Federal
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September 18, 2025
Extending ACA Subsidies Would Cost $350M, CBO Says
Extending pandemic-era enhancements to premium tax credits that subsidize marketplace health plans would increase the deficit by $350 million by 2035, though it would also increase the number of people with health insurance by 3.8 million, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday.
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September 18, 2025
Halliburton Can Contest Rule On Settlement Tax Deductions
Halliburton can continue challenging the legality of a U.S. Treasury Department regulation that denies tax deductions for settlement agreements, a Texas federal judge ruled, refusing to toss the company's claims connected to the deductibility of a $35 million payment to Nigeria's government.
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September 18, 2025
5th Circ. Won't Rehear Crypto Exec's IRS Summons Case
The Fifth Circuit stood by its decision not to quash an IRS summons for a cryptocurrency executive's bank records, rejecting his request to reconsider its finding that he must wait until the federal government decides whether to bring legal proceedings against him before challenging a lower court's ruling.
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September 18, 2025
IRS Leaked Private Info To News Outlets, Agency Official Says
An IRS official serving as head of the agency's Large Business and International Division who was placed on leave accused the agency of unlawfully leaking information on her employment status to news outlets including Fox News and Bloomberg, according to a complaint filed Thursday in D.C. federal court.
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September 17, 2025
Tribal Members Tell 9th Circ. Tariff Suit Belongs In Fed. Court
Counsel for members of the Blackfeet Nation tribe told the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday their suit challenging President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs should stay in federal district courts, where constitutional and congressional claims over tribal commerce must be heard.
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September 17, 2025
Democrats Push Wealth Tax Targeting Billionaires' Assets
Billionaires would pay higher taxes on their unrealized gains from property, stocks and other valuable assets under legislation reintroduced Wednesday by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden and other congressional Democrats.
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September 17, 2025
House Panel OKs Bill To Expand Tax Court's Subpoena Power
The House Ways and Means Committee unanimously approved legislation Wednesday that would grant the U.S. Tax Court the power to issue subpoenas without connection to a scheduled hearing and apply mandatory recusal rules to its judges.
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September 17, 2025
IRS-ICE Pact Allows For Mass Tax Data Swaps, DC Circ. Told
An information sharing agreement between the IRS and immigration enforcement agencies allows for disclosure of confidential tax information on a mass scale, as evidenced by an IRS official's declaration in a taxpayer group's suit, immigration advocacy groups challenging the agreement told the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday.
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September 17, 2025
Partners Barred From Fighting Deal In $54M Easement Suit
Dozens of investment partners were barred from challenging a settlement with the IRS over their disputed $54 million conservation easement deduction under a U.S. Tax Court ruling Wednesday that found they waited until the last minute and didn't show why they should be allowed to participate in proceedings.
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September 17, 2025
Spencer Fane Adds Corporate, RE Attys In The Midwest
Spencer Fane LLP announced the addition of two new attorneys in the Midwest this week — a partner joining its corporate and business transactions group and a counsel joining its real estate group.
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September 17, 2025
11th Circ. Finds Couple On Hook For Penalty On Back Taxes
A couple who owed $1.7 million in back taxes is on the hook for a penalty after the Eleventh Circuit rejected their dual claims that an Internal Revenue Service supervisor failed to correctly approve the penalty and that U.S. Tax Court judges have unconstitutional job protections.
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September 17, 2025
IRS Spent $40M On Outdated Computer Systems, TIGTA Says
A decade-old plan at the Internal Revenue Service to consolidate dozens of computer systems has made little progress, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Wednesday, reporting that the agency spent nearly $40 million last year on maintaining outdated systems.
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September 16, 2025
$300M Hyatt Rewards Tax Ruling Criticized By 7th Circ. Judge
A Seventh Circuit judge took issue Tuesday with a U.S. Tax Court's finding that Hyatt should report $300 million in rewards program fund revenue, saying the decision seemed to focus on a factor that was shot down by decades-old legal precedent.
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September 16, 2025
Avalara Investors' Claims Pass Muster After 9th Circ. Revival
A Washington federal judge has allowed a proposed class action to proceed accusing tax software company Avalara Inc. of misleading investors ahead of an $8.4 billion deal to take the company private, but said the suit failed to adequately allege negligence by individual board members, giving investors one week to amend those claims.
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September 16, 2025
Tax-Exempt Hospitals Face Financial Duress, Panel Hears
The nation's nonprofit hospitals are under growing financial stress due to cutbacks in federal funding, an aging population and unnecessary spending on programs unrelated to providing healthcare to their communities, industry experts told lawmakers Tuesday at a congressional hearing.
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September 16, 2025
Tax Court's Petition Deadline Is Flexible, 1st Circ. Told
A taxpayer advocacy group urged the First Circuit on Tuesday to become the fourth appellate court to find that the deadline for filing a petition in the U.S. Tax Court can be extended to create fairness, arguing that the deadline is not a jurisdictional bar.
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September 16, 2025
Loeb & Loeb Opens DC-Area Office With Ex-Reed Smith Attys
Loeb & Loeb LLP announced Tuesday the opening of a new office in Virginia, along with the arrival of an eight-person private client and tax controversy staff formerly of Reed Smith LLP.
