International
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July 12, 2024
Switzerland, Hungary Adding Anti-Abuse Clause To Tax Treaty
Switzerland and Hungary moved on Friday to add to their double-taxation treaty an anti-abuse clause that prevents a person who is not a resident of either country from claiming the benefits of the treaty.
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July 12, 2024
European Tax Policy To Watch In The Second Half Of 2024
Observers of European Union tax policy expect the EU to devote more attention to problems with existing tax legislation in the coming months as the introduction of major policy proposals takes a pause. Specialists also will be watching for progress on EU tax laws that remain stuck, and the bloc is likely to fill roles including tax commissioner. Here, Law360 examines key tax issues to watch for the remaining six months of the year.
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July 12, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Ropes & Gray, Cravath, Latham
In this Week's Taxation with Representation, Paramount Global merges with Skydance Media, Devon Energy acquires Grayson Mill Energy's Williston Basin oil and gas business, Ryan acquires Altus Group Ltd.'s property tax business, and Bain Capital buys Envestnet Inc.
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July 12, 2024
Worried Companies Ask For Pillar 2 Simplification
Multinational corporations are worried about what they see as the huge compliance burden imposed by the global 15% minimum tax and are asking for permanent simplifications of the rules, two corporate tax officials said Friday.
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July 12, 2024
Alvarez & Marsal Appoints Managing Director Of Tax Group
Alvarez & Marsal Tax LLC appointed an experienced negotiator of tax incentives as managing director to the firm's corporate transformation tax group, the firm announced.
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July 12, 2024
EU Chair Doesn't Expect Energy Tax Deal This Year
The new chair of European Union finance ministers doesn't expect to reach agreement on a landmark energy taxation law in the next half-year, anticipating only exploratory talks, an official from Hungary's EU presidency said Friday.
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July 11, 2024
House GOP Urges USTR To Probe Canada Digital Services Tax
The U.S. trade representative should immediately launch an investigation into Canada's recently enacted digital services tax and determine if trade actions are necessary to protect American interests, U.S. House Ways and Means Republicans said in a letter Thursday.
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July 11, 2024
ABA Attys Seek To Avoid Reporting Foreign Trust Loans
The American Bar Association's tax, real estate and trust attorneys are seeking to prevent the U.S. Treasury Department from tightening reporting requirements for the exemption of loans from foreign trusts, which are often used by wealthy families and in succession planning, according to a consultation response.
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July 11, 2024
Brazilian Tax Agency Probes Refund Fraud Scheme
Brazilian federal tax authorities and police said Thursday they had conducted a search-and-seizure operation related to the investigation of an income tax refund fraud scheme.
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July 11, 2024
Ex-Leaders Ask Biden For Int'l Coordination On Billionaire Tax
President Joe Biden should get behind Brazil's proposal for the Group of 20 nations to coordinate a minimum tax on billionaires, nearly 20 former presidents and prime ministers from countries such as Canada, France and South Korea said in an open letter.
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July 11, 2024
IRS Proposes 'Basket Contracts' As Listed Transactions
The Internal Revenue Service proposed rules Thursday that would flag so-called basket option contracts as potentially abusive listed transactions, imposing additional reporting requirements under the threat of penalty for individuals and businesses involved in such arrangements.
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July 11, 2024
IRS, OECD Officials Detail Expansion Of AI In Tax Work
The Internal Revenue Service and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are making great progress in adopting artificial intelligence in tax administration, representatives of both organizations said Thursday.
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July 11, 2024
Israel Says Resident Hid $5.5M In Offshore Bank Accounts
An Israeli resident was released under restrictive conditions Thursday after the government alleged he failed to report foreign bank accounts that held more than 20 million shekels ($5.5 million), according to a statement from the Israel Tax Authority.
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July 11, 2024
Tax Haven Biz Revenues Per Worker Still Far Outpace Norm
Companies recorded median revenues per employee of $1.6 million in low-tax jurisdictions like Ireland, the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong and around $300,000 in all other jurisdictions in 2021, a difference that has narrowed since 2017, the OECD said Thursday.
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July 11, 2024
Biz Officials Call For Simpler Tax Rules In Light Of Pillar 2
Business representatives said Thursday that tax compliance rules need to be simplified as new minimum tax rules, known as Pillar Two, are added to the existing regime.
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July 11, 2024
Failure Of Pillar 1 Would Yield Worse Alternatives, Panel Says
A failure of the Pillar One agreement to reallocate corporate taxing rights would lead to alternatives that are worse, with the return of national digital services taxes worldwide, tax officials and academics said Thursday.
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July 10, 2024
Engineer Who Faced Export Charges Cops To Tax Counts
A Chinese-born engineer has pled guilty to two counts of filing a false tax return related to allegations that he and his wife omitted gross income from their tax returns between 2015 and 2019, after Texas federal prosecutors initially charged the couple with export violations and fraud.
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July 10, 2024
Portugal Enacts Pillar 2 As Part Of Economic, Tax Package
Portugal's Council of Ministers approved the minimum tax provision known as Pillar Two in a package of economic and tax measures designed to boost the country's economic growth, the council announced.
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July 10, 2024
OECD Publishes Pillar 2 Technical Reporting Language Draft
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development published a draft of technical details required to digitally input and disseminate information required for Pillar Two global minimum tax returns Wednesday.
