2016

Mindy Herzfeld reviews the history of tax provisions contained in existing multilateral trade agreements and compares themwith the tax provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
For the TNI article, go here. (subscription required)

In this article, the author discusses stock/asset coordination, CbC, and FIRPTA regulations; and theGuidant,Mylan, andWrightcases, aswell as other U.S. tax developmentswith international implications.
For the TNI article, go here. (subscription required)

We'll soon find out how good the Treasury is atwhac-A-Mole.
Andwe'll also see if thewrittenword - specifically, a recent article inTaxNotes, a hard-coretax-techie specialty publication - has the power to influence events.which in this case, I hope it does.
Let me explainwhat's going on. Andwhy you should care about it.
Any day now, the Treasury is expected to unveil the final version of proposed regulations it issued in 2014 and 2015 to stop corporate inversions.
For thewashington Post story, go here.

U.S. manufacturers have something to say to Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and even Hillary Clinton: Please stop trying to "protect" uswith simplistic slams on free trade.

And NAM also has a long list of other issues that it thinkswould make U.S. manufacturers more competitive inworld markets, including tax reform.
For the Politico story, go here.

A perfect storm of global tax reform, bad publicity about corporate tax avoidance, and increased scrutiny of corporate balance sheets is putting corporations under a microscope and making it harder than ever for them to manage their international tax operationswith certainty. Increasingly, many multinational corporations are coming to the conclusion that costs associatedwith lengthy conflict resolution and years of having their names tarnishedwith the stigma of corporate tax avoidance isn'tworth the trouble and are simply succumbing to higher taxes to avoid the drama.
For the Forbes article, go here.

Whatwe have now in these uncertain times is not so much a monetary problem as a major fiscal problem. In particular, corporate tax rates must be slashed in the U.S. for large and small businesses.we also need full cash tax expensing for new investment and an end to the double taxation of foreign profits.

For The New York Sun story, go here.

The IRS should consider dropping an expanded anti-abuse rule in regulations making it tougher for controlled foreign corporations to use loans to foreign partnerships to shrink their tax bills, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said. For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

KPMG's Thomas Herr, Raj Bodapati and Rui Che outline considerations for U.S. multinationals preparing to embark on country-by-country reporting required under the OECD base erosion and profit shifting program. The authors focus on the establishment of a process for preparing the report, aswell as analysis of the data necessary to ensure overall consistency in transfer pricing and other tax positions.
For the BNA Insight, go here. (subscription required)

HM Revenue & Customs on March 31 issued draft guidance on a new tax strategy disclosure requirement, setting out the guidelines for large companies to publish information about such issues as their attitude toward tax risk and their approach to their relationshipwith the U.K. tax authority.
For thewWTD story, go here. (subscription required)

The U.S. expects to propose regulations soon thatwill treat foreign-owned, single-member limited liability companies as corporations, requiring them to disclose beneficial owner information, Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs Robert Stack told Bloomberg BNA.

For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

The Japanese legislature enacted country-by-country reporting as part of its 2016 Tax Reform Bill.
The rules, issued March 29,will be effective for companieswith fiscal years beginning on or after April 1, 2016, leaving a three-month gapwith the U.S. requirements,which are expected to be effective as of June 30.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Existing U.S. rules can be used to dealwith potential transfer pricing obligations of multinational digital companies that collect user personal data abroad, a senior Treasury official told Bloomberg BNA.

For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

In news analysis, Ryan Finley examines the European Parliament Greens/European Free Alliance report on tax avoidance by IKEA, noting that given its political impact, the methods and assumptions used to calculate the ÔøΩ1 billion EU revenue loss estimatewarrant careful examination.
For thewWTD story, go here. (subscription required)

Deloitte's Vishweshwar Mudigonda, Eunice Kuo and Gary Thomas discuss how transfer pricing controversy has developed in Asia Pacific region, specifically India, China and Japan.
For the ITR story, go here.

François Auger and Juliawang of Blake, Cassels & Graydon explore recent M&A-related developments in Canadian tax law aimed at clarifying and expanding the use of the corporate tax 'bump' tool.
For the ITR story, go here.

Minnesotawill become the latest U.S. state this legislative season to consider tax haven legislation to address the taxation of foreign-source income andwill do sowith a bill that includes a list of tax haven countries that must be accounted forwhen companies file combined reports.
For thewWTD story, gohere. (subscription required)

This quarter'sTax and Investment in the USaddresses:

• President Obama's FY2017 budget as it affects US inbounds
• New FIRPTA regulations reflect changes made by the PATH Act
• Final US Model Income Tax treaty and how it could significantly reduce access to treaty benefits
• PwC's State Tax Review and a look ahead to 2016 and beyond
• Why global investment in the US matters
• Upcoming events in your area

For this issue, gohere.

Companies bidding for contracts from the city of Philadelphiawill need to confirm inwriting that they have not undergone a corporate tax inversion under a City Council proposal, practitioners told Bloomberg BNA.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

This NYSBA report analyzes final, temporary, and proposed regulations under section 871(m),whichwere issued on September 18, 2015. Since this is the NYSBA's fourth report on section 871(m), the
goal here is to focus on issues that have not been considered in prior reports. Section 871(m) addresses concerns about the use of derivatives to avoidwithholding tax on U.S. source dividends.

