International
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January 27, 2025
HMRC's Response To Phone Calls Hits Decade Low, Firm Says
HMRC answered half as many phone calls from taxpayers during the last tax year compared with 2015, with that figure reaching a decade low, a publicly traded British brokerage said Monday, citing documents the firm said it received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
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January 27, 2025
Mike Ashley Wins Data Request Battle With HMRC
HM Revenue and Customs wrongly withheld personal information from Mike Ashley after the founder of the Sports Direct chain issued a data request following the tax authority's demand for £13.6 million ($17 million) in additional taxes, a London court ruled Monday.
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January 24, 2025
Gov't Says Ukrainian Duo Should Get 15 Years For $25M Fraud
Prosecutors have asked a Florida federal court to sentence two Ukrainian men to 15½ years in prison after they pled guilty to laundering money from a hotel staffing scheme that the U.S. government said cost it $25 million in taxes.
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January 24, 2025
Tax Break Doesn't Apply To £1.3M Project, UK Court Affirms
Investors who sank £1.3 million ($1.6 million) into a children's cartoon show will not qualify for a special tax break because the investment failed to meet at least one of the program's qualifications, the U.K.'s Upper Tribunal affirmed.
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January 24, 2025
Reed Smith Brings Back Tax Pro From Amazon In Brussels
An attorney who specializes in customs, trade and excise tax matters in the European Union and U.K. has rejoined Reed Smith LLP in Brussels after a stint at Amazon, the firm announced.
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January 24, 2025
Manchester United Ambassador Liable For Tax On £450K
An ambassador for the Manchester United Football Club is liable for additional taxes on about £450,000 ($562,000) paid by the club over 16 months, but he successfully appealed assessments on about £1.1 million received during several other years, according to a First-tier Tribunal decision.
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January 24, 2025
House Bill Would Repeal Stock Buyback Tax
The excise tax on stock buybacks would be repealed under legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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January 24, 2025
UK Gov't Launches Review Of HMRC Loan Charge
HM Treasury has launched a review into the U.K. tax authority's loan charge targeting individuals who incurred hefty tax bills after signing up for disguised remuneration schemes, a move critics claim has unfairly hit tens of thousands of contractors.
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January 24, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Latham, Simpson Thacher
In this week's Taxation With Representation, a Brookfield private real estate fund acquires Divvy Homes' property portfolio and platform, Kantar Group proposes the sale of Kantar Media, and an Ares Management-led group buys a majority of Form Technologies Inc.'s common equity.
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January 24, 2025
Australian Tax Transparency Rules Could Set Benchmark
Australian lawmakers recently enacted legislation that requires large multinational corporations to publicly disclose their worldwide business operations and tax information with an unprecedented level of scope and detail, which advocates say could set a global standard for corporate transparency.
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January 23, 2025
Taiwan Double-Tax Relief Floated In Senate After House OK
The Senate Finance Committee introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday that would grant tax benefits to Taiwanese businesses in the U.S. and authorize the White House to negotiate a tax agreement with Taiwan, following the House of Representatives' approval of companion legislation.
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January 23, 2025
Corporate Transparency Law Remains Flanked By Threats
The Corporate Transparency Act is facing threats across the branches of government despite the U.S. Supreme Court pausing a nationwide injunction on it Thursday, with another universal injunction in place, other court battles underway and some Republican lawmakers targeting the law.
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January 23, 2025
Finland's Corporate Tax Revenue Dipped 8% Last Year
Finland's corporate tax take fell about 8% last year on an annual basis, although the government has a slight surplus overall with €81.7 billion ($85.1 million) in total revenues, the country's tax authority said Thursday.
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January 23, 2025
UK Gov't Tones Down Plan For Non-Dom Tax Changes
The U.K. government will amend its finance bill to soften its plan to abolish the nondomicile tax status for people claiming tax benefits as nonresidents, Exchequer Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in an interview broadcast Thursday.
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January 23, 2025
Australia Looking To Combine 3 Accounting Bodies
The Australian government asked for feedback Thursday on a plan to combine three accounting standards boards into one, with the goal of streamlining the country's financial reporting architecture to adapt to continued changes to the economy and reporting rules.
