Federal
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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.
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August 01, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Skadden, Wachtell, Latham
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. announce megamerger plans, Palo Alto Networks acquires identity security company CyberArk, Brookfield buys British life insurer Just Group, and Duke Energy sells its Piedmont Natural Gas Tennessee local distribution business to Spire Inc.
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August 01, 2025
Widow Can't Be Spared Husband's Tax Debt, 11th Circ. Affirms
A widow is not entitled to innocent spouse relief from tax debt she shared with her husband because the underlying income belonged to her, the Eleventh Circuit said, affirming a U.S. Tax Court ruling and skirting an additional challenge to job protections for judges.
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August 01, 2025
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included lowering the fee to $56 from $67 for taxpayers who request a letter confirming that the IRS has received and finished examining an estate tax return.
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July 31, 2025
White House Unveils New Tariffs On Dozens Of Countries
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a slew of new tariffs on nearly 70 countries that range from roughly 10% to 40%, unveiling the tariffs a day before his pause on worldwide "reciprocal" tariffs was set to expire Friday.
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July 31, 2025
Tax Court OKs IRS Penalties On Captive Insurance Deductions
A Florida business must pay penalties for underreporting six years of income, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Thursday, finding it couldn't take deductions for payments to a microcaptive insurance arrangement that didn't actually qualify as insurance.
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July 31, 2025
Fed. Circ. Judges Cast Doubts On Trump Tariff Powers
Several Federal Circuit judges raised concerns about whether President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act override constitutional and congressional authority during oral arguments Thursday in their questions to better understand the extent of the appeals court's review.
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July 31, 2025
Judge Nixes IRS' Renewed Bid To Dismiss Tax Refund Suit
A North Carolina federal judge denied the Internal Revenue Service's renewed attempt to dismiss a tax refund suit for lack of jurisdiction, saying the repeated motions to drop the case would prevent the district court from proceeding to the discovery phase in the litigation.
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July 31, 2025
Spizzirri Law Hires IRS Atty In Atlanta
A senior attorney for the IRS has joined Spizzirri Law LLC in Atlanta as its second attorney, turning to the business law firm to put his expertise in tax law and business matters to use in private practice.
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July 31, 2025
Wyden Demands Info On IRS Audits Of Epstein's Tax Planning
The Internal Revenue Service should hand over information about all investigations it conducted on transactions involving deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden said Thursday.Â
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July 31, 2025
Mexico Gets 90-Day Tariff Extension As US Deadline Nears
President Donald Trump announced a 90-day extension of existing tariffs on Mexico on Thursday, a day before a pause on worldwide trade measures is set to expire.
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July 31, 2025
US To Impose 50% Tariff On Copper Products Starting Friday
The U.S. will begin charging a 50% tariff Friday on semifinished copper products and copper-derived products, but not on raw copper, and will have a domestic sales quota in 2027 based on a proclamation by President Donald Trump that exceeds the commerce secretary's recommended rate.
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July 31, 2025
Co. Pitches $33B Data Center Hub In Ariz. Opportunity Zone
One of the largest private landowners in Arizona on Thursday pitched a $33 billion project to build the biggest data center industrial park in the state on a 3,300-acre site in a federal opportunity zone.
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July 30, 2025
Senate OKs Kirkland & Ellis Partner For Commerce Trade Role
The U.S. Senate confirmed William Kimmitt on Tuesday to lead the U.S. International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
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July 30, 2025
'Peace Promoter's' Bitcoin Sentencing Upheld At 1st Circ.
A church founder and self-described "peace promoter" must serve an eight-year sentence, the First Circuit affirmed, rejecting his argument that the U.S. Department of the Treasury overstepped its bounds by charging him with tax evasion and a slew of other crimes tied to a Bitcoin operation he founded in 2014.
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July 30, 2025
Justices Urged To OK Bankruptcy Courts As Tax Debt Venues
Bankruptcy courts are authorized to decide the amount and legality of nondischargeable tax claims, an Indiana couple told the U.S. Supreme Court in a bid to overturn a Seventh Circuit ruling to the contrary.
Expert Analysis
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10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master
As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.
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An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future
Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.
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Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance
Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols
Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Maximizing Exemptions Before TCJA Rides Into The Sunset
Excerpt from
Individuals with taxable estates can optimize the benefits of estate planning strategies like spousal lifetime access trusts by setting them up before increases in estate and gift tax exemptions under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act sunset in January, say attorneys at Katten.
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A Cold War-Era History Lesson On Due Process
The landmark Harry Bridges case from the mid-20th century Red Scare offers important insights on why lawyers must be free of government reprisal, no matter who their client is, says Peter Afrasiabi at One LLP.
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How BigLaw Executive Orders May Affect Smaller Firms
Because of the types of cases they take on, solo practitioners, small law firms and public interest attorneys may find themselves more dramatically affected by the collective impact of recent government action involving the legal industry than even the BigLaw firms named in the executive orders, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Lawsuits Shouldn't Be Shadow Assets For Foreign Capital
Third-party litigation financing amplifies inefficiencies from litigation and facilitates national exposure to foreign influence in the U.S. justice system, so full disclosure of financing arrangements should be required as a matter of institutional integrity, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
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How To Accelerate Your Post-Attorney Career Transition
Professionals seeking to transition to nonattorney careers may encounter skepticism as nontraditional candidates, but there are opportunities for thought leadership and to leverage speaking and writing to accelerate a post-attorney career transition, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Evgeny Efremkin at Toronto Metropolitan University.
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Tariffs And FCA Create Perfect Storm For Importers
The Trump administration's aggressive tariff policies pose a high risk to certain importation practices that are particularly likely to trigger False Claims Act enforcement, say attorneys at Jeffer Mangels.
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US Reassessment Of OECD Tax Deal Is Right Move
The wholesale U.S. reevaluation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's global tax deal ordered by President Donald Trump is a positive step that could ultimately create a more durable international tax system, says Anne Gordon at the National Foreign Trade Council.
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Measuring And Mitigating Harm From Discriminatory Taxes
In response to new tariffs and other recent "America First Trade Policy" pronouncements, corporations should assess and take steps to minimize their potential exposure to discriminatory and reciprocal tax measures that are likely to come, say economists at Charles River Associates.
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Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Leadership To BigLaw
The move from government service to private practice can feel like changing one’s identity, but as someone who has left the U.S. Department of Justice twice, I’ve learned that a successful transition requires patience, effort and the realization that the rewards of practicing law don’t come from one particular position, says Richard Donoghue at Pillsbury.