Federal
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December 10, 2025
Judge Probes IRS Expert On Method For Eaton's Credit Rating
A U.S. Tax Court judge asked an IRS expert Wednesday about his calculation of a standalone credit rating for Eaton's U.S. group in 2012, when it acquired an Irish entity and inverted, noting that the expert, unlike ratings agency Standard & Poor's, factored in Eaton's debt to the Irish parent.
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December 10, 2025
6th Circ. Chides US For Lacking Merits In Distilling Ban Case
A Sixth Circuit judge criticized the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday for refusing to address the merits of a suit challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. tax code's ban on home distilling, saying the government cannot decide what the appellate court reviews.
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December 10, 2025
DOJ Seeks Fairness Review From High Court In Tax Dispute
A property owner is appropriately compensated if given surplus proceeds from a government sale of their property for more than the owner owed, provided the sale was conducted fairly, the federal government told the U.S. Supreme Court.
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December 10, 2025
7th Circ. Upholds Tax Conviction Of DHS Special Agent
A jury relied on enough evidence to convict a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent of tax crimes related to his secret dealings with drug dealers, the Seventh Circuit said Wednesday, rejecting his claim that proof of his corruption was insufficient.
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December 10, 2025
Magistrate Backs FinCEN Rules In All-Cash Real Estate Deals
A magistrate judge in Florida federal court rejected arguments from a title insurance company in upholding a U.S. Department of Treasury rule establishing new reporting requirements for all-cash residential real estate transactions as a means of combating financial crime.
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December 09, 2025
Judge Wants Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Eaton Guarantees
A U.S. Tax Court judge asked one of Eaton's experts Tuesday how much the company could have saved by issuing debt from its new Irish parent in 2012 instead of having the parent guarantee bonds the U.S. company issued to third parties.
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December 09, 2025
7th Circ. Denies Tax Evader's New Trial Over Disciplined Atty
A man convicted of tax fraud will not get a new trial based on his lawyer's removal from the Seventh Circuit Bar two months after his conviction in an unrelated case, the appellate court ruled Tuesday, saying the discipline must relate to his own defense.
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December 09, 2025
US Asks 5th Circ. To Revive ACA Employer Tax Penalties
The IRS properly penalized a janitorial services company for failing to provide employees with healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. government said, urging the Fifth Circuit to reverse a Texas federal court ruling that voided regulations promulgating the penalties.
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December 09, 2025
IRS Provides Guidance On Health Savings Account Expansion
The IRS provided guidance Tuesday on new tax benefits for Health Savings Account participants, including a provision making bronze and catastrophic plans available through the Affordable Care Act marketplace HSA-compatible, even if they don't meet the definition of a high-deductible health plan.
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December 09, 2025
Holland & Knight Adds Shipman & Goodwin Wealth Atty
A member of the 17-attorney team that left Tarlow Breed Hart & Rodgers PC to launch Shipman & Goodwin LLP's first office in Boston last month has made another move to join Holland & Knight LLP as a partner in its private wealth services group, the firm announced Monday.
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December 09, 2025
Sabre Tax Dispute Belongs In UK Court, British Airways Says
Flight booking giant Sabre's lawsuit over a U.K. digital tax bill should be dismissed or left for a British court to rule on, British Airways told a Texas federal court, arguing that the digital services tax is a matter for U.K. law.
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December 09, 2025
Sens. Propose NIL Accounts To Help Students Grow Earnings
Two U.S. senators introduced legislation Monday to allow the growing number of college student-athletes inking name, image and likeness deals with companies to create tax-advantaged investment accounts to save some of their earnings.
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December 08, 2025
Conservative Justices Probe 'Husk' Of FTC Firing Protections
The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority pushed back Monday against the 90-year-old precedent permitting the removal only for cause of Federal Trade Commission members, and perhaps those serving other independent agencies, calling those safeguards a "dried husk" and wondering where to draw the line for protected agencies.
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December 08, 2025
Tax Court Rejects Telecom Co.'s $3M Bankruptcy Deductions
A telecommunications company cannot deduct over $3 million as a loss tied to a subsidiary's bankruptcy proceedings, the U.S. Tax Court ruled Monday, holding that the amount must be reported as capitalized expenditures because both businesses share the same owners.
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December 08, 2025
Tax Services Provider Andersen Launches $165M IPO Plans
Tax and legal services provider Andersen Group launched plans for an estimated $165 million initial public offering, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
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December 08, 2025
Meta Fights $16B Tax Bill Over Facebook's Cost-Sharing Deal
Facebook parent Meta Inc. is challenging a nearly $16 billion tax bill stemming from an agreement with an Irish affiliate to share the costs of developing intangibles, telling the U.S. Tax Court that the IRS can't relitigate issues the court already addressed.
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December 08, 2025
11th Circ. Affirms Tax Court Wrong Venue For FBAR Challenge
The U.S. Tax Court isn't the right venue for a couple to challenge the Internal Revenue Service's denial of a hearing over the agency withholding their Social Security benefits to cover penalties stemming from their failure to report foreign bank accounts, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed Monday.
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December 08, 2025
Hogan Lovells Adds Latham Corporate Ace In Houston
Hogan Lovells announced Monday that it has bolstered its tax, pensions and benefits offerings with a Houston-based attorney who came aboard from Latham & Watkins LLP.
