International
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April 18, 2024
HMRC Opens Consultation On Payroll Tax In Freeports
The U.K. tax authority is mulling changes to National Insurance, a payroll levy used to fund state pensions and healthcare, for employees working in special economic zones known as freeports.
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April 18, 2024
Transfer Pricing And Dancing: Recalling KPMG's Sean Foley
Sean Foley, who died suddenly in September, was a devoted husband, father, brother and friend and a brilliant colleague. He was one of the world's top experts in an area of international tax known as transfer pricing, where he became the global leader of KPMG's practice.
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April 18, 2024
UN Tax Work Should Be Consensus-Driven, EU Official Says
The work on international taxation at the United Nations should be driven by consensus, as otherwise, whatever agreement comes out of the process won't be accepted globally, a senior European Union tax official said Thursday.
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April 17, 2024
EV Tax Credit Restrictions, Trade Bills Advance In House
The House Ways and Means Committee advanced several trade bills Wednesday that would impose more restrictions for new electric vehicles to qualify for a federal tax credit, assert congressional authority in agreements with foreign governments, and renew the country's largest and oldest trade preferences program.
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April 17, 2024
Gov't Officials Urge Global Cooperation On Taxing Wealth
Global cooperation on taxing the wealthiest individuals and companies is necessary to address climate change and create social justice, government officials from Brazil, France and Nigeria said Wednesday at the International Monetary Fund's spring meeting.
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April 17, 2024
Swedish Tax Investigations Add $90M To Crypto Miners' Bills
Investigations revealed that a number of cryptocurrency mining centers in Sweden misrepresented their business dealings, which led to the Swedish Tax Agency doling out a total of 990 million Swedish krona ($90 million) in increased tax liabilities, the agency said Wednesday.
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April 17, 2024
Consensus Key To UN Tax Progress, Developing Nations Say
Achieving consensus is important to ensure progress on the United Nations framework convention on tax, the top group for developing countries to coordinate on financial policy said in a formal statement.
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April 17, 2024
Aussie Tax Office Misses Transfer Pricing Review Goals
In each of the past two years, the Australian Taxation Office came up short of its goal to review every use of transfer pricing for related party debt made by entities included in two major economic categories, a government audit revealed Wednesday.
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April 17, 2024
Johnston Carmichael Adds Ex-Alvarez Tax Pro In Glasgow
U.K. accounting and business advisory firm Johnston Carmichael has recruited an accountant from Alvarez & Marsal to work as a financial services tax partner in its Glasgow office.
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April 17, 2024
Canada Proposes Top-End Tier To Boost Capital Gains Tax
Canada's government is seeking to introduce a new tier to its capital gains tax regime, increasing the portion of gains on which tax is paid to two-thirds from the current 50% for any capital gains more than CA$250,000 ($182,000).
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April 17, 2024
Judge Delays Trial Over $20M Allegedly Hidden From IRS
A Florida federal judge agreed Wednesday to delay the trial of a Brazilian-American businessman accused of hiding $20 million from the Internal Revenue Service by using Swiss bank accounts, but told the defendant the new deadlines are firm.
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April 17, 2024
Loeb & Loeb Adds 2 Corporate Partners From Morrison Cohen
Loeb & Loeb LLP has announced the latest in a string of corporate hires from Morrison Cohen LLP's ranks, touting two new partners with domestic and international experience with strategic transactions.
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April 17, 2024
Tax Incentives Needed To Boost EU Investments, Adviser Says
European Union countries must give tax incentives to boost long-term savings plans for individuals and institutions in an effort to gather capital for investment in businesses, a top adviser said Wednesday.
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April 17, 2024
EU To Start Review Of Disclosure Laws In May, Official Says
The European Commission plans to launch a review of some parts of its landmark tax disclosure legislation in May, a senior tax official said Wednesday, suggesting the body is open to simplifying the law.
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April 17, 2024
Swedish Bank Tax Not A State Aid Violation, EU Court Affirms
A Swedish banking tax does not run afoul of the European Union's rules on state aid, the EU's lower court said Wednesday, dismissing a bid by the country's banking lobby to annul the European Commission's approval of the measure.
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April 16, 2024
Corp. Transparency Act A Valid Use Of Powers, 11th Circ. Told
The U.S. Department of Treasury told the Eleventh Circuit that a federal district court erred in finding the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, saying the lower court misunderstood the law's scope and relation to efforts to curb financial crime.
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April 16, 2024
Canada Expects Digital Tax To Increase Revenue By CA$5.9B
Canada's proposed digital services tax is estimated to bring in CA$5.9 billion ($4.3 billion) over five years, according to the country's 2024 budget, which was released Tuesday and cited continued international delays in implementing a worldwide profit reallocation agreement.
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April 16, 2024
Veteran's Signature On IRS Doc Not Forged, Tax Court Finds
U.S. Air Force veteran and his wife failed to convince the U.S. Tax Court on Tuesday that their signatures were forged on an agreement to pay federal income taxes while working in Australia for defense contractor Raytheon.
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April 16, 2024
3 Key Takeaways From The IRS' Latest Pricing Pact Snapshot
The IRS finalized a record number of advance pricing agreements in 2023, signaling the agency's increased effectiveness at completing accords at a time when its approach to transfer pricing litigation could fuel corporate taxpayers' urgency for seeking APAs. Here, Law360 breaks down three key takeaways from the agency’s latest APA report.
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April 16, 2024
Orrick Adds Former Hogan Lovells Atty To German Tax Group
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP added a former Hogan Lovells counsel to its German tax group, the firm announced.
