On August 23, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B advanced-degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year 2023 (FY23). USCIS completed its update to the online registration system, and registrants not selected in the “H-1B lottery” will now show status as “Not Selected – Not Eligible to File an H-1B Cap Petition.” This moratorium on...

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Key insights Remote working is here to stay, so businesses should be aware of cross-border state and local tax issues. Income and unemployment tax withholding can be complex if an employee lives in a state other than where the company is located. Tax interest and penalties can be imposed if a business fails to identify nexus obligations. Telecommuter rules create additional responsibilities for employers and employees. This article was originally published on August 30, 2021. It was updated on August...

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Keeping Lean Supply Chains Relevant in a Post-pandemic World A lean supply chain, at its heart, focuses on inventory optimisation and operational excellence. It aims to eliminate waste at every stage of the production and distribution process, and so have courted additional terms such as “continuous flow” and “just-in-time”. The critical aim is optimisation of inventory management rather than minimisation, and with its focus on consistency and repeatability, lean supply chains are designed to be arguably less flexible. For this reason,...

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Social: U.S. agencies and lawmakers are finally shaping policies concerning cryptocurrency. The result could change investors’ options significantly. Cryptocurrency has offered a lot to investors – including sky-high returns amid a lack of regulation. In what experts claim might stabilize crypto’s market and protect its investors, the digital asset’s Wild West days may be ending in the U.S. Right now, regulatory control differs across American federal government agencies; cryptocurrency is treated as “property” for tax purposes, resembling in many ways stock....

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In this week’s Roar: supply chain whack-a-mole, truckload costs trending in the right direction, woes for European ports, (some) optimism in China, and solid air cargo service quality. Heading into peak season, US shippers are dealing with new supply chain issues. Two major trade lines are under pressure, and the fallout is expected to spill into the first quarter of 2023. Yet at the same time, there are signs of optimism. So which is it – are things good or...

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The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) will be a game changer for the energy industry. This guide focuses on those issues of particular significance to the energy industry; it is not intended to be comprehensive. Highlights include: Extending the ITC and PTC for projects beginning construction through 2024, and removal of the phasedown. Expanding the PTC to include solar. Expanding the ITC to include energy storage projects. Adopting a base/bonus rate structure for many credits under which the...

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Previously published in the South China Morning Post | The growing housing crisis threatens to spread like previous financial contagions and damage economies across the globe Policymakers need to let poor performers suffer the consequences of bad bets while looking after solvent banks and enacting land and property reforms History has shown that financial crises are often the story of either a housing bust or stock market collapse – or both. Think of the crash of 1929 that started as...

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Key insights Significant provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act take aim at lowering the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs and offer billions in clean energy tax incentives. The most significant tax increases are primarily aimed at the largest corporations and publicly traded companies. The bill includes the appropriation of additional funding for the IRS to enhance enforcement activities, operations support, and business system modernization. The vast majority of proposed tax increases on individuals were not included in...

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A TPRM platform is critical for today’s businesses. Still, hurdles during implementation can turn into major stumbling blocks. Here’s what to know. Managing your third-party relationships has never been more important than it is now. With more organizations expanding their vendor databases to address the unsettled global supply chain, the risk of exposure to financial and legal compliance issues and violations is rising. A third-party risk management (“TPRM”) platform can mitigate that risk — and even prevent issues before they occur....

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It is highly likely, and hardly a surprise, that in the near future the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") will increase the number of enforcement actions it brings against crypto industry participants. It is widely known in the crypto industry that the SEC's Division of Enforcement has been investigating a number of high-profile crypto industry participants for some time,2 and at least some of those investigations likely will lead to enforcement actions relatively soon. The recent insider-trading case3...

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