Int'l Tax News

The view that low taxation increases investment is evolving, according to the European Commission, raising the question whether corporate tax can influence EU countries' competitiveness.

Netflix, Walt Disney, and other U.S. streaming companies have asked a Canadian court to stop plans by authorities to force them to fork over 5% of their sales in the country to finance local broadcast news and other domestic content.

Canada authorized the implementation of a digital-services tax, a move that threatens to trigger trade retaliation from Congress and the Biden administration.

Nana Ama Sarfo reviews the latest research commissioned by the South Centre, African Union, African Tax Administration Forum, and West African Tax Administration Forum into the amount of revenue developing countries might raise from amount A versus a digital services tax.

Introducing a global minimum tax rate for the largest multinational enterprises is a “catastrophic failure” because it burdens businesses and dampens EU competitiveness, according to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

The end-of-June deadline for countries to conclude pillar 1 tax reform negotiations has come and gone, but delegates are still making good headway toward a final agreement, the OECD’s tax director said.

India has joined the group of countries that have extended the “unilateral measures compromise” with the United States that outlines a transitional approach to their digital services taxes before pillar 1 rules are implemented.

Nathan Boidman, Michael N. Kandev, and Marc André Gaudreau Duval, in the first installment of a two-part analysis, provide an overview of, and context for, the Global Minimum Tax Act — legislation now moving through Canada’s Parliament to implement pillar 2. Part two will more closely examine certain aspects of the legislation with a focus on provisions that yield interpretational issues or deal with antiavoidance.

Hafiz Choudhury explains efforts at the U.N. to foster an international taxation cooperation process more inclusive of developing countries. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of any other person or organization, in particular the U.N.

Aditi Goyal and Kanupriya Sharma explore the concept of “virtual permanent establishment” as a framework for taxation in an increasingly digital world, using the Clifford Chance case in India as a primary example.

More OECD focus on developing permanent safe harbors for pillar 2 minimum tax rules could decrease the need and volume of administrative guidance going forward, according to an OECD tax official.

High-income countries should engage constructively in U.N. discussions to develop a framework convention on international tax cooperation or risk a global spread of tension in tax policymaking, a top EU tax official said.

The U.S. is set on making Amount B, which deals with companies’ marketing and distribution activities, mandatory even as several other countries are pushing to make it optional.

The Canadian Parliament has passed a highly controversial 3 percent digital services tax on large businesses, sparking calls from U.S. trade groups for Canada to reconsider.

Policymakers have spent more than a decade crafting an international consensus on the allocation of corporate tax revenue, but the scattered landscape for settling tax cases could undermine the goal of a smoothly operating system.

The dispute, which was closely watched by experts, involved a one-time foreign income tax, but many saw it as a broader challenge to pre-emptively block Congress from passing a wealth tax.

The court rejected a challenge from conservative activists to a one-time tax on certain foreign investments but left unresolved questions about whether some leading Democratic revenue-raising ideas are constitutional.

Mindy Herzfeld examines what countries are doing to maintain competitiveness as pillar 2 makes offering fiscal incentives a fraught undertaking.

The leaders of the G7 countries are aiming to open the pillar 1 multilateral convention for signature by the end of June.

Young Ran (Christine) Kim with Cardozo School of Law and Darien Shanske with the University of California, Davis, continue their argument that a digital barter tax is a good idea and examine possible legal arguments and challenges.

Turkish lawmakers have drafted new tax proposals aimed mostly at companies, seeking to repair a budget buffeted by last year’s earthquakes, in what would be the biggest overhaul in a generation.

Norway’s planned clampdown on the nation’s wealthiest citizens is provoking a backlash from entrepreneurs who warn the measure will just worsen the economy’s heavy dependence on oil and gas.

In a communique at their summit in Italy, the G-7 leaders said they hope the treaty will be open for signature by the end of June, as OECD officials have said. The G-7 leaders also called for further progress on the implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax.

Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said the government has postponed plans to introduce a “very limited” transaction tax on stock trading, after push back from traders.

