Federal
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May 13, 2025
House Panel Clears $3.8T Extension of 2017 Tax Overhaul Law
The House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines early Wednesday to approve a $3.8 trillion tax bill that would make permanent many of the tax cuts for businesses and individuals enacted in President Donald Trump's first term.
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May 13, 2025
Trade Court Panel Looks Askance At Trump Tariff Justification
A U.S. Court of International Trade panel expressed skepticism Tuesday that the emergency law President Donald Trump is using to impose global tariffs left the determination of an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to be a political rather than legal question.
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May 13, 2025
Energy Co. Schemed On Tribal Tax Credits, Dem Senators Say
Senate Finance Committee Democrats asked an energy company's chairman Tuesday to address what they allege is evidence of a scheme involving members of President Donald Trump's new administration, including the nominee for IRS commissioner, to validate tribal tax credits the agency says are nonexistent.
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May 13, 2025
8th Circ. Urged To Enforce IRS Pricing Method On Medtronic
The U.S. Tax Court erred by tossing the IRS' suggested method to price royalties for intangible property licensed by medical device maker Medtronic to a Puerto Rican affiliate because its products differed from those of comparable uncontrolled companies, a government attorney told the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday.
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May 13, 2025
Feds Want 2½ Years For Ex-Alvarez & Marsal CPA In Tax Case
A onetime managing director at consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal should spend two-and-a-half years in prison as punishment for failing to file his personal taxes and lying on a mortgage application, prosecutors told a D.C. federal judge.
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May 13, 2025
Exxon Asks To Add 2 Chemicals To Taxable Substances List
The Internal Revenue Service asked for comments Tuesday on proposals by Exxon Mobil to add two chemicals to the agency's list of taxable substances.
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May 13, 2025
Cahill Gordon Recruits Fried Frank Digital Assets Co-Leader
Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP has added the former co-head of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP's digital assets and blockchain practice as a partner in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Tuesday.
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May 12, 2025
Feds Say Tribal Tariff Dispute Must Stay In US Trade Court
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is fighting Montana tribal members' attempt to stop the transfer of their lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's Canada tariff orders from federal court to the U.S. Court of International Trade, saying the CIT has exclusive jurisdiction over the case.
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May 12, 2025
DC Judge Declines To Block IRS From Sharing Info With ICE
A D.C. federal judge rejected Monday a trio of immigration advocacy groups' request to block the Internal Revenue Service from sharing with immigration enforcement agencies the names and addresses of people suspected of being in the country illegally.
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May 12, 2025
Tax Court Calls Tax Lawyer's Arguments Against IRS Frivolous
The U.S. Tax Court found Monday that a tax lawyer who was admitted to practice before the court had advanced four frivolous arguments contesting the authority of the IRS, upholding over $1 million in deficiencies and other additions to tax.
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May 12, 2025
Ex-Senators, Judges Support Business In Trump Tariff Fight
A stationery company challenging President Donald Trump's global tariffs has received support from former U.S. senators and retired federal judges who told a Florida federal court that the power to impose trade measures remains squarely with Congress.
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May 12, 2025
Man Who Moved Failed To Fight Tax Bill On Time, Court Says
A man who didn't immediately notify the IRS that he moved missed his chance to dispute a tax bill the agency sent to his former home, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday, saying he failed to show he should've been given extra time to bring his case.
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May 12, 2025
Tax Interest Rates Will Remain Steady For July
The Internal Revenue Service's interest rates for overpayments and underpayments of tax will remain the same in the quarter starting in July, the agency said Thursday.
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May 12, 2025
Eaton Allowed To Shield Some Worker Reviews From IRS
Eaton Corp. may withhold performance evaluations for three foreign employees from the IRS' investigation of Eaton's sale of intellectual property to an Irish affiliate, an Ohio federal judge decided Monday, saying the records are not important enough to the tax investigation to justify violating European privacy law.
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May 12, 2025
Tax Court Affirms Mortgage Co.'s $7M Income For Deduction
A mortgage company can deduct nearly $7 million in corporate income for 2014, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday, affirming adjustments made to correct accounting errors tied to its warehouse-lending business.
