Federal

Stopgap Gov't Funding Law May Hinder IRS Improvements

David van den Berg

The IRS may need to redirect funds from its 2022 funding boost intended for agency improvements in order to cover routine operations, reducing funds available for planned upgrade projects, due to the stopgap appropriations bill Congress passed last week.

Ex-USTR Official Sees Possible Path Forward For Digital Taxes

Natalie Olivo
Senior Tax Correspondent

The U.S. may withhold trade threats if it believes countries are having good-faith conversations about concerns that their digital services taxes discriminate against U.S. businesses, including in current talks with Canada, the former general counsel for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative told Law360.

The Tax Angle: Pass-Through Tax Relief, Corporate Rate Cut

Stephen K. Cooper
Editor-at-Large

From a look at GOP efforts to extend the tax deduction for pass-through businesses to former President Donald Trump's proposal to cut the corporate tax rate to 15%, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of the week's developing tax stories.

The Trade And Tax Issues Behind US-Canada Digital Tax Clash

The new Canadian digital services tax recently went into effect despite objections from the U.S., a controversy that represents an unusual mix of trade and tax policy, and many companies have been pondering how it will affect their e-commerce businesses, says Damon Pike at BDO.

Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

A Look At How De Minimis Import Rules May Soon Change

The planned implementation of executive actions focused on the de minimis rule as it applies to shipments means companies should use this interval to evaluate the potential applicability and impact of Section 301, Section 201 or Section 232 duties on their products, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

Ruling On Foreign Dividend Break Offers 2 Tax Court Insights

In Varian v. Commissioner, the U.S. Tax Court allowed a taxpayer's deduction for dividends from foreign subsidiaries, providing clarity on how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision may affect challenges to Treasury regulations, and revealing a potential disallowance of foreign tax credits, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

Avoid Getting Burned By Agencies' Solar Financing Spotlight

Recently coordinated reports and advisories from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission maximize the spotlight on the consumer solar financing market and highlight pitfalls for lenders to avoid in this burgeoning field, says Mercedes Tunstall at Cadwalader.

Tax Traps In Acquisitions Of Financially Distressed Targets

Excerpt from Practical Guidance

Parties to the acquisition of an insolvent or bankrupt company face myriad tax considerations, including limitations on using the distressed company's tax benefits, cancellation of indebtedness income, tax lien issues and potential tax reorganizations.

Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls

Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.

How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.