Federal
-
June 02, 2025
Feds Want 12½ Years For Ex-Ill. Speaker Convicted Of Bribery
Prosecutors are urging an Illinois federal judge to sentence former state House Speaker Michael Madigan to prison for 12½ years for bribery, conspiracy and fraud, saying his conduct adds "another sordid chapter to Illinois' storied reputation of corruption" while Madigan, armed with more than 200 letters of support, seeks only probation.
-
June 02, 2025
Foley & Lardner Opens In Nashville With 3 Holland & Knight Attys
Foley & Lardner LLP has chosen Nashville as the location for its 27th office worldwide, bringing on three attorneys who had been at Holland & Knight LLP to work on regulatory, tax and transactional matters, the firm announced Monday.
-
June 02, 2025
Ex-Atty In $7B Tax Fraud Tells 7th Circ. IRS Can't Collect
A former attorney sentenced to prison in connection with a $7 billion tax fraud told the Seventh Circuit that the Internal Revenue Service lacks the power to collect his court-ordered $371 million restitution, calling the agency's claims against him "wild and scurrilous."
-
June 02, 2025
Ex-Par Funding CFO Sentenced To 5½ Years, Must Pay $303M
Joseph Cole Barleta, the last of the triumvirate behind the $404 million Par Funding investment scam to be sentenced, was handed a 66-month prison term Monday, along with a staggering $303 million restitution order.
-
June 02, 2025
IRS To Hold Hearing On Sourcing Cloud Transaction Income
The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury Department will hold a hearing July 17 on proposed rules on the source of income from cloud transactions, they said Monday.
-
May 30, 2025
Split 9th Circ. Won't Unblock Trump's Gov't Overhaul
A split Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to lift a California federal judge's preliminary block of President Donald Trump's executive order directing layoffs at federal agencies, handing a win to a coalition of unions, nonprofits and cities that argue the order exceeded the president's authority.
-
May 30, 2025
US-China Trade Talks Could Resume After Stall Over Minerals
Stalled trade talks between the U.S. and China could resume with a phone call between the countries' leaders as early as this week, a Trump economic adviser said Sunday.
-
May 30, 2025
Convicted Crypto Investor's Wife Says Gov't Can't Seize Funds
The wife of a bitcoin investor sentenced to prison for concealing millions of dollars from the IRS asked a Texas federal court Friday to stop the federal government from taking her money to help make up for $1 million in restitution stemming from his cryptocurrency sales.
-
May 30, 2025
IRS Failed To Alert Thousands To Contractor's Data Breach
Approximately 12,200 letters the Internal Revenue Service sent to individuals and businesses whose tax information was stolen by a former agency contractor were undeliverable for issues such as not having complete addresses, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said.
-
May 30, 2025
IRS Slow To Convert Nontax Forms To Digital, TIGTA Says
Only 12% of the Internal Revenue Service's 280 nontax paper forms that require one or more signatures have been converted to digital formats, though plans have been made to speed the process, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported.
-
May 30, 2025
Pa. Couple Should Pay $1.77M Tax Bill, Judge Says
A Pennsylvania couple who purchased a Maserati and a Porsche and took trips to international destinations while owing the Internal Revenue Service $1.77 million should be required to pay those tax debts, a Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge found.
-
May 30, 2025
Ohio Judge Slams Eaton For Ongoing IRS Disclosure Fight
An Ohio federal judge denied Eaton Corp.'s bid to withhold foreign employee evaluations from the IRS, ruling Friday that the power management multinational's "astounding amount of effort" to fight disclosure has been a poor use of judicial resources.
-
May 30, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Cravath, Latham
In this week's Taxation With Representation, WiseTech completes a $2.1 billion merger with E2open, Acrisure buys a payroll management company for $1.1 billion and Hailey Bieber sells her Rhode skincare and makeup company to e.l.f. beauty for $1 billion.
-
May 30, 2025
Tax 'Magician' Gets 4 Years For $145M Return Fraud
A tax preparer who falsified returns to the tune of $145 million in tax losses to the federal government was sentenced to four years in prison — half of what prosecutors had pushed for — after telling a New York federal court that he meant to help poor customers.
