2020

A recently concluded consultation by theEuropean Commissioncould result in the effective extension ofEUstate aid rules to subsidies, including tax relief, provided by non-EU countries such as China and the United States.

Negotiations on a part of a proposed global tax overhaul are taking longer than expected, so it's unlikely countrieswill find consensus by the end of 2020 as originally planned, theOECD's tax chief said.

EU member stateswill remove the Cayman Islands and Oman from theEUlist of noncooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes and add Barbados and Anguilla through awritten procedure concluding October 6.

Countries developing a digital services tax should consider a rate of between 1 and 3 percent for companies or multinational enterprise groupswith high turnover and online business sales, theAfrican Tax Administration Forum(ATAF) says.

Mindy Herzfeld likens the OECD two-pillar proposals to various developments over the last century, including the Brettonwoods Agreement,which shaped the economic institutions that formed the basis for global economic relationships.

Countries hoped the base erosion and profit-shifting projectwould carve a path for taxing digital activity. But five years later, it's still not clear if that pathwill lead to a new paradigm or chaos.

TheOECDplans to release practical guidance this year addressing some of the issues that participants in a recent consultation have identified as the most pressing transfer pricing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

European CouncilPresidentCharles Michelhas informed EU leaders that hewill organize a summit on digital issues, including digital taxation, on March 25 and 26.

The Finance Committee of theSpanish Senateon October 1 approved legislation to implement a digital services tax and a financial transaction tax.

In the event that OECD-level negotiations do not yield an agreement on digital taxation, any European proposalwould supersede member states' individual digital services taxes, according to theEU's top tax official.

Although it has been difficult to get countries moving toward a common approach to modernize global corporate tax rules, theOECDremains hopeful that consensus iswithin reach, the organization's tax boss said.

TheEUis finalizing tougher rules to regulate big tech companies,with possible soft law measures to influence their tax behavior.

The OECDwill publish final blueprints and an impact assessment related to a proposal for modernizing global tax rules on October 12 andwill start a public consultation shortly thereafter, the OECD's tax chief said.

Vodafone haswon a long-running disputewith the Indian tax authoritieswhich argued that the UK telecoms group should pay almost ÔøΩ3bn in back taxes and penalties related to its 2007 acquisition of a local operator.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU's executive vice-president in charge of competition policy, said on Friday that Brusselswill appeal against a court decision that quashed an order for Apple to pay back ÔøΩ14.3bn in tax advantages to Ireland.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is expected next month to officially release its draft "blueprints" for Pillars 1 and 2 of the multilateral program for the digital economy. Jeff VanderWolk of Squire Patton Boggs sees a projectwhere the 137 participantswith differing views fall roughly into three camps, all lacking a shared purpose.

The European Unionwill propose a digital tax on tech companies at the end of the year if nations fail to get a multilateral dealwithin the OECD, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton said Friday in an interview on BFM Business.

The OECD's digital tax overhaul carries "potentially adverse implications" for developing countries,warned a new report from a panel convened by the United Nations. The time frame of the negotiations has been dictated by richer countries, and may be too fast for developing countries,which have fewer resources to devote to the process, the interim report said Thursday. Nearly 140 countries are negotiating a global tax overhaul at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to address concerns about how tech giants and other multinationals are taxed.

The European Commission plans to propose streamlining systemswithin the European Union for claiming relief from double taxation of dividends. Proposals,whichwould be published by the end of 2022,would seek to improve on the current situation of "divergent, burdensome, lengthy and fraud-prone refund procedures for taxwithheld in cases of cross-border investment," the commission, the EU's executive, said in an action plan published Thursday.

Apple Inc.'s victory over a record back-tax order faces a challenge at the European Union's top court as Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager seeks to rescue her crackdown on allegedly unfair fiscal deals doled out to multinational companies. The EU's General Court "made a number of errors of law"when it sidedwith Apple in its ruling in July, the European Commission said in a statement on Friday announcing that itwould appeal to the EU Court of Justice.

Finance executives at major U.S. companies expect corporate tax rates to rise following the presidential election in NovemberÔøΩno matterwhowins.

Apple Inc.'s July court triumph over a massive European Union back- tax order is forcing antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager to make a tough choice: Challenge a ruling that faulted the EU investigation or accept judges' criticisms and re-examine a case started more than six years ago.

U.S. multinationals'wish to be excluded from an OECD-led effort to set a global minimum tax rate could comewith new administrative burdens. The nearly 140 countries negotiating a global tax overhaul at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are consideringwhether to allow U.S. companies a pass on global minimum tax rules, because they're already subject to a similar regime in the U.S.

