Tax Law

SCOTUS accepts another challenge to the health-care law; subsidies at issue

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear another challenge to the Obama administration’s health-care law, this time over tax subsidies said to be essential to the law. The court granted cert this afternoon in King v. Burwell, according to SCOTUSblog, the New York Times and the Associated Press. “This…

Nov 7, 2014 12:09 PM CST

Opponents of requiring accrual method of accounting for law firms gain support

Opposition to a tax proposal in Congress that the ABA warns would impose new financial burdens on many law firms by fundamentally changing the manner in which they must pay their taxes appears to be picking up steam. The proposed legislation would require all law firms and other personal service…

Nov 1, 2014 1:45 AM CDT

Man convicted of ID theft gets less prison time due to reform, facial tattoo removal

A former employee of a Florida court clerk’s office is serving three years for selling information from a driver’s license database to Derek Denesevich. But Denesevich, who admittedly used the information to file about 80 fraudulent tax returns, was sentenced to only 15 months, the Sun Sentinel reports. Besides cooperating…

Oct 27, 2014 10:56 AM CDT

Woman’s condo is sold at auction because of $95 overdue tax bill; she says she never received notice

A woman in Norcross, Georgia, says her home was sold at auction because she never received notice about an overdue tax bill of $94.85. Homeowner Xui Lui says she paid cash for her condo in 2011, but she didn’t pay the city tax the first year because she never got…

Oct 21, 2014 10:57 AM CDT

Ex-partner of law firm indicted, accused of aiding unlawful use of energy tax credits by clients

An Illinois lawyer has been federally indicted in what the government describes as a scheme to promote the unlawful use of alternative-fuel-generation tax credits by his clients, while working as a partner at a Chicago law firm. The indictment against Gary J. Stern says he “aided and assisted in, and…

Oct 16, 2014 2:08 PM CDT

Ex-BigLaw partner gets 13 months in tax case, admits he owes $924K to US

A former partner at McDermott Will & Emery in Miami has been sentenced to 13 months in federal prison for failing to file multiple tax returns. Steven Siff, 56, was taken into custody immediately after his sentencing in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, reports the Sun-Sentinel. He admitted he had stopped…

Sep 12, 2014 11:35 AM CDT

Courthouse shooter is tackled by county official, dies at scene

An Iowa man who had been embroiled for years in a property tax dispute with Jackson County officials died Tuesday of a gunshot wound at the conclusion of a government meeting. Officials said shooting suspect Francis “Gus” Glaser, 71, pulled a gun from a briefcase. He fired once at the…

Sep 9, 2014 2:40 PM CDT

Former US Attorney takes plea in tax-return case, agrees to pay $290K

Once the top federal prosecutor in his state, a Nevada lawyer who made a name for himself pursuing white-collar crime is now awaiting sentencing in a federal misdemeanor case over his failure to file tax returns. Prosecutors said Lawrence “Larry” Semenza II failed to file individual or corporate returns between…

Aug 28, 2014 9:25 PM CDT

Alzheimer’s patients aren’t liable for injuries to home-care workers, California Supreme Court says

The California Supreme Court has ruled that Alzheimer’s patients and their families are not liable to home health-care workers for injuries caused by the patients, if the employees were warned of the risks and the injuries were caused by symptoms of the disease. The California Supreme Court ruled on Monday…

Aug 5, 2014 12:40 PM CDT

Ex-BigLaw partner gets 6 months in massive tax-shelter case, must help pay $220M restitution

A former partner of Jenkens & Gilchrist was sentenced last week to six months in federal prison and ordered to help pay $220 million in restitution, along with two co-defendant ex-partners in the Chicago office of the now-defunct law firm. Erwin Mayer had faced as much as 10 years in…

Aug 4, 2014 2:40 PM CDT

Jury says brothers must split winning $1M lottery ticket, but ruling leaves tax issue unresolved

Two half-brothers must split a winning $1 million scratch-off lottery ticket, a Pennsylvania jury ruled Wednesday after only about an hour of deliberation. However, the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas decision that Ira Sharp, 52, and Charles Meehan, 45, had a valid oral contract to share the proceeds leaves…

Jul 16, 2014 9:25 PM CDT

ABA opposes draft tax bills that would force many law firms to pay taxes on phantom income

The ABA is opposing two draft tax bills that would require many law firms to switch accounting methods and pay taxes on phantom income before it is received. ABA President-Elect William Hubbard submitted written testimony (PDF) opposing draft tax bills that would require all personal services businesses with annual gross…

Jul 14, 2014 2:59 PM CDT

Former BigLaw partner gets 15 years in $8B tax-shelter case

A former tax practice chief who brought down his BigLaw firm by masterminding what prosecutors described as a fraudulent $8 billion tax-shelter scheme was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years by a federal judge in Manhattan. Calling Paul Daugerdas “a tax-shelter racketeer who tapped into the incredible greed of some of…

Jun 25, 2014 10:10 PM CDT

White House lawyer will testify about lost IRS emails

A lawyer who worked as counsel to the Internal Revenue Service in 2013 will testify at a House hearing Tuesday on lost IRS emails, the White House says in a letter to the chairman of a House Committee. The lawyer, Jennifer O’Connor, oversaw document collection in response to a probe…

Jun 24, 2014 11:58 AM CDT

Former BigLaw tax attorney gets 12 months for failing to file his own return

A California tax attorney has been sentenced to 12 months in federal prison for not filing his own taxes, and must also pay over $650,000 in restitution, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. James Kleier, 58, was accused of failing to report any income for more than a decade while earning…

Jun 19, 2014 3:29 PM CDT