Author: Sloan Speck
-
Law360: The Top Tax Cases of 2025
Law360 gives their top tax cases of 2025 at three jurisdictional levels: federal, international, and state and local. Two of the federal cases involve the recent Supreme Court decisions in Loper Bright and Jarkesy. The international cases feature transfer pricing, with the Tax Court’s Facebook decision a headliner. And there’s lots of statutory and constitutional…
-
Will AI End the Billable Hour, Finally?
For at least forty years, the billable hour’s death has been greatly exaggerated. Time-based billing remains the default at firms of all stripes and sizes. But as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integral to legal practice, commentators have revived a familiar prognostication: this time, the billable hour surely won’t survive. Some historical context, as well as…
-
The DAF Boom, in Political Context
In 2024, contributions to donor-advised funds accounted for 22.8% of individual giving, and total assets in DAFs stood at more than $326 billion—almost double the assets in DAFs in 2020. Market returns explain some of this change, but new money also plays a role. And DAFs may have even more appeal after the One Big…
-
Bloomberg: The Top Tax Insights of 2025
Bloomberg Law gives their top tax insights and articles of 2025 in three subject areas: federal, transfer pricing, and estate planning. The range on each of these topics is impressive! More below the fold.
-
The Tax Stakes of Trump’s Executive Order on Marijuana
After almost a year of stalled action, the Trump Administration is continuing, by Executive Order, the Biden Administration’s efforts to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug. Should regulations finalize this change (and there almost certainly will be bipartisan opposition), effective federal tax rates on income from state-legal marijuana businesses…
-
Oxford Seeks to Hire a Tenure-Track Tax Prof
Associate Professorship of Taxation Law in Association with St Hugh’s College (short description here): The Faculty of Law, in association with St Hugh’s College, invites suitably qualified candidates to apply for the post of Associate Professor of Taxation Law to commence on 1 September 2026. The position is full-time and, upon completion of a successful…
-
Pirlot: “This Is Not International Law”: International Tax Law and the Disciplinary Boundaries of International Law
Alice Pirlot, “This Is Not International Law”: International Tax Law and the Disciplinary Boundaries of International Law, Euro. J. Int’l L. (2025), https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chaf067: International tax law, as an academic field, is traditionally viewed as lying outside the broader discipline of international law. This makes international tax law an interesting case for exploring the disciplinary boundaries…
-
Tariff Rollbacks, Protectionism, and Trump’s Political Coalition
Tariffs and trade protectionism go hand-in-hand—especially when those tariffs are not uniform. Through this lens, every rate transition—and there have been many since January—reshuffles the domestic economy’s winners and losers. This reshuffling has industry and interest group effects, as well as broader rhetorical and pocketbook implications for consumers. And all of these actors are potential…
-
SSRN Review & Roundup: Elkins Reviews Roberts’s W(h)ither Regulation? Hither to the Tax System
This week, David Elkins (Netanya) reviews a new work by Tracey M. Roberts (Samford), W(h)ither Regulation? Hither to the Tax System, 43 Pace Env’r L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2025): Administrative law has undergone something of a sea change over the past few years. In a number of key cases, the Supreme Court established new doctrines…
-
Tariff Non-Uniformity from the Left and Right
The current era of tariffs has unsettled the turn-of-the-century political consensus around free trade. What’s sometimes lost in this reshuffling is the texture of tariffs as currently imposed. In the current policy environment, this texture differs from the myriad exemptions and ratings under VATs or sales taxes. Tariff schedules tend to be significantly more granular…
-
Private Equity, Long Coming for U.S. Law Firms, Has Arrived
The UK has permitted outside investment in law firms for almost fifteen years. In the United States, litigation finance has expanded exponentially and with increasing sophistication since the industry’s modern roots in the mid-2000s. And lawyers need only look to other licensed professions—doctors and accountants—for models of how to unlock the value of long-term human…
-
Avi-Yonah: Repealing Reorgs
Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Repealing Reorgs, U. Mich. L & Econ. Rsch. Paper (Nov. 27, 2025):
-
Non-Tax Perspectives on the Tariff Cases
As manufacturer’s orders slow and tariff refund suits proliferate in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s pending decision in Learrning Resources, it’s worth stepping back from pragmatics and taking in recent commentary on the decision’s implications for the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence, the United States’ foreign policy, and the Executive Branch’s ability to control the domestic economy.…
-
SSRN Review & Roundup: Endean Reviews Libby’s Tax-Exemption and the Shadow of the Law
This week, Jon Endean (Brooklyn) reviews a new work by Lauren Libby (Yale, moving to Texas), Tax-Exemption and the Shadow of Law (Nov. 28, 2025). One of the many tools that the Trump administration has used (or at least, threatened to use) is the ability of the IRS to deny or revoke an organization’s tax…
-
Where’s Tax Law in the Netflix-Warner Deal?
The proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios and streaming business by Netflix is already a blockbuster. Announced on December 5, the deal has provoked a range of strongly held views about its antitrust implications, both doctrinal and political. These considerations are complicated by Paramount’s December 8 all-cash quasi-hostile bid for WBD that includes the…
-
The “Mamdani Effect”: Talk, Action, and New York Tax Residency
New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani campaigned on income tax increases for high-earning individuals and corporations. Like autumn leaves yielding to wet December snow, post-election rhetoric has trended towards concerns about an impending exodus of the wealthy (and their businesses) from the city. But will New Yorkers actually move? And, if so, which New Yorkers? More…
-
Live Snails, Empty Boxes, and Pop-Up Charities: Evolving Technologies in UK Property Tax Avoidance
In the UK, the occupiers of nonresidential property generally are responsible for “business rates,” a form of property tax. When commercial property is rented, the tenant is directly liable for these taxes (and may shift their incidence to the landlord through contract—a reversal of the tax prong under US-style triple-net leases). But when commercial property…
-
Narotzki & Parada: Transatlantic Perspectives on DSTs
Ten EU member countries (as well as the UK) have digital services taxes (DSTs) in 2025, with more European countries considering the levies. Is the trend towards continent-wide consensus on the levies, or will there be further fragmentation under geopolitical pressure? Leopoldo Parada and Doron Narotzki offer two perspectives on DSTs, one from Europe and…
-
SSRN Review & Roundup: Speck Reviews Belnap, Hoopes & Hadfield’s Does Voluntary Private Tax Disclosure Reduce IRS Audit Risk?
This week, Sloan Speck (Colorado) reviews a new work by Andrew Belnap (U. Texas, McCombs Sch. Bus.), Jeffrey L. Hoopes (UNC, Accounting) & Read Hadfield (U. Texas, McCombs Sch. Bus.), Does Voluntary Private Tax Disclosure Reduce IRS Audit Risk? (Sept. 30, 2025). As a formal matter, IRS private letter rulings provide legal certainty to specific…
-
Giving Tuesday 2025: Transitions and Tax Incentives
How will the One Big Beautiful Bill Act affect year-end charitable giving in 2025? While some donors have incentives to accelerate donations into the current taxable year, other donors benefit by deferring contributions to 2026. It’s time for taxpayers to build their Excel models and call their investment advisors. Details follow.
-
GLOW: The Government Lawyers Database
Earlier this month, the Government Lawyers Oversight Watchdog (GLOW) launched a new, volunteer-managed database that provides “a freely accessible public record of how government lawyers have conducted themselves while representing, or supporting, U.S. Executive Branch legal positions” (press release). More details follow, including from Omri Marian (UC Irvine), GLOW’s president.
-
Blouin, Zhou & Zhu: The Labor Consequences of R&D Tax Capitalization
Jennifer Blouin (U. Penn., Wharton Sch.), Frank Zhou (U. Penn., Wharton Sch.) & Cindy Xinyao Zhu (U. Penn., Wharton Sch.), The Labor Consequences of R&D Tax Capitalization (Nov. 21, 2025):
-
For a Limited Time Only?: Transition Guidance for No Tax on Tips
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created new tax exemptions for qualified tips and qualified overtime pay, both of which take effect for 2025. There’s been a lot of administrative guidance on these provisions since July, it’s not a surprise that implementing these individual tax benefits has proven challenging—and may create significant confusion for individual…
-
ICE and the IRS: Preliminary Injunction and Other Updates
On Friday, November 21, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction barring the IRS from sharing certain taxpayer data with the Department of Homeland Security, stayed an April information-sharing agreement between the IRS and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and ordered the IRS to inform the District Court for D.C. before making further disclosures of taxpayer…
-
Bonus Season Is Underway for BigLaw Associates in 2025
Large law firms began announcing 2025 year-end bonuses on November 18. What’s driving profits for law firms this year? What’s happening to attorney compensation outside of the lockstep formula? And what do 2025 law firm bonuses say about the economy going into 2026? Dollar amounts and related coverage are below the fold.