International
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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June 24, 2024
Better Digital Tax Ban In Pillar 1 Treaty, Treasury Official Says
The final text of a multilateral convention to implement the OECD-designed taxing rights overhaul will include improved language to eliminate existing digital services tax and prohibit prospective ones, a U.S. Treasury Department official said Monday.
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June 24, 2024
Loss Guidance Will Cover Pillar 2, IRS Official Says
Forthcoming guidance to address U.S. tax issues with dual consolidated losses will also include language advising taxpayers how to account for those losses under the Pillar Two global minimum tax, the IRS' top international tax counsel said Monday.
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June 24, 2024
UN Tax Convention Should Be Crafted Carefully, NFTC Says
The United Nations' work toward a framework convention on international tax cooperation is welcome but should be done carefully and with continued input from stakeholders, the National Foreign Trade Council said, providing specific areas of feedback.
Expert Analysis
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International Tax Reform's Implications For Transfer Pricing
As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development overhauls the global tax rules on base erosion and profit shifting, and the Biden administration rolls out new U.S. tax proposals, multinational enterprises need to prepare for the effects of these tax changes on their transfer pricing structures, say Mandy Li and Shuang Feng at MGO.
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Justices' Preemptive Tax Challenge Ruling Shows Divisions
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in CIC Services v. Internal Revenue Service reveals divisions among the justices about when potentially burdensome tax regulations can be challenged, making the holding less clear and less valuable, say George Isaacson and David Swetnam-Burland at Brann & Isaacson.
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Takeaways From 2 New FBAR Rulings
In light of two recent California federal court decisions, capping penalties for nonwillful violations of foreign bank account reporting but broadening the willfulness standard, U.S. taxpayers must be vigilant about understanding their reporting obligations, and prepare for the Internal Revenue Service to target willful conduct, which yields much higher penalties, say Friedemann Thomma and Marianna Felshtiner at Venable.
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El Salvador's Use Of Bitcoin Complicates US Commercial Law
El Salvador recently became the first country to recognize Bitcoin as currency, presenting significant implications for U.S. commercial law as the development will likely trigger the cryptocurrency to now fall within the definition of "money" under the Uniform Commercial Code, say Joe Carlasare and Eric Fogel at SmithAmundsen.
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Justices' Nod To Preemptive Tax Challenges May Caution IRS
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in CIC Services v. Internal Revenue Service, allowing pre-enforcement challenges of tax reporting rules despite the Anti-Injunction Act, is likely to make the U.S. Department of the Treasury more careful about its own compliance obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act, says Robert Carney at Caplin & Drysdale.
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Let's End The Offshoring Of US Patents
Congress should work toward removing the loophole that allows companies to avoid U.S. taxes by moving their patents offshore, and ensure profits are taxed where the sales take place, says Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
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Long Road Ahead For Biden's Individual Tax Hike Proposal
Dustin Stamper at Grant Thornton provides insight into President Joe Biden's recently proposed individual tax increases to pay for his American Families Plan, and explains how competing interests among congressional Democrats and Republicans may shape the final provisions and prolong their implementation.
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What Value-Added Tax Might Look Like In The US
Christiaan Van Der Valk and Charles Maniace at Sovos consider the value-added tax, a primary source of revenue for many countries, and what it might mean for the U.S. were it implemented to raise funds for large-scale federal initiatives such as President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan.
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US Needs Better, Nonpunitive Approach To Greening Trade
Instead of imposing tariffs on goods produced where foreign governments have assisted in cleaning up the environment, the U.S. should make trade policy green by helping industries reduce their environmental impact and encouraging every foreign government to do the same, say Elliot Feldman and Michael Snarr at BakerHostetler.
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What OECD Scrutiny Means For Anti-Corruption In Brazil
Attorneys at Paul Hastings examine how an unprecedented standing subgroup recently created by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to monitor Brazil's anti-corruption efforts reflects significant uncertainty regarding the country's commitment to enforcement, and what companies can do to address foreign bribery risk and strengthen compliance programs.
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The International Outlook For US Border Carbon Adjustments
The Biden administration may see enacting a border carbon adjustment system as a good way to advance climate goals and protect domestic industries and jobs, but any such plan must take into account the need to respect existing international trade agreements, say attorneys at Akin Gump.
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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.