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May 12, 2025
US, China Agree To Temporarily Cut Soaring Tariffs
The U.S. will cut tariffs on most Chinese goods to 30% for 90 days while China will reduce tariffs on most U.S. goods to 10%, the countries announced Monday after the two governments agreed to relax soaring tariffs.
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May 12, 2025
Gunster Tax Ace Jumps To Spencer Fane In Tampa
Spencer Fane LLP announced Monday that it has bolstered its tax, trusts and estates practice group in Tampa with the addition of a former Gunster shareholder.
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May 12, 2025
GOP Floats $30,000 SALT Cap, Renewed R&D Credit
House Ways and Means Republicans proposed a $30,000 state and local tax deduction cap and a renewed research and development credit in updated legislation to extend their 2017 tax overhaul law, which the committee plans to consider Tuesday.
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May 12, 2025
IRS Paid $21B In Improper Tax Credits, TIGTA Says
The Internal Revenue Service made $21.4 billion in improper refundable tax credit payments last year and again failed to meet lawmakers' goal to reduce its rate of incorrect payments to 10%, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Monday.
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May 12, 2025
Biz Groups Back Bill To Expand FDII Tax Benefits
A coalition of business lobbying groups has thrown its weight behind proposed legislation that would expand tax breaks for domestically held intellectual property, saying the changes would build on the goals of the 2017 federal tax overhaul.
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May 12, 2025
Jury Clears Biz Owner's Wife Of $2M Payroll Tax Debt
The wife of a man found liable for construction company employment taxes is off the hook for $2 million in liabilities, a New York federal jury found, saying she was not responsible for collecting the taxes and paying them over to the federal government.
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May 12, 2025
Exxon Wants Chemicals Added To Taxable Substances List
The Internal Revenue Service is seeking comments on proposals to add nine chemicals to its list of taxable substances, eight of which were put forward by Exxon Mobil, the agency said Monday.
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May 09, 2025
'Proud' Judge Says No Prison For $1.3B Tax Fraud Witnesses
A Georgia federal judge handed down a pair of what he called "stunningly lenient" no-prison sentences Friday to two brothers who served as key cooperating witnesses in a first-of-its-kind federal case against a sprawling, $1.3 billion tax fraud scheme.
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May 09, 2025
PL 86-272 Expansion May Face Rocky Path Through Congress
The fate of an element of a House budget reconciliation bill that would broaden state income tax protections for businesses may rest with the Senate parliamentarian's view on whether the provision passes muster under reconciliation rules.
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May 09, 2025
Tariffs And Tax Breaks Offer Risky Lifeline To US Film Industry
President Donald Trump's call for a 100% tariff on films made outside the U.S. has potential to improve a struggling domestic industry if it is considered in conjunction with new federal tax incentives to restore production, but the idea hasn't yet gathered support in Congress, according to lawyers who spoke to Law360.
Expert Analysis
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How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.
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Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
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3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem
The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.
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Tracking Implementation Of IRA Programs As Election Nears
As the Biden administration races to cement key regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, a number of the law's programs and incentives are at risk of delay or repeal if Republicans retake control of Congress, the White House or both — so stakeholders should closely watch ongoing IRA implementation and guidance, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
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Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule
Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.
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Takeaways From Justices' Redemption Insurance Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Connelly v. U.S. examines how to determine the fair market value of shares in a closely held company for estate tax purposes, and clarifies how life insurance held by the company to enable redemption of a decedent’s shares affects that calculation, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.
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6 Tips For Maximizing After-Tax Returns In Private M&A Deals
With potential tax legislation likely to spur a surge in private business sales, sellers can make the most of after-tax proceeds with strategies that include price allocation and qualified investment options, say Isaac Grossman and Daniel Studin at Morrison Cohen.
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After A Brief Hiccup, The 'Rocket Docket' Soars Back To No. 1
The Eastern District of Virginia’s precipitous 2022 fall from its storied rocket docket status appears to have been a temporary aberration, as recent statistics reveal that the court is once again back on top as the fastest federal civil trial court in the nation, says Robert Tata at Hunton.
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Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers
BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.
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What DOL Fiduciary Rule Means For Private Fund Managers
Attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss how the U.S. Department of Labor's recently released final fiduciary rule, which revises the agency's 1975 regulation, could potentially cause private fund managers' current marketing practices and communications to be considered fiduciary advice, and therefore subject them to strict prohibitions.