International

  • June 06, 2024

    Co. Did Not Abuse UK-Ireland Tax Agreement, Tribunal Affirms

    The fact that an Ireland-based company benefited from the U.K.-Ireland double-taxation agreement when it acquired an £83.5 million ($106.8 million) investment doesn't mean it entered the transaction only for tax benefits, the U.K.'s Upper Tribunal said, affirming a lower court.

  • June 06, 2024

    Pharma Co. Should Get Hungarian Rebate, ECJ Adviser Says

    Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk's mandatory payments into the Hungarian health system should reduce the company's tax base for value-added tax payments, an adviser to the European Union's highest court said Thursday. 

  • June 06, 2024

    Switzerland, Italy Agree To Permanent Rules For Remote Work

    Switzerland and Italy have established permanent rules regarding the taxation of cross-border workers, replacing a temporary arrangement that was agreed to last year, the Swiss government said Thursday.

  • June 05, 2024

    Nigeria Holding US Binance Exec Hostage, Lawmakers Say

    The White House's hostage negotiator should begin seeking the release of a top executive at cryptocurrency exchange Binance whom the Nigerian government is holding personally liable for tax evasion charges against the company, the House Foreign Affairs Committee's chairman has said.

  • June 05, 2024

    German Draft Bill Would Adjust Tax Laws To EU Rules

    Changes could be coming to a number of German tax laws, including some spurred by European Union law and both national and international case law, Germany's Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

  • June 05, 2024

    Win May Embolden IRS Use Of Economic Substance Doctrine

    The IRS' successful wielding of the economic substance doctrine to characterize multinational telecommunications corporation Liberty Global's sophisticated set of intercompany deals as an abusive tax shelter could encourage the agency to apply similar analysis to even the most basic tax transactions.

  • June 05, 2024

    Streamers To Be Hit With 5% Charge On Canadian Revenue

    Streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ soon will be required to contribute 5% of their Canadian revenues to the country's broadcasting system, which could generate CA$200 million ($146 million) a year, Canada's government said, drawing the ire of the National Foreign Trade Council.

  • June 05, 2024

    Gov't UK ISA Savings Proposal Gets Cold Shoulder

    More financial firms on Wednesday warned that the U.K. government's plans to give consumers a new tax break for investing in U.K. companies was unworkable, adding it could conflict with the Financial Conduct Authority's consumer protection rules.

  • June 05, 2024

    EU Corp. Tax Proposal Delayed By Uncertainty On OECD Plan

    European Union countries' negotiations on a proposal to streamline corporate taxation have been delayed because of a lack of clarity on implementation of the OECD's global minimum tax and the design of the accompanying reallocation of taxing rights, a top European Commission tax official said Wednesday.

  • June 05, 2024

    OECD Official Hopes Pillar 2 Ends Some 'Wasteful' Incentives

    The introduction of the global minimum corporate tax known as Pillar Two should lead to the end of some "wasteful" incentives that narrow the tax base, an official from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Wednesday.

  • June 05, 2024

    Labour's Pension Tax Plans Backed By Fiscal Research Body

    An influential economics think tank has backed plans by the Labour Party to reintroduce the lifetime allowance, arguing that there should be a cap on the tax-free accumulation of pensions wealth.

  • June 04, 2024

    Full DC Circ. Asked To Weigh Foreign Info Disclosure Penalties

    A D.C. Circuit panel made questionable assumptions about congressional intent when it revived the IRS' authority to assess and administratively collect penalties related to undisclosed foreign corporations, a businessman said Tuesday in asking the full appellate court to hear his case.

  • June 04, 2024

    Australian Court Upholds Ex-Chinese Citizen's $7.7M Tax Bill

    An Australian court upheld an AU$11.5 million ($7.7 million) tax bill from the Australian Taxation Office to a former Chinese citizen after determining he failed to provide enough evidence to support his alternative tax liability calculation.

