Thanks to everyone who attended the NCFC Annual Meeting & LTA Conference last week – more than 100 LTA members were in attendance. Also, special thanks to the 30+ speakers and discussion leaders who made the conference a success. If you attended the conference, please be sure to fill out a conference evaluation using this link.
Competition Enforcement. During a February 12 LTA Conference panel on competition enforcement, the panelists discussed premerger notification requirements and mentioned a recently promulgated Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule that significantly increases the amount of documentation merging companies must disclose. Coincidentally, also on February 12, a U.S. district court vacated and set aside the new FTC rule, reasoning that it “exceeds the FTC’s statutory authority because the agency has not shown that the Rule’s claimed benefits will ‘reasonably outweigh’ its significant and widespread costs.” Unless the FTC seeks a further stay of the ruling pending appeal, the district court’s decision will go into effect on February 20. Parties filing HSR premerger notifications will need to revert to the prior version of the HSR form.
In his memorandum opinion, the judge cited comments submitted by NCFC, stating: “Another commenter noted that the new requirements in the proposed rule exceeded even what the agencies typically request in an informal investigation. Nat’l Council of Farmer Coops., Comment Letter on Proposed Rule (August 8, 2023), https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FTC-2023-0040-0496.” The full text of the memorandum opinion and order in Chamber of Commerce et. al. v. FTC, Case No. 6:25-cv-9-JDK (Eastern District of Texas) is available here.
Research Credit Instructions. On February 6 the IRS released final revised instructions to Form 6765, Credit for Increasing Research Activities, for taxpayers claiming the section 41 research credit. The new instructions take into account new section 174A (enacted under the OBBBA), which allows immediate deduction of research costs.
AI Hallucinations. In a February 9 Tax Court opinion, the judge found that a tax attorney’s reliance on artificial intelligence resulted in citing three cases that “appear to be hallucinations generated by a large language model AI.” The nonexistent cases were cited in support of the argument that an unsigned notice of deficiency is invalid. The judge said citing fictitious caselaw “is a recipe for sanctions and a clear violation” of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The case is Peter L. Clinco v. Commissioner, No. 8077-23; T.C. Memo 2026-16.
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NCFC Submits Comments to Anticompetition Task Force