International
-
June 27, 2024
Ex-Skadden Tax Head And M&A Pro Joins Freshfields In NY
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP has added the former head of the tax practice at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP as a partner this week, who brings to the role experience in deals like 21st Century Fox's $71 billion acquisition by Disney and the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint.
-
June 27, 2024
New FATCA Deal Requires US Banks To Share Info With Swiss
The United States and Switzerland signed a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act agreement that will require U.S. banks to share financial account information on a bilateral basis, Switzerland's Federal Department of Finance announced Thursday.
-
June 27, 2024
Algeria Commits To OECD Tax Treaty Standards
Algeria signed on to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's multilateral convention Thursday, committing to implement the group's standards to fight base erosion and profit shifting in bilateral tax treaties, the OECD said.
-
June 27, 2024
New EU Chair Wants VAT Deal Despite Calendar Omission
The incoming chair of meetings of European Union countries wants agreement on a proposal to require that platform companies such as Airbnb and Uber collect value-added tax for service providers despite leaving it off its work calendar, a spokesperson said.
-
June 26, 2024
EU Court Tosses Spanish Shipping Cos. State Aid Appeal
A European court on Wednesday once again dismissed a 2014 challenge to the European Commission's move to block a Spanish tax scheme benefiting Spanish shipbuilders and their suppliers.
-
June 26, 2024
Repatriation Tax Ruling May Sway State Wealth Tax Debates
The U.S. Supreme Court's upholding of the federal repatriation tax could indirectly affect state tax policy discussions, including by influencing consideration of wealth taxes and encouraging states to keep potential due process issues in mind when enacting tax legislation.
-
June 26, 2024
Pepsi's Royalty Tax Liability Overturned By Australian Panel
A Federal Court of Australia judge incorrectly ruled that payments for beverage concentrate between Pepsi subsidiaries in Australia and Singapore included the license to use Pepsi's trademark and so triggered royalty taxes, a panel of the court ruled Wednesday.
-
June 26, 2024
Fed. Circ. Denies Contractor's $37M Tax Reimbursement Bid
A U.S. State Department armed security contractor is not entitled to $37 million in reimbursement tied to tax payments to the Afghan government because the contractor's parent company, not the company itself, incurred the costs associated with the payments, the Federal Circuit said Wednesday.
-
June 26, 2024
Medical Device Co. To Pay $935K Atty Fees In Tax Fraud Suit
A medical equipment company's leaders will pay $935,000 in attorney fees to investors' counsel after mediating a settlement in a proposed class action alleging the company breached fiduciary duty in failing to disclose its former CEO's involvement in a tax fraud dispute with Denmark.
-
June 26, 2024
Kenya President Backs Off Finance Bill After Fatal Protests
Kenyan President William Ruto said Wednesday that he will withdraw a controversial finance bill that included tax hikes that inspired mass protests, including storming the country's Parliament building leaving multiple people dead, according to local news reports.
-
June 26, 2024
EU Justice Head Loses Bid To Lead Human Rights Group
The European Union's justice commissioner failed in his bid to lead a European human rights organization and returned Wednesday from his leave of absence for the remaining four months of his term as commissioner.
-
June 26, 2024
EU State Auditors Must Respect Tax Incentives, Lawyer Says
European Union countries need to make sure that their tax authorities are supporting incentive programs, such as those related to research and development, rather than interpreting laws in inconsistent ways, a tax lawyer said Wednesday.
-
June 26, 2024
Irish Pick New Finance Minister After Former Heads To EU
Ireland picked a current junior minister as its new finance minister, the ministry confirmed to Law360 on Wednesday, one day after the government nominated the outgoing finance minister to serve on the next European Commission.
-
June 25, 2024
US Needs To Broaden Tax Base, Increase Rates, OECD Says
The United States' debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratio is the highest it's been since World War II, necessitating a wide range of tax changes to both expand the tax base and increase rates to alleviate fiscal pressures, the OECD said Tuesday.
-
June 25, 2024
Pharma Co. Teva To Pay Israel $750M In Tax Debt Settlement
Israel-based multinational Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. reached an agreement with the Israel Tax Authority to settle 12 years' worth of pending tax litigation by paying $750 million over the course of five years, the company said Tuesday.
-
June 25, 2024
Asia, Pacific Tax-To-GDP Ratio Returns To Pre-COVID Level
Tax revenue in Asia and the Pacific rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 thanks to boosts in tourism and commodity prices, but the region's average tax-to-gross domestic product ratio is still lagging behind the average OECD ratio, the group said Tuesday.
-
June 25, 2024
Pension Plans Can't Escape $2B Danish Tax Fraud Dispute
Two U.S. pension plans made an "extremely strained" contention that Denmark's tax administrator waited too long to accuse them of participating in a $2.1 billion fraud scheme, a New York federal judge said in declining to toss the case.
-
June 25, 2024
Hong Kong, Armenia Reach Double-Tax Treaty Deal
Hong Kong signed an agreement with Armenia on a treaty to prevent double taxation as part of a larger goal to establish such treaties with countries participating in China's Belt and Road global infrastructure project, Hong Kong's Inland Revenue Department said.
-
June 25, 2024
Ex-DOJ Atty Among New Trio At Chamberlain Hrdlicka
Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry has strengthened its tax controversy and litigation practice with the addition of three attorneys in Atlanta, including a former senior trial attorney in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice for more than three decades.
-
June 25, 2024
J&J Counsel Urges OECD To Ease Burdens Of Global Min. Tax
Counsel for Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday urged the OECD and government officials working on the Pillar Two global minimum corporate tax to consider more permanent safe harbor provisions to reduce the compliance burdens associated with the levy.
-
June 25, 2024
Global Tax Overhaul Won't Squash Competition, US Rep. Says
The global tax overhaul designed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development won't eliminate countries competing for companies' investments, a U.S. House lawmaker said Tuesday.
-
June 25, 2024
EU Leaders To Include Tax Revamp In 5-Year Plan, Draft Says
A targeted makeover of the tax systems in European Union countries will be part of the bloc's top priorities for the next five years as it aims to improve business financing to sharpen its competitiveness, a draft document suggested.
-
June 25, 2024
New EU Chair Hungary Eyes Talks On Corp. Tax, But No Deals
Hungary, the incoming chair of meetings of European Union countries, plans to discuss energy taxation and several proposals on corporate taxation during the next six months but doesn't expect to reach any agreements, according to meeting agendas.
-
June 24, 2024
Miner Wins $9.6M In Royalty Fight With Colombia
An international tribunal ordered Colombia to pay $9.56 million to a British mining and metals company following a dispute over royalties collected on a nickel mine, as the tribunal concluded that there had been "irregularities" in the way the country calculated the amount due.
-
June 24, 2024
UN Tax Work Threatens OECD's Progress, EU Official Says
The United Nations' efforts to consider international tax issues risk upending the early finished work of countries negotiating a global tax plan at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a top European Commission tax official said Monday.
Expert Analysis
-
ECJ Fiat Ruling Sets Clear Boundaries For EU State Aid Law
The European Court of Justice's recent landmark decision in Fiat v. Commission limiting the commission’s attempts to circumvent the lack of EU powers in the area of tax law has important implications in EU state aid law and beyond, say Andreas Reindl and Pietro Stella at Van Bael.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.