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September 16, 2025
House Panel To Weigh Greater Subpoena Power For Tax Court
House lawmakers are scheduled to consider a bill Wednesday that would grant the U.S. Tax Court the power to issue subpoenas without connection to a scheduled hearing and would apply mandatory recusal rules to its judges, the Joint Committee on Taxation reported Tuesday.
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September 16, 2025
Brewer Denounces Gov't Home Distilling Ban In 6th Circ.
A brewery owner challenging the U.S. tax code's ban on home distilleries criticized the government's claim that he isn't hurt enough by the prohibition to warrant a suit, telling the Sixth Circuit that the ban prevents him from making whiskey at home and renders him ineligible for a distilling permit.
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September 16, 2025
IRS Adds 39 Items To Taxable Chemical Substances
The Internal Revenue Service added 39 chemical substances to its list of those subject to Superfund excise taxes assessed to importers, the agency said Tuesday.
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September 15, 2025
IRS Finalizes Retirement Savings Catch-Up Rules
The IRS released final regulations Monday that would allow workers reaching retirement age to catch up on their savings by making additional contributions above the annual limits to their employer-sponsored retirement plans, including a requirement for high earners to designate those additional funds as Roth contributions.
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September 15, 2025
Tainted Evidence Sank Atty's Tax Court Case, 6th Circ. Told
The U.S. Tax Court relied on tainted evidence from the IRS when it affirmed the agency's denial of an Ohio attorney's attempt to deduct a theft loss and related legal expenses, he told the Sixth Circuit, urging it to reverse the lower court's ruling.
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September 15, 2025
IRS Updates Corp. Bond Monthly Yield Curve For September
The IRS on Monday updated the corporate bond monthly yield curve used in calculations for defined benefit plans for September, as well as corresponding segment rates and other related provisions.
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September 15, 2025
US, China Agree On TikTok Ownership Transfer, Bessent Says
The U.S. and China established a commercial framework for a deal with video sharing giant TikTok to transfer ownership of the app to the U.S., just days before a deadline to sell the app or shut it down, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at a press conference in Madrid on Monday.
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September 15, 2025
McKesson Too Late To Fight IRS Cost-Share Rules, Gov't Says
Pharmaceutical giant McKesson waited too long to challenge transfer pricing regulations that cover cost-sharing arrangements as part of its $10 million tax refund bid, the U.S. government told a Texas federal court, arguing the statutory window to seek invalidation has closed.
Expert Analysis
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Can Companies Add Tariffs Back To Earnings Calculations?
With the recent and continually evolving tariffs announced by the Trump administration, John Ryan at King & Spalding takes a detailed look at whether those new tariffs can be added back in calculating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — an important question that may greatly affect a company's compliance with its financial covenants.
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A Look At DOJ's Dropped Case Against Early Crypto Operator
The prosecution of an early crypto exchange operator over alleged unlicensed money transmission was recently dropped in Indiana federal court, showcasing that the U.S. Justice Department may be limiting the types of enforcement cases it will bring against digital asset firms, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.
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8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work
Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.
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Despite Dark Clouds, Outlook For US Solar Has Bright Spots
While tariff, tax policy and bankruptcy news seemingly portends unending challenges for the U.S. solar energy industry, signs of continued growth in solar generating capacity and domestic solar manufacturing suggest that there is a path forward, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.
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Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients
Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.
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Bill Leaves Renewable Cos. In Dark On Farmland Reporting
A U.S. Senate bill to update disclosure requirements for foreign control of U.S. farmland does not provide much-needed guidance on how to report renewable energy development on agricultural property, leaving significant compliance risks for project developers, say attorneys at Hodgson Russ.
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Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm
My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.
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IRS Should Work With Industry On Microcaptive Regs
The IRS should engage with microcaptive insurance owners to develop better regulations on these arrangements or risk the emergence of common law guidance as taxpayers with legitimate programs seek relief in the federal courts, says Dustin Carlson at SRA 831(b) Admin.
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CARES Act Fraud Enforcement Is Unlikely To Slow Down
In the five years since the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the federal government has devoted massive resources to investigating CARES Act fraud — and all signs suggest the U.S. Department of Justice will continue vigorous enforcement in this area, say attorneys at Kostelanetz.
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Spinoff Transaction Considerations For Biotech M&A
Amid current market challenges, boards and management teams of biotech companies can consider several strategies for maximizing value should a spinoff opportunity arise, but not without significant advance planning and careful implementation, particularly in cases that might qualify as tax-free, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
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Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System
The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.
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Drawbacks For Taxpayers From Justices' Levy Dispute Ruling
The Supreme Court's June decision in Commissioner v. Zuch, holding the Tax Court lacks jurisdiction to resolve disputes where the IRS has stopped pursuing a levy, may require taxpayers to explore new tactics for mitigating the increased difficulty of appealing their liability via collection due process hearings, says Matthew Roberts at Meadows Collier.
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How Energy Cos. Can Prepare For Potential Tax Credit Cuts
The Senate Finance Committee's version of the One Big Beautiful Bill act would create a steep phaseout of renewable energy tax credits, which should prompt companies to take several actions, including conduct a project review to discern which could begin construction before the end of the year, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.