Federal
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July 17, 2025
US Challenge To Belgian Minimum Tax Rules Heads To ECJ
A Belgian court said Thursday it has asked the European Union's highest court to weigh in on a U.S. industry group's challenge to the country's global minimum tax rules.
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July 17, 2025
GAO Urges IRS To Hone Method For Gauging Better Service
The Internal Revenue Service should establish an evidence-based approach to assessing the results of its efforts to improve taxpayers' experience with the agency, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said Thursday.
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July 16, 2025
Attys Tout 3 Real Estate Investment Wins In Federal Budget
Real estate investors can breathe a collective sigh of relief seeing the final version of the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act" that President Donald Trump signed into law this month, as it is largely favorable to the industry and keeps several much-admired tax breaks alive.
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July 16, 2025
House Panel Urged To Modernize Tax Rules For Digital Assets
Congress needs to create tax rules for digital assets such as cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens because the current regime is burdensome for businesses and pushing development out of the U.S., industry representatives told a House Ways and Means Committee subcommittee Wednesday.
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July 16, 2025
OECD Mulling Tweaks To Arm's-Length Range Guidance
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's guidance on the arm's-length range is an area ripe for simplification because the resources needed to calculate and make adjustments to the range are sometimes out of proportion with the amount in dispute, an official said Wednesday.
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July 16, 2025
No Tax Refund For Uncashed Retirement Checks, IRS Says
The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday that an employer administering a retirement plan cannot get a tax refund or tax adjustment when it cuts a distribution check to an individual who had not made a withholding election and did not cash the check.
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July 16, 2025
Tax Losses Back Retired Prof's FBAR Penalties, US Says
A retired professor's admission in U.S. Tax Court that his failure to report his foreign bank accounts caused tax losses shows that a California federal court should affirm tax penalties against him of more than $400,000, the U.S. government said.
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July 16, 2025
Speaker's Aide Won't Rule Out 'Secure 3.0' Retirement Bill
An aide to House Speaker Mike Johnson told tax attorneys in Washington, D.C., Wednesday that he's not ruling out Congress passing a retirement policy overhaul that's known informally as Secure 3.0, though exact timing on such an effort remains unclear because of the busy year-end schedule.
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July 16, 2025
Cheesesteak Maker Gets 2 Mos. Sliced From Prison Sentence
A member of the family behind the popular Tony Luke's cheesesteak shop in South Philadelphia was re-sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison, marking a two-month reduction of the original term he'd received for paying employees under the table.
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July 15, 2025
Trump Admin Seeks Win In Harvard $2B Funding Freeze Case
The Trump administration urged a Massachusetts federal judge Monday to grant it summary judgment in Harvard University's lawsuit challenging the government's effort to freeze $2.2 billion in funding, arguing the dispute is a contract fight that belongs in the Federal Claims Court and the allegations fail on the merits.
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July 15, 2025
Trump Says US Has Struck Trade Deal With Indonesia
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. has reached a trade deal with Indonesia that includes a 19% tariff on all goods exported by the Southeast Asian country to the U.S., while American goods exported there will be free of tariffs.聽
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July 15, 2025
IRS Rates Dip Slightly In August After July Rebound
Applicable federal rates for income tax purposes are set to decline in August, easing slightly after July's increases, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.
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July 15, 2025
Tax Return Preparer Cops To Role In $25M Fraud Scheme
A tax return preparer pled guilty in a California federal court for his role in a fraud scheme that involved submitting fake federal income tax returns to claim $25 million in refunds.
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July 15, 2025
Tax Court Warns Attys In Denying $20M Easement Deduction
The U.S. Tax Court threatened Tuesday to force attorneys for a Georgia partnership to personally pay court costs after they had argued at trial for a $20 million tax deduction for a conservation easement donation, an amount the court said was over 100 times the land's value.
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July 15, 2025
Tax Court Denies Exclusion To Reduce Estate's Value
The estate of one deceased spouse did not file its return in time for the estate of another deceased spouse to use an exclusion to reduce the value of the second estate, the U.S. Tax Court said in a decision Tuesday.
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July 15, 2025
Tax Court Denies Equitable Tolling To Firm In Collection Action
A North Dakota law firm that convinced the U.S. Supreme Court three years ago that federal courts can extend equitable tolling for nonjurisdictional deadlines was not able to sway the U.S. Tax Court to extend the time for the firm聽to file a collection action case against the IRS, according to a bench opinion.聽
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July 15, 2025
IRS Updates Corp. Bond Monthly Yield Curve For July
The Internal Revenue Service updated Tuesday the corporate bond monthly yield curve used in calculations for defined benefit plans for July, as well as corresponding segment rates and other related provisions.
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July 15, 2025
IRS To Provide Transition Relief For Tips And OT Tax Breaks
The IRS will provide guidance for new deductions for tips, overtime pay and car loan interest that will include transition relief for taxpayers claiming those deductions and employers subject to associated reporting requirements, according to a fact sheet released by the agency.
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July 15, 2025
These Firms Worked On The Top First-Half Real Estate Deals
A&O Shearman and Stibbe are among the more than 20 law firms that scored work on the 10 largest global real estate mergers and acquisitions of the first half, a period that saw three transactions above $4 billion.
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July 15, 2025
IRS Issues 2026 Static Mortality Tables For Defined Plans
The Internal Revenue Service released on Tuesday the updated static mortality tables to be used to calculate the funding target and other items for defined benefit pension plans during the 2026 calendar year.
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July 15, 2025
Booz Allen Urges DC Circ. To Affirm IRS Leak Sentence
Government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton urged the D.C. Circuit to uphold the five-year prison sentence of its former employee for leaking tax returns while on a job at the IRS, saying the crime has hurt the company's reputation and subjected it to "baseless lawsuits."
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July 15, 2025
11th Circ. Told Tax Court Erred Nixing Easement's Values
A Georgia partnership told the Eleventh Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court broke legal precedent by relying on a flawed valuation method that did not consider commercial mining potential when it denied a deduction tied to the conservation easement donation of a property.
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July 15, 2025
LA Deputies Admit Using Positions To Aid Crypto 'Godfather'
Two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies admitted using their official positions to harass enemies of a cryptocurrency founder who called himself "The Godfather" and failed to report $36 million in income from selling hacked Meta business accounts, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
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July 14, 2025
EU Law Doesn't Shield Eaton Records, US Tells 6th Circ.
The European Union's privacy law does not protect Eaton Corp. from having to disclose employee evaluation records in a transfer pricing dispute with the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. government told the Sixth Circuit on Monday.
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July 14, 2025
Tax Court Tosses $62M In Bogus Land Deductions
The U.S. Tax Court slashed about $62 million in tax deductions claimed by four partnerships for donations of conservation easements in Georgia on Monday, saying the partnerships did not provide the required appraisals and grossly overstated the value of their donations.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.
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Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review
For attorneys 鈥 new ones especially 鈥 there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On
Career prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice often pride themselves on their ability to remain apolitical in order to ensure consistency and keep the department鈥檚 mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.
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What Higher Education Can Expect From A 2nd Trump Admin
The election of Donald Trump for a second presidential term has far-reaching ramifications for colleges and universities 鈥 come January, institutions can expect a crackdown on DEI, increased scrutiny of campus protests, a rollback of the Biden administration's Title IX rules and more, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.