Federal
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September 24, 2024
Exxon Claims It Beat Weak Defense In $1.8B Tax Trial
Exxon Mobil urged a Texas federal judge to find that it defeated what it called a scattered defense by the U.S. government during a five-day bench trial in April when the company argued for a $1.8 billion tax refund on its natural gas deal with Qatar, according to newly released filings.
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September 24, 2024
Applications For Low-Income Energy Tax Breaks Due In Oct.
With more than 50,000 applications for the low-income communities clean energy bonus credit program submitted, three U.S. government agencies announced Tuesday that they will be accepting applications on a rolling basis for most categories through Oct. 10 to make sure they are timely processed.
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September 24, 2024
Tax Data Consent Practices Need Shoring Up, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service must take steps to make sure any tax software companies that collect taxpayer information include consent statements that are clear about the intended purpose of the disclosure of that information and the specific recipients of it, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said.
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September 24, 2024
Miller & Chevalier Adds Federal Tax Expert From White & Case
Miller & Chevalier Chtd. announced that it added a former partner at White & Case LLP to its tax controversy and litigation practice.
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September 23, 2024
Clean Energy Safe Harbor Applies To Direct Pay, Official Says
The safe harbor for the bonus clean energy tax credits' domestic content rules applies to all applicable project owners, including tax-exempt entities that are eligible to get a direct cash payment of the credits, a U.S. Treasury Department attorney said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
Energy Bonus Credit Penalty Guidance Coming, Atty Says
The U.S. Treasury Department will soon release additional guidance on penalties for clean energy developers that initially failed to meet the prevailing wage requirements tied to claiming bonus tax credits on their development projects, a Treasury attorney said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
Some Former IRS Contractors Not Purged From Systems
An analysis of over 1,800 former Internal Revenue Service contractors who were incorrectly listed as active found a number of them still possessed network permissions, IRS hardware or identification cards giving them access to agency facilities, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
3 IRS Divisions Not Heeding Customer Surveys, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service's Wage and Investment, Small Business/Self-Employed and Tax Exempt and Government Entities divisions are generally not using the results of their customer service surveys to make improvements to their operations, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
Couple Didn't Report Business Income, Tax Court Says
A couple whose mortgage company managed two LLCs failed to report income received from the company, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday in upholding most of the roughly $1.3 million in deficiency notices for 2009 and 2010 issued by the Internal Revenue Service.
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September 23, 2024
The Tax Angle: Corporate Inversions, SALT Cap
From a look at criticisms that the 2017 federal tax law failed to stop corporations from moving overseas to GOP efforts to navigate the SALT cap ahead of the November elections, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of the week's developing tax stories.
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September 23, 2024
Sysco Allowed $324M Dividend Deduction After Varian Ruling
Sysco Corp. can deduct $324 million in foreign dividends after agreeing with the Internal Revenue Service that a decision in a similar case brought by Varian Medical Systems resolved their dispute, the U.S. Tax Court said in an order.
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September 23, 2024
More Needed On Energy Tax Credit Monetization, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service has taken steps to facilitate the sale or transfer of the Inflation Reduction Act's clean energy tax credits, but it must develop more processes to accommodate the credits, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported.
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September 23, 2024
Senate Confirms 3rd Tax Court Judge In 2 Months
The U.S. Senate approved one of President Joe Biden's nominees to serve on the U.S. Tax Court on Monday, marking the third time the chamber has confirmed a judge to the court in the past two months.
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September 23, 2024
Tax Court Allows Woman's Gambling Loss Deduction
A California woman made good-faith attempts to substantiate her gambling losses and therefore may claim a roughly $62,000 tax deduction, but she is still liable for an accuracy-related penalty for the year in question, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
DOJ Seeing Deluge Of Attacks In Tax Cases After Loper Bright
The U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division is seeing its casework flooded with taxpayer arguments citing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright overturning the Chevron doctrine, and that's not likely to change soon, a division chief said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
Vanguard Agrees To Settle Investors' Tax Liability Suit
Vanguard agreed to settle a proposed class action by investors who accused the company of violating its fiduciary duties when it triggered a sell-off of assets that left them with massive tax bills, according to a Pennsylvania federal court order Monday.
