Federal
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November 01, 2024
Accountant Gets 1 Year For Failing To Report Stolen Income
An accountant for a manufacturing company who embezzled more than $800,000 and failed to report it on his tax returns was sentenced to just over a year in prison and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution, according to New Jersey federal court documents.
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November 01, 2024
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included the annual inflation adjustments to over 60 tax provisions.
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October 31, 2024
Man Didn't Justify His Claims He Couldn't Pay, Tax Court Says
The Internal Revenue Service didn't abuse its discretion when it upheld levies to collect over $58,000 in outstanding tax liabilities, including penalties and interest, after a man failed to substantiate his claims of medical hardship, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday.
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October 31, 2024
Treasury Using Help To Clear Pillar 1 'Logjam,' Official Says
Other executive agencies in President Joe Biden's administration have backed the U.S. Treasury Department in urging negotiators at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to reach a final deal on the international taxing rights overhaul known as Pillar One, a top Treasury official said Thursday.
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October 31, 2024
Exxon Entitled To Interest Deduction On Qatar Deal
Exxon Mobil is entitled to an interest expense deduction on payments to Qatar under a natural gas deal, a Texas federal judge ruled, rejecting the U.S. government's classification of an underlying transaction as a royalty rather than a loan.
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October 31, 2024
Treasury Official Previews M&A Details For Corp. AMT Rules
U.S. rulemakers plan to further address how the country's corporate alternative minimum tax applies to transactions including spinoffs and deals that involve a member of a tax consolidated group, a U.S. Treasury Department official said Thursday.
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October 31, 2024
4 Ways Congress Could Try To Close The Tax Gap
The gap between federal taxes owed and paid — recently estimated at $696 billion for 2022 — could be addressed in several ways, including increasing information reporting or simplifying the tax code, experts told Law360.
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October 31, 2024
Pro Baller Avoids Prison Over Tax, Child Support Scam
A professional basketball player was sentenced to three years of probation in Ohio federal court after being charged with conspiracy and wire fraud for allegedly attempting to avoid paying child support and taxes for several years.
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October 31, 2024
6th Circ. Wary Of Bid To Overturn $500M Win For Truck Co.
Sixth Circuit judges seemed skeptical Thursday of the government's $500 million bid to overturn a Tennessee jury's decision that a company's refurbished trucks qualified for a safe harbor from excise taxes, saying the government's reading of a tax provision was unclear.
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October 31, 2024
The 2024 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard
Check out the Law360 Pulse Leaderboard to see which firms made the list of leaders in all-around excellence this year.
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October 31, 2024
Firms' Hiring Strategies Are Evolving In Fight For Top Spot
Competition for top talent among elite law firms shows no signs of slowing down, even amid economic uncertainty, with financially strong firms deploying aggressive strategies to attract and retain skilled professionals to solidify their market position.
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October 31, 2024
11th Circ. Nixes ERISA Claim To John Hancock's $100M Credit
John Hancock Life Insurance Co. had no fiduciary duty to pass on to retirement plans $100 million in foreign tax credits that it had taken from taxes paid on foreign investments, a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit said in upholding a lower court ruling.
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October 30, 2024
FinCEN Extends BOI Report Deadline For Hurricane Victims
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has extended deadlines for submitting beneficial ownership information for victims of recent hurricanes, offering an additional six months to file or update reports, or to correct prior reports.
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October 30, 2024
Jury Finds Importer Didn't Report $17M On Tax Returns
A Los Angeles jury found an importer of Chinese clothing guilty of skirting more than $8 million in customs duties and failing to report more than $17 million in cash transactions on tax returns, federal prosecutors in California announced Wednesday.
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October 30, 2024
Pillar 2 Likely To Cast Shadow Over US Tax Bill Talks
The international minimum tax agreement known as Pillar Two won't officially factor into upcoming tax bill negotiations in the U.S. Congress, but the global regime's potential grab at U.S. tax revenue could informally influence policy choices.
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October 30, 2024
Tax Court Stands By Couple's Tax Liability After Remand
An investor couple whose case was remanded by the Sixth Circuit is still liable for over $603,000 in deficient taxes tied to $3 million in claimed losses from a complex foreign-exchange derivative arrangement since their actions were not made with legitimate intentions of turning a profit, the U.S. Tax Court said Wednesday.
