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Int'l Tax News

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Belgian Minister: EU Demand for Tax Repayments Stupid


by Ianwishart & Aoifewhite
Belgiumwill "fight tooth and nail" to avoid clawing back some 700 million euros ($803 million) in tax breaks from multinational companies that European Union regulators ruled illegal earlier this year, the country's finance minister said.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

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PE changes increase risk of tax exposure in jurisdictions where a company has no legal entity (2)

  • By International Tax Review

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are facing new challenges arising from OECD's developments regarding the determination of a taxable presence in a foreign countrywhere the company operateswithout a legal entity.

For the ITR story go here

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New IRS Intangibles Rules Called Radical Policy Departure


For the DTR story, go here Subscription Required

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Companies Need to Step Into Global Tax Debate: U.S. Official


by Kevin A. Bell
U.S. multinational corporations must become more involved and proactive in the debate and formulation of new international tax rules, said U.S. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary for International Tax Affairs Robert Stack.
For the DTR story, gohere. (subscription required)

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Stack Says Tax Reform Agenda Should Address International Issues


by Ryan Finley
Any tax reform agenda advanced by the U.S. business community that doesn't address the causes of instability in the international tax systemwould be a Pyrrhic victory, according to Robert Stack, Treasury deputy assistant secretary (international tax affairs).
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

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EU Mulling Fair Taxpayer' Label, Better Dispute Resolution


by Joe Kirwin
The European Commissionwill propose legislation to help resolve cross-border tax disputes and is considering a "fair taxpayer" label for companies and a European tax identification number, alongwith tax breaks for research and development, in upcoming Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) legislation, according to the commission.
For the DTR story, gohere. (subscription required)

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Delete Expenditures in Reshaping Tax Code: Harvard Professor


by Aaron E. Lorenzo
Get rid of tax expenditures as part of reshaping the U.S. tax code and focus on lowering tax rates, Harvard University professor Dale Jorgenson said.
Doing sowould help lay the groundwork for improving business investment conditions, he said on a conference call hosted by the American Council for Capital Formation on May 3.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

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Introduction to Capital Formation 101


by Dr. Pinar Cebiwilber
The complex U.S. business tax structure and high taxes on capital gains and dividends are slowing investment growth, but growing support for corporate tax reform and for a shift to a "consumed-income tax system" are positive signs for the future of the economy, Pinar Çebiwilber of the American Council for Capital Formation said in a May report.
For the ACCF report, go here.

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Tax authorities adapt to rise of e-commerce


As tax authorities around theworld start to examine how e-commence sales affect their revenue from indirect tax it is important for taxpayers to knowwhat measures are being enforced.


For the ITR story, go here.

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The Intersection of EU State Aid and U.S. Tax Deferral: A Spectacle of Fireworks, Smoke, and Mirrors

  • By Florida Tax Review

The Advance Pricing Agreements or transfer pricing rulings granted to U.S. multinationals by Ireland, the Netherlands, and Luxembourgwere principally designed to achieve U.S. tax deferral and not EU tax avoidance. Adverse BEPS effectswithin the European Unionwould be immaterial in comparison to the deferral of U.S. tax on residual IP related profits, andwould have occurred primarily in countries other than those chargedwith the granting of unlawful State aid. The significant tax policy implications for both Europe and the United States resulting from the State aid decisions by the EU Commission are explored here in detail.

To read more go here

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Gabon corporate tax amendments enacted

  • By PwC

by PwC

The Gabonese Republic has enacted the Finance Act 2016,which amends certain provisions of the Gabonese Republic Tax Code.

This Insight discusses the main changes resulting from enactment of the Finance Act 2016 that could affect multinational companies doing business in Gabon.

For the PwC Insight, gohere.

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After Altera, Services Regs May Be Next


by Ryan Finley
Following the U.S. Tax Court's invalidation of the 2003 cost-sharing regulations' requirement that stock-based compensation be included in the shared intangible development cost pool, other sections of the section 482 regulations that make reference to cost may be vulnerable to challenge on similar grounds, according to an expert panel.regulations that make reference to cost may be vulnerable to challenge on similar grounds, according to an expert panel.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

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Lawmaker offers bill to impose 'exit tax' on expatriating companies


by Naomi Jagoda
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) introduced a bill thatwould impose an exit tax on expatriating companies, a concept Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
has championed.
For the Hill story, go here.

