Tax Law

Judge nixes Vanguard tax lawyer’s whistleblower suit, says it violates legal ethics rules

A former in-house lawyer for a mutual fund giant has lost his bid to collect whistleblower fees for his allegations that the company underpaid $1 billion in federal and state income tax over a period of decades. Because attorney David Danon was still working in-house as counsel for Vanguard Group…

Nov 18, 2015 9:40 AM CST

Even zoning regulations can help fight obesity, law prof argues

If you want to solve the obesity epidemic, don’t pin your hopes on litigation and bans on supersized soft drinks, according to Stanford University law professor Deborah Rhode. Lawsuits over misleading marketing can be costly and subject to a political backlash, Rhode writes in an article published in the Virginia…

Oct 28, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Pole dances are exempt from sales tax, says New York administrative law judge

Tax cases are usually not the raciest reads in the law library. But then there’s the decadelong litigation between the New York Department of Taxation and Finance and Nite Moves, an Albany “premier adult club” with an “upscale, nonalcoholic juice bar.” In 2005, the state demanded the club pay tax…

Oct 1, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

A tax ruling could complicate California’s effort to battle the drought

Water conservation is so important to California that it's in the state constitution. Article X, Section 2, says that "the waste ... of water [should] be prevented, and that the conservation of such waters is to be exercised."

That's especially so this year, when Gov. Jerry Brown called for urban areas to cut back their water use by 25 percent in response to a multiyear drought. The April 1 executive order also asked water agencies "to develop rate structures ... to maximize water conservation."

Oct 1, 2015 8:25 AM CDT

Taxi group may sue Chicago over differing regulations for ride-hailing services, federal judge rules

A lawsuit alleging that the city of Chicago treats taxi drivers differently from ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft may go forward, a federal judge has ruled. The Cook County Record reported Wednesday that U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman has rejected the city’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought…

Sep 24, 2015 4:25 PM CDT

Proposed Chicago tax would ‘surcharge the surge charge’ imposed by Uber and Lyft for peak-time rides

It isn’t just companies like Uber and Lyft and their drivers who would benefit from premium pricing at times of high demand for on-call ride-sharing services, if a possible new Chicago tax is approved. Under a proposal by two Chicago aldermen, the city would “surcharge the surge charge” imposed by…

Sep 14, 2015 12:10 PM CDT

Lawyer gets 48 months for defrauding estate of $2.3M

A suburban Philadelphia lawyer who diverted more than $2.3 million from a $6 million estate into his law firm accounts was sentenced Thursday to 48 months in federal prison. Randall Scott, 72, pleaded guilty earlier this year to mail fraud and tax charges. Between December 2005 and October 2011 he…

Sep 11, 2015 9:20 AM CDT

Gun rights advocates sue Seattle over tax on sale of firearms and ammunition

Gun rights groups are suing the city of Seattle over its enactment of a new tax on firearms and ammunition sales. The groups contend that the tax violates a state law barring municipalities from enacting local firearms regulations, Reuters and the Associated Press report. “The Seattle ordinance is nothing but…

Aug 25, 2015 3:27 PM CDT

Thieves stole 220,000 more individual tax records from IRS computer system than feds first thought

Add another 220,000 individuals to the list of those who face potential identity-theft issues due to a breach of online tax return records maintained by the Internal Revenue Service. Now shut down, the IRS Get Transcript page was intended to make it easy for people to access their own tax…

Aug 18, 2015 11:05 AM CDT

Lawyer who had firm pay his personal expenses in lieu of a paycheck pleads guilty to tax evasion

A Kansas lawyer accused of putting his law firm in another attorney’s name and having it pay his personal expenses instead of issuing him a paycheck pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of tax evasion. Accused of avoiding IRS efforts to collect income tax and evade a trust fund recovery…

Jul 9, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

Supreme Court agrees to reconsider whether unwilling state can be hauled into another state’s court

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case in which a California tax agency claims it was treated unfairly in Nevada courts. The Supreme Court granted cert on Tuesday in Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt, a case pitting the tax board against a taxpayer accused of evading state…

Jun 30, 2015 10:48 AM CDT

2nd Circuit: Man gets new trial in major tax fraud case because suspended lawyer lied to get on jury

A federal judge erred when he refused to grant a new trial to a man convicted along with two attorneys in a major tax fraud case in 2011, a federal appeals court has ruled. U.S. District Judge Willliam Pauley OK’d new trials for former Jenkens & Gilchrist partners Paul Daugerdas…

Jun 9, 2015 10:25 AM CDT

Former BigLaw partner takes felony tax fraud plea

A New York lawyer who until recently was earning nearly $1 million a year as a BigLaw partner has taken a felony tax fraud plea. Court filings say Jeff Galloway, a former partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, didn’t file New York state personal income tax forms or pay tax…

Jun 4, 2015 1:25 PM CDT

Feds say indicted lawyer owes $780K to IRS, hid tobacco settlement money in others’ accounts

Updated: An Illinois lawyer who represented the state in tobacco litigation has been federally indicted for a claimed failure to pay $780,000 in income tax over a 20-year period ending in 2013. Daniel Soso, 63, is also accused of failing to file a tax return for the years from 2008…

May 28, 2015 3:55 PM CDT

Thieving accountant, wrong number proved costly for lawyer; court lifts suspension

An Oklahoma lawyer learned a costly lesson when he left payment of taxes to an accountant who embezzled from him and took out a mortgage of more than $100,000 on his home. After the accountant quit the job in 2005, lawyer Larry Douglas Friesen discovered more problems, according to the…

May 28, 2015 8:27 AM CDT