Federal
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July 11, 2025
No Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin Articles For July 14
The聽Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, said there were no articles to be published for July 14.
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July 10, 2025
6th Circ. Denies Ohio Dentist's Life Insurance Tax Deductions
An Ohio dentist cannot deduct his life insurance premiums that he intended to potentially donate to a zoo, the Sixth Circuit ruled, saying the arrangement was taxable under 2003 regulations governing policies that involve two parties sharing the cost and benefit of insurance.
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July 10, 2025
Feds Want Cheesesteak Shop Owner's Tax Sentence Restored
Prosecutors urged a Pennsylvania federal judge to reimpose a nearly two-year sentence on a Philadelphia cheesesteak shop owner who was convicted of paying employees off the books, a request that comes two months after the Third Circuit vacated his prison term.
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July 10, 2025
Tax Court Rejects Claim Of IRS Mail Error, Tosses Petition
A Californian waited too long to petition the U.S. Tax Court to redetermine a notice of deficiency for the 2018 tax year, the court said, rejecting her argument that the Internal Revenue Service did not properly send the notice to her last known address.
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July 10, 2025
IRS Leaker Fairly Sentenced To 5 Years, Gov't Tells DC Circ.
The judge who sentenced an IRS contractor for leaking thousands of wealthy people's tax returns to the media, including those of President Donald Trump, kept an open mind when she decided to deliver the maximum five-year prison term, the government told the D.C. Circuit, arguing the sentence was fair.
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July 10, 2025
10th Circ. Affirms Sentence In $1B Energy Tax Credit Scheme
A leader of a renewable-energy scheme that illicitly sought $1 billion in tax credits failed to persuade the Tenth Circuit to overturn his conviction by arguing that jurors were biased when his lawyer was identified as having helped Michael Jackson beat child molestation charges.
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July 10, 2025
Texas Judge Partially Voids DOL's ERISA Rollover Rule
A Texas federal judge partially invalidated an investment advice regulation from President Donald Trump's first administration involving employee retirement savings and rollover transactions, ruling the U.S. Department of Labor exceeded its authority when it handed down a new interpretation of federal benefits law.
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July 10, 2025
Trump Says 50% Copper Tariff Will Begin Aug. 1
President Donald Trump said his new 50% tariff on copper imports will take effect Aug. 1, citing national security concerns.
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July 10, 2025
5 Employee Benefits Takeaways On The GOP Tax Bill
Congressional Republicans' sweeping tax and policy bill, which President Donald Trump sought and then signed, contains multiple provisions that caught the attention of employee benefits and executive compensation attorneys, including new changes to high-deductible health plans and an employer-side deduction limit affecting highly compensated employees. Here are five takeaways from employee benefits and executive compensation attorneys on what's in 鈥 and out of 鈥 the GOP megabill.
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July 10, 2025
IRS To Rescind Digital Asset Broker Rules
The Internal Revenue Service will revoke final regulations requiring brokers to report their digital asset sales, the agency said Thursday, following through on a congressional measure this year that called for their removal.
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July 09, 2025
Trump Slaps Brazil With 50% Tariff, Cites Bolsonaro Trial
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Brazilian goods sent to the U.S. can expect a 50% tariff starting in August, saying that the increased levy was in part due to Brazil's charges against its former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
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July 09, 2025
Honduran Woman Gets 21 Months In Prison For Payroll Fraud
A Florida federal judge sentenced a Honduran woman to nearly two years in prison after she pled guilty to charges in a scheme to pay construction workers off the books to avoid paying payroll taxes and workers' compensation insurance premiums, resulting in a roughly $3.1 million loss, according to prosecutors.
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July 09, 2025
Trump Order On Solar, Wind Credits Puts Industry On Heels
President Donald Trump threw a curveball to the energy industry by ordering the U.S. Department of the Treasury to take a hard line on which projects qualify for solar and wind tax credits under the new budget law, leaving practitioners uncertain about the scope of the restrictions.
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July 09, 2025
Metals Co. Owner Sentenced To Prison For $1.2M Tax Fraud
The owner of a metal-coating business was sentenced to a year and a day in prison by a California federal court and must pay $1.2 million聽in restitution to the IRS after he admitted he failed to pay over taxes he collected from his employees.
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July 09, 2025
Gov't Wants Access To Bitcoin Investor's Wallet To Pay Tax
A Texas federal court should compel an investor who concealed millions of dollars he earned in bitcoin by filing false tax returns to grant the government access to his digital wallet key in order to pay $1.9 million in restitution, the government said.
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July 09, 2025
IRS Expands Filing Exceptions For Certain Pass-Throughs
The Internal Revenue Service is expanding domestic filing exceptions for certain pass-through entities with foreign investments, the agency聽announced Wednesday.
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July 09, 2025
Businesses, States Tell Fed. Circ. Trump's Tariffs Are Unlawful
The U.S. Court of International Trade correctly determined President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs were improperly imposed under a law that makes no mention of the trade mechanism, a group of states and small businesses told the Federal Circuit, arguing that the duties should be limited under another law.