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Overview: the European Parliament's work on taxation

  • By European Parliament News

The fight for fair taxation in the EU is high on Parliament's agenda following the revelations as a result of LuxLeaks and the Panama papers. At a timewhen EU countries are struggling to recover from the crisis, MEPs are pushing for greater transparency and an end to tax unfair practices. Read on for our overview of Parliament initiatives.


For the European Parliament release, go here.

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Investment Into U.S. Fueled by Tax-Driven M&As, Report Says


by Alison Bennett & Laura Davison
Attitudes toward transfer pricing and tax planning are shifting rapidly among European multinationals, according to one professorwho has spoken to tax practitioners and chief financial officers.
For the DTR story, gohere. (subscription required)

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Investment Into U.S. Fueled by Tax-Driven M&As, Report Says (1)


by Alexander Lewis
Global foreign direct investment increased by 25 percent in 2015, largely because of cross-border mergers and acquisitions designed to reduce companies' U.S. tax burdens, according to the OECD.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

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News Analysis: Who's Afraid of Anti-Inversion Rules?


by Amanda Athanasiou
Amanda Athanasiou elaborates on the recent announcement that Pfizer Inc. and Allergan PLC have called off their planned merger following the U.S. Treasury's release of anti-inversion regulations.
For the TNI story, go here. (subscription required)

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Parliamentarians Compare BEPS Project Notes at OECD Meeting


EU and non-EU parliamentarians convened on May 2 at the OECD in Paris,where theywere briefed on the current state of play on base erosion and profit-shifting project implementation, andwere able to compare notes on their respective countries' experienceswith BEPS measures, attendees told Tax Analysts.

For thewWTD story, go here Subscription Required

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The Huge Disconnect Between Congress and the Public on Business Tax Reform


If you are looking for an example of how corporate interests continue to dominate the agenda in Congress, a recent hearing on business tax reform held by the Senate Finance Committee is Exhibit A.

For the Tax Justice Blog post, gohere.

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Thomson Reuters Releases Special Report on OECD''s Country-by-Country Reporting Requirements

  • By GlobalNewswire

Thomson Reuters Checkpoint has just released a special report addressing the European Commission's Anti-Tax Avoidance Package (ATA) and other global Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) developments designed in conformitywith the OECD BEPS Action 13 recommendations. The report,

BEPS Filing Requirements for Multinationals Under Country-by-Country Reporting,will help multinational enterprises (MNEs) gauge their readiness to collect and aggregate the data required under CbCR andwill equip themwith the latest CbCR information to navigate this complex, quickly evolving landscape.

For the report, go here.

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We Need a Serious Approach to International Tax Reform


While the Obama administration touts its recent rules to limit corporate inversions as a step forward towards fixing our broken tax code, it is clear this administration fundamentally misunderstands the problems that are driving American companies abroad. In the long run, punitive Treasury Department regulationswill only make America less competitivewhile this administration ignores the core problem: a hopelessly outdated corporate tax code.

For theweekly Standard article, go here.

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Delaware's Opacity Industry Provides U.S. Onshore Tax Haven


byDavid Kocieniewski (BNA.com)
Chevron Corp. used a shell company in a tax haven to escape hundreds of millions of dollars in Australian taxes, according to a 2015 court ruling. The subsidiary,which allowed Chevron to eliminate Australian taxes on $1.7 billion in profit earned there,wasn't secreted away on a remote tropical islandÔøΩitwas set up in the very mundane localewhere corporate secrecywas born: Delaware.
For the DTR story, gohere. (subscription required)

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Inversion Rules Build Costly Wall for U.S., Brady Says


by Laura Davison and Kaustuv Basu ( BNA.com)
The Treasury Department's anti-inversion rules build awall that U.S. companieswill have to pay for, Houseways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said.
For the DTR story, gohere.(subscription required)

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Curb on 'Hopscotch' Loan Could be Expandesl, Official Says


by Alison Bennett (BNA.com)
Non-inverted companies could face a crackdown on the use of "hopscotch" loans under tax code Section 956 to shift income out of the U.S.
For the DTR story, gohere.(subscription required)

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International Tax News - Edition 39

  • By PwC

by PwC

International Tax News is designed to help multinational organisations keep upwith the constant flow of international tax developmentsworldwide.