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January 23, 2025
Poland's €23M For Chemical Co. Clears EU State Aid Inquiry
The Polish government didn't break state aid law when it awarded €23 million ($23.9 million) to a chemical producer to open a production plant, the European Commission said Thursday.
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January 23, 2025
Gov't Floats Tweak To Pension Tax As £49M Returned
The government confirmed Thursday that it will close a controversial loophole that has resulted in retirees being overtaxed to the tune of £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) over the past decade.
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January 22, 2025
Renewing TCJA Will Deepen Economic Divide, Oxfam Says
Renewing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would cost the U.S. more than $4.5 trillion in revenue that could be used to reduce economic inequality, nongovernmental organization Oxfam said in the release of its annual report on inequality.
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January 22, 2025
GOP Again Floats Reciprocal Taxes In Affront To Global Deal
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday renewed their proposal for reciprocal taxes against countries that participate in an international minimum tax agreement, following up on President Donald Trump's rejection of the global accord.
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January 22, 2025
Parliament Defends Report Alleging HMRC Has Poor Service
The chair of a United Kingdom parliamentary committee said Wednesday he was disappointed in HM Revenue & Customs rejection of an inquiry alleging the tax authority's customer service standards deteriorated to an all-time low in 2023 and 2024, arguing the agency approved reports that back up his findings.
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January 22, 2025
India Won't Apply Tax Treaty Abuse Provision Retroactively
An India tax agency said it won't retroactively apply an anti-abuse provision added to India's double-tax treaties with other countries by the nation's adoption of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's multilateral convention on base erosion and profit shifting.
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January 22, 2025
UK Insurance Premium Tax Haul Up 10%, Hits Record £6.7B
The U.K. government raised a record £6.7 billion ($8.3 billion) in insurance premium tax in the first nine months of the financial year ending March, up 10% from the corresponding period a year earlier, according to HMRC figures released Wednesday.
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January 21, 2025
Parliamentary Panel Faults HMRC's Customer Service
HM Revenue & Customs is failing to deliver a good service to taxpayers, with its standards sliding even lower last tax year compared with the prior year, the U.K. Parliament's Public Accounts Committee said in a report published Tuesday.
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January 21, 2025
Detroit Council OKs $45K Settlement Over Holding Co.'s Gain
The city of Detroit approved a settlement Tuesday in the Michigan Tax Tribunal in a long-running tax assessment dispute stemming from a holding company's gain from selling stock in a Canadian tobacco testing company.
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January 21, 2025
Mexico Extends Tax Breaks To Domestic Taxpayers
Mexico is extending a number of tax breaks aimed at foreign companies to qualifying domestic taxpayers, such as the ability to reduce taxable income by immediately deducting investments in fixed assets through late 2030, according to a presidential decree Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
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AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier
Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.
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Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World
As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.
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General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI
With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
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Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information
As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.
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Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD
Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.
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Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence
Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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1st Tax Easement Convictions Will Likely Embolden DOJ, IRS
After recent convictions in the first criminal tax fraud trial over allegedly abusive syndicated conservation easements, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice will likely pursue other promoters for similar alleged conspiracies — though one acquittal may help attorneys better evaluate their clients' exposure, say Bill Curtis and Lauren DeSantis-Then at Polsinelli.
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Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes
Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.
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Anticipating Intensified Partnership Enforcement From IRS
The Internal Revenue Service's decadeslong difficulties with partnership audits led to the recent announcement of a clear, well-funded, focused initiative, and businesses operating in the partnership form will feel the impact, with definite changes ahead, says Sharon Katz-Pearlman at Greenberg Traurig.
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Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys
Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.
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The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'
The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.
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How And Why Your Firm Should Implement Fixed-Fee Billing
Amid rising burnout in the legal industry and client efforts to curtail spending, pivoting to a fixed-fee billing model may improve client-attorney relationships and offer lawyers financial, logistical and stress relief — while still maintaining profit margins, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies
Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.