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Insurance Commission Split Is Kickback

Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.02.05

The Court of Federal Claims in Morse Diesel Int'l, Inc. v. U.S. (July 15, 2005) held that Morse Diesel, a construction management company whose parent had a commission-splitting arrangement with its performance bond brokers, violated the Anti-Kickback Act of 1986 because the payments from the brokers back to the parent were not, as the contractor argued, merely discounts, promotional allowances, or rebates, but rather were for the improper purpose of “cementing” the brokers’ exclusive relationship with Morse and its parent. Further, in an expansive reading of the term “prime contractor,” the court found that, even though Morse Diesel was the named prime contractor under several fixed-price contracts, its parent also was a prime contractor within the meaning of the act and the surety bond brokers were “subcontractors,” despite the facts that there was no direct relationship between Morse Diesel and the sureties and Morse Diesel did not receive directly any of the sureties’ payments.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 10.10.25

New Post Appeals Mediation Pilot Program

On October 1, 2025, the IRS Independent Office of Appeals launched a two-year pilot program to make Post Appeals Mediation (PAM) more attractive and accessible to taxpayers. See IRS Announcement 2025-10. The new PAM pilot program offers taxpayers the opportunity to be assigned to a new Appeals team, which is otherwise unconnected to the underlying case, who will represent the original Appeals team in the mediation session. The assignment of the new Appeals team does not begin a new appeals process but rather is intended to help facilitate an expedited and impartial look at the underlying case with the goal of further exploring all potential paths to resolution prior to litigation....