For the NYSBA report. go here.

The Internal Revenue Service should consider changing a safe harbor provision in thewithholding rules for so-called dividend equivalents so that foreigners investing in U.S. financial products can't skirt taxes by creating new indices, the New York State Bar Association Tax Section said.

For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Adam G. Province of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC reviews the potential creation of a permanent establishment resulting from the assignment of employees to a foreign host subsidiary.
For the TNI article, go here. (subscription required)

The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition is urging the Treasury Department to take further action to prevent companies from reincorporating overseas to lower their taxes.
For The Hill story, go here.

European Union member states are taking the lead on implementing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's recommendations under the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, a new EY report says.
For the Global Tax News story, go here.

Final rules to prevent corporations from importing losses into the U.S. include minor changes from a 2013 proposal, and reject many of the taxpayer comments seeking simplification.

For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

American negotiators participating in the OECD's base erosion and profit-shifting projectwatered down the permanent establishment definition changes to match their coffee brewing. Even so, the United Stateswill not adopt even the minor changes and corrections to the PE standard recommended by the BEPS action 7 report .
A recent ABA-IFA-IBA conference in Milan featured a discussion onworkingwith the new BEPS PE concepts.
For the Tax Notes article, go here. (subscription required)

Financial and taxation authorities of China announced on Thursday that itwill apply its value-added tax pilot program across all sectors to consolidate the fiscal and taxation reform in China.

For the China Topix article, go here.

China's tax agency and the International Monetary Fund have renewed a three-year agreement thatwill support tax policy and administration reform efforts in China.
For the Global Tax News article, go here.

Mindy Herzfeld analyzes the 2016 U.K. budget, arguing that some of its provisions might not be as positive as they seem on first blush.
For the TNI article, go here. (subscription required)

The OECD should no longer be responsible for undertaking reviews of the global tax system, a UK parliamentary group examining changes to the international taxation has been told.
For the Public Finance International article, go here.

In a continued effort to boost transparency in international tax matters, the OECD has today released its standardised electronic format for the exchange of Country-by-Country (CbC) Reports between jurisdictions – the CbC XML Schema – aswell as the related User Guide. The CbC XML Schema is part of the OECD'swork to ensure the swift and efficient implementation of the BEPS measures, endorsed by G20 Leaders as part of the final BEPS package in November 2015.
For the OECD release, go here.

The European Union is showing the rest of theworld thewaywhen it comes to implementing the OECD's 15 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) recommendations, according to research from EY.
Indeed, the European Commission's attempts to bring consistency to tax reform across member states "appears to be driving the first major response to BEPS".
For the Economia article, go here. (subscription required)

Wall Street is mobilizing against proposals to tax financial transactions as the idea gains attention on the campaign trail and in Congress.
For The Hill story, go here.

In a letter to the Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress's tax-writing committees, the Houseways & Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee, Parity for Main Street Employers urged lawmakers to enact tax reform that is comprehensive, restores tax rate parity for all businesses, and reduces or eliminates the double tax imposed on corporations.
For the FEI release, go here.

Samuel Starr, CPA, Esq., examines how potential corporate tax integration legislation could change the calculuswhen selecting a business entity.whatever form such legislation might take, Starrwrites, "if a potent corporate tax integration proposalwere to become law, choice of business entitywould never be the same."
For the BNA Insight, go here. (subscription required)

Companiesworldwide could face lower income tax burdens this year, despite increased enforcement due to the OECD's project to combat base erosion and profit shifting, an analysis by EY LLP shows.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

The European Commission's upcoming proposal to make limited country-by-country reports by multinationals public is expected to be introduced as legal rather than tax legislation to allow co-approval by the European Parliament,which is expected to insist on even broader reporting requirements.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Anti-base-erosion measures are among the major hang-ups keeping the Houseways and Means Committee from advancing an international tax reform draft, Tax Policy Subcommittee Chair Charles E. Boustany, R-La., said March 23.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, seeking clarity in proposed country-by-country (CbC) reporting regulations (REG-109822-15), has recommended that U.S. parent entities be required to provide CbC reporting for constituent entities and has urged Treasury and the IRS to respect rather than disregard the existing international process for sharing CbC information.
For the FACT Coalition letter, go here.

London-based Markit Ltd.'s reverse acquisition of data analysis provider IHS Inc.will yield a 20 percent to 25 percent tax rate for the combined company, according to company management, but the rate the combined corporation ends up paying could actually be much lower, a practitioner said.

For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

The Canadian governmentwill contribute to the global effort to strengthen the integrity of tax systems by acting on recommendations from the OECD's base erosion and profit shifting initiative, including through new transfer pricing legislation and increased sharing of tax information, the federal Department of Finance said.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

The U.S. Treasury Department should take "prompt regulatory action" to prevent Pfizer Inc. and Johnson Controls from finalizing their inversions and permanently avoiding taxes owed on a combined $43 billion in overseas profits, a coalition of 55 groups said in a March 21 letter to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.
For the letter, go here.

The IRS is cracking down in caseswhere taxpayers set up multiple, separate corporations to escape taxes on foreign base company income or insurance income, according to instructions to its agents.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)