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July 09, 2025
5 Years Ago, The McGirt Ruling Reshaped Tribal Jurisdiction
It was widely held for decades that Oklahoma had domain over criminal matters on tribal lands, but five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court turned that聽regime聽on its head, finding 19th century federal treaties with the Creek Nation that formed its reservation are valid 鈥 and, in turn, reestablishing 45% of the Sooner State as Indian Country.
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July 09, 2025
2nd Circ. Upholds Bookkeeper's Conviction In $7M IRS Fraud
The Second Circuit has affirmed the conviction of a moving company's top bookkeeper for his role in a scheme that paid movers off the books and bilked the IRS of $7.7 million in taxes, defending a lower court's decisions to allow testimony from a cooperating witness and other evidence.
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July 09, 2025
Baker McKenzie Rehires Int'l Tax Pro As Principal Economist
Baker McKenzie's former director of economics, who spent more than 15 years as an IRS assistant director in a division that focuses on cross-border tax issues, has rejoined the firm after working with EY.
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July 08, 2025
Trump Declares 50% Copper Tariff, Floats 200% Pharma Tariff
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will impose a new 50% tariff on copper imported into the U.S., while also raising the possibility of imposing a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals.
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July 08, 2025
Trump Tariff Fights Put Spotlight On Major Questions Doctrine
Challenges to President Donald Trump's global tariffs have brought renewed attention to the U.S. Supreme Court's major questions doctrine, including observations that lower courts have so far inconsistently applied this approach when scrutinizing a range of agency actions.
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July 08, 2025
Tax Court Says IRS Offer In $57M Easement Case Isn't Binding
A settlement offer the Internal Revenue Service said it mistakenly made to a partnership after rejecting its $57 million conservation easement deduction is not binding, the U.S. Tax Court said Tuesday, declining the partnership's request to enforce the deal.
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July 08, 2025
Tax Tipster's Whistleblower Claims Fail At DC Circ.
Claims by a tax tipster that the聽U.S. Tax Court had jurisdiction over his case seeking to overturn the IRS' denial of a whistleblower award cannot move forward, the D.C. Circuit found Tuesday while entirely dismissing another case over a similar issue.
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July 08, 2025
11th Circ. Affirms Tax Fraud Conviction, 4-Year Sentence
The Eleventh Circuit upheld a Georgia woman's tax fraud conviction and four-year-plus prison sentence, rejecting her claims that the judge overseeing her case was biased, that her lawyer was ineffective and that a hearing should have been held on whether she was competent to stand trial.
Expert Analysis
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An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025
As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.
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Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer
From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.
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A New Tax On Employers Could Help Curb Illegal Immigration
To better enforce the law against hiring immigrants unauthorized to work in the U.S., Congress should enact a punitive excise tax on compensation paid to such immigrants and amend the False Claims Act to allow qui tam actions against employers for failure to pay such tax, says Ajay Gupta at Moore Tax Law Group.
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Making The Pitch To Grow Your Company's Legal Team
In a compressed economy, convincing the C-suite to invest in additional legal talent can be a herculean task, but a convincing pitch 鈥 supported by metrics and cost analyses 鈥 may help in-house counsel justify the growth of their team, say Elizabeth Smith and Roger Garceau at Major Lindsey.
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Justices May Find Gov't Can Keep Fraudulent Transfer Benefit
Based on the justices' questions at the recently argued U.S. v. Miller, the Supreme Court appears prepared to hold that the U.S. 鈥 unlike any other creditor 鈥 is permitted to retain the benefits of a fraudulent transfer to the detriment of other bankruptcy creditors, says Kevin Morse at Clark Hill.
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Tax Court Should Update Framework For Defining Insurance
鈥嬧嬧嬧嬧嬧嬧婽he U.S. Tax Court's unnecessary determination in Royalty Management Insurance v. Commissioner that a fraudulent transaction did not contain the hallmarks of a legitimate insurance transaction applies an outdated analysis that threatens the captive insurance sector and illustrates the need for a more modern framework to define true insurance, says Matthew Queen at the Queen Firm.
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When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US
As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court鈥檚 recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.
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Impact Of Corporate Transparency Act Ambiguity On Banks
Even though banks generally needn't file beneficial ownership information reports, financial institutions must continue to monitor the status of the Corporate Transparency Act and understand its requirements in case the nationwide injunction that was issued against the CTA earlier this month is overturned, say attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale.
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6 Changes I Would Make If I Ran A Law School
Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner identifies several key issues plaguing law schools and discusses potential solutions, such as opting out of the rankings game and mandating courses in basic writing skills.
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Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware
Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer鈥檚 market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business 鈥 but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
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Congress Should Expand Investment Options For 403(b)s
Lawmakers should pass pending legislation to give 403(b) plan participants access to collective investment trusts, leveling the playing field for public sector retirement investors by giving them an investment option their private sector counterparts have had for decades, says Jason Levy at Great Gray Trust Company.
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Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out
In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a 鈥渟liding scale鈥 approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity
Cases can appear complex for several reasons 鈥 due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources 鈥 but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.