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December 08, 2025
Justices Won't Review Bankruptcy Court's Scope In Tax Case
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not take up an Indiana couple's bid for a bankruptcy court to review the legality of a tax debt, maintaining an appellate split on the power of bankruptcy courts to address tax claims.
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December 05, 2025
Eaton's Position On Parental Support Conflicting, Judge Says
Eaton is telling "different stories at different times" about the ability of its foreign parent company to step in and pay the U.S. company's debt obligations to third parties, Tax Court Judge Albert Lauber said in questioning one of the company's experts Friday.
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December 05, 2025
IRS-ICE Data Swap Halt Irrelevant In Other Suit, DC Circ. Told
A D.C. federal court's order pausing the Internal Revenue Service's ability to share confidential taxpayer addresses with immigration enforcement officials should not impact a separate D.C. Circuit proceeding over whether the information-sharing agreement complies with taxpayer privacy protections, the U.S. government told the D.C. Circuit.
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December 05, 2025
Huntsman Disputes $28.6M Tax Bill From Cut Capital Loss
Multinational chemical manufacturer Huntsman is challenging the IRS over a $28.6 million tax bill that resulted from the agency reducing its carried-forward loss from selling a spun-off pigments business, according to a petition filed in the U.S. Tax Court.
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December 05, 2025
The Tax Angle: Affordable Housing, Red Tape, ACA Credits
With the midterm elections less than a year away, House and Senate members have been mulling several bread-and-butter tax issues such as housing, small businesses and healthcare. Here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few of these developing tax stories.
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December 05, 2025
Weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin
The Internal Revenue Service's weekly bulletin, released Friday, included temporary guidance from Thursday on a new incentive that would exclude from taxable income 25% of interest from loans secured by a rural or agricultural property.
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December 04, 2025
Judge Skeptical Implicit Support Worthless To Eaton Investors
A U.S. Tax Court judge closely questioned Thursday an expert for Eaton who said potential investors would not have counted on financial support from the company's parent in the event it couldn't meet its obligations after acquiring an Irish entity and inverting in 2012.
Expert Analysis
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Evolving Federal Rules Pose Further Obstacles To NY LLC Act
Following the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent changes to beneficial ownership information reporting under the federal Corporate Transparency Act — dramatically reducing the number of companies required to make disclosures — the utility of New York's LLC Transparency Act becomes less apparent, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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Alternative Business Structures Raise Ethics Questions
The new KPMG law firm, launched in Arizona following that state's repeal of the prohibition on fee sharing with nonlawyers, raises a number of important practice questions, both for the firm and those law firms seeking to partner with it, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O’Connor.
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The IRS Shouldn't Go To War Over Harvard's Tax Exemption
If the Internal Revenue Service revokes Harvard's tax-exempt status for violating established public policy — a position unsupported by currently available information — the precedent set by surviving the inevitable court challenge could undercut the autonomy and distinctiveness of the charitable sector, says Johnny Rex Buckles at Houston Law Center.
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Mitigating Import Risks Around Southeast Asian Solar Cells
The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent final determinations in its antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into solar cells produced in certain Southeast Asian countries make it important for U.S. purchasers to consider risk mitigation strategies, including modifying supply chains and contractually assigning import responsibilities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Reassessing Corporate Separateness After Explosion Of LLCs
Following the dramatic increase of limited liability companies in the U.S., the Corporate Transparency Act's enactment and the Trump administration's subsequent narrowing of that law, it's worth revisiting the underlying legal principles that govern shell companies in order to remedy the problems that initially motivated the CTA, says Jeff Newton at Omni Bridgeway.
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Crisis Management Lessons From The Parenting Playbook
The parenting skills we use to help our kids through challenges — like rehearsing for stressful situations, modeling confidence and taking time to reset our emotions — can also teach us the fundamentals of leading clients through a corporate crisis, say Deborah Solmor at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Cara Peterman at Alston & Bird.
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Immunity Waiver Ruling A Setback For Ch. 7 Trustees
While governmental units should welcome the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in U.S. v. Miller restricting the reach of the Bankruptcy Code's sovereign immunity waiver, Chapter 7 trustees now have a limited ability to maximize bankruptcy estates, says Dan Prieto at Jones Day.
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Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw
While the move to private practice brings a learning curve, it also brings chances to learn new skills and grow your network, requiring a clear understanding of how your skills can complement and contribute to a firm's existing practice, and where you can add new value, says Meghann Donahue at Covington.
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Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them
Like all transactions, litigation finance deals can sometimes collapse, but understanding the most common reasons for failure, including a lack of trust or a misunderstanding of deal terms, can help both parties avoid problems, say Rebecca Berrebi at Avenue 33 and Boris Ziser at Schulte Roth.
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A 2-Step System For Choosing A Digital Asset Reporting Path
Under the Internal Revenue Service's new digital asset reporting regulation, each type of asset may have three potential reporting destinations, so a detailed testing framework can help to determine the appropriate path, says Keval Sonecha at Sonecha & Amlani.
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How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients
Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.
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3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims
Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.
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IRS And ICE Info Sharing Could Drive Payroll Tax Enforcement
Tax crimes are historically difficult to prosecute, but the Internal Revenue Services’ recent agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share taxpayer records of non-U.S. citizens could be used to enhance payroll tax-related enforcement against their employers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.