International
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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.
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April 16, 2024
EU Leaders Expected To Clash Over Corp. Tax Harmonization
European Union leaders are expected to clash at their summit Wednesday and Thursday over whether national corporate taxes should be harmonized to promote equity investments, an official from the bloc said Tuesday.
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April 15, 2024
Exxon Seeks $1.8B Tax Refund As Qatar Deal Trial Opens
Exxon Mobil Corp. argued Monday in Texas federal court that its deal with Qatar to extract natural gas from the country's coast was a partnership, rather than a lease agreement, saying at the start of a trial that it's entitled to get $1.8 billion in tax benefits back from the IRS.
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April 15, 2024
House OKs Ending Exemption For Terrorist-Supporting Orgs
The House passed legislation Monday that would authorize the Internal Revenue Service to suspend the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization found by the U.S. Treasury secretary to support foreign terrorism.
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April 15, 2024
8th Circ. Urged To Revive IRS' Pricing For Medtronic
The U.S. government urged the Eighth Circuit on Monday to side with the IRS' method for pricing the intangible property that medical device maker Medtronic licensed to a Puerto Rican affiliate, arguing it's the only way to determine arm's-length royalty rates.
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April 15, 2024
EU Seeking Input On Tax Cooperation Program's Progress
The European Commission is looking for input from the tax administrations of the European Union and cooperating countries on the efficacy of a program meant to aid in the fight against tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning, it said Monday.
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April 15, 2024
Accounting Ethics Board Issues Int'l Tax Planning Standards
A global accounting ethics board issued Monday what it says is the first comprehensive suite of global standards on ethical considerations in tax planning and related services in hopes of restoring public trust in accounting firms and corporations.
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April 15, 2024
HMRC Maintaining VAT Policies After EU Law Decoupling
The interpretation of the U.K.'s value-added tax and excise tax regimes have remained the same despite the removal of the supremacy of the European Union's laws at the beginning of the year, HM Revenue & Customs said Monday.
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April 15, 2024
More EU Cooperation Needed Against VAT Fraud, Official Says
The €11 billion ($11.7 billion) in value-added tax fraud uncovered in 2023 by the European Union's prosecution office is probably "only the tip of an iceberg" and should prompt countries to intensify joint cooperation, the office's top official said.
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April 12, 2024
FedEx Not Entitled To $84.6M In Tax Credit Dispute, US Says
FedEx is not entitled to a judgment of nearly $84.6 million that the company requested in March for its foreign tax credit dispute, the federal government said Friday in a Tennessee federal court filing.
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April 12, 2024
Adviser Urges ECJ To Toss Ad Co.'s State Aid Appeal
An outdoor furniture and advertising company shouldn't be allowed to challenge a finding from the European Union's General Court that it should have paid rent and taxes for ads in Brussels that stayed up after its contract with the city ended, an adviser to the bloc's highest court has said.
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April 12, 2024
4 Takeaways From Tax Court Nix Of Easement Perpetuity Rule
The U.S. Tax Court's scrapping of an IRS rule on the perpetuity requirements for conservation easements could draw yet more judicial scrutiny to the agency's rulemaking and shift the focus of easement disputes to how the transactions are valued. Here, Law360 examines four key takeaways from the decision.
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April 12, 2024
Australia Issues Outsourced IT Tax Credit Guidance
The Australian Taxation Office provided guidance for how those making reduced input tax credit claims for complex information technology outsourcing agreements can adequately support such claims.
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April 12, 2024
Panama Papers Attys Deny Money Laundering At Trial
Two attorneys who ran the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama, at the center of a 2016 leak that produced multiple convictions for tax evasion, pled not guilty with 27 others to money-laundering charges as a trial began in Panama, according to prosecutors.
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April 12, 2024
OECD Base Erosion Project Still Percolating, Think Tank Says
Policymakers should recognize that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's tax project from roughly a decade ago to reduce base erosion and profit shifting may still be affecting companies' behavior, according to a publication released Friday from the fiscally conservative-leaning Tax Foundation.
