Tax Law

ABA and Reed Smith File Briefs Urging Supreme Court to Hear Privilege Case

The American Bar Association and the law firm Reed Smith are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant cert in a case involving the scope of work product protections for lawyer materials. Reed Smith wrote a brief on its own behalf and for two of its clients—a sign of the…

Jan 28, 2010 4:13 PM CST

Davis Polk Lawyers Were to Be Gatekeeper for AIG PR in Secrecy Effort

When American International Group used bailout money to pay $62 billion to its bank trading partners to retire bad bets on credit default swaps, lawyers scrambled to keep the arrangement under wraps. Their solution: Send all securities filings, press releases and significant communications to the Fed’s outside counsel, Davis Polk…

Jan 26, 2010 4:16 PM CST

Supreme Court Rules for Online Tobacco Seller in NYC’s RICO Suit

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that New York City may not sue an online tobacco seller for RICO violations in an effort to collect tax revenue. The Associated Press and Bloomberg covered today’s 5-3 decision. New York had claimed that the tobacco seller, a New Mexico company called the…

Jan 25, 2010 5:20 PM CST

Judge Orders Convicted Tax Lawyers to Warn About Misleading the IRS

A judge has ordered two Ernst & Young tax lawyers convicted of selling illegal tax shelters to spread the word about the consequences of their wrongdoing. The lawyers, Robert Coplan and Martin Nissenbaum, were sentenced Thursday, the New York Law Journal reports. Coplan was sentenced to three years in prison…

Jan 22, 2010 3:29 PM CST

Prominent Lawyers Charged with Failing to File Personal Income Tax Returns

Two New York attorneys who reportedly have been practicing as partners of well-known law firms and a Long Island personal injury lawyer have been charged in state court with failing to file personal income tax returns. The cases were brought, officials say, as part of a stepped-up effort to enforce…

Jan 20, 2010 7:56 PM CST

Indicted Lawyer Had Nearly 21M in American Express Reward Points

Indicted South Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein had racked up nearly 21 million in reward points on his American Express card. Prosecutors hope to use the more than 20,900,000 in reward points amassed by Rothstein to help pay back his victims, the Miami Herald reports. American Express typically rewards one point…

Jan 13, 2010 5:02 PM CST

Ex-Pro Bono Chief for Kaye Scholer Suspended for Failing to Pay Taxes

The former head of pro bono at Kaye Scholer has been suspended from practice for a year for failing to pay millions of dollars in state and federal taxes for at least nine years. A disciplinary committee had originally recommended a six-month suspension for former Kaye Scholer partner John J.P.…

Dec 22, 2009 1:05 PM CST

Silver Lining for DUI Driver: Tax Court Allows $33K Writeoff for Totaled Truck

Expecting to drink at a party several years ago, Justin Rohrs arranged a ride home in advance with another driver. But after he got home, he decided to drive over to his parents’ home in the Ford F-350 pickup he’d paid about $40,000 for only months earlier. En route, he…

Dec 16, 2009 2:10 AM CST

Slain L.A. Lawyer Got Restraining Order Against Another Attorney in 2005

A California lawyer who was apparently murdered last week outside his upscale Los Angeles home had gotten a restraining order in 2005 against a litigant who made comments that he reportedly considered threatening. The litigant, Christopher Gruys, who was then a Los Angeles tax lawyer, was being sued by a…

Dec 14, 2009 8:26 PM CST

L.A. Lawyer Pleads in Quellos Case, Admits He Didn’t Pay Tax on $35M Offshore Account

A Los Angeles lawyer has pleaded guilty and agreed to accept up to a five-year prison term in a tax shelter scheme that involved a $35 million offshore account. Matthew Krane, 55, pleaded guilty in federal court in Seattle yesterday to tax evasion and passport fraud concerning an alleged Quellos…

Dec 12, 2009 12:10 AM CST

IRS Audits Single Mom Making $20K, Says She Can’t Claim Kids as Dependents

A single mom who makes about $20,000 a year working at a hair salon, Rachel Porcaro doesn’t own a car and lives with her parents in order to make ends meet. But apparently not believing that she could pay her bills on her actual, reported income, the Internal Revenue Service…

Dec 8, 2009 9:53 PM CST

7th Circuit Rules for Tax Lawyer in ‘Yo-Yo’ Case That Spanned 23 Years

A unanimous opinion by the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lays to rest IRS claims that a prominent tax lawyer fraudulently avoided paying taxes. The late Burton Kanter, a tax attorney for some of Chicago’s wealthiest families, had been accused of fraud by the Internal Revenue Service, the…

Dec 2, 2009 7:52 PM CST

Ex-Lawyer Took Fifth, Couldn’t Defend $2.4M Civil Case, Now Gets New Trial

A California judge abused his discretion by effectively denying a tax attorney who took the Fifth during discovery in a civil case brought by a former client the opportunity to present any defense at trial. Hence, the state Court of Appeals threw out a jury verdict against the former attorney,…

Nov 18, 2009 8:25 PM CST

Another 7,500 Confess Secret Accounts to IRS, as Swiss Unveil Plan to Say More

A one-month extension of a partial amnesty program intended to encourage well-to-do Americans to confess their offshore bank accounts to the Internal Revenue Service has nearly doubled the amount of previous disclosures. The tally of self-revealed secret foreign accounts now tops 14,700, up from 7,500 or so a month ago,…

Nov 17, 2009 7:44 PM CST

Former Miller Canfield Partner Gets 5 Years in Tax-Shelter Case

A former partner of Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone was sentenced to five years in federal prison today after pleading guilty in April 2008 to one count of conspiring to defraud the United States. According to court statements and public documents in the Western District of Michigan case, attorney John…

Nov 2, 2009 10:49 PM CST