Monday, February 26, 2018

TOP NEWS

Analysis

Looming Cap On Borrowing Could Alter Financing Strategies

In four years, the new tax law is scheduled to tighten restrictions on businesses claiming deductions for interest paid on borrowed funds, but highly leveraged companies already are evaluating how this imminent change will affect their cash flows and financing options. Read more »

Manafort Associate Pleads Guilty In Mueller Probe

Richard Gates, an ex-business associate of President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and himself a former member of the campaign, pled guilty Friday to charges brought as a part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Read more »

Foreign-Derived Income Rate Might Not Go Up, Brady Says

The new U.S. tax law’s reduced rate for the foreign use of domestically held intangible assets such as intellectual property might not increase when it’s currently scheduled to do so, U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said Friday at a conference in Houston. Read more »

Justices Urged To Find Railroad Stock Options Not Taxable

Railroads and a trade group told the U.S. Supreme Court in three amicus briefs filed on Friday that the court should reverse a Seventh Circuit decision and find $13.3 million in stock options given to railroad employees at subsidiaries of the Canadian National Railway Co. not taxable under a federal railroad statute. Read more »

Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Kirkland & Ellis

In this week’s Taxation With Representation, Rhône Capital inks a $560 million deal for a Brazilian steakhouse chain, Temenos buys Fidessa for $1.9 billion and IK Investment Partners closes on a €550 million ($676 million) small cap fund. Read more »

FEDERAL

Treasury's Mnuchin Says IRS Calculator Coming Soon

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday at a White House press conference that the Internal Revenue Service will possibly release its tax calculator next week, through which filers can see how their withholdings will be affected by the recent federal tax overhaul legislation. Read more »

NY Asks 2nd Circ. To Affirm $247M UPS Cigarette Penalty

The city and state of New York asked the Second Circuit on Wednesday to affirm a $247 million penalty against United Parcel Service Inc. for helping to move untaxed cigarettes from tribal lands, saying UPS’ request to drastically reduce its penalty was based on meritless claims of immunity. Read more »

Biz Seeks $136M Refund From Gov't For Solar Power Project

A company contracted to build a 250-megawatt solar power facility in Nevada has sued the government for $136 million, claiming the U.S. Department of Treasury erred when determining reimbursements for requested cash grants the business made under a federal renewable energy statute. Read more »

DBSI Trustee Wants IRS To Return All Ponzi Funds

The bankruptcy trustee of doomed Ponzi vehicle DBSI Inc. has moved for a quick win in its claw back suit against the IRS in Idaho federal court, arguing the federal tax authority is still on the hook for $3.6 million the company used to pay its principals’ income taxes. Read more »

TIGTA Criticizes IRS' Worker Misclassification Project

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report on Friday calling on the IRS to better implement its worker misclassification initiative, saying the agency has not effectively done so because of staff turnover, decreased funding and other competing priorities. Read more »

STATE & LOCAL

Feature

Days Appear Numbered For Lax Online Sales Tax Collection

Tax advisers say there's a growing awareness and concern among online sellers that the lax and sporadic sales tax collection practices of the past are over. Read more »

Mass. Justices Revive Long Row Over Computer Contract Tax

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court handed down a ruling Thursday concerning a long-running putative class action by purchasers of computer service contracts who asserted the imposition of taxes on the contracts was unlawful, unfair and deceptive. Read more »

INTERNATIONAL

Analysis

Tax Reform Seen Prompting Few Transfer Pricing Settlements

The new U.S. tax on deemed repatriated offshore earnings could encourage the Internal Revenue Service to settle some pending transfer pricing cases, but it won’t cause the agency to abandon most of those assessments, practitioners told Law360. Read more »

No Quick Answer On Transition Tax, Treasury Official Says

Taxpayers shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for guidance on how foreign income tax factors into the calculation of the overseas earnings they bring back to the U.S. under the recently enacted tax overhaul, a U.S. Department of Treasury official said Friday at a conference in Houston. Read more »