Expert Analysis
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The Domestic Landscape For US Border Carbon Adjustments
With the Biden administration possibly eyeing border carbon adjustments on imported goods as a means to mitigate climate change, attorneys at Akin Gump discuss such policies' potential benefits to domestic businesses, and the political and technical challenges to their enactment in the U.S.
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Prepare For Global Collaboration In Crypto Tax Enforcement
Recent Internal Revenue Service victories involving John Doe summonses served on cryptocurrency exchanges — and statements by the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement about global collaboration in cryptocurrency-related tax investigations — should prompt assessment of prior virtual currency transactions and remediation before an enforcement agency shows up at the door, say attorneys at McDermott.
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10 Things to Know About US Competent Authority Assistance
Taxpayers should consider seeking U.S. competent authority assistance to help eliminate double taxation from a transfer pricing adjustment, especially now that the competent authorities are resolving cases virtually and more quickly, say attorneys at Thompson & Knight.
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US Advance Pricing Agreements, Amid COVID And Before
Steptoe & Johnson's Matthew Frank, former director of the U.S. Advance Pricing Agreement Program, shares insights from an Internal Revenue Service report revealing an uptick in APA completions amid the pandemic, discusses trends over the program's 30-year history, and suggests ways taxpayers and the IRS could bolster program participation.
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Choosing A Branch Or Subsidiary For Overseas Expansion
Samuel Pollack and Naoko Watanabe at Baker McKenzie examine the corporate and U.S. tax law considerations involved in deciding whether a branch or subsidiary is the most efficient way to expand operations overseas, now that recent Treasury regulations clarified the complicated international tax regime created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
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Key Tax Concerns For Foreign Investors In US Private Equity
Paul D'Alessandro at Bilzin Sumberg examines important tax questions foreigners interested in U.S. private equity investments should ask in advance, including whether the investment will produce active or passive income, be subject to gains tax, and have U.S. estate tax consequences.
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Surveying Global Tax Updates For Sovereign Wealth Investors
As the market transitions to a post-pandemic phase, sovereign wealth fund and other foreign institutional investors must evaluate how recent U.S., EU and U.K. tax changes may affect their private fund investments, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Coke, 3M Tax Cases May Not Settle Blocked Income Debate
Even if the challenged U.S. Department of the Treasury regulation on blocked income is struck down by the U.S. Tax Court in the pending Coca-Cola and 3M cases, the obligations of a taxpayer that had, but failed to avail itself of, alternative means to secure payment will remain an open question, say Matthew Frank and Amanda Varma at Steptoe & Johnson.
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IRS Should Level The Field For R&D Tax Credits
A recent increase in denials of research and development tax credits to small businesses in the architectural, engineering and construction community shows the Internal Revenue Service should issue new guidance to ensure a fair playing field and an opportunity to continue innovating in the U.S., says Julio Gonzalez at Engineered Tax Services.
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Applying OECD Guidance On COVID-19 Transfer Pricing
In light of the recently released Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's guidance on the transfer pricing implications of the pandemic, taxpayers should be prepared to explain and defend their transfer pricing decisions for fiscal year 2020 for contemporaneous documentation and in future tax audits, say Susan Fickling and TJ Michaelson at Duff & Phelps.
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Mitigate Key FCPA Risks With Tailor-Made Compliance
Multinational companies should take a pragmatic approach to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance by being aware of key risk areas — such as inappropriate gift-giving, liability for third-party actions, and countries with recurring corruption issues — and implementing custom-designed procedures that evolve with their operations, says Howard Weissman at Miller Canfield.
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Tax Takeaways From India's Proposed Budget
Consultants at Deloitte discuss the tax implications of India's latest budget proposals, including the potential benefits for foreign portfolio investors and offshore funds migrating to India's new international financial services center, and the possible rise of M&A costs.
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A Tough Road Ahead for Democrats' Ambitious Policy Agenda
While Democrats in Congress are well on their way to enacting an initial COVID-19 relief bill, they will face challenges when pivoting to President Joe Biden's Build Back Better goals for job creation and economic revitalization, say Russell Sullivan and Radha Mohan at Brownstein Hyatt.