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April 16, 2024
McDermott Hires 2 Partners For Global Tax Practice In Paris
McDermott Will & Emery is expanding its global tax practice group with two partners in Paris who have a track record of advising on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and tax controversies before France's tax authority, the firm announced.
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April 16, 2024
Finland's Boost In Financial Crimes Led To $156M In Damage
A record nearly 2,400 financial crimes reported to Finland's authorities in 2023 — with 54% of them debtor crimes and tax and accounting crimes — resulted in €147 million ($156 million) in criminal damage, the Finnish Tax Administration said Tuesday.
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April 16, 2024
Global Economic Growth To Remain Slow, Steady, IMF Says
The global economy has been "surprisingly resilient" in its bounce back from widespread troubles, leading to projections of a slow but steady 3.2% growth continuing through this year and the next, the International Monetary Fund said in its annual report Tuesday.
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April 16, 2024
Treasury Gains £12B Fiscal Headroom In New Tax Year
HM Treasury may have an extra £12 billion ($14.9 billion) to spend this financial year started April 6 thanks to the government's fiscal rule to cut national debt by 2029, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said in a report Tuesday.
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April 16, 2024
Taylor Wessing Launches Ireland Tax Practice With New Hire
Taylor Wessing LLP has recruited its first tax partner in Ireland from Simmons & Simmons LLP to launch a new tax group in the country, continuing its expansion after initially setting up shop in Dublin three years ago.
Expert Analysis
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Private Equity Owners Can Remedy Law Firms' Agency Issues
Nonlawyer, private-equity ownership of law firms can benefit shareholders and others vulnerable to governance issues such as disparate interests, and can in turn help resolve agency problems, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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How Taxpayers Can Prep As Justices Weigh Repatriation Tax
The U.S. Supreme Court might strike down the 2017 federal tax overhaul's corporate repatriation tax in Moore v. U.S., so taxpayers should file protective tax refund claims before the case is decided and repatriate previously taxed earnings that could become entangled in dubious potential Section 965 refunds, say Jenny Austin and Gary Wilcox at Mayer Brown.
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OFAC Designation Prosecutions Are Constitutionally Suspect
Criminal prosecutions based on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanctions-related listing decisions — made with nearly unfettered discretion through an opaque process — present several constitutional issues, so it is imperative that courts recognize additional rights of review, say Solomon Shinerock and Annika Conrad at Lewis Baach.
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How The OECD Global Tax Proposal Could Affect M&A
Following agreement on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Pillar Two proposal to introduce a global minimum tax, domestic implementation is expected to have a significant impact on international M&A transactions, with financial modeling, deal structuring, risk allocation and joint venture arrangements likely to be affected, say lawyers at Freshfields.
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UK Shares-Tax Proposals Offer Long-Awaited Modernization
The U.K. government's recent consultation on the introduction of a new tax on transactions in securities raises detailed legal and practical issues, but the prospect of a single digital stamp tax offering both streamlined legislation and administration will be welcomed, say Zoë Arnautov and Mark Sheiham at Simmons & Simmons.
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IRS Foreign Tax Credit Pause Is Welcome Course Correction
A recent IRS notice temporarily suspending application of 2022 foreign tax credit regulations provides wanted relief for the many U.S. multinational companies and other taxpayers that otherwise face the risk of significant double taxation in their international operations, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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IRS Criminal Probe Spells Uncertainty For Malta Pension Plans
The IRS’ recent scrutiny of Malta pension plan arrangements — and its unusual issuance of criminal administrative summonses — confirms that it views many of these plans as illegal tax evasion schemes, and the road ahead will not be smooth and steady for anyone involved, say attorneys at Kostelanetz.
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IRS Announcement Will Aid Cos. In Buyback Tax Planning
Recent IRS transitional guidance regarding current requirements for reporting and payment of the stock repurchase excise tax will help corporate taxpayers make decisions about records retention and establishing reserves for future tax payments, say Xenia Garofalo and Kyle Colonna at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Flawed Analysis Supports Common Law Tax Deficiency Ruling
The Colorado federal district court’s recent decision in Liberty Global, holding that the U.S. Department of Justice may assert a common law tax claim without the notice of tax deficiency required by the Internal Revenue Code, relies on a contorted reading of the statute and irrelevant case law, say Loren Opper and Christie Galinski at Miller Canfield.
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Review Of Repatriation Tax Sets Justices On Slippery Slope
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to review the constitutionality of the repatriation tax in Moore v. U.S. has implications for many tax rules involving unrealized amounts and could leave the court on the brink of invalidating large swaths of the Internal Revenue Code, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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What To Make Of IRS' New Advance Pricing Guidance
Recent guidance on the IRS' goals for its advance pricing agreement system provides helpful insight into review and decision-making procedures for advance pricing agreement requests, but it also raises questions about the IRS' objectives, say Richard Slowinski and Stefanie Kavanagh at Alston & Bird.
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Reserved Investor Fund Would Plug Gap In UK Finance Market
The reserved investor fund recently proposed by HM Treasury has the potential to be a welcome tax-efficient addition to the U.K.’s canon of products for real estate investments, with attractive features for companies and, in particular, large asset managers, say lawyers at Herbert Smith.
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The Reciprocal Tax Bill Is A Warning Shot At Pillar 2
A bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives to reciprocally tax countries deemed to have imposed discriminatory taxes on U.S. citizens and businesses takes aim at countries implementing the global minimum tax treaty known as Pillar Two, with which the U.S. has not complied, says Alan Cole at the Tax Foundation.