Federal
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August 06, 2025
No IRS Error In Lien Against Lawyer, Tax Court Says
The IRS' appeals office did nothing wrong in sustaining a tax lien against an attorney who asked for other ways of paying what the agency said was her $43,000 tax debt, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Wednesday, saying the lawyer was offered lower payment options.
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August 06, 2025
Troutman Adds Former Fannie Mae Associate GC In DC
The former associate general counsel at the Federal National Mortgage Association, who spent the past decade as a tax partner with Morris Manning & Martin LLP, has joined Troutman Pepper Locke LLP in the nation's capital, the firm announced Wednesday.
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August 06, 2025
G7's Tax Carveout For US Cos. Raises EU State Aid Questions
The Group of Seven nations' deal to exclude U.S. companies from Pillar Two minimum tax rules would give those companies a competitive advantage, experts say, prompting questions about the carveout's compatibility with EU state aid rules and whether a viable path exists to challenge the deal.
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August 06, 2025
3 Key Foreign Entity Issues In Claiming Clean Energy Credits
Stricter foreign supply chain and business ownership rules were tacked onto clean energy tax credits that weren't eliminated under the new budget reconciliation law, raising major compliance hurdles that have practitioners eagerly awaiting implementation rules from the U.S. Treasury Department. Here, À¶Ý®ÊÓÆµ outlines key issues the agencies need to address in coming guidance on restrictions targeting projects linked to foreign entities of concern.
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August 06, 2025
DOJ Says $47M Fat Brands Tax Case Not A Priority
The U.S. Department of Justice quit prosecuting Fat Brands and its founder on charges of helping hide $47 million from the IRS because of guidance from DOJ leaders that emphasized other priorities, including enforcement against cartels, the department told a California federal court.
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August 05, 2025
GAO Denies Co.'s Protest Of $49M IRS Task Order
The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied a Virginia company's protest of a $49 million task order issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for information technology services support, saying it was not competitively prejudiced during the procurement process.
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August 05, 2025
AICPA Pushes For Guidance On Renewed R&D Tax Break
The U.S. Department of the Treasury needs to issue guidance immediately allowing taxpayers to deduct research and development costs incurred in 2024 on their originally filed federal income tax returns for that year, the American Institute of CPAs said in a letter released Tuesday.
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August 05, 2025
McGuireWoods Adds Loeb & Loeb Tax Pro In Los Angeles
McGuireWoods LLP is enhancing its corporate team, announcing Tuesday it is bringing in a Loeb & Loeb LLP tax expert as a partner in its Los Angeles office in Century City.
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August 05, 2025
Simpson Thacher Adds Tax, Funds Pro From Dechert
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP announced Monday that it has continued its growth in the tax and registered funds spaces, welcoming a partner from Dechert LLP to its New York office.
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August 05, 2025
Swiss President Hustles To DC To Address 39% Tariff
Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter traveled Tuesday to Washington, D.C., for trade talks with the White House after Switzerland was hit with a 39% tariff on exports to the United States.
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August 05, 2025
IRS Floats Update To System For Fringe Benefits
The Internal Revenue Service floated rules Tuesday that would change its system of business classification for employees hoping to exclude fringe benefits and employee discounts from their gross income at tax time.
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August 05, 2025
Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Tax Whistleblower's Reward Suit
The government was not required to give a bigger whistleblower award to a former auditor who helped the Internal Revenue Service recover $180,000 in taxes, the Federal Circuit said Tuesday, affirming a ruling that a lower court lacked authority to hear her case.
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August 05, 2025
IRS Has Spent Nearly $5B Of Funding Boost In 2025
The Internal Revenue Service has spent nearly $5 billion so far this fiscal year of the funding it received under the Inflation Reduction Act, including $2.1 billion for operations support, the Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration said in a report released Tuesday.
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August 04, 2025
Tax Court Declares Grocery Chain's In-House Insurer Ineligible
A grocery store chain's in-house insurance company did not operate as a normal insurer and therefore cannot deduct millions of dollars it received in insurance premiums, the U.S. Tax Court said Monday.
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August 04, 2025
NY Atty Found Guilty Of Duping Lender Who Backed Lien Biz
A Manhattan federal jury on Monday convicted a former compliance lawyer of pilfering from a $20 million line of credit extended to his tax-lien business by a subsidiary of Emigrant Bank.
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August 04, 2025
Duane Morris Avoids Employee's Tax Withholding Claim
A Duane Morris LLP employee cannot bring a claim that the firm failed to withhold taxes for employees who were misclassified as partners, a California federal court found, partially dismissing the proposed class action while giving her the option to amend her complaint.
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August 04, 2025
DOJ Defends IRS-ICE Data Sharing Pact In DC Circ.
The D.C. Circuit should reject four immigrant advocacy groups' push to prevent the IRS from disclosing confidential tax return information to immigration enforcement authorities, the government said Monday, arguing there's no concrete evidence that the information sharing will harm the groups' members.
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August 04, 2025
Judge Demands DOJ Explain Drop Of $47M Fat Brands Suit
A California federal court ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to explain why it wants to drop a criminal case against Fat Brands and its founder Andrew Wiederhorn after the government accused him of evading taxes in a scheme to disguise $47 million in compensation as loans.