  • June 04, 2024

    Calif. OTA Rejects Couple's Claim Of Bolivia Residency

    A California couple owes additional state income tax on a retirement account distribution, the state Office of Tax Appeals said in an opinion released Tuesday, rejecting the pair's assertion that they were domiciled in Bolivia at the time.

  • June 04, 2024

    EU OKs Italian Renewable Energy Plan Funded By Levy

    The European Commission said Tuesday that it approved Italy's plan to introduce a levy on the electricity bills of final consumers to fund construction of renewable energy plants, finding the benefits far outweigh any potential damage to competition and trade.

  • June 04, 2024

    Spain Sends Pillar 2 Bill To Legislature After EU Pressure

    The Spanish government announced Tuesday it has sent a bill to its legislature that would transpose the European Union directive to implement the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's global minimum tax on large corporations following pressure from the bloc.

  • June 04, 2024

    New Dutch Gov't Seen Returning To Pro-Biz Positions

    The incoming conservative Dutch government is expected to adopt tax policies that align with the Netherlands' long-standing reputation as a tax-friendly jurisdiction for businesses, in part by reversing a recently enacted measure that taxed companies' purchases of their own shares.

  • June 04, 2024

    Luxembourg Candidate Calls To End EU Tax Unanimity Rule

    The leading Socialist candidate in the upcoming European parliamentary elections said the European Union should scrap the need for unanimity for all tax decisions, clashing with his home country of Luxembourg's longtime stand that's meant to protect its status as a financial center.

  • June 04, 2024

    Austrian Authorities Reveal Spike In Fake Companies

    The number of fake companies in Austria is increasing, according to data from the Finance Ministry, which said that it hoped a new law would aid in combating the trend.

  • June 03, 2024

    Danish Tax Agency Says $2.1B Tax Fraud Suits Not Filed Late

    Denmark's tax administrator urged a New York federal court to reject bids to toss its suits against U.S. pension plans and individuals it accuses of participating in a $2.1 billion fraud scheme, saying the suits were not filed too late.

  • June 03, 2024

    Treasury Aims To Salvage Corp. Transparency Act At 11th Circ.

    The Corporate Transparency Act is a valid exercise of congressional authority to curb money laundering under the commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause in the Constitution, the U.S. Treasury Department told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday in a bid to restore the law's reporting requirements.

  • June 03, 2024

    Tax Convictions Withstand Poor Counsel Claim, 4th Circ. Says

    A North Carolina man's claim of ineffective counsel is not sufficient reason to vacate his convictions for filing false tax returns and obstructing an official proceeding in a case involving $2.1 million in unreported income sent from Bermuda entities, the Fourth Circuit ruled.

  • June 03, 2024

    Texas Oil Co. Says IRS Hasn't Paid $36M Promised Refund

    The Internal Revenue Service has promised to pay a Texas oil company more than $36 million in tax refunds and credits for the 2009 tax year but has failed to do so, the company told a federal court.

  • June 03, 2024

    African Gov'ts Made Big Gains From Data Swaps In 2023

    African tax authorities made huge headway last year in using the international standard for exchange of information on request to find additional revenues of €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion), which is more than over the past 13 years combined, the OECD reported Monday.

  • June 03, 2024

    UK Liberal Democrats Call For Buyback Tax, Tripling DST

    The U.K. Liberal Democrat party called for a 4% share buyback tax on the 100 largest corporations on the stock market as well as for tripling the country's 2% digital services tax, with the additional revenue generated to be earmarked to benefit schoolchildren.

Expert Analysis

  • Key Takeaways From IRS Reversal On FDII Stance

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    The Internal Revenue Service's recent memo regarding allocation of deferred compensation expenses for purposes of foreign-derived intangible income is a departure from the agency's previous position and may have implications beyond the context of deferred compensation, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • New Tax Decree Suggests Expansion In Dutch Transfer Pricing

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    A July 1 decree from Dutch tax authorities updating transfer pricing guidance heralds a major change in how intercompany financial transactions are considered for transfer pricing purposes and forebodes significant audit activity, say Monique van Herksen and Clive Jie-A-Joen at Simmons and Simmons.

