Alston & Bird Tax Blog

Supreme Court

Supreme Court Offers Mixed Guidance on Future of Lawsuits Challenging Investments and Fees in 401(k) and 403(b) Plans

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Oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hughes v. Northwestern University will have broader implications for both 401(k) and 403(b) plans. It isn’t always easy to read the tea leaves, but our ERISA Litigation Group offers key takeaways from the day and what may come from the Court’s opinion. The Court’s decision will have broader implications for the future of class action litigation regarding fees and investments in all forms of defined contribution plansThe Justices questioned many different aspects of the case, and the decision is not likely to be unanimousVariety is ok, but [...]Read more

Supreme Court–Appointed Special Master Applies Place-of-Purchase Jurisdictional Rule to MoneyGram’s Unclaimed “Official Checks”

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Our Unclaimed Property Team reviews the report of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Special Master parsing the definitions of “money orders” and “similar instruments” and how those words decide if certain unclaimed property falls under federal common law or the federal Disposition of Abandoned Money Orders and Traveler’s Checks Act. The report is a master class in statutory constructionThe Special Master analyzed MoneyGram “official checks” to determine those meet three statutory conditions for an instrument to constitute a “similar instrument”This analytical framework may have broader [...]Read more

Taxpayers Can Strike First: Supreme Court Allows Pre-Enforcement Challenges to Certain IRS Regulatory Actions

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Our Federal Tax Group examines a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could give taxpayers greater leeway to challenge IRS regulatory schemes before the IRS takes enforcement action. CIS Services v. IRS narrows the reach of the Anti-Injunction ActThree features of Notice 2016-66 helped the Court overturn lower courts’ rulings in favor of the IRSThe IRS’s rule-making process now open to more Administrative Procedure Act challenges Read the full advisory here. [...]Read more

False Claims Act Is Again in Focus, This Time in New York

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Last week, our Unclaimed Property Team uncovered the broader implications of a New York court’s False Claims Act ruling that could create a new risk for holders that report past-due property.

Overview of the action brought by the relator
The court’s decision
Implications for holders

Read the full advisory here. [...]Read more

U.S. Supreme Court Carves a Narrow Taxpayer Win on Due Process in Kaestner

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One year after dropping the landmark Wayfair decision, our State & Local Tax Group examines why this year’s Supreme Court decision in North Carolina Department of Revenue v. Kimberley Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust won’t leave much of a mark.

Kaestner focuses narrowly on the trust at issue in the case
The Court goes out of its way to ensure that the decision does not affect precedent
The decision reaffirms the due-process test of Quill

Read the full advisory here. [...]Read more