Sir Keir Starmer, UK opposition party leader, set out plans to raise £8.6bn in tax in the Labour manifesto on Thursday as he promised to “relight the fires” of economic growth and bring “Conservative chaos” to an end.

The Danish government presents a plan to significantly lower taxes for entrepreneurs, in a move to bolster the startup scene in the Nordic country, particularly in the biotech industry.

Saudi Arabia laid out a series of steps it plans to take to boost its debt capital market, including a possible easing in taxes it hopes will make local corporate bonds more appealing to foreign investors.

According to new research from Oxford university, the world’s largest private capital firms have avoided income taxes on more than $1tn in incentive fees since 2000 by structuring the payments in a way that subjected them to a much lower levy.

The European Commission has added fair and efficient taxation, cross-border taxation, and double nontaxation to its renewed Platform for Good Tax Governance and is accepting applications for membership to its new expert group.

Canadian Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he would vote against the government’s proposal to raise the capital gains tax inclusion rate, ending weeks of speculation about where he would land on the issue.

Digital services taxes would generate similar revenue for countries to those under the global minimum tax, according to research from an intergovernmental organization of developing countries.

A coalition of technology and industry associations with business ties to Canada asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to initiate a formal trade dispute in an effort to block Ottawa’s digital services tax.

A new U.N. framework convention could include high-level commitments on the fair allocation of taxing rights among countries, including the taxation of multinational enterprises and high-net-worth individuals.

A UN committee has provided countries with a preliminary document for negotiating a global tax treaty, naming fair taxation of corporations and wealth taxes as areas of focus.

A surprising tax change in agriculture powerhouse Brazil has the potential to make soy grown in the world’s largest bean exporter less competitive with supplies from the US, according to a report from risk management firm Amius Ltd.

A draft European Union law on transfer pricing may have the best chance of moving forward before the end of the year in what is likely to be a slow season for EU tax rulemaking.

Around a third of large U.S. multinational enterprises will be required to publish more disaggregated financial information than previously mandated in light of new EU public country-by-country reporting rules.

The OECD missed its initial March deadline to finish talks on Pillar One and faces tough opposition in trying to get the agreement to the finish line by the end of June.

The Treasury Department is running into some complex disagreements over a global tax deal forged by the OECD as the end-of-June deadline to get a treaty ready for signature looms.

House Republicans hoping to extend the 2017 tax cuts are beginning to systematically examine tax provisions in the Democrats' landmark climate law.

The European Commission has informed stakeholders that it will soon begin an evaluation of the anti-tax-avoidance directive, especially how it would work alongside pillar 2 of the OECD’s global tax plan.

Malaysia’s 2024 budget tax incentives will benefit companies operating there, but if it wants to keep attracting investment after implementing global minimum tax rules in 2025, it must adopt further breaks, according to a new analysis.

Najeeb Memon breaks down the global issue of how royalty income from intangibles is taxed and provides suggestions on how to close the fairness gap.

While the deleterious consequences of failing to limit global warming are becoming more costly, doubt has been cast on the relevance of the presumed efficiency of carbon pricing relative to green tax breaks and subsidies.

House Republican appropriators kept their word on their intent to roll back funding to the OECD in fiscal 2025 appropriations as part of a larger protest against U.S. participation in the organization’s global tax deal negotiations.

The International Compliance Assurance Program allows companies to preemptively discuss their transfer pricing positions with tax administrations to obtain more certainty about their tax bills.

A UK Treasury official reported substantial progress in ironing out differences over the global tax treaty, saying it is at a point where countries can work toward adopting it.

Lee A. Sheppard examines the proposed share buyback excise tax regulations and related industry feedback, and she argues that the regulations overreach and should be withdrawn.

Mindy Herzfeld puzzles over the Biden administration’s opposition to a global minimum tax on the world’s richest people, touted as building on the success of the global corporate minimum tax.

Ahead of the U.K. general election, the Liberal Democrat Party has pledged to triple the digital services tax and freeze VAT, while the Green Party and Reform UK also outlined their tax plans.