International

  • October 11, 2024

    Italian Police Freeze €12.3M In Textile VAT Fraud Investigation

    The Italian Financial Police carried out two freezing orders totaling €12.3 million ($13.5 million) against suspects in an ongoing investigation into a value-added tax fraud involving the illegal importation of textiles from China, the European Public Prosecutor's Office said.

  • October 11, 2024

    Bird & Bird Adds DLA Piper Legal Director To London Office

    Bird & Bird LLP has added a former DLA Piper legal director as a partner to its London tax team. 

  • October 11, 2024

    Disputes May Loom Over Dividend Deductions For CFCs

    U.S. multinational corporations are concerned that rulemakers' interpretation of a law allowing tax-free repatriation of certain overseas earnings could lead to controversy after the Internal Revenue Service published a memo indicating the break is unavailable for controlled foreign corporations.

  • October 11, 2024

    Fla. Businessman's Estate Faces $2.6M In FBAR Penalties

    A Florida businessman's estate owes the federal government $2.6 million in penalties plus interest for his failure to report his Swiss bank account from 2013 to 2017, the government told a federal court.

  • October 11, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Latham, Kirkland

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Rio Tinto agrees to acquire Arcadium Lithium for roughly $6.7 billion, Ares Management Corp. and GCP International reach a $3.7 billion deal, and Butterfly Equity announces plans to buy The Duckhorn Portfolio for $2 billion.

  • October 10, 2024

    Ukraine's Parliament Hikes Taxes To Fund War With Russia

    Ukraine's Parliament announced that it approved several amendments to the country's tax code Thursday that will raise revenues for its war with Russia.

  • October 10, 2024

    Pillar 2 Carveout Should Cover Some Mobile Items, NFTC Says

    The exemption for tangible investments from the global minimum tax known as Pillar Two should include certain mobile assets, such as ships and aircraft, the National Foreign Trade Council recommended.

  • October 10, 2024

    Ryanair To Scale Back German Flights After Tax Hike

    Irish discount airline Ryanair announced plans Thursday to follow through on its threat to cut back service to Germany next summer over tax issues, saying it will cut 12% of its total capacity in the country — equal to 1.8 million seats — and close three bases of operation.

  • October 10, 2024

    Pfizer Lone Holdout In Senate Pharma Tax Probe, Wyden Says

    Pfizer Inc. is the only company to withhold a country-by-country breakdown of its tax planning in the Senate Finance Committee's probe into how Republicans' 2017 tax package reduced the pharmaceutical industry's U.S. liabilities, according to a letter Chairman Ron Wyden released Thursday.

  • October 10, 2024

    UK Exit Taxes OK When Paid Over Time, Upper Tribunal Says

    An exit tax on U.K. trusts leaving the country pre-Brexit interfered with their European Union right to free movement of capital, but is brought into compliance if trusts can pay the tax over at least a five-year period, the Upper Tribunal ruled.

  • October 10, 2024

    Switzerland Reports Info Exchanges With 108 Jurisdictions

    Switzerland's Federal Tax Administration has exchanged information on roughly 3.7 million financial accounts with 108 jurisdictions so far in 2024, the government said Thursday.

  • October 10, 2024

    Ireland's Finance Bill Sets Out Foreign Dividend Exemption

    The Irish government set out its plans for a new participation tax exemption for foreign dividends as part of a finance bill published Thursday.

  • October 10, 2024

    Algeria Joins OECD Tax Transparency Treaty

    Algeria formally joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's global tax transparency agreement on combating tax avoidance and evasion by multinational corporations, the OECD announced Thursday.

  • October 09, 2024

    Australia Floats Debt Reduction Creation Rules Guidance

    The Australian Taxation Office published draft guidance Wednesday for the country's new debt deduction creation rules, including the planned compliance approach and a framework for risk assessment.

  • October 09, 2024

    European Parliament Backs Brazil's G20 Wealth Tax Plan

    A majority of the European Parliament supports a 2% minimum tax on billionaires presented by Brazil at the Group of 20 nations meeting, asking the European Union to pursue the topic at the group's November summit, according to joint statements by members of Parliament on Wednesday.

  • October 09, 2024

    Swiss Council Rejects Funding Pensions With Transaction Tax

    Switzerland should not use the revenue generated by its two taxes on financial market transactions to fund the country's pension fund, nor should it create new ones for that purpose, the Swiss Federal Council said Wednesday.

  • October 09, 2024

    OECD Should Clarify Pillar 2 Safe Harbor Timing, CPAs Say

    The OECD should clarify when exactly multinational corporations need to determine whether they qualify for a transitional safe harbor under an international minimum tax agreement, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants recommended in a letter.

  • October 09, 2024

    UK Gov't Greenlights Film Industry Tax Credit

    U.K. film companies will be able to gain over 50% tax relief for their films' costs from a tax credit approved Wednesday by the Labour government.

  • October 09, 2024

    3M Tax Ruling Must Fall Post-Chevron, Chamber Tells 8th Circ.

    The U.S. Supreme Court's ending of the Chevron doctrine calls for overturning a U.S. Tax Court ruling that let the IRS allocate $24 million of income to multinational conglomerate 3M from a Brazilian affiliate, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the Eighth Circuit on Wednesday.

  • October 09, 2024

    Starmer Refuses To Rule Out Payroll Tax Hike

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer didn't rule out raising employers' National Insurance contributions, a payroll tax used to fund healthcare and state pensions, during Wednesday's question time.

  • October 09, 2024

    Election Uncertainty Hampers Companies' Tax Planning

    With the November election approaching, businesses are bracing for the potential impact of two very different sets of tax policies, with the resulting uncertainty making long-term tax planning increasingly difficult.

  • October 09, 2024

    Australia Seeking Large Cos.'s Tax Execs For Advisory Board

    The Australian Taxation Office is looking for executives in charge of taxes for the country's largest businesses to join an advisory group focused on improving the Australian taxation systems, the ATO said Wednesday.

  • October 09, 2024

    Final Treasury Rules Shut Off Inclusion For Repatriated IP

    The U.S. Treasury Department adopted final rules Wednesday that shut off an annual income inclusion associated with intangibles for companies in certain situations that have transferred intellectual property back to the U.S. from overseas.

  • October 09, 2024

    Gov't Warned Over National Insurance Levy On Pensions

    About half of U.K. employers would scale back the amount they pay into staff pensions to regulatory minimums if a new tax was applied to contributions, according to a survey by a trade group published Wednesday.

  • October 08, 2024

    Germany May Offer Tax Break For 'E-Fuel' Cars, Ministry Says

    The German government will consider a motor vehicle tax exemption for cars running only on fuels manufactured with renewable energy, known as e-fuels-only vehicles, the German Ministry of Finance announced Tuesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent

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    As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.

  • Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

  • A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence

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    The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.

  • To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef

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    To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?

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    Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • New Crypto Reporting Will Require Rigorous Recordkeeping

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    The release of a form for reporting digital asset transactions is a pivotal moment in the Internal Revenue Service's efforts to track cryptocurrency activities that increases oversight by requiring brokers to report investor sales and exchanges, say Shaina Kamen and Max Angel at Holland & Knight.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs

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    The Internal Revenue Services' finalized Treasury Regulations addressing whether real estate investment trusts qualify as domestically controlled adopt the basic structure of previous proposals, but certain new and modified rules may mitigate the regulations' impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

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