International
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August 13, 2024
HMRC Collected £384M In Soccer Tax Crackdowns, Firm Says
HM Revenue & Customs has recovered £384 million ($494 million) in taxes through investigations into soccer clubs, players and agents over the past five years, including £67.5 million in the past year alone, a U.K. accounting firm said.
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August 13, 2024
Finland Seeking Input On Global Min. Tax Changes
Finland's Ministry of Finance is seeking input on proposed changes to the country's implementation of the OECD's 15% global minimum tax on large multinational corporations, including clarifications, though it said the changes wouldn't impact the core principles of the law.
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August 13, 2024
Int'l Tax Projects Must Seek Consensus, Finance Ministers Say
Any international tax policy project should focus on consensus-based solutions in order to keep competitive conditions fair, a group of finance ministers from German-speaking countries said Tuesday.
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August 12, 2024
US Seeks To Omit Fair Split Of Tax Rights From UN Tax Pact
The U.S. government proposed on Monday dropping the fair allocation of taxing rights as a principle to guide negotiators on the United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation, saying that the agenda risks duplication, but the organization's African bloc and others opposed its move.
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August 12, 2024
UN Eyes Two Early Changes For Tax Pact In Latest Draft
Diplomats would draft two legally binding protocols under the United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation while creating the convention itself under the latest draft guidance for negotiators after they select from a shortlist of possible topics, including the digital economy and wealth taxation.
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August 12, 2024
UK Railway Project Forced To Pay £6.2M Tax Bill
A public agency building a high-speed railway in the U.K. had to pay a £6.2 million ($8 million) tax bill for failing to comply with "off-payroll rules" for the contracted employees it engages, according to the agency's annual report.
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August 12, 2024
FedEx Misreads Chevron Ruling In $85M Tax Dispute, US Says
FedEx wrongly believes the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the Chevron doctrine precludes the U.S. Treasury Department from promulgating regulations to stop tax cheats and prevent FedEx from claiming $84.6 million in tax credits, the U.S. government told a Tennessee federal court.
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August 12, 2024
2 Experts OK'd For Danish Tax Agency In $2.1B Fraud Case
Two experts will be allowed to testify in support of a suit by Denmark's tax agency accusing U.S. pension plans of participating in a $2.1 billion tax refund fraud scheme, a New York federal district court said, overruling the pension plans' objections.
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August 12, 2024
OECD Publishes Transfer Pricing Framework For Lithium
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development published a framework Monday to help multinational corporations price intercompany cross-border transactions involving lithium, including how to identify key economic factors that could influence pricing.
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August 12, 2024
Romania Seen Jumping The Gun On EU's Disclosure Law
Romania's early implementation of the European Union's public tax disclosure law is imposing public reporting on companies without giving them sufficient time to know how data should be shared, tax specialists complained.
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August 12, 2024
VAT Fraudster In Austria Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison
A 55-year-old was convicted of value-added tax fraud while trading in protective masks, Austria's Finance Ministry said in a news release.
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August 10, 2024
Kyocera Targets Treasury TCJA Reg, Seeking $7M Tax Refund
The Treasury Department acted outside its bounds by issuing a regulation changing the effective date of the 2017 tax overhaul, electronics maker Kyocera argued as it urged a South Carolina federal court to void the regulation and approve the company's claim for $7 million tax refund.
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August 09, 2024
Partnership Clarity Expected In First Offshore Profits Rules
Tax attorneys anticipate answers to several questions about how partnerships should properly track, report and attribute foreign income previously taxed in the U.S. when the first round of long-awaited proposed rules is published.
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August 09, 2024
IRS Wrongly Penalizes For Unreported Inheritance, Court Told
The Internal Revenue Service violated the constitutional rights of a California woman when penalizing her $92,000 for failing to report inheriting $350,000 from a parent who had lived in the U.K., the woman told a federal court.
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August 09, 2024
Israel Resident Says She Was Never Notified Of $9M Tax Debt
The daughter of a dead Brooklyn rabbi was a permanent resident of Israel in the early years of this century and never received IRS notices about $9.2 million in taxes and penalties, she told a New York court Friday in arguing that she doesn't owe the money.
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August 09, 2024
AI Helped Uncover €185M In Austrian Tax Revenue In 2023
A special unit in Austria's Ministry of Finance used an artificial intelligence tool to help discover tax fraud cases, generating roughly €185 million ($202 million) in tax revenue in 2023, the ministry said Friday.