For the current issue, gohere.

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EU Study Recommends Reducing Incentives for Agggrssive MNE Tax Planning


Countries seeking to curb tax avoidance by multinational enterprises and high-net-worth households need to reduce incentives for the promotion of aggressive tax planning schemes by financial institutions, according to a draft study released by the European Parliament's TAXE II special committee on tax rulings.
For thewWTD story, gohere. (subscription required)

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Cash Pooling Impact May Shrink in Earnings-Stripping Rules


by Alison Bennett
Some arrangements that companies use to "pool" cash for use by subsidiaries might get a break in final rules intended to stop companies from shifting income out of the U.S. through tax-favored loans, Treasury and IRS officials said.
For the DTR story, gohere. (subscription required)

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Time to Rewrite Transfer Pricing Rules After Altera'?


by Alex M. Parker
After its major loss in the case against Altera Corp., is it time for the IRS to rewrite its now 24-year-old transfer pricing regulations?
One practitionerÔøΩand former Internal Revenue Service associate chief counselÔøΩthinks so.
For the DTR story, gohere. (subscription required)

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News Analysis: Proceeding Directly to an Exit Tax


by Marie Sapirie
Following the release of the earnings stripping regulations, the next action against inversions may be imposing an exit taxwhen corporationswith unrepatriated foreign earnings are acquired by foreign corporations.
For the Tax Notes article, go here. (subscription required)

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News Analysis: Transfer Pricing Needs a Save Shot


by Lee A. Sheppard
The government recently managed to do everything it could to demolish a sure thing in losingAltera Corp. v. Commissioner, 145 T.C. No. 3 (2015). Around here,we'd like to bewriting the obituary of separate company accounting and transfer pricing, but in the meantime, the IRS has to be able to put on a credible show of enforcement.
For the Tax Notes article, gohere.(subscription required)

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Germany, Others Questions Public Country-by-Country Reporting


Germany and other European Union members questioned the value of public country-by-country profit and tax reporting, a victory for leading European businesses trying to convince EU states to instead focus their efforts on reducing value-added tax fraud.
For the DTR story, gohere.(subscription required)

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Professors Say International Tax System Changes Fall Short


by Linda A. Thompson
Tax law professors and consultants from Belgium and the U.K.,who cited recent initiatives to overhaul the international tax system, are calling for a more radical approach.
For the DTR story, gohere.(subscription required)

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Intangible BEPS Risks


by James J. Tobin
James Tobin of EY looks at how the OECD's base erosion and profit shifting report on transfer pricingwould require that returns on intangible property be "appropriately" attributed to related partieswho actually control and manage the risks or intangibles.
For the BNA Insight, gohere. (subscription required)

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The Post-BEPS World of Permanent Establishment


by Kevin Cunningham
Kevin Cunningham discusses how the OECD's final base erosion and profit-shifting report on action 7 changed the definition of permanent establishment and the effect that change could have on multinational enterprises.
For the TNI report, go here. (subscription required)

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Canadian Tax Agency Identifies Ruling for BEPS Exchanges


Canada has identified a range of advance income tax rulings, aswell as advance pricing arrangements in transfer pricing cases, that itwill exchangewith other jurisdictions, consistentwith recommendations under the OECD's project to combat tax base erosion and profit shifting.
For the DTR story, gohere.(Subscription required)

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Examining the Proposed U.S. Country-by-Country Reporting Regs


by Lewis J. Greenwald & Lucas Giardelli
Lewis J. Greenwald and Lucas Giardelli provide an overview of the proposed U.S. country-by-country reporting regulations and discuss some potential problems that its implementation could present for U.S. taxpayers.
For the TNI viewpoint, go here. (subscription required)

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When it comes to taxes, theres never been a better time to be a U.S. multinational


by