, was indicted Thursday in Maryland federal court on charges he schemed to evade paying taxes for years and used funds from his boutique law firm to cover gambling debts.
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January 16, 2025
OECD To Release List Of Abusive Transactions Under Pillar 2
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is putting together a list of intercompany transactions that may raise red flags as attempts to undermine an international minimum tax agreement known as Pillar Two, an OECD official said Thursday.
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January 16, 2025
Morrison Foerster Adds Tax Group Co-Chair From Jones Day
Morrison Foerster LLP announced it has added a partner from Jones Day to serve as co-chair of the firm's global tax group in its New York office.
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January 16, 2025
Atty Gets 5-Year NJ Suspension After Tax Fraud Conviction
A Philadelphia-based personal injury attorney convicted for not paying income tax on more than $8 million in revenue he earned and for failing to pay almost $60,000 in payroll taxes received a five-year suspension from New Jersey's Supreme Court but will keep his law license in the state.
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January 16, 2025
IRS Corrects Simplified Foreign Currency Rules
The Internal Revenue Service issued corrections Thursday to finalized regulations that aim to simplify aspects of how corporations determine taxable income or loss with respect to certain affiliates that conduct business in a foreign currency.
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January 16, 2025
Treasury Updates Bonus Energy Tax Credit Safe Harbors
The U.S. Treasury Department provided updates Thursday to safe harbors that clean energy project developers can use to qualify for bonus tax credits for domestically sourcing steel and aluminum parts in response to new trade restrictions on solar products from China by President Joe Biden's administration.
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January 15, 2025
Tax Court Rejects Brothers' Claims Of Gifted Jewelry
The U.S. Tax Court on Wednesday upheld $2.5 million in taxes, plus fraud penalties, against brothers who claimed an unreported bank account held nontaxable proceeds from the sale of their mother's gift of 1,600 pieces of jewelry from Israel and Iran.
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January 15, 2025
Dems, GOP Willing To Work On Certain Tax Issues, Aides Say
Democrats are willing to work with Republicans on bipartisan issues, such as providing certain treaty-like benefits to Taiwanese residents, retirement issues, and tax administration issues, Democratic and GOP aides for the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees said Wednesday.
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January 15, 2025
More IRS Partnership 'Soft Letters' Coming, Official Says
The Internal Revenue Service will keep using an educational compliance tool called soft letters to prod taxpayers to comply with a centralized partnership audit regime that has recently turned its focus to larger and more complicated entities, an agency official said Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.
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5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond
As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.
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Pros, Cons Of Disclosing Improper Employee Retention Credit
Employers considering the Internal Revenue Service’s second voluntary disclosure program, which allows companies to avoid penalties for erroneously claiming employee retention credits for the 2021 tax year by repaying the credits and naming the tax advisers who encouraged these abusive practices, should carefully weigh the program’s benefits against its potential drawbacks, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.
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How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'
Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.
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Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process
Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.
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Whistleblowers Must Note 5 Key Differences Of DOJ Program
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently unveiled whistleblower awards program diverges in key ways from similar programs at other agencies, and individuals must weigh these differences and look first to programs with stronger, proven protections before blowing the whistle, say Stephen Kohn and Geoff Schweller at Kohn Kohn.
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What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires
Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.
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Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support
A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.
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Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where
During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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Brownfield Questions Surround IRS Tax Credit Bonus
Though the IRS has published guidance regarding the Inflation Reduction Act's 10% adder for tax credits generated by renewable energy projects constructed on brownfield sites, considerable guesswork remains as potential implications seem contrary to IRS intentions, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing
Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address
A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union
As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.