Federal

Expert Analysis

• New Markets Credit Will Aid Recovery In Low-Income Areas

  

  The recently extended New Markets Tax Credit is a critical tool for economic development in low-income communities, which have been hit especially hard by the pandemic, so public finance attorneys should consider its benefits when advising clients on projects, says Julia Fendler at Butler Snow.

• The International Outlook For US Border Carbon Adjustments

  

  The Biden administration may see enacting a border carbon adjustment system as a good way to advance climate goals and protect domestic industries and jobs, but any such plan must take into account the need to respect existing international trade agreements, say attorneys at Akin Gump.

• The Domestic Landscape For US Border Carbon Adjustments

  

  With the Biden administration possibly eyeing border carbon adjustments on imported goods as a means to mitigate climate change, attorneys at Akin Gump discuss such policies' potential benefits to domestic businesses, and the political and technical challenges to their enactment in the U.S.

• Prepare For Global Collaboration In Crypto Tax Enforcement

  

  Recent Internal Revenue Service victories involving John Doe summonses served on cryptocurrency exchanges — and statements by the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement about global collaboration in cryptocurrency-related tax investigations — should prompt assessment of prior virtual currency transactions and remediation before an enforcement agency shows up at the door, say attorneys at McDermott.

• 10 Things to Know About US Competent Authority Assistance

  

  Taxpayers should consider seeking U.S. competent authority assistance to help eliminate double taxation from a transfer pricing adjustment, especially now that the competent authorities are resolving cases virtually and more quickly, say attorneys at Thompson & Knight.

• Lessons From Tax Court's Nixing Of Investor's Energy Credits

  

  The U.S. Tax Court's recent ruling in Olsen v. Commissioner, the first of 200 cases involving individual taxpayers who invested in a tax shelter involving solar equipment, is a case study in how not to structure an energy tax credit investment, says David Burton at Norton Rose.

• Partial Repeal Could Resolve Biden's SALT Cap Dilemma

  

  Lawmakers' calls to repeal the cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes are controversial because doing so could cost over $600 billion, but a partial repeal could be accomplished on a revenue-neutral basis, providing relief to some, if not most, affected taxpayers, says Joseph Mandarino at Smith Gambrell.

• Alcohol Taxation Provides Good Model For Cannabis Taxes

  

  Although the alcohol taxation system isn't perfect, it could serve as a useful template for cannabis taxation with a three-tier licensing scheme and tax rates based on potency, says Louis Terminello at Greenspoon Marder.

• US Advance Pricing Agreements, Amid COVID And Before

  

  Steptoe & Johnson's Matthew Frank, former director of the U.S. Advance Pricing Agreement Program, shares insights from an Internal Revenue Service report revealing an uptick in APA completions amid the pandemic, discusses trends over the program's 30-year history, and suggests ways taxpayers and the IRS could bolster program participation.

• High Court Hotels.com Case Could Alter Appellate Strategy

  

  If the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Fifth Circuit in the upcoming San Antonio v. Hotels.com case, ruling that district courts may not amend taxable appellate costs, it could reprioritize the incentive structure and decision-making calculus of appeals, says Patrick Hammon at McManis Faulkner.

• Choosing A Branch Or Subsidiary For Overseas Expansion

  

  Samuel Pollack and Naoko Watanabe at Baker McKenzie examine the corporate and U.S. tax law considerations involved in deciding whether a branch or subsidiary is the most efficient way to expand operations overseas, now that recent Treasury regulations clarified the complicated international tax regime created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

• Why S Corporation Payments Are Almost Always Wages

  

  The recent U.S. Tax Court ruling in Lateesa Ward v. Commissioner has employment and income tax lessons about why payments from an S corporation to its sole shareholder are wages and not distributions of profit in most cases, says Bryan Camp at Texas Tech University School of Law.

• 3 Arthrex-Adjacent High Court Cases Could Affect PTAB's Fate

  

  As patent practitioners await a decision on the constitutionality of Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges in U.S. v. Arthrex, they should keep their eyes on three other pending U.S. Supreme Court cases that, while not IP-related, involve overlapping legal issues, including the severability doctrine, says William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.