International
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January 29, 2025
Lawyers, Ex-Tax Inspector Took £278M From Trust, Court Rules
A London appeals court has upheld a High Court ruling that two solicitors and a former senior tax manager devised a scheme to cut out beneficiaries from Jersey trusts in what they saw as a "huge commercial opportunity" to divert an estimated £278 million ($345 million) to themselves.
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January 29, 2025
Swiss Gov't Initiates Consultation On Pillar 2 Data Sharing
The Swiss government said Wednesday it has begun a consultation on approving a global framework for countries to exchange corporate taxpayer information under an international minimum tax agreement known as Pillar Two.
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January 29, 2025
EU Will Keep Minimum Tax Despite US, Commissioner Says
The European Union will maintain a 15% minimum corporate tax rate on large companies despite the U.S. government's opposition to the global tax deal, a European commissioner said Wednesday.
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January 29, 2025
HMRC Looking For Input On Pillar 2 Backstop Guidance
HM Revenue & Customs is looking for input on its guidance for how corporations would need to comply with the U.K.'s proposed adoption of the undertaxed profits rule, a backstop for its Pillar Two global minimum tax system.
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January 29, 2025
EU Tax Conduct Group Reelects Chair
The European Union's Code of Conduct Group reelected its chair for a second term to start next week, the Council of the EU said Wednesday.
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January 28, 2025
IRS Whistleblower Office Could Survive Trump Purge
As President Donald Trump pushes to slash federal spending and gut government agencies, the Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office may remain largely unscathed since its recent efforts to efficiently reward and protect those who report illicit tax activity could align with the administration's goals.
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January 28, 2025
Trump Pledges Tariffs On Semiconductors, Chips, Drugs
The U.S. will soon place tariffs on foreign-manufactured semiconductors, computer chips and pharmaceuticals in an effort to convince foreign companies to move their manufacturing operations stateside, President Donald Trump told House Republicans at a conference.
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January 28, 2025
OECD Details Documents Needed For Int'l Pricing Program
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released more details Tuesday on the information that multinational entities must disclose when applying for the group's International Compliance Assurance Program, a multilateral effort to resolve transfer pricing issues.
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January 28, 2025
Ukrainian Duo Get 15 Years In $25M Tax Fraud Case
A Florida federal judge sentenced two Ukrainian men to 15 years in prison after they pled guilty to laundering money from a hotel staffing scheme that the U.S. government said cost it $25 million in taxes.
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January 28, 2025
Tax Group Of The Year: Cravath
Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP helped secure high-profile mergers and acquisitions for major media and communications companies in 2024, having played key roles in Paramount's $28 billion merger agreement with Skydance Media and a separate deal involving Verizon Communications, earning the law firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Tax Groups of the Year.
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January 28, 2025
Argentina To Slash Car Sales Taxes, EV Tariffs
Argentina will zero out sales taxes on some cars and eliminate tariffs on low-cost electric and hybrid vehicles starting next week, the country's minister of economy said Tuesday.
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January 28, 2025
4 Convicted In Lithuania In €10M Cigarette Tax Fraud Ring
A Lithuanian court convicted four people, including two former customs officers, for their roles in a cigarette smuggling scheme that evaded €10 million ($10.4 million) in import, customs and excise taxes, the European Public Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday.
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January 28, 2025
France Probes Binance Over Money Laundering Breaches
France's public prosecutor on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into crypto exchange Binance over suspected money laundering and terrorist financing breaches that authorities said may have enabled tax fraud and drug trafficking.
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January 28, 2025
EU Authorities Smash €100M Money Laundering Scheme
A group of more than 20 individuals suspected of running a €100 million ($104 million) money laundering scheme in Europe has been arrested following a two-year investigation by law enforcement authorities in Spain, Cyprus and Germany, an EU agency said Tuesday.
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January 27, 2025
Canadian Taxpayer Group Plans To Contest Capital Gains Hike
A Canadian taxpayers group said it plans to ask the nation's Federal Court to block a proposed increase in capital gains tax that is said has not been approved by the Canadian Parliament.
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January 27, 2025
HMRC Can Appeal In Dispute Over UK-Ireland Tax Agreement
HM Revenue & Customs can proceed with an appeal in its case alleging an Irish company's investment in a U.K.-based company was made to gain tax advantages, the Court of Appeal ruled Monday after hearing arguments.
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January 27, 2025
Senate Confirms Bessent As Treasury Secretary
A bipartisan majority of senators voted Monday to confirm billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary, putting in place a key member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet.
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January 27, 2025
ITC Says China May Be Dumping Erythritol In US
The U.S. International Trade Commission has determined that there is a "reasonable indication" that imports of the artificial sweetener erythritol from China are damaging U.S. industry, it announced.
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January 27, 2025
Tesla Takes EU To Court Over Electric Vehicle Tariffs
Tesla is taking the European Union to court over anti-subsidy tariffs the bloc has imposed on imports of electric vehicles from China, Europe's top court confirmed on its website Monday.
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January 27, 2025
Transfer Pricing Brought In £1.8B In Tax Last Year, HMRC Says
U.K. transfer pricing activities brought in nearly £1.8 billion ($2.2 billion) in additional tax revenue in the 2023-24 tax year, HM Revenue & Customs said Monday, an over £150 million increase from the year prior despite a decrease in overall inquiries.
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January 27, 2025
Suspected Leader Of €297M VAT Fraud Indicted, EPPO Says
The suspected ringleader of a €297 million ($312 million) value-added tax fraud ring was indicted two months after the European Public Prosecutor's Office first broke up the scheme, the EPPO said Monday, saying he was indicted in record time for such a complex case.
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January 27, 2025
HMRC's Response To Phone Calls Hits Decade Low, Firm Says
HMRC answered half as many phone calls from taxpayers during the last tax year compared with 2015, with that figure reaching a decade low, a publicly traded British brokerage said Monday, citing documents the firm said it received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
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January 27, 2025
Mike Ashley Wins Data Request Battle With HMRC
HM Revenue and Customs wrongly withheld personal information from Mike Ashley after the founder of the Sports Direct chain issued a data request following the tax authority's demand for £13.6 million ($17 million) in additional taxes, a London court ruled Monday.
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January 24, 2025
Gov't Says Ukrainian Duo Should Get 15 Years For $25M Fraud
Prosecutors have asked a Florida federal court to sentence two Ukrainian men to 15½ years in prison after they pled guilty to laundering money from a hotel staffing scheme that the U.S. government said cost it $25 million in taxes.
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January 24, 2025
Tax Break Doesn't Apply To £1.3M Project, UK Court Affirms
Investors who sank £1.3 million ($1.6 million) into a children's cartoon show will not qualify for a special tax break because the investment failed to meet at least one of the program's qualifications, the U.K.'s Upper Tribunal affirmed.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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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.