  • Is NJ's Voluntary Transfer Pricing Initiative Really Voluntary?

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    The New Jersey Division of Taxation's voluntary transfer pricing audit initiative promises penalty abatement to taxpayers that elect to participate and agree to the division's proposed adjustments, but the effective penalties associated with nonparticipation raise questions about the program's voluntary nature, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Global Tax Chiefs Should Look To US Whistleblower Programs

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    As the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement develops its international whistleblower program to address tax evasion and money laundering schemes in new areas like cryptocurrency, it should take lessons from highly successful U.S. programs on which features to include and pitfalls to avoid, say Neil Getnick and Nico Gurian at Getnick & Getnick.

  • What Microcaptive Reporting Ruling May Mean For The IRS

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    In CIC v. Internal Revenue Service, a Tennessee federal court’s decision to set aside an IRS requirement to disclose microcaptive insurance arrangements may be a step toward evidentiary standards to show that the potential for abuse in a lawful transaction is sufficient to support heightened disclosure requirements, says Samuel Lauricia at Weston Hurd.

  • US Should Leverage Tax Rules To Deter Business With Russia

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    The U.S. should further restrict the flow of resources available for the Putin regime's war in Ukraine by denying U.S. businesses that operate in Russia or Belarus foreign tax credits and global intangible low-taxed income preferences, and by terminating its tax treaty with Russia, says Reuven Avi-Yonah at University of Michigan Law School.

  • Justices Must Apply Law Evenly In Shadow Docket Rulings

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    In recent shadow docket decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has inconsistently applied the requirement that parties demonstrate irreparable harm to obtain injunctive relief, which is problematic for two separate but related reasons, says David Hopkins at Benesch.

  • US Investors Stand To Benefit From Brazil's New Forex Law

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    Brazil's New Foreign Exchange Law facilitates negotiations and reduces bureaucracy for foreign investments, making it a good time for U.S. investors looking for projects with a positive environmental, social and governance impact to allocate funds to Brazilian energy and infrastructure, say Jorge Kamine and Juliana Pimentel at Willkie.

  • A Landmark UK Enforcement Case For Crypto-Assets

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    HM Revenue and Customs' recent seizure of nonfungible tokens from three people under investigation for value-added tax fraud promises to be the first of many such actions against crypto-assets, so investors should preemptively resolve potential tax matters with U.K. law enforcement agencies to avoid a rude awakening, says Andrew Park at Andersen.

  • Simplifying Tax Issues For Nonresident Athletes In Canada

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    Tax compliance can be particularly challenging for nonresident professional athletes playing in Canada, but as NHL contract negotiations approach a close, it's worth looking at some ways the tax burden can be mitigated, say Marie-France Dompierre and Marc Pietro Allard at Davies Ward.

  • Steps For Universities As DOJ Shifts Foreign Influence Policy

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    Notwithstanding Wednesday's U.S. Department of Justice announcement terminating the initiative targeting Chinese influence and raising the bar for criminal prosecutions, universities should ensure their compliance controls meet new disclosure standards and that they can efficiently respond to inquiries about employees' foreign connections, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Why I'll Miss Arguing Before Justice Breyer

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    Carter Phillips at Sidley shares some of his fondest memories of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer both inside and out of the courtroom, and explains why he thinks the justice’s multipronged questions during U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments were everything an advocate could ask for.

  • Corporate Reporting Considerations As Tax Meets ESG

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    With the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing season upon us amid increasing pressure for greater transparency around effective tax rates and tax strategies, multinational companies must decide how they will approach voluntary tax reporting and prepare their responses if they want to control the narrative, say Michael Lebovitz and Jenny Austin at Mayer Brown.

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