Is Life As A Lawyer Making You Happy?

Take Law360's Anonymous Satisfaction Survey

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

TOP NEWS

IRS Plans To Limit Contracted Law Firms' Role In Audits

Private attorneys with whom the IRS contracts to aid in audits would no longer be allowed to review taxpayer information unless they possess expertise in foreign, state or local tax laws, according to a proposal the revenue agency issued on Tuesday. Read more »

IRS Withdraws Appeal Of Whistleblower Couple's $17.8M Win

The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to drop its appeal of a U.S. Tax Court ruling granting a whistleblower couple $17.8 million for their role in taking down a $74 million corporate tax fraud scheme, according to an agreement filed in the D.C. Circuit. Read more »

NY Court Rules $11M State Building Grant Is Taxable Income

A New York district court sided with the federal government Tuesday in ruling that $11 million in Empire State Development Corp. grants received by a taxpayer partnership for restoring a building constituted income for federal tax purposes. Read more »

Fax Machines Have Overstayed IRS Welcome, Lawmaker Says

The Internal Revenue Service's urgently needed overhaul includes replacing its fleet of fax machines with updated information technology hardware, according to an op-ed article published Monday and written by the chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee, which will consider legislation to revamp the agency. Read more »

IRS Tells Tax Court Eaton's Taxable Income Was $200M Short

A straightforward interpretation of tax law requires the Eaton Corp. to include almost $200 million more in its 2007-2008 tax year income, the Internal Revenue Service said in a brief submitted Monday in the parties’ transfer pricing dispute, with the company responding that the IRS’ arguments duplicate earnings and profits and create double taxation. Read more »

FEDERAL

IRS Nominee Rettig Discloses $1.1M In Salary, Names Clients

Charles Rettig, President Donald Trump's nominee for IRS commissioner, said he received more than $1.1 million in salary from his law firm and disclosed other sources of employment income and assets from companies including Berkshire Hathaway Inc., AT&T Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. in a financial report shared with Law360 on Tuesday. Read more »

DMX Wants Rakoff To Hear His Music At Tax Sentencing

Rapper DMX asked U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Monday not to sentence him to prison for tax evasion, citing his need to work and a lifelong struggle with personal demons, and offering to play his music "as he may be too emotional to speak" at an upcoming hearing. Read more »

STATE & LOCAL

Analysis

Red Flags For States Conforming To New Federal Tax Law

Conforming state tax codes to the new federal regime should bring simplicity, but tax policy experts of all stripes are warning states to stay away from certain provisions they say foster complexity, benefit the wrong taxpayers or will lead to loss of revenue. Read more »

NJ Assembly Amends Bill Expanding Biz-Friendly Zones

The New Jersey Assembly amended a bill Monday that seeks to extend the duration of the state’s urban enterprise zone designations and resurrect the qualification for five municipalities whose designations expired on Jan. 1. Read more »

Roots' Leaders Can't Appeal Discovery Order For Tax Returns

The two leaders of hip-hop ensemble and “The Tonight Show” house band The Roots cannot appeal a ruling obligating them to produce their personal income tax returns in a lawsuit brought by a former band member, a Pennsylvania appellate court ruled Tuesday. Read more »

INTERNATIONAL

China To Cut VAT Rates As Part Of Tax Overhaul

China will cut value-added tax rates for its manufacturing and transportation sectors as part of the country’s overhaul to replace the business tax with the VAT, China's finance minister said. Read more »

EXPERT ANALYSIS

To Hold Or Not To Hold: S Corps And The Carried Interest Rule

Without an amendment to what is widely believed to be a drafting error in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, there may be a strong argument that the new regulations implementing IRC Section 1061 are invalid. Taxpayers evaluating whether to hold carried interests through an S corporation need to assess whether the potential benefit justifies the time and expense of countering an IRS challenge, say Elizabeth McGinley and Steven Lorch of Bracewell LLP. Read more »

Equity Partnership Isn’t What It Used To Be

To many young attorneys, becoming an equity partner shows a firm's long-term commitment, meaning job security and a voice in important firm matters. However, the industry has changed and nowadays it may not be better to enter a new firm as an equity partner, says Jeffrey Liebster of Major Lindsey & Africa. Read more »

LEGAL INDUSTRY

Feature

What Law Firms Stand To Lose In The #MeToo Era

There is a reckoning coming for firms that continue to sweep sexual misconduct under the rug, experts say. Editor’s note: final of a three-part series. Read more »

Punk Rock Ob-Gyn Gives Juror CPR, Gets Med Mal Mistrial

Facing the first day of a medical malpractice trial on Tuesday, a San Jose obstetrician-gynecologist who once drummed for The Offspring proved his punk rock bona fides rushing to the aid of a prospective juror in cardiac arrest, delivering CPR but forcing a mistrial over concerns his medical heroics could bias jurors in his favor. Read more »

Supreme Court Resistant To New Way To Read 4-1-4 Rulings

The U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged Tuesday that there’s no great way to read its fractured rulings that lack a clear majority opinion, but suggested that one litigant’s proposal to solve the problem would result in “chaos” and throw the justices out of whack. Read more »

Partner Pay Gaps At Dentons, Clifford Chance Average 25%

Female partners at two U.K. global law firms are paid on average approximately 25 percent less than their male counterparts, according to gender pay gap reports released by the firms Tuesday. Read more »

JOBS
Search full listings or advertise your job opening

Tax Attorney Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC West Orange, New Jersey	Trust & Estate Litigation Associate (Mid-Level) Hopkins & Carley Silicon Valley, California
Trust & Estate Litigation Associate (2-4 yrs) Hopkins & Carley Silicon Valley, California

Listen to our new podcast here

LAW FIRMS

COMPANIES

Adobe Systems Incorporated

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

Apple Inc.

Association of Corporate Counsel

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Cable News Network Inc.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Chevron Corporation

Eaton Corporation

Exxon Mobil Corporation

Google Inc.

KPMG International

Major Lindsey & Africa

Synopsys Inc.

Tax Foundation

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Internal Revenue Service

New York State Empire State Development

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. Office of Government Ethics

U.S. Sentencing Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

Not sure if your firm subscribes? Ask your librarian.

We hope you found this message to be useful.
However, if you'd rather not receive future emails of this sort,
you may unsubscribe here.

Please DO NOT reply to this email. For customer support inquiries, please call 1-646-783-7100 or visit our Contact Us page.

Law360 | Portfolio Media, Inc, 111 West 19th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011