Federal

Expert Analysis

• The Infrastructure Bill Should Not Target Cryptocurrency

  

  Congress should excise a provision in the pending infrastructure bill that would require anyone who accepts $10,000 in cryptocurrency for goods or services to report the transferring party's personal information to the Internal Revenue Service — this would be unnecessary, ill-advised and possibly unconstitutional, says James Burnham at Jones Day.

• Opportunity Zone Regulations Require More Fine Tuning

  

  Problems with the latest revisions to the qualified opportunity zone investment rules reinforce a recurring theme of regulatory hiccups that may prevent investors and communities from actualizing the program's potential benefits, unless we have more guidance, says Mitchell Goldberg at Berger Singerman.

• Preserving Disgorgement Tax Deductibility In SEC Settlements

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently added language to its enforcement orders that could affect a settling party's ability to deduct certain disgorgement payments, but proper planning can help them satisfy Internal Revenue Service prerequisites, say attorneys at Sidley.

• How The Global Tax Agreement Could Backfire For Biden

  

  If the $3.5 trillion spending package fails, the federal tax code will not conform to the recent 15% global minimum tax agreement spearheaded by the U.S., which would embarrass the Biden administration and could lead to retaliatory tax measures by other nations, says Alex Parker at Capitol Counsel.

• Tax-Exempt Orgs, Beware This 403(b) Plan Compliance Pitfall

  

  A recent Internal Revenue Service publication puts 403(b) retirement plan sponsors on notice about a contribution aggregation compliance failure often identified in audits of government and tax-exempt entities, but risk can be minimized by ensuring plan documents and communications address the issue directly, say Greg Needles and Michael Gorman at Morgan Lewis.

• Pandora Papers Reveal Need For Greater Tax Enforcement

  

  The recent Pandora Papers leak is a reminder of the importance of transparency laws and proper funding for enforcement efforts against tax evasion as bad actors increasingly operate in the shadows, says Daren Firestone and Kevin Crenny at Levy Firestone.

• Telehealth Providers Must Beware Of Fraud As Industry Grows

  

  A recent fraud charge against a telehealth executive highlights the rise we're seeing in telefraud scams during the industry's pandemic growth, and there are some steps that all health providers should take to stay clear of potentially illegal arrangements, says LaTawnda Moore at Dinsmore.

• Parsing New Int'l Tax Reporting Rules For Pass-Throughs

  

  Attorneys at Grant Thornton unpack the Internal Revenue Service’s new pass-through entity reporting requirements for international tax matters and the accompanying guidance for penalty relief, and suggest how companies should prepare for what may be the most significant change to the partnership compliance function in decades.

• A Look At Global Tax Enforcement Developments: Part 2

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Sean Craig at LexisNexis examines recent investigations by the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement and their impact on U.S. taxpayers, as well as the growing significance of transfer pricing disputes and policies for future enforcement.

• A Look At Global Tax Enforcement Developments: Part 1

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  Sean Craig at LexisNexis looks at how international initiatives, such as the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, are addressing cryptocurrency-related tax evasion, and how the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing demands for governmental welfare programs are driving global tax policy.

• What The Judiciary's Font Recommendations Can Teach Us

  

  The D.C. Circuit's recent soft prohibition on Garamond and the ensuing debates about courts' font preferences should serve as a helpful reminder of a larger point — every departure from convention in legal writing carries some level of risk, says Spencer Short at Stradley Ronon.

• 2 Income Tax Loopholes Congress Should Close

  

  To raise revenue for proposed infrastructure improvements and make the tax law fairer, the Biden administration and Congress should close an income tax loophole that allows an asset owner to bypass capital gains tax upon death and another that essentially allows taxpayers to make tax‑free gifts to grantor trusts, says Richard Kinyon at Shartsis Friese.

• High Points Of IRS' New Employee Retention Credit Guidance

  

  Dana Fried at CohnReznick examines recent IRS guidance on the employee retention credit, which includes a helpful new rule enabling more employers to qualify for the credit by allowing them to exclude some pandemic relief from gross receipts, but its exclusion of related individuals' wages from qualified wages for certain corporate owners is disappointing.