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September 23, 2024
Profs, Retired Judges Ask Justices To Uphold Return Of Taxes
Two former bankruptcy judges and a group of law professors threw their support behind the bankruptcy trustee of a Utah transportation company seeking to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that the IRS, like any other creditor, should have to return payments deemed fraudulent under state law.
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September 23, 2024
IRS Finalizing Pricing Pact Guidance, Official Says
The Internal Revenue Service is in the final stages of updating revenue procedures to help multinational corporations pursue advance pricing agreements and resolve tax treaty disputes, and it will release the guidance soon, an agency official said Monday.
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September 23, 2024
IRS Names Chief Of Appeals Office
The Internal Revenue Service elevated the acting chief of its Independent Office of Appeals to the position permanently, the agency announced Monday.
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September 23, 2024
Squire Patton Tax Ace Joins Winston & Strawn In Dallas
Winston & Strawn LLP announced Monday it has expanded its tax offerings with the addition of an experienced attorney from Squire Patton Boggs LLP in Texas.
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September 23, 2024
Julie Chrisley Fights For Sentence Cut After 11th Circ. Ruling
Former reality TV star Julie Chrisley asked a Georgia federal judge on Friday to resentence her to no more than five years for her role in a $36 million tax evasion and fraud scheme, arguing against prosecutors' insistence that the seven-year sentence she was previously given be kept intact.
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September 20, 2024
Family Owes $81M Taxes On 'Son-Of-Boss' Scheme, DOJ Says
Former shareholders of a family-owned holding company owe the IRS nearly $81 million for participating in what is known as a Son-of-Boss arrangement, which generated fake capital losses in the 2022 sale of company stock, the U.S. Department of Justice told a New York federal court.
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September 20, 2024
8th Circ. To Hear Args In 3M's $24M Tax Case Next Month
The Eighth Circuit said Friday that it will hear oral arguments next month in 3M's transfer pricing appeal, in which the multinational conglomerate is challenging the Internal Revenue Service's authority to reallocate to the company $24 million from a Brazilian affiliate.
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September 20, 2024
IRS Updates Per-Diem Deduction Rates For Business Travel
The per-diem rates used to compute business travel expense tax deductions will be $319 for travel to high-cost areas and $225 for travel to low-cost areas starting in October, the Internal Revenue Service said Friday.
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September 20, 2024
Divestiture Counts As Reorganization, IRS Says
A domestic corporation with some foreign shareholders that is required to divest itself of one of its businesses by using a newly created corporation as an intermediary for the distribution qualifies as a tax-free reorganization, the IRS said in a private letter ruling released Friday.
Expert Analysis
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.
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Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
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3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem
The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.
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Tracking Implementation Of IRA Programs As Election Nears
As the Biden administration races to cement key regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, a number of the law's programs and incentives are at risk of delay or repeal if Republicans retake control of Congress, the White House or both — so stakeholders should closely watch ongoing IRA implementation and guidance, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule
Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.
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Takeaways From Justices' Redemption Insurance Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Connelly v. U.S. examines how to determine the fair market value of shares in a closely held company for estate tax purposes, and clarifies how life insurance held by the company to enable redemption of a decedent’s shares affects that calculation, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.
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6 Tips For Maximizing After-Tax Returns In Private M&A Deals
With potential tax legislation likely to spur a surge in private business sales, sellers can make the most of after-tax proceeds with strategies that include price allocation and qualified investment options, say Isaac Grossman and Daniel Studin at Morrison Cohen.
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After A Brief Hiccup, The 'Rocket Docket' Soars Back To No. 1
The Eastern District of Virginia’s precipitous 2022 fall from its storied rocket docket status appears to have been a temporary aberration, as recent statistics reveal that the court is once again back on top as the fastest federal civil trial court in the nation, says Robert Tata at Hunton.
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Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers
BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.
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What DOL Fiduciary Rule Means For Private Fund Managers
Attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss how the U.S. Department of Labor's recently released final fiduciary rule, which revises the agency's 1975 regulation, could potentially cause private fund managers' current marketing practices and communications to be considered fiduciary advice, and therefore subject them to strict prohibitions.
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Money, Money, Money: Limiting White Collar Wealth Evidence
As courts increasingly recognize that allowing unfettered evidence of wealth could prejudice a jury against a defendant, white collar defense counsel should consider several avenues for excluding visual evidence of a lavish lifestyle at trial, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.