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August 09, 2024
Bermuda Seeks Comments On Administration Of Minimum Tax
Bermuda is looking for comments on proposed administrative changes that would accompany its implementation of the OECD's 15% global corporate minimum tax on large multinational entities, including how in-scope businesses will register with the country's new Corporate Income Tax Agency.
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August 09, 2024
3 Indicted On Charges Of Leading €93M VAT Fraud Scheme
Three people suspected of heading a criminal scheme that carried out €93 million ($102 million) in value-added tax fraud involving primarily Apple AirPods have been indicted in Germany, the European Public Prosecutor's Office said Friday.
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August 09, 2024
Australia Seeks To Take Pepsi Royalty Tax Fight To Top Court
The Australian Taxation Office asked the country's top court for permission to appeal a decision that payments between PepsiCo subsidiaries did not qualify for royalty withholding tax or diverted profits tax, according to a news release Friday.
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August 09, 2024
What Books Tax Pros Recommend For This Summer
As practitioners monitor the tax implications of the U.S. presidential election as well as what might come out of the next European Commission, they may want to take a break with a good book. Here, Law360 takes a look at tax specialists' summer reading recommendations.
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August 09, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Latham, Freshfields, Wachtell
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Quantum Capital Group agrees to a roughly $3 billion deal for Cogentrix Energy, Apax Partners LLP is acquiring Thoughtworks for roughly $1.75 billion, and Mallinckrodt inks a $925 million deal for Therakos.
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August 08, 2024
Cayman Co. Owes Tax On Partners' Income, Tax Court Says
A Cayman Islands partnership is liable for withholding taxes on the share of about $24.8 million in income from its U.S. operations that was allocated to its foreign partners through special purpose vehicles, the U.S. Tax Court said Thursday.
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August 08, 2024
Judge In HMRC Case Won't Step Aside Over 'Scurrilous' Claim
A London judge has refused to recuse himself from litigation involving HM Revenue & Customs because of apparent bias and institutional corruption owing to his former connection to the department, finding some of the allegations "frankly scurrilous."
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August 08, 2024
Nixon Peabody Hires Community Development Counsel In DC
When Steven Feenstra, the newest member of Nixon Peabody LLP's the community development finance practice, visited a client's office some 25 years ago, the photos of the community housing projects the client had helped develop made a lasting impression on him, he told Law360 Pulse in an interview Thursday.
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August 08, 2024
UK, Ecuador Agree To Double-Tax Treaty
HM Revenue & Customs published a newly agreed-upon treaty to prevent double taxation between the U.K. and Ecuador on Thursday, which would come into force after approval by both countries' legislatures.
Expert Analysis
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Maximizing Law Firm Profitability In Uncertain Times
As threats of an economic downturn loom, firms can boost profits by embracing the power of bottom-line management and creating an ecosystem where strategic financial oversight and robust timekeeping practices meet evolved client relations, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.
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5th Circ. Ruling Reminds Attys That CBP Can Search Devices
The Fifth Circuit’s recent Malik v. Department of Homeland Security decision adds to the chorus of federal courts holding that border agents don’t need a warrant to search travelers’ electronic devices, so attorneys should consider certain special precautions to secure privileged information when reentering the U.S., says Jennifer Freel at Jackson Walker.
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Enforcement Of International Tax Reporting Is Heating Up
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s February decision in Bittner v. U.S. changed how penalties for failure to report offshore accounts are calculated, recent developments suggest the government is preparing to step up enforcement and vigorously pursue the collection of resulting penalties, say Daniel Silva and Agustin Ceballos at Buchalter.
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IRS Notice Clarifies R&E Amortization, But Questions Remain
The IRS and Treasury Department’s recent notice clarifying the treatment of specified research and experimental expenditures under Section 174 provides taxpayers and practitioners with substantive guidance, but it misses the mark in delineating which expenditures are amortizable, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Preparing Your Legal Department For Pillar 2 Compliance
Multinational entities should familiarize themselves with Pillar Two of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s BEPs 2.0 project and prepare their internal legal tracking systems for related reporting requirements that may go into effect as early as January, says Daniel Robyn at Ernst & Young.
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What Large Language Models Mean For Document Review
Courts often subject parties using technology assisted review to greater scrutiny than parties conducting linear, manual document review, so parties using large language models for document review should expect even more attention, along with a corresponding need for quality control and validation, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Participating In Living History Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My role as a baron in a living history group, and my work as volunteer corporate counsel for a book series fan association, has provided me several opportunities to practice in unexpected areas of law — opening doors to experiences that have nurtured invaluable personal and professional skills, says Matthew Parker at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
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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.