Federal
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October 21, 2024
Tax Court Says Cannabis Co. Can't Deduct $13.3M
A California medical cannabis dispensary's arguments that the Controlled Substances Act and part of the Internal Revenue Code were unconstitutional failed to sway the U.S. Tax Court, which on Monday affirmed an IRS determination disallowing over $13.3 million in deduction claims.
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October 21, 2024
Ga. Atty Admits To Role In $1.3B Tax Shelter Scheme
A Georgia attorney has pled guilty in federal court related to helping orchestrate a $1.3 billion tax scheme involving fraudulent conservation easements, making him the 12th person convicted over the plot, including another attorney who was handed a 23-year prison sentence.
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October 21, 2024
MVP: Paul Weiss' Brian Krause
Brian Krause of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP's tax practice designed a novel tax approach for the merger of World Wrestling Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship, raced to create a tax-free deal in the final days of a Texas "wildcatter" hoping to sell his oil company, and advised Chevron in its $60 billion acquisition of Hess Corp., earning him a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Tax MVPs.
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October 21, 2024
High Court Won't Review Couple's Anti-Tax Case
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it wouldn't hear the arguments of a couple challenging the federal government's power to collect their income taxes, letting stand a Tenth Circuit opinion that all the couple's claims were meritless.
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October 21, 2024
IRS Issues Corp. Bond Monthly Yield Curve For Oct.
The Internal Revenue Service published Monday the corporate bond monthly yield curve for October for use in calculations for defined benefit plans, as well as corresponding segment rates and other related provisions.
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October 21, 2024
Justices Won't Review IRS' Additions To Developer's $2M Deal
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it wouldn't review an Eleventh Circuit decision allowing the Internal Revenue Service to back out of a deal to settle an Alabama real estate developer's tax debt for $2 million.
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October 21, 2024
New ABA Tax Chair-Elect Aims To Expand Leadership Paths
The new chair-elect of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation told Law360 that she wants to broaden the pathways to leadership for members, including those early in their careers, as part of the section's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Here, Megan Brackney shares more about her background and goals for the section.
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October 18, 2024
Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attys From 74 Firms
The attorneys chosen as Law360's 2024 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.
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October 18, 2024
FTC Won't Disqualify ALJ in H&R Block False Ad Fight
The Federal Trade Commission denied a request by H&R Block to stop an administrative law judge from overseeing a proceeding that accuses the tax preparation company of deceptive advertising, saying Friday that ALJs don't have unconstitutional job protections as the company claimed.
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October 18, 2024
IRS Releases Sustainable Airplane Fuel Credit Guidance
Taxpayers using a certain safe harbor to calculate their emissions reduction percentage with regard to sustainable airplane fuel credit claims on the sale or use of qualified mixtures after a certain date must use an updated model, the IRS said Friday.
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October 18, 2024
Tax Court Gave Short Shrift To Land Donors, 11th Circ. Told
The owners of a waterfront property in Georgia who protected 500 acres for conservation told the Eleventh Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court drastically undercut the value of their gift and its corresponding tax deduction by accepting flawed evidence provided by the government's sole witness.
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October 18, 2024
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included final regulations that impose additional reporting requirements under the threat of penalty for partnerships that abuse a conservation easement tax deduction.
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October 18, 2024
IRS OKs Rules On Withholding For Pension Payments
The Internal Revenue Service released final rules Friday covering certain retirement plans' obligation to withhold income tax when they make payments or distributions to taxpayers outside the U.S. starting in 2026.
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October 18, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Baker, Simpson, Ropes
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Lundbeck inks a $2.6 billion cash deal for Longboard, Silver Lake agrees to buy Zuora for $1.7 billion, and PPG and American Industrial Partners reach a $550 million deal.
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October 17, 2024
Liberty Global Shouldn't Get $248M Tax Credit, 10th Circ. Told
Liberty Global distorted the language and statutory scheme of the U.S. tax code's foreign tax credit regulations to falsely claim $248 million in credits, the U.S. government told the Tenth Circuit on Thursday.
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October 17, 2024
Couple Failed To Contest IRS Lien, Tax Court Says
The IRS didn't abuse its discretion when it sustained a federal tax lien against a Washington couple to collect five years' worth of deficient taxes, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday, finding that the couple failed to respond to the agency's attempts to address the dispute.
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October 17, 2024
Couple Failed To Back Up Biz Expenses, Tax Court Says
A self-employed married couple who did business through six limited liability companies aren't entitled to deductions for business expenses and net operating losses because they didn't substantiate them, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday.
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October 17, 2024
Tax Court Affirms Denial Of IRS Whistleblower Award
The Internal Revenue Service correctly determined that a whistleblower was not owed a discretionary reward after the information he provided ultimately failed to result in the agency collecting any proceeds, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday.
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October 17, 2024
Atty Who Repped Rodney King To Plead Guilty To Tax Evasion
An attorney who represented Rodney King in a civil case against the city of Los Angeles after King was severely beaten by police agreed Thursday to plead guilty to tax evasion in return for the government dropping other charges.
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October 17, 2024
IRS Adjusts Tax Treatment Of Contraceptives
Individual taxpayers can now deduct condom purchases as preventive medical care payments, and high-deductible healthcare plans can provide condoms and over-the-counter oral contraceptives without a deductible, the IRS said Thursday.
