Federal
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September 25, 2025
EU, US Trade Officials Meeting On Tariff Deal
In advance of a meeting Thursday between European and U.S. trade officials, European Commission trade spokesman said discussion topics could include possible rate reductions and tariff exemptions for additional goods under an evolving bilateral framework trade agreement.
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September 25, 2025
Fed. Circ. Upholds China Tariffs From Trump's 1st Term
The Federal Circuit on Thursday blessed a large batch of tariffs on Chinese goods installed by President Donald Trump during his first White House term, turning away a host of importers' claims that the levies had been imposed illegally.
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September 25, 2025
Texas' Meadows Collier Adds Former IRS Counselor In DC
Dallas-based, tax-focused law firm Meadows Collier Reed Cousins Crouch & Ungerman LLP has added a Washington, D.C.-based partner with substantial IRS experience to the firm's tax controversy and litigation and white collar defense practices.
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September 24, 2025
Coinbase Wants Out Of Terraform Token Conversion Loss Suit
Coinbase Inc. has urged a California federal court to toss a suit lodged by cryptocurrency buyers alleging the crypto exchange caused them to incur losses after Terraform's collapse three years ago, arguing the buyers' claims are both time-barred and fail to show that the crypto exchange intended to deceive.
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September 24, 2025
Court Sides With Texas, Nixes Medicaid Tax Funding Rule
The federal government improperly expanded a Medicaid funding restriction to private parties that was meant only to govern the use of state taxes to fund the health insurance program, a Texas federal court ruled Wednesday in vacating guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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September 24, 2025
Execs Breached Danish Deal In $2B Tax Case, Court Says
Three men claiming to be pension plan executives who struck a civil settlement with the Danish taxing authority over their role in a $2 billion tax fraud scheme breached their settlement agreement, a New York federal court found, saying the men had not paid back the amount they promised.
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September 24, 2025
Tax Court Finds Convicted Ex-Pa. Senator Liable For Tax
A former Pennsylvania state senator convicted of fraud is on the hook for income tax deficiencies for 2001 through 2005, plus a civil fraud penalty for each year, the U.S. Tax Court said Wednesday.
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September 24, 2025
Senate Finance Panel To Hold Digital Assets Taxation Hearing
The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing with digital asset experts on Oct. 1 to examine the tax treatment of income derived from such assets, Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, announced Wednesday.
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September 24, 2025
Former Pa. Tax Collector Admits To Embezzling Public Funds
A former Pennsylvania tax collector pled guilty to embezzling public money totaling more than $400,000 in property taxes and federal grants intended for her local government, federal prosecutors announced.
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September 24, 2025
11th Circ. Asked To Combine Easement Deduction Appeals
The Eleventh Circuit should consolidate two cases appealing U.S. Tax Court rulings that cut $47 million in deductions for conservation easement donations, a partnership argued, saying the government's opposition to combining them overlooks the opportunity to save resources.
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September 23, 2025
Trump Tariffs Are Constitutional, President's Allies Tell Justices
Two Republican lawmakers and two allied nonprofit groups told the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday that it should allow President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs authorized under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
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September 23, 2025
$6.6M IRS Civil Fraud Penalty Ruled Constitutional
A Pennsylvania federal judge upheld a $6.6 million civil fraud tax penalty against an insurance broker over its captive deductions, ruling Tuesday that the Internal Revenue Service's assessment of the penalty without a jury trial was constitutional.
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September 23, 2025
Tax Court Slashes $38M In Easement Donation Deductions
The U.S. Tax Court on Tuesday slashed $38 million in deductions for donations of two conservation easements across hundreds of acres in Georgia, finding one lacked the required conservation purpose and neither was potentially headed for mining development as the donors had claimed.
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September 23, 2025
EU Eyeing Country-Level Min. Tax Exemption For US Cos.
The European Union's preferred method for accommodating the U.S. proposal to exempt American companies from the 15% global minimum tax's international provisions would be to allow a conditional safe harbor that member countries would need to enact individually, a top EU tax official told lawmakers Tuesday.
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September 23, 2025
IRS To Phase Out Paper Refund Checks Starting Sept. 30
The Internal Revenue Service won't mail refund checks to individual taxpayers beginning Sept. 30, the agency announced Tuesday, citing an executive order mandating direct deposit or other secure electronic payments to cut down on fraud and stolen or lost payments.