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July 10, 2024
Americans Overseas Ask for Clarity In Foreign Trust Regs
An advocacy group representing U.S. citizens living abroad urged the U.S. Treasury Department to clarify proposed rules for reporting transactions with foreign trusts, contending that guidance should explain which common pension arrangements are exempt from disclosure obligations.
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July 10, 2024
Curtis Mallet-Prevost To Open Law Office In Saudi Arabia
Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP has obtained a license to practice law in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the firm announced this week.
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July 10, 2024
HMRC, CPS Beat Financier's Claim Over Botched Prosecution
HM Revenue and Customs and the Crown Prosecution Service have beaten claims of malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office by a corporate financier following a failed criminal fraud case, with a judge finding that they had enough evidence to pursue him.
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July 10, 2024
French Left's Tax Pledges May Go Unfulfilled
The tax policy pledges put forward by the leftist bloc of parties that won the most seats in France's legislative election may not be fulfilled given the bloc's failure to win an outright majority.
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July 10, 2024
India's High Court Nixes Challenge To Taxing Of Tour Vehicles
The Indian Supreme Court dismissed a group of petitions challenging border taxes imposed by state governments on tour company vehicles because it said the litigation should have begun in a different court.
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July 10, 2024
Attempts To Scrap EU Tax Veto Are Useless, Hungary Says
Attempts by European Union countries to try to remove the requirement of unanimity for delicate policy decisions such as tax law and adding new EU member states are futile, Hungary's minister for European affairs said Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Unpacking The Interim Guidance On New Stock Buyback Tax
The U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service's recent notice on applying the newly effective excise tax on stock repurchases provides much-needed clarity on the tax's scope, which is much broader than anticipated given its underlying policy rationale, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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IRS Will Use New Resources To Increase Scrutiny In 2023
The new year promises to be a busy one for the Internal Revenue Service, which is poised to apply the boost in funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act to bolster and expand its enforcement capability, and there are four areas to watch, say attorneys at Skadden.
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How Japan's Implementation May Change The Pillar 2 Debate
Japan’s outline of proposed legislation adopting a primary component of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's 15% global minimum tax will increase pressure on countries — including the U.S. — that have not committed to adopting Pillar Two, says Takato Masuda of Nishimura & Asahi.
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Foreign Tax Credit Proposal Is Some Help, But More Is Needed
New foreign tax credit regulations proposed by the U.S. Treasury Department provided some measure of relief on cost recovery and royalty withholding, two of the most troublesome aspects of the 2021 final foreign tax credit regulations, but the final regulations are still harmful to many taxpayers, making litigation inevitable, say attorneys at Fenwick.
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IRS' Tax Gap Statistics Don't Paint A Full Compliance Picture
The Internal Revenue Service's recent report indicating a widening tax gap sheds important light on tax compliance, underlines key pressure points and provides insights into how tax administration could be improved; but tax gap estimates also have their limits, says Joyce Beebe at Rice University.
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How High Court Could Change FBAR Penalty Landscape
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Bittner v. U.S., a case that will affect many people penalized for failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, and there are important procedural implications should the government's position be reversed, say Reuben Muller and Andreas Apostolides at Cole Schotz.
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IRS Memo May Change IP Royalty Tax Prepayment Planning
A recent Internal Revenue Service advice memorandum finding a taxpayer was not permitted to prepay tax on contingent royalties after contributing intellectual property offshore is a noteworthy departure from earlier guidance that highlights potential differences between actual and deemed licenses, says William Skinner at Fenwick.
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What IRS Funding Increase Means For Taxpayers
The Internal Revenue Service will first use the influx of funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to address customer support and personnel issues, but with over half the money allocated to enforcement, corporations and high-net-worth individuals will face increased scrutiny, say Patrick McCann Jr. and Jasen Hanson at Chamberlain Hrdlicka.
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6 Tax Considerations For Life Sciences Collaboration Deals
Given recent IRS guidance and changes to certain tax rates and deductions, biotech and life sciences companies entering into collaboration agreements should assess several unique taxation issues affecting matters ranging from research and development expenditures to profit-sharing terms, say attorneys at Orrick and Andersen Tax.
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Rushed Multilateral Negotiations Caused Two-Pillar Tax Mess
Cracks appearing in the two pillars of the 2021 global tax plan stem from a multilateral tax policy process that rushed to issue rules without first resolving fundamental differences between countries or ensuring that the U.S., a key player, could implement them, says Jefferson VanderWolk at Squire Patton.
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Key Considerations For Seeking Relief From Double Taxation
Caroline Setliffe and E. Miller Williams at Eversheds Sutherland lay out the Organization for International Cooperation and Development’s mutual agreement procedure for settling double-taxation disputes, and discuss six factors U.S. taxpayers doing business in multiple countries should consider when determining the most advantageous form of relief.
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2 Tax Decisions Hold Key Transfer Pricing Takeaways
Richard Slowinski and Stefanie Kavanagh at Alston & Bird discuss two recent decisions in cases against the IRS — Eaton Corp. from the Sixth Circuit and Medtronic from the Tax Court — that may help clarify when the agency can cancel an advance pricing agreement, but leave unanswered questions about which pricing method applies to high-value intercompany licensing transactions.
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Digital Taxation Is Necessary, But Tough To Manage
The U.S. government has started to tackle complex new tax laws as the digital economy continues to grow, but this demands guidelines that will facilitate the growth while protecting investors and the government's finances, say attorneys at Cadwalader.