-
May 30, 2025
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, issued Friday, included updated interest rates for overpayments and underpayments of tax for the quarter beginning in July.
-
May 29, 2025
Staffing Co. Seeks $10.8M Tax Refund Under COVID Program
A staffing company sued the U.S. government for a $10.8 million employment tax refund, telling a Georgia federal court that the IRS has failed to provide payroll tax credits the agency owed the business under a coronavirus relief program.
-
May 29, 2025
DC Court Blocks Trump's Tariffs As Overreach Of Power
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not empower the president to impose tariffs, the D.C. federal district court said Thursday, ruling that President Donald Trump's global levies are unlawful and barring his administration from enforcing them on two toymakers who challenged the policies.
-
May 29, 2025
Fed. Circ. Revives Trump Tariffs As It Weighs Appeal
The Federal Circuit temporarily reinstated President Donald Trump's global tariffs Thursday, a day after the U.S. Court of International Trade held that an emergency law did not give the president "unbounded authority" to impose the measures.
-
May 29, 2025
IRS Delaying $11M Worker Tax Credit Payout, Hospital Says
A hospital forced to suspend its normal business as it responded to the COVID-19 pandemic told a Washington federal court Thursday that it's entitled to an $11.5 million tax refund for employee retention credits and that the IRS has failed to deliver the promised aid.
-
May 29, 2025
Flexjet Predecessor Must Pay $24M In Excise Taxes On Fees
An aviation company whose customers pay to share private jets owes $24 million in excise taxes under an Ohio federal court ruling that found the Internal Revenue Service gave the company precise guidance that it was required to collect taxes from its customers on monthly management fees.
-
May 29, 2025
Biz Group Calls On EU To Resolve Pillar 2 Dispute With US
The European Union should work quickly to resolve problems with the Pillar Two global minimum corporate tax and its interaction with the U.S. tax system, the American Chamber of Commerce for the EU said.
-
May 29, 2025
Trump Pardons Former NY Rep. Convicted Of Tax Crime
President Donald Trump granted clemency to two former lawmakers convicted of tax crimes, including a former New York Republican congressman who pled guilty to one count of aiding in the preparation of a fraudulent tax return in 2014, the White House confirmed Thursday.
-
May 29, 2025
IRS Annual Gross Collections Top $5 Trillion For First Time
The Internal Revenue Service collected $5.1 trillion in gross revenue in fiscal year 2024, a 9% increase over last year's $4.7 trillion total, marking the first time the tax haul has been above $5 trillion, the agency said Thursday.
-
May 28, 2025
International Trade Court Strikes Down Trump's Tariffs
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the president the "unbounded authority" to impose tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday, handing a win to small businesses and states challenging some of President Donald Trump's steep tariffs.
-
May 28, 2025
Fintech Group Warns Remittance Tax Will Hurt Consumers
The American Fintech Council sent a letter to members of Congress asking them to reconsider a proposed tax on remittances that is a part of the $3.8 trillion bill to extend and make permanent the Republican Party's 2017 tax overhaul law, also known as The One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Expert Analysis
-
So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?
Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.
-
Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session
As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.
-
What Trump's 2nd Presidency Could Mean For Crypto Sector
Trump's second term will bring a fundamental shift from the Biden administration's approach to crypto-asset regulation and banking supervision, with the most significant changes likely taking effect in the first two quarters of 2025 and broader policy shifts emerging over the next year, say attorneys at Cahill.
-
Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
-
Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being
As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.
-
Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win
A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
-
How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources
Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.
-
How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment
Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.
-
Ex-Chicago Politician's Case May Further Curb Fraud Theories
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Thompson v. U.S. to determine whether a statement that is misleading but not false still violates federal law, potentially heralding the court’s largest check yet on prosecutors’ expansive fraud theories, with significant implications for sentencing, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
-
Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity
Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.
-
Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules
The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.
-
The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO
The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.
-
Tariffs' Economic Downsides Outweigh Potential Revenue
Import tariffs proposed by the campaign of former president Donald Trump would generate revenue like other taxes, but policymakers must consider the net-negative impact of associated consumer and downstream-industry costs, harm to exporters, potential foreign retaliation and reduction in economic output, says Erica York at the Tax Foundation.