Federal
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January 01, 2025
Top International Tax Cases To Watch In 2025
Major multinational corporations such as 3M and Coca-Cola will continue to litigate high-stakes international tax cases during 2025, including transfer pricing disputes with billions of dollars on the line and fights against regulations that allegedly exceed the government's authority. Here, Law360 looks at six key international tax cases to follow in the new year.
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January 01, 2025
Top Federal Tax Cases To Watch In 2025
Over the next year, tax practitioners will be closely monitoring suits that challenge the IRS' use of the economic substance doctrine, take advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision curbing federal agencies' regulatory authority and dispute the government's handling of worker retention credits. Here, Law360 looks at key federal tax cases to follow in 2025.
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December 23, 2024
Anti-Laundering Law Is Likely Constitutional, 5th Circ. Rules
The Fifth Circuit on Monday lifted a lower court's nationwide block of a federal corporate transparency law, ruling in an unpublished order that the federal government made a "strong showing" that it could successfully defend the law's constitutionality.
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December 23, 2024
IRS Finalizes Regs Clarifying Supervisor Penalty Approval
An IRS supervisor can approve penalties anytime before the agency assesses them, as well as before it issues a preassessment notice subject to a U.S. Tax Court review, such as a deficiency notice, under final regulations that aim to clarify conflicting court interpretations on the civil fines.
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December 23, 2024
Treasury Proposes Contingent Fee Regs For Tax Pros
Tax professionals who practice before the IRS and charge clients contingent fees in connection with preparing returns will be subject to sanctions for disreputable conduct under rules proposed by the U.S. Treasury Department that also require practitioners to be competent in new technology.
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December 20, 2024
SEC Fines Entergy $12M Over Alleged Accounting Errors
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday announced a $12 million settlement with Entergy Corp. over claims that the company failed to properly account for what may have been hundreds of millions of dollars in unusable or surplus equipment.
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December 20, 2024
Utah Judge Pauses Challenge To Corporate Transparency Act
A Utah federal judge has stayed a case seeking to block the Corporate Transparency Act to see how the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump handles the law after a kindred case in Texas won a preliminary injunction on it.
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December 20, 2024
Baker McKenzie Names 18 New Partners In North America
Baker McKenzie announced the promotion of 18 North American-based attorneys to partner, a slight increase from last year but still significantly lower than in previous years.
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December 20, 2024
IRS Sets 2025 Wage Base For Covered Compensation
The taxable wage base used to calculate covered compensation for employee retirement plans will be $176,100 for 2025 tax year, the Internal Revenue Service announced in a revenue ruling Friday.
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December 20, 2024
Rules On Earnings, Profits Still Being Vetted, IRS Official Says
Recently proposed rules for previously taxed earnings and profits aren't able to be relied on by taxpayers until they are finalized because they contain new approaches that have to be properly vetted through a notice and comment period, an IRS official said Friday.
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December 20, 2024
Top Federal Tax Decisions Of 2024
Over the past year, federal courts have issued decisions further delimiting the power of the Internal Revenue Service, with the First Circuit affirming a decision to allow agency summonses for cryptocurrency account records and an Arizona federal court rejecting a call to lift the agency's moratorium on processing pandemic-era worker credits. Here, Law360 reviews some of the most significant federal tax decisions of 2024.
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December 20, 2024
IRS Seeks Input On Research Tax Credit Form Instructions
The Internal Revenue Service is seeking comments on draft instructions for an updated research tax credit form, specifically on proposed changes to the reporting of controlled groups, research development costs and business component detail, the agency announced Friday.
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December 20, 2024
Coffee Stands Owner Gets 10 Months For Tax Fraud
An owner of bikini coffee stands in Seattle was sentenced to 10 months in prison for tax fraud that the U.S. government claimed involved his failure to report more than $6 million in income to the Internal Revenue Service, according to Washington federal court filings.
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December 20, 2024
Top North Carolina Cases Of 2024: Bias, Fraud And False Ads
North Carolina saw a host of heavy-hitting civil trials in 2024, from back-to-back multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in suits over false advertising and employment discrimination, to a substantial bench ruling in a much-watched bias suit against the federal judiciary.
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December 19, 2024
Tax Court Cuts Easement Deductions, OKs Penalties
The U.S. Tax Court on Thursday reduced tax deductions claimed by two partnerships for donating adjoining conservation easements in Georgia and sustained 40% penalties against them for misstating the value of the donations.
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December 19, 2024
Biz Owners Ask 11th Circ. To Revive Tax Penalty Challenge
Owners of an electronic parts company whose reprieve from a $345,000 tax penalty was revoked by the U.S. Tax Court in light of an Eleventh Circuit ruling have asked the appeals court to reconsider its stance and to determine that Tax Court judges have unconstitutional job protections.
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December 19, 2024
Atty Owes Taxes Tied To Fraud, Tax Court Says
An attorney convicted of tax evasion in connection with more than $1 million in renovations he and his wife made to a historic home in Virginia owes civil fraud penalties and roughly $100,000 in taxes, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday.
