2023

The Liechtenstein government has approved an ordinance that clarifies the interpretation and implementation of the country’s new law implementing a global minimum tax on large corporate groups.

Melani Dewi Astuti provides a status check on Southeast Asian countries’ adoption of the global anti-base-erosion rules and examines the challenges these countries face in the wake of pillar 2, including limitations on offering tax incentives.

The OECD expects to publish in the coming weeks updated commentary for the pillar 2 global anti-base-erosion rules that will incorporate previous rounds of administrative guidance, an OECD official said.

The list of outstanding issues in the European Commission's Faster and Safer Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes proposal is narrowing, but EU member states are still divided over which transactions to exclude from the text.

The United States is trying to secure key conditions for Congress to support a pillar 1 tax agreement, but it is at odds with a few major jurisdictions, according to a Treasury official.

The EU will engage with the U.N. tax cooperation process to reach a broad consensus, an EU tax official said, stressing that the process should not undo important work on the OECD two-pillar plan.

The European Commission has raised the possibility of moving the EU Council from unanimity to qualified majority voting on tax and other matters as part of a strategy for integrating new member states.

Italy’s economy minister said his country might retain and modify its digital services tax if efforts to implement pillar 1 of the OECD’s two-pillar global tax reform plans come to naught.

Pillar 2 of the OECD’s global tax reform plan could have presented an opportunity to merge resources for the EU budget — for example, through the undertaxed profits rule — according to an international tax expert.

The United States is working to protect the benefits of the research credit under pillar 2 global minimum tax, possibly through OECD administrative guidance, a top Treasury official said.

Jefferson VanderWolk takes exception to criticism of the use of refundable tax credits, explaining that in fact refundable tax credits are a legitimate policy response to the current GLOBE rules.

The EU will soon put in motion a 2020 commitment to hold annual talks with the United Kingdom regarding measures to counter harmful tax practices, according to a draft European Commission/EU Council statement.

New Treasury Department data shows companies have registered 45,500 projects for possible sale on a new tax-credit marketplace.

The terms of reference for a proposed U.N. convention on international tax cooperation should provide for funding to ensure that the least developed countries can attend upcoming negotiations in New York, a Colombian official said.

Peter Mason reviews the latest report by the OECD on corporate tax statistics to assess the impact of the base erosion and profit-shifting project.

Kimberly S. Blanchard examines the U.S. tax treatment of a sale of a partnership interest by a foreign person and explains why the Tax Court’s decision in Rawat was incorrect.

The Biden administration is proposing an expansion of a levy that targets companies with high profits and low taxes.

A recent agreement to extend the length of the “unilateral measures compromise” between the United States and five other countries over their digital services taxes will apply to Turkey as well.

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah argues that because digital services taxes are used to offset the taxation impediment that “digital giants” cannot be taxed under permanent establishment rules, they should qualify as an in-lieu-of tax and therefore be creditable.

European finance ministers said they are committed to acting in the collective interest to boost the EU Capital Markets Union, but they insist that any related tax initiatives be left to the member states.

New Zealand’s pillar 2 global minimum tax rules should start taking effect in 2025 and be incorporated into law by reference to OECD model rules and guidance, a parliamentary committee has recommended.

The EU Council’s Belgian presidency has persuaded some reluctant member states to accept a previously rejected deal with the European Parliament on the reclassification of digital platform workers.

In the wake of a significant and surprising district court decision holding the Corporate Transparency Act unconstitutional, practitioners expect the case to influence other challenges to the beneficial ownership reporting regime.

Mindy Herzfeld examines how the United States can increase research and development and keep the resulting intellectual property stateside.

Martin A. Sullivan examines Form 10-K data from multinational pharmaceutical companies indicating that recent tax policy changes haven’t induced them to shift profits back to the United States, and he explores why that is a different story for tech companies.

Richard S. Collier and Ian F. Dykes explain the new rules released by HM Revenue & Customs on the transfer pricing risk framework and detail the relationship with the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines and the base erosion and profit-shifting project.

House taxwriters coalesced over their worries about the impact of the OECD global tax deal’s approach to digital services taxes but found little common ground across the aisle on whether the U.S. response should be to scrap participation or stick with the talks.

After 10 years in the European Parliament, Paul Tang, chair of the EP's subcommittee on tax matters, won't be running for a third term, leaving the future direction of the FISC unclear.

In Solar New US Holding Corp. v. Commissioner, a Tax Court challenge that could have implications for other rules, a company argues that the statutory repeal of the downward attribution exception makes the definition of a controlled foreign corporation under anti-inversion regulations invalid.

Lucas de Lima Carvalho examines how the “best practices” of international tax law developed and highlights the need for healthy skepticism toward this term.

So-called phantom foreign direct investment, often undertaken through shell special purpose vehicles, has declined sharply since 2021, the European Commission said, noting the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s major effects on cross-border financial flows.

U.S. negotiators on pillar 1 are working on a more robust outcome that would provide more tax certainty and a mandatory amount B, sometimes referred to as phase 2, according to a Treasury official.

Revised profit allocation rules under pillar 1 of the OECD’s two-pillar global tax reform plan could have cost the United States as much as $4.4 billion in 2021, according to caveated estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Robert Goulder comments on one of Liberty Global’s multiple disputes with the IRS.

Had the OECD’s Pillar One proposal been in place during 2021, it would have cost the Treasury $1.4 billion, according to a new government analysis.

Trade groups have warned the Australian Taxation Office that its draft software royalty rules do not properly distinguish between payments on copyright articles and contravene preexisting international norms regarding the taxation of software.

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah advocates for Congress to adopt a general antiabuse rule to combat loopholes formed by the voluminous tax code.

Sol Picciotto, Jeffery M. Kadet, and Bob Michel analyze and compare the two proposals for a subject-to-tax rule to be included in tax treaties, one from the U.N. Tax Committee and the other from the G20/OECD inclusive framework on base erosion and profit shifting.

The Bahamian government has announced its plans to implement a 15 percent corporate income tax in response to the OECD’s two-pillar international tax reform plan, anticipating tax revenue to exceed $140 million annually.

Other factors should be considered before the United States is blamed for a potential failure of pillar 1 of the OECD’s two-pillar global tax reform plan, an Estonian Ministry of Finance official said.

Andrea Di Gialluca and Davide Cotroneo explain the interaction between Italy’s research and development credits set in place to promote innovation and competitiveness in Italy, and imposition of the OECD’s pillar 2.

The Manx government is planning to raise the corporate tax rate for large banks and retailers as it moves to implement pillar 2 of the OECD’s two-pillar global tax reform plan.

High-income OECD countries said the terms of reference for a U.N. framework convention on international tax cooperation should be based on consensus rather than simple majority voting — a view opposed by low-income countries.

The South African government is publicly consulting on draft legislation implementing pillar 2 of the OECD’s global tax reform plan and on related tax administration measures as part of its 2024 budget.

The OECD has published a report on an elective approach for simplifying transfer pricing for baseline marketing and distribution transactions starting in 2025, noting several reservations and concerns from India about the framework.