An officialwith theEuropean Commission's Directorate-General forTaxation and Customs Union(DGTAXUD) said observers shouldn't assume a new U.S. administrationwill be more flexible regarding international negotiations on digital taxation.

The GermanEU Councilpresidencywill support a decision on public country-by-country reporting and says a majority of member states appear to support it.

Mindy Herzfeld describes proposals from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to encourage companies to move jobs back to the United States and discourage moving jobs offshore.

Ubersupports the OECD-ledwork on a potential global corporate tax overhaul for the digital age and continues to hope for multilateral agreement on that proposal, the company's tax chief said.

The EU "will spare no effort to reach agreement" on digital taxation in theOECD/G-20inclusive framework, but itwill take unilateral measures if necessary,European CommissionPresidentUrsula von der Leyensaid.

Brazilwill need to align its transfer pricing system more closelywith the arm's-length standard if itwants to implement a proposed global approach to tax the digital economy, a topOECDofficial said.

The Netherlands is canceling its top corporate tax rate cut and plans to offer other relief measures, including employment and investment tax credits,while introducing a carbon tax, according to the government's 2021 tax plan.

The head of theOECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administrationfears that negotiations on pillar 1 of the multilateral solution to taxing the digital economywill take too long and countrieswill move unilaterally.

As part of a broader response to the COVID-19 pandemic's economic fallout, the U.K. government is reportedly considering giving companies a full tax break in a bid to boost investment in plant and machinery.

Most EU member states don'twant to rush a digital tax because the U.S. stance might change after the presidential election, sources said after a meeting of theEconomic and Financial Affairs CouncilSeptember 12.

New Zealand'sLabour Partymade headlines recently in announcing plans to increase taxes for high earners, but the party also said itwill move quickly to implement a digital servicestax ifOECDnegotiations fail.

A new tax penalty for corporations intended to curb overseas manufacturing has been added to the campaign platform of Democratic presidential candidateJoe Biden.

The United States is obstructingOECD-led negotiations on a global corporate tax overhaul proposal, so theEUshould prepare its own digital taxation plan now in case talks fail, a top French minister reportedly said.

Multinational companieswarn that the proposed consolidated net operating loss regulationswould undermine the policies for limiting the use of losses incurred by corporations that are residents in the United States and a foreign jurisdiction.

Mindy Herzfeld sheds light on Treasury's interpretation of the international tax provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, often inways not supported by legislative history or other proposals that led to the act's creation and passage.

Social media giant Facebook does not intend to pass along the costs of the U.K. digital services tax to its U.K advertising customers, at least for now, a company spokesperson said.

If a new draft article to tax digital services is added to the U.N. model tax convention, it's likely itwill then be included in several existing and future tax treaties, an Indian official said.

Facebook's French subsidiary has agreed to pay over ÔøΩ100 million in back taxes to French tax authorities after an audit found the company had not paid the correct amount of taxes for nearly a decade.

HM Treasuryhas denied a U.K. media report that the U.K. government is considering abolishing the digital services tax, partly because of U.K.-U.S. trade concerns as both countries continue negotiating a deal.

In economic analysis, Martin A. Sullivan says that new data show little change in profit shifting by multinational corporations since enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but that it's still early.

TheIRSandTreasuryhave released final regs on thedividends received deduction(DRD), refusing to blink in the face of charges from taxpayers and practitioners that the rules go beyond their authority.

Mindy Herzfeld examineswhether, in finalizing regulations implementing the subpart F high-tax exception to items of income thatwould otherwise be tested income taxable as global intangible low-taxed income, Treasury exceeded its statutory authority, subverted congressional intent, and provided a giveaway to corporate taxpayers.

Nana Ama Sarfo looks at the U.N.'s new digital services treaty proposal, how it serves the interests of developing countries, and how it diverges from the OECD's approach.

A Dutch bill thatwould impose a conditional exit tax on reorganizations like company transfers and mergers may face legal troubles and have unintended consequences for the business climate.

MasterCardwon't have to pay an equalization levy in India because it already has a permanent establishment there, but its liability may change depending on the outcome of its appeal in a separate court case.

The speaker of Brazil'sChamber of Deputiesvoiced opposition to the government's plans for a "digital" tax on financial transactions because of its potential similarity to a lapsed financial transactions tax thatwaswidely criticized.

AnOECDdraft report on its global anti-base-erosion (GLOBE) proposal charts out significant design progress but has yet to address how itwill coexistwith the U.S. global intangible low-taxed income provision.