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August 04, 2025
Tax AI Co. Blue J Raises $122M Series D To Expand
Blue J, a generative artificial intelligence-powered research platform for tax and legal practitioners, announced Monday the raising of $122 million in a Series D funding round to expand its team, product development and marketing efforts.
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August 01, 2025
New Int'l Tax Rules Heighten Discrimination Worries In States
The new federal tax law's broader tax base for international income could magnify foreign commerce discrimination concerns that are already present in states that conformed to prior iterations of the federal tax code.
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August 01, 2025
US Defends Bulk Denial Of Worker Credits At 9th Circ.
An Arizona federal court was right to deny a request by tax services firms to stop the IRS from issuing batch denials of thousands of pandemic-era worker credit claims, the U.S. told the Ninth Circuit, defending the agency's system for handling problems administering the tax credit.
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August 01, 2025
Ga. Man Faces 170 Years In Prison For $3.4M Tax Fraud
A Georgia man was convicted of filing fraudulent tax returns and claiming a $3.4 million tax refund from the Internal Revenue Service, crimes that could bring 170 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
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August 01, 2025
Atty Seeks To End Malpractice Suit Over SEC Fraud Case
A New York lawyer is seeking a quick win on malpractice claims brought in Florida federal court by a former client who says she improperly advised him to sign a consent decree with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that resulted in a $12.1 million disgorgement judgment, arguing the client's subsequent guilty plea defeats the claims.
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August 01, 2025
IRS Adds To List Of Taxable Chemical Substances
The Internal Revenue Service added 21 chemical substances Friday to its list of those subject to Superfund excise taxes assessed to importers.
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August 01, 2025
Ogletree Launches Employment Tax Practice Group
Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC announced the launch of a dedicated practice group focused on handling employment tax matters in areas such as compliance, audits and transactions related to payroll obligations.
Expert Analysis
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Adapting To Private Practice: From Fed. Prosecutor To BigLaw
Making the jump from government to private practice is no small feat, but, based on my experience transitioning to a business-driven environment after 15 years as an assistant U.S. attorney, it can be incredibly rewarding and help you become a more versatile lawyer, says Michael Beckwith at Dickinson Wright.
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Justices' False Statement Ruling Curbs Half-Truth Liability
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Thompson v. U.S. decision clarified that a federal statute used to prosecute false statements made to bank regulators only criminalizes outright falsehoods, narrowing prosecutors’ reach and providing defense counsel a stronger basis to challenge indictments of merely misleading statements, says Tamara de Silva at De Silva Law Offices.
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Perfecting Security Interests In Renewable Energy Tax Credits
The ability to transfer renewable energy tax credits has created new opportunities for developers, investors and lenders, but it also raises important questions regarding when and how the security interests in these credits are perfected — questions that must be answered definitively to protect credit claims and transactions, says Harry Teichman at Stinson.
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Firms Still Have Lateral Market Advantage, But Risks Persist
Partner and associate mobility data from the fourth quarter of 2024 shows that we’re in a new, stable era of lateral hiring where firms have the edge, but leaders should proceed cautiously, looking beyond expected revenue and compensation analyses for potential risks, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
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Making The Opportunity Zones Program Great At Last
As the opportunity zone program approaches its expiration, the Republican-led government could take specific steps to extend and improve the program, address its structural flaws, encourage broader participation and enable it to live up to its promised outcomes, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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We Must Allow Judges To Use Their Independent Judgment
As two recent cases show, the ability of judges to access their independent judgment crucially enables courts to exercise the discretion needed to reach the right outcome based on the unique facts within the law, says John Siffert at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.
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Preparing For Tariffs On Canadian Power In The Northeast
The on-again, off-again risk of import and export tariffs on energy transactions between the U.S. and Canada may have repercussions for U.S. energy stakeholders in the ISO New England and New York Independent System Operator electricity markets — but there are options that could help reduce cost impacts, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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Making The Case For Rest In The Legal Profession
For too long, a culture of overwork has plagued the legal profession, but research shows that attorneys need rest to perform optimally and sustainably, so legal organizations and individuals must implement strategies that allow for restoration, says Marissa Alert at MDA Wellness, Carol Ross-Burnett at CRB Global, and Denise Robinson at The Still Center.
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Mitigating Tariff Risks For Healthcare In US And Canada
Healthcare stakeholders should take steps to evaluate the impact of cross-border tariffs, as the historically strong ties between Canada and the U.S. demonstrate the potential for real disruption and harm to the healthcare industry in both countries, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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4 Ways Women Attorneys Can Build A Legal Legacy
This Women’s History Month, women attorneys should consider what small, day-to-day actions they can take to help leave a lasting impact for future generations, even if it means mentoring one person or taking 10 minutes to make a plan, says Jackie Prester, a former shareholder at Baker Donelson.
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A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.
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Why NY May Want To Reconsider Its LLC Transparency Law
Against the backdrop of the myriad challenges to the federal Corporate Transparency Act, it may be prudent for New York to reconsider its adoption of the LLC Transparency Act, since it's unclear whether the Empire State's "baby-CTA" statute is still necessary or was passed prematurely, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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IRS Scrutiny May Underlie Move Away From NIL Collectives
The University of Colorado's January announcement that it was severing its partnership with a name, image and likeness collective is part of universities' recent push to move NIL activities in-house, seemingly motivated by tax implications and increased scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.