In the recent United States Tax Court case O’Connor v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Judge Arbeit sanctioned the petitioner for advancing frivolous arguments contesting the authority of the IRS to assess tax....more
5/20/2025
/ Constitutional Challenges ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Penalties ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sixteenth Amendment ,
Tax Court ,
Tax Liability ,
Wage and Hour
Dear Littler,
We’d like to provide gifts to our staff for the holidays but are unsure which types of gifts would trigger tax obligations for our employees. We’d also like to offer donation matching for our employees’...more
A new General Labor Law (NGLL) was enacted by Law No. 12/23, of 27 December 2023, which came into force on March 26, 2024.The NGLL repealed the former General Labor Law (approved by Law No. 7/15, of June 15, 2015),...more
In Escano v. Innovative Financial Partners, LLC, a magistrate judge held that the defendants’ decision to withhold funds from a payment required under a settlement agreement when the plaintiff refused to provide a Form W-9...more
1/29/2024
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fee-Shifting ,
Form W-9 ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Required Forms ,
Settlement Agreements ,
W-4 ,
Withholding Requirements
On July 21, 2023, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Assembly Bill No. S3128/A4694 into law, which implements an aggressive tax treatment of nonresidents who work for New Jersey employers. The law essentially adopts the...more
The Global Guide Quarterly (GGQ) is a newsletter Littler publishes on a quarterly basis to provide a general update on global labor and employment (L&E) law developments in key countries in the American, EMEA, and APAC...more
As part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Act), Congress enacted Internal Revenue Code (Code) section 6050X, which requires government agencies (and certain nongovernmental regulatory agencies) to issue information returns...more
On December 14, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) signed and published a Memorandum of Understanding for Employment Tax Referrals (the “MOU”). The MOU establishes a system for...more
12/28/2022
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
IRS ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
Misclassification ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Penalties ,
Wage and Hour
Dear Littler: You alerted us to some wage & hour and leaves & benefits issues stemming from our “wandering workers” who have scattered across the country during the pandemic, yet continue to work for our Texas-based company....more
Businesses with operations in California have begun to identify options and implement strategies for compliance with Assembly Bill (AB) 5, which imposes the ABC test for identifying whether a worker is an independent...more
10/30/2019
/ 1099s ,
ABC Test ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Tax ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Income Taxes ,
Independent Contractors ,
IRS ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
Out-of-State Employees ,
Retroactive Application ,
Safe Harbors ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tax Rates ,
Wage and Hour
On Friday, August 30, 2019, the California State Senate Appropriations Committee approved controversial legislation—Assembly Bill 5 (A.B. 5)—that would potentially reclassify millions of independent contractors as “employees”...more
9/4/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
Pending Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Assembly Bill (AB) 5, currently pending in the California legislature, would impose the “ABC” test on California businesses and workers, dramatically altering the legal standards applied in evaluating whether a worker is an...more
8/9/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
Pending Legislation ,
Risk Assessment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
The United States Department of Labor has provided good news for gig economy employers, telling one unidentified “virtual marketplace” employer that its service providers are properly classified as independent contractors....more
5/6/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Online Platforms ,
Opinion Letter ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On March 4, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court held in BNSF Railway Co. v. Loos that a railroad’s payment to an employee for work time lost due to an on-the-job injury is taxable compensation under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act...more
3/6/2019
/ Appeals ,
Back Pay ,
BNSF Railway ,
BNSF Railway Company v Loos ,
Compensation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) ,
Lost Wages ,
Non-Taxable Income ,
Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA) ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Severance Pay ,
Taxable Income ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Injury
The California Supreme Court’s adoption of a strict ABC test for purposes of the wage orders is likely to cause significant problems for California businesses that use independent contractors. Of particular concern is the “B”...more
6/11/2018
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Risk Assessment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On August 30, 2013, the IRS reiterated its longstanding positions on the proper tax treatment of litigation settlements with current or former employees. In its Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) Memorandum 20133501F, the IRS...more