EXPERT ANALYSIS

Chloe Kim’s Right Of Publicity: The Value Of Gold

At only 17 years old, Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim probably has not spent much time thinking about trusts and estate planning. But success on the big stage increases the value of the right of publicity, which affects estate-planning strategies, say Scott Weingust and Jordan Salins of Stout Risius Ross LLC. Read more »

Stakeholders Must Act Now To Nominate Opportunity Zones

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created a program to direct much-needed capital to low-income communities by providing significant tax benefits to investors who use qualified opportunity funds. States, which can nominate communities for designation as qualified opportunity zones until March 21, are seeking input from stakeholders, and all need to act quickly, say Jones Walker LLP partners Aileen Thomas and Jonathan Katz. Read more »

LEGAL INDUSTRY

Feature

How Mentors For Senior Partners Could Benefit BigLaw

Large law firms have long offered mentorship programs in which senior partners bestow pearls of wisdom upon junior attorneys, but at least one law firm is shaking up that traditional model in what some say could be a game-changer for the legal industry. Read more »

Analysis

Ex-Skadden Atty's Plea Raises Specter Of Foreign Lobbying

The sudden guilty plea of a now-former Skadden lawyer who helped write a legal analysis commissioned by Paul Manafort on behalf of a Ukrainian president puts further scrutiny on the firm’s role in the controversial report and whether Skadden crossed into the legally precarious position of unregistered lobbying for a foreign government, experts said. Read more »

LSAT Administrator Likely In Contempt As Feds Sit Idly By

A California federal judge said Friday that the Law School Admission Council Inc. was likely in contempt of a consent decree laying out ways it should accommodate disabled test takers, adding it was “astounding” that the federal government took no position on the alleged violations after it had vigorously pursued the litigation for several years. Read more »

Up Next At The High Court: Antitrust Rule, Public Unions

The U.S. Supreme Court is closing out its February oral argument session with a blockbuster docket, taking on a key doctrine of antitrust law in a case involving American Express Co. and pondering the fate of public sector unions. Read more »

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

A report revealed that National Public Radio management hired and retained news executive Michael Oreskes despite multiple "flags" regarding his inappropriate behavior toward women, Democrats dinged new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission guidance as old advice, and the general counsel of Discover Financial Services spoke with Law360 about how the company prioritizes diversity and inclusion. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week. Read more »

Podcast

Law360's Pro Say: Microsoft's Supreme Court Privacy Battle

On the latest episode of Law360's Pro Say podcast, we are joined by Microsoft's head of litigation to talk about upcoming U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in a privacy case over data stored on servers overseas. We also chat about a BigLaw attorney swept up in Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation, the Supreme Court narrowing legal protections for corporate whistleblowers, and a legal beef over Dunkin' Donuts Angus steak sandwiches. Read more »

In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week. Read more »

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LAW FIRMS

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COMPANIES

American Express Company

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

American Trucking Associations Inc.

Apple Inc.

Aruba Networks, Inc.

Association of American Railroads

BDO USA LLP

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

BuzzFeed Inc.

CSX Corporation

Canadian National Railway Company

Credit Suisse Group AG

DBSI Inc.

Deutsche Bank AG

Digital Realty Trust Inc.

Discover Financial Services

Dunkin' Brands Group Inc.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Fidessa Group PLC

GlaxoSmithKline

Google Inc.

IK Investment Partners Ltd.

Microsoft Corporation

NFL Enterprises LLC

National Public Radio Inc.

National Retail Federation Inc.

National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

Nike Inc.

Norfolk Southern Corporation

Robert Half International Inc.

Snap Inc.

Stout Risius Ross LLC

Tax Foundation

The American Law Institute

Thomas H. Lee Partners LP

Twitter Inc.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Union Pacific Corporation

United Parcel Service Inc.

Wayfair LLC

Wells Fargo & Co.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Community Development Financial Institutions Fund

Delaware Court of Chancery

Department of Commerce

Drug Enforcement Administration

European Commission

European Union

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Government Accountability Office

Internal Revenue Service

Kansas Department of Commerce

Mississippi Development Authority

National Economic Council

National Labor Relations Board

New York Attorney General's Office

Ohio Development Services Agency

Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Census Bureau

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Supreme Court

United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware

West Virginia Department of Commerce

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