International
-
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
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
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
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.
-
June 03, 2024
South Korea Extending Tax Breaks For Growing Businesses
Companies in South Korea that graduate from being considered small and medium enterprises to middle-market enterprises will see the grace period that allows them to continue to receive tax breaks granted to smaller entities extended, the country's finance ministry said Monday.
-
June 03, 2024
7 Arrested In €18M Italian VAT Fraud Ring
Financial police in Italy arrested seven suspects Monday in connection with a value-added tax fraud scheme involving beverages that resulted in losses of €18 million ($19.6 million), the European Public Prosecutor's Office said.
-
June 03, 2024
EU Court Asked To Rule On Belgian Tax On Dividends
A Belgian court asked the European Union's highest court to rule on whether the country can tax dividends transferred from a subsidiary to a parent company, despite an EU law apparently prohibiting this, a document published Monday showed.
-
June 01, 2024
Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide
As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.
-
May 31, 2024
3M Tells 8th Circ. IRS Used Invalid Regs For $24M Allocation
Multinational conglomerate 3M reiterated Friday its bid for the Eighth Circuit to reverse a U.S. Tax Court decision allowing the IRS to allocate nearly $24 million from the company's Brazilian affiliate, arguing the agency's adjustment relied on substantively invalid regulations.
-
May 31, 2024
IRS Guidance Narrows Spinoffs Available For Preapproval
Recent IRS guidance limiting the types of spinoff transactions that revenue officials will approve as tax-free ahead of time leaves practitioners and corporations to determine whether to pursue certain intercompany reorganizations without the agency's blessing.
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.
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.
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.
Featured Stories
-
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.
-
IRS Guidance Narrows Spinoffs Available For Preapproval
Recent IRS guidance limiting the types of spinoff transactions that revenue officials will approve as tax-free ahead of time leaves practitioners and corporations to determine whether to pursue certain intercompany reorganizations without the agency's blessing.
-
Nixing Green Energy Tax Perks Would Be Tough For Trump
Former President Donald Trump has vowed to scrap Democrats' signature 2022 climate law should he get reelected in November, but following through on that campaign promise could prove difficult amid bipartisan support for many of the law's clean energy tax incentives and a potentially divided Congress.
Expert Analysis
-
A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
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
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
-
Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert
As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
-
Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic
Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.