Federal

  • July 17, 2025

    5th Circ. Affirms Nix Of Doctor's Captive Insurance Deductions

    The owner of a Texas urgent care network is not entitled to $1 million in tax deductions for insurance premiums he paid to inside companies, the Fifth Circuit ruled, affirming the U.S. Tax Court's decision that the payments were not actually for insurance.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 to file a collection action case against the IRS, according to a bench opinion. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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."

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review

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    For attorneys — new ones especially — 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.

  • Rank-And-File DOJ Attorneys Will Keep Calm And Carry On

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    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’s mission afloat, and the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to upend this tradition, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.

  • What Higher Education Can Expect From A 2nd Trump Admin

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    The election of Donald Trump for a second presidential term has far-reaching ramifications for colleges and universities — 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.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • Expect Surging Oil And Gas Industry Under New Trump Admin

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    Throughout his recent campaign, President-elect Donald Trump promised increased oil and natural gas production and reduced reliance on renewables — and his administration will likely bring more oil and gas dealmaking, faster federal permitting and attempts to roll back incentives for green energy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law Office.

  • Cos. Should Inventory Issues To Prep For New Congress

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    As the legislative and oversight agendas of the 119th Congress come into sharper focus, corporate counsel should assess and plan for areas of potential oversight risk — from tax policy changes to supply chain integrity — even as much uncertainty remains, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Conservation Easement Cases Weave Web Of Uncertainty

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    Much of the IRS and Justice Department’s recent success in prosecuting syndicated conservation easement cases can be attributed to the government’s focus on the so-called PropCo ratio, which could indicate treacherous waters ahead for participants and their advisers, even under the incoming Trump administration, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • So You Want To Move Your Law Practice To Canada, Eh?

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    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

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    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

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    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
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    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

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    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.

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