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October 30, 2024
GOP Lawmakers Criticize Treasury's Start Of Taiwan Tax Talks
The top tax-writing Republicans in Congress said Wednesday that the U.S. Treasury Department's announcement that it would begin negotiations with Taiwan on a double-tax relief agreement risks undermining legislation to address the issue that is stalled in the Senate.
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October 30, 2024
Mayo Shouldn't Get Tax Break For Education, 8th Circ. Told
The Eighth Circuit should overturn a ruling that found the Mayo Clinic's intertwined medical and educational purposes qualified it for a tax exemption on certain business income for educational institutions, the U.S. government argued, saying a recent Fifth Circuit ruling supports its argument that only exclusively educational organizations qualify.
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October 30, 2024
IRS Seeks Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Members From 14 States
The Internal Revenue Service is accepting applications for its Taxpayer Advocacy Panel from 14 states and Puerto Rico, the agency said Wednesday.
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October 29, 2024
Investments In Energy Tax Credit Boom Could Draw IRS' Eye
The 2022 climate law's green energy tax incentives sparked a surge of big-ticket development projects nationwide, and tax practitioners expect that the investments could be subject to intense scrutiny from the IRS amid a crackdown on abusive schemes in other areas.
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October 29, 2024
Ex-Cleveland Councilman Can't Cut 6-Year Fraud Sentence
An Ohio federal judge will not allow a former Cleveland city councilman to get out of jail on compassionate release, ruling the ex-politician "has never demonstrated any remorse for his criminal conduct" and should serve the remainder of his six-year fraud sentence.
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October 29, 2024
Partnership Must Reduce Year-End Outside Basis By $4.8M
A California partnership must decrease its outside basis in a lower-tier partnership by $4.8 million in excess losses determined by the IRS, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Tuesday, saying the agency's concession on the partnership's related deduction didn't stop the court from making the ruling.
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October 29, 2024
IRS Taps EY Principal For Newly Formed Pass-Through Office
The Internal Revenue Service selected a former agency lawyer who has most recently worked as a principal at EY to serve as associate chief counsel for its new pass-through office that will focus entirely on partnerships, S corporations, trusts and estates, the agency said Tuesday.
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October 29, 2024
Building Co. Cops To Worker Scheme Tied To Tax Fraud
A truss building company pled guilty to conspiring to hide its employment of dozens of unauthorized workers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with a former employee, who admitted to filing false tax returns as part of the scheme, according to Florida federal court documents.
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October 29, 2024
Rimon Adds International Tax Expert In Philadelphia
Rimon PC has added an expert in international tax and trusts and estates who joined the firm's Philadelphia office after working for his own practice.
Expert Analysis
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Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information
As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.
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Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD
Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.
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Unlocking Value In Carve-Out M&A Transactions
Some of the largest mergers and acquisitions in 2023 were carve-out transactions, and despite their unique intricacies and challenges, these transactions offer both buyers and sellers the opportunity to generate outsized returns in an otherwise vigorously competitive landscape, when carefully planned and diligently executed, say Kevin Crews and Rami Totari at Kirkland.
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Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence
Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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1st Tax Easement Convictions Will Likely Embolden DOJ, IRS
After recent convictions in the first criminal tax fraud trial over allegedly abusive syndicated conservation easements, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice will likely pursue other promoters for similar alleged conspiracies — though one acquittal may help attorneys better evaluate their clients' exposure, say Bill Curtis and Lauren DeSantis-Then at Polsinelli.
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Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes
Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.
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Anticipating Intensified Partnership Enforcement From IRS
The Internal Revenue Service's decadeslong difficulties with partnership audits led to the recent announcement of a clear, well-funded, focused initiative, and businesses operating in the partnership form will feel the impact, with definite changes ahead, says Sharon Katz-Pearlman at Greenberg Traurig.
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Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys
Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.
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The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'
The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.
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Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform
The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.
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How And Why Your Firm Should Implement Fixed-Fee Billing
Amid rising burnout in the legal industry and client efforts to curtail spending, pivoting to a fixed-fee billing model may improve client-attorney relationships and offer lawyers financial, logistical and stress relief — while still maintaining profit margins, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies
Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.
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While Risks Exist, AI Could Transform IRS Enforcement
The Internal Revenue Service's recently announced use of artificial intelligence could revolutionize the agency's enforcement efforts, and transparency about its use and a forum for challenging AI findings could help mitigate fears that the technology will increase bias, say attorneys at Lewis Brisbois.