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October 17, 2024
A&O Shearman Taps Governance Veteran To Co-Lead Practice
A&O Shearman said Thursday that it has tapped a longtime partner to co-head the firm's compensation, employment, pensions and governance practice, bringing it under the joint leadership of alum from each of its two legacy firms after the merger between New York-based Shearman & Sterling and London-based legacy firm Allen & Overy became official last May.
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October 17, 2024
Justices Told Woman Can't Dispute Levy For Paid-Off Tax
A Third Circuit decision allowing a woman to challenge her tax liabilities in a property-seizure proceeding should be overturned, the Internal Revenue Service told the U.S. Supreme Court, saying her case became moot after the agency withheld her tax refunds to pay off her debt.
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October 17, 2024
Polsinelli Hires McDermott Tax Counsel In DC
Polsinelli PC has hired an attorney who joined the firm's tax group as a shareholder after 12 and a half years with McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
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October 17, 2024
IRS To Hold Hearing On Tax Payments With Cards
The Internal Revenue Service will hold a public hearing Dec. 6 regarding proposed regulations that would allow taxpayers to make payments using credit and debit cards directly with the agency instead of through a third party, the IRS said Thursday.
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October 16, 2024
2 CPAs Get 20 Months For Roles In $1.3B Tax Shelter Scheme
Two certified public accountants were each sentenced in Georgia federal court to nearly two years in prison for selling tens of millions of dollars in false tax deductions to their rich clients as part of a $1.3 billion tax fraud scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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What Large Language Models Mean For Document Review
Courts often subject parties using technology assisted review to greater scrutiny than parties conducting linear, manual document review, so parties using large language models for document review should expect even more attention, along with a corresponding need for quality control and validation, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Participating In Living History Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My role as a baron in a living history group, and my work as volunteer corporate counsel for a book series fan association, has provided me several opportunities to practice in unexpected areas of law — opening doors to experiences that have nurtured invaluable personal and professional skills, says Matthew Parker at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
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Private Equity Owners Can Remedy Law Firms' Agency Issues
Nonlawyer, private-equity ownership of law firms can benefit shareholders and others vulnerable to governance issues such as disparate interests, and can in turn help resolve agency problems, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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Kentucky Tax Talk: Taking Up The Dormant Commerce Clause
Attorneys at Frost Brown examine whether the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to review Foresight Coal Sales v. Kent Chandler to consider whether a Kentucky utility rate law discriminates against interstate commerce, and how the decision may affect dormant commerce clause jurisprudence.
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Prevailing Wage Rules Complicate Inflation Act Tax Incentives
Nicole Elliott and Timothy Taylor at Holland & Knight discuss the intersection between tax and labor newly created by the Inflation Reduction Act, and focus on aspects of recent U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of the Treasury rules that may catch tax-incentive seekers off guard.
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Payroll Tax Evasion Notice Suggests FinCEN's New Focus
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s recent notice advising U.S. financial institutions to report payroll tax evasion and workers' compensation schemes in the construction industry suggests a growing interest in tax enforcement and IRS collaboration, as well as increased scrutiny in the construction sector, say Andrew Weiner and Jay Nanavati at Kostelanetz.
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How Taxpayers Can Prep As Justices Weigh Repatriation Tax
The U.S. Supreme Court might strike down the 2017 federal tax overhaul's corporate repatriation tax in Moore v. U.S., so taxpayers should file protective tax refund claims before the case is decided and repatriate previously taxed earnings that could become entangled in dubious potential Section 965 refunds, say Jenny Austin and Gary Wilcox at Mayer Brown.
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IRS Foreign Tax Credit Pause Is Welcome Course Correction
A recent IRS notice temporarily suspending application of 2022 foreign tax credit regulations provides wanted relief for the many U.S. multinational companies and other taxpayers that otherwise face the risk of significant double taxation in their international operations, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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If Justices End Chevron Deference, Auer Could Be Next Target
If the U.S. Supreme Court decides next term to overrule its Chevron v. NRDC decision, it may open the door for a similar review of the Auer deference — the principle that a government agency can interpret, through application, ambiguous agency regulations, says Sohan Dasgupta at Taft Stettinius.
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Tax Court Ruling Provides Helpful Profits Interest Guidance
A recent U.S. Tax Court decision holding that a partnership may exclude interests in a company that it indirectly received sheds light on related IRS guidance, including the proper valuation method for such interests, though the court's application of the method to the facts of this case appears flawed, say attorneys at Kramer Levin.
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Mallory Ruling Doesn't Undermine NC Sales Tax Holding
Contrary to the conclusion reached in a recent Law360 guest article, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Mallory ruling shouldn't be read as implicitly repudiating the North Carolina Supreme Court’s sales tax ruling in Quad Graphics v. North Carolina Department of Revenue — the U.S. Supreme Court could have rejected Quad by directly overturning it, says Jonathan Entin at Case Western Reserve.
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IRS Criminal Probe Spells Uncertainty For Malta Pension Plans
The IRS’ recent scrutiny of Malta pension plan arrangements — and its unusual issuance of criminal administrative summonses — confirms that it views many of these plans as illegal tax evasion schemes, and the road ahead will not be smooth and steady for anyone involved, say attorneys at Kostelanetz.
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IRS Announcement Will Aid Cos. In Buyback Tax Planning
Recent IRS transitional guidance regarding current requirements for reporting and payment of the stock repurchase excise tax will help corporate taxpayers make decisions about records retention and establishing reserves for future tax payments, say Xenia Garofalo and Kyle Colonna at Eversheds Sutherland.