Friday, February 23, 2018

TOP NEWS

Analysis

Pass-Throughs Await IRS Guidance Before Restructuring

The recently passed federal tax cut bill slashed income tax rates for corporations, but in the absence of guidance from the Internal Revenue Service, some pass-through businesses are holding off on restructuring that might take advantage of the reduced rates. Read more »

Trump's Ex-Campaign Officials Face New Tax, Fraud Charges

Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Thursday unsealed a slew of new tax- and bank fraud-related criminal charges against President Donald Trump's former campaign officials Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, alleging they filed false income tax returns and failed to report foreign bank accounts. Read more »

Feds Ask DC Circ. To Reinstate Tax Preparer ID Fees

Seeking to overturn a federal court decision, the IRS told the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday it had the authority to charge $37.6 million in fees to issue and renew preparer tax identification numbers because a PTIN has value — it protects a tax preparer’s Social Security number and helps the preparer avoid a penalty of up to $25,000. Read more »

Analysis

Tax Specialists Call For Generous Reading Of BEAT Provision

A literal reading of one of the new international provisions in the recent federal tax overhaul could have the unintended consequence of encouraging U.S. companies to change their operations to avoid the harsh treatment, practitioners said. Read more »

Treasury Official Keeps Mum On BEAT Anti-Abuse Rules

Taxpayers can expect guidance dealing with how the new U.S. tax law’s base erosion and anti-abuse measure will affect partnerships, a U.S. Department of Treasury official said Thursday at a conference in Houston, although he kept mum on how the government would interpret its related authority to curb avoidance. Read more »

Tax Law Could Keep IP From Leaving, Treasury Official Says

An international provision in the new tax law might not result in U.S. companies bringing intellectual property back home, but the measure could keep them from moving more assets outside of American borders, a U.S. Treasury official said Thursday at a conference in Houston. Read more »

FEDERAL

Chamber Seeks Clarity For Tax Law's Repatriation Rules

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has asked Treasury and IRS officials to clarify the terms of recent guidance that give multinational corporations some wiggle room in determining the amount of offshore income eligible for a one-time discounted tax rate under the newly enacted tax cut law. Read more »

STATE & LOCAL

Wash. House To Vote On Budget With Capital Gains Tax

Washington state Democrats are moving ahead with a proposal for a capital gains tax, a controversial plan that critics have decried as a back-door attempt at taxing income in the state. Read more »

NY Tells 2nd Circ. To Toss Couple's $5M Income Tax Appeal

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and other state agencies told the Second Circuit on Wednesday to reject a couple's suit alleging the agencies violated their constitutional right to live in separate states by requiring the couple to pay New York taxes on $5 million in capital gains from selling property in Florida. Read more »

INTERNATIONAL

BBC, Guardian Say Public Duty Trumps Appleby Records Suit

The BBC and the Guardian have told a British court that they're not liable for any damages their reporting caused offshore law firm Appleby Global Group LLC, arguing that while they knew portions of the Paradise Papers likely contained privileged communications, publishing portions of the leaked documents crucially furthered the public debate. Read more »

EXPERT ANALYSIS

Breaking Down The New Interest Deduction Limitation

Breaking Down The New Interest Deduction Limitation The Internal Revenue Code has historically limited the ability of corporations to deduct certain interest paid to related parties, but the recent tax reform modified this limitation and expanded its application. In this video, Taylor Kiessig and Brian Tschosik of Eversheds Sutherland LLP discuss differences between the historic and new versions of this limitation on interest expense. Read more »

LEGAL INDUSTRY

Ex-Foley & Lardner Partner Gets 3 Years For Insider Trading

Former Foley & Lardner LLP real estate partner Walter “Chet” Little was sentenced on Thursday to three years in prison for insider trading, following his admission that he cashed in on confidential merger information about the law firm’s clients. Read more »

Calif. Panel Says Ex-Perkins Coie Atty Must Arbitrate Claims

A former Perkins Coie partner must arbitrate claims the law firm dipped into his wages without permission, a California appellate court said Wednesday, reversing a lower court's ruling that his work contract was unconscionable and its arbitration provision wasn't binding. Read more »

White House Atty: Chevron Deference A Priority For Judges

President Donald Trump has prioritized rolling back the "administrative state," White House Counsel Don McGahn said Thursday, and part of that is looking at potential judicial nominees' experience with government regulation and major guideposts like Chevron deference. Read more »

Feature

SEC Case Exposes Justices' Rift Over 'Legislative History'

The Supreme Court’s long-running tensions over the use of legislative history as a way to interpret law broke out into public view Wednesday in a case over the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower provisions, as Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas clashed over the value of a Senate report. Read more »

Feature

How Cannabis GCs Are Leading The Way In A Legal Gray Area

As a once black-market industry continues to grow in both legitimacy and size, and with it, a corresponding surge in legal needs, the first generation of general counsel at state-legal U.S. marijuana companies are on the front lines of the new and volatile field of cannabis law. Read more »

Law360's Weekly Verdict: Legal Lions & Lambs

Williams & Connolly earned a spot on this week's legal lions list after the law firm secured a U.S. Supreme Court opinion in favor of its client narrowing the definition of the term "whistleblower," while Jones Day ended up on the legal lambs list after a federal judge dismantled its client's $2.5 billion jury verdict in an infringement suit over a hepatitis C drug patent. Read more »

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