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September 23, 2025
IRS Updates Per-Diem Deduction Rates For Business Travel
Per-diem rates used to compute business travel expense tax deductions will be $319 for travel to high-cost areas and $225 for travel to low-cost areas starting in October, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday.
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September 23, 2025
Financial Co. Urges Upgrades For Child Savings Accounts
A financial services company urged the U.S. Department of the Treasury to adopt practical measures for implementing the new tax-advantaged children's accounts, including clarifying its position on linking contributions made through existing employee pretax benefit plans, according to correspondence released Tuesday.
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September 23, 2025
DOL Greenlights Guaranteed Income Investments In 401(k)s
The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm issued guidance Tuesday making clear that employers can offer lifetime income insurance products as a default investment in 401(k) plans, responding to an executive order by President Donald Trump calling for expanded access to nontraditional retirement plan assets.
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September 23, 2025
Full Effects Of US Tariffs 'Yet To Be Felt,' OECD Report Says
Economic growth in the U.S. is expected to dip in 2026 partly because of global trade tensions, the full effects of which "have yet to be felt," the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported Tuesday.
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September 23, 2025
Co. Can't Fight Unproven IRS Stock Plan Rule, Judge Says
A company that claimed the Internal Revenue Service secretly passed a rule targeting its employee stock ownership plan failed to show the rule exists, a Wisconsin federal judge said in tossing the company's case.
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September 22, 2025
The Tax Angle: Green Energy Permits, Enhanced ACA Credits
From a look at permitting delays holding up solar and wind tax credit projects to uncertainty surrounding the renewal of Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of the week's developing tax stories.
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September 22, 2025
Oklahoma Couple Owe Taxes On Ranch, Tax Court Says
An Oklahoma couple owe more than $240,000 in taxes and penalties because their ranch was not operated for profit as they claimed, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday.
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September 22, 2025
VC Partner Fights IRS Summonses Tied To Korean Tax Probe
A partner at a U.S. venture capital firm urged a California federal court to quash IRS summonses seeking information on his bank accounts in connection with his tax liabilities in South Korea, saying the agency failed to meet requirements for enforcing the summonses.
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September 22, 2025
Perkins Coie Adds Former US Treasury Tax Policy Atty In DC
Perkins Coie LLP has brought on a tax attorney who worked in the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Tax Policy, where he handled work related to laws such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the firm announced Monday.
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September 22, 2025
Boston Activist Admits Defrauding Donors, Gov't
A Boston anti-violence activist once hailed as a rising civic leader admitted Monday in a federal courtroom to using thousands of dollars in donations and grants to her nonprofit for personal expenses like meals and travel, defrauding a pandemic-era unemployment program, and other charges.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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How The CRE Industry Is Adapting To Tariff Uncertainty
Amid uncertainty about pending tariffs and their potential ripple effects, including higher material costs, supply chain delays and tighter margins, commercial real estate industry players are focusing on strategic planning and risk mitigation, says Daniel Diaz Leyva at Day Pitney.
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Law Firm Executive Orders Create A Legal Ethics Minefield
Recent executive orders targeting BigLaw firms create ethical dilemmas — and raise the specter of civil or criminal liability — for the government attorneys tasked with implementing them and for the law firms that choose to make agreements with the administration, say attorneys at Buchalter.
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Trade Policy Shifts Raise Hurdles For Gov't And Cos. Alike
The persistent tension between the Trump administration's fast-moving and aggressive trade policies and the compliance-heavy nature of the trade industry creates implementation challenges for both the business community and the government, says Sara Schoenfeld at Kamerman.
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Firms Must Embrace Alternative Billing Models Or Fall Behind
As artificial intelligence tools eliminate inefficiencies and the Big Four accounting firms enter the legal market, law firms that pivot from the entrenched billable hour model to outcomes-based pricing will see a distinct competitive advantage, says attorney William Brewer.
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How Attorneys Can Master The Art Of On-Camera Presence
As attorneys are increasingly presented with on-camera opportunities, they can adapt their traditional legal skills for video contexts — such as virtual client meetings, marketing content or media interviews — by understanding the medium and making intentional adjustments, says Kerry Barrett.
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Adapting To Private Practice: From Fed. Prosecutor To BigLaw
Making the jump from government to private practice is no small feat, but, based on my experience transitioning to a business-driven environment after 15 years as an assistant U.S. attorney, it can be incredibly rewarding and help you become a more versatile lawyer, says Michael Beckwith at Dickinson Wright.