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December 19, 2024
IRS Raises Standard Mileage Rate For 2025
The Internal Revenue Service will raise the standard mileage rate for business vehicles to 70 cents per mile in 2025, the agency said Thursday.
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December 19, 2024
9th Circ. Rejects Tomato Paste Cos.' Deductions For Upgrades
A Ninth Circuit majority affirmed on Thursday an Internal Revenue Service determination denying tax deductions for facility upgrades claimed by two tomato paste producers, with a dissenting judge criticizing the agency's reversal in rejecting the upgrade deductions it had previously approved.
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December 19, 2024
Atty Exits Denmark's $2.1B Tax Fraud Case After Settlement
A New York federal court removed an attorney from a $2.1 billion tax fraud suit after Denmark's tax authority settled with him on his involvement in the matter, according to recent filings.
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December 19, 2024
Denmark Says $500M Recovered In Dividend Tax Fraud Suits
Denmark's tax administration has recovered a total of 3.6 billion Danish kroner ($500 million) in money lost to suspected dividend tax refund fraud after entering settlements of civil cases in several countries in 2024, Denmark's tax minister announced.
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December 19, 2024
Top Federal Tax Policies Of 2024
In 2024, the U.S. Senate rejected a tax bill negotiated between the chairs of the House and Senate tax-writing committees, and on the regulatory front, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service pressed ahead with regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act. Here, Law360 looks at the most consequential developments in federal tax policy from the past year.
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December 19, 2024
5th Circ. Urged To Deny Tax Break For Doc's Captive Insurance
A physician who owns a network of urgent care clinics was correctly denied tax deductions along with his wife for over $1 million in premiums they paid to insurance companies they owned, the government told the Fifth Circuit, saying the captive arrangements didn't qualify as insurance for tax purposes.
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December 19, 2024
GAO Finds Direct File Pilot Successful, Suggests Upgrades
The Internal Revenue Service conducted a successful test run this past tax season of Direct File, a new online tax return preparation service for individual taxpayers, but the agency could do more to expand access to the program, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported Thursday.
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December 18, 2024
Tax Shelter Defendant Charged In Investment Ploy
Federal prosecutors have accused two men, one of whom is already facing charges of promoting tax shelters, with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with their operation of a multimillion-dollar fraudulent investment fund, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in Colorado federal court.
Expert Analysis
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The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO
The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.
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Tariffs' Economic Downsides Outweigh Potential Revenue
Import tariffs proposed by the campaign of former president Donald Trump would generate revenue like other taxes, but policymakers must consider the net-negative impact of associated consumer and downstream-industry costs, harm to exporters, potential foreign retaliation and reduction in economic output, says Erica York at the Tax Foundation.
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Navigating The Last Leg Of The Worker Retention Tax Credit
Whether a business has applied for the pandemic-era employee retention tax credit, received a denial letter or is still considering making a claim before the April 15 deadline, it should examine recent developments significantly affecting the program before planning next steps, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.
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How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program
During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.
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Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.
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Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys
Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.
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Congress Can And Must Enact A Supreme Court Ethics Code
As public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court dips to historic lows following reports raising conflict of interest concerns, Congress must exercise its constitutional power to enact a mandatory and enforceable code of ethics for the high court, says Muhammad Faridi, president of the New York City Bar Association.
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What To Make Of Dueling Corporate Transparency Act Rulings
Although challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act abound — as highlighted by recent federal court decisions from Alabama and Oregon taking opposite positions on its constitutionality — the act is still law, so companies should comply with their filing requirements or face the potential consequences, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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The Pop Culture Docket: Justice Lebovits On Gilbert And Sullivan
Characters in the 19th century comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan break the rules of good lawyering by shamelessly throwing responsible critical thought to the wind, providing hilarious lessons for lawyers and judges on how to avoid a surfeit of traps and tribulations, say acting New York Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits and law student Tara Scown.
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State Of The States' AI Legal Ethics Landscape
Over the past year, several state bar associations, as well as the American Bar Association, have released guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in legal practice, all of which share overarching themes and some nuanced differences, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law Group.
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8 Childhood Lessons That Can Help You Be A Better Attorney
A new school year is underway, marking a fitting time for attorneys to reflect on some fundamental life lessons from early childhood that offer a framework for problems that no legal textbook can solve, say Chris Gismondi and Chris Campbell at DLA Piper.
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How The 2025 Tax Policy Debate Will Affect The Energy Sector
Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming U.S. election, 2025 will bring a major tax policy debate that could affect the energy sector more than any other part of the economy — so stakeholders who could be affected should be engaging now to make sure they understand the stakes, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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This Election, We Need To Talk About Court Process
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has markedly transformed judicial processes — from summary judgment standards to notice pleadings — which has, in turn, affected individuals’ substantive rights, and we need to consider how the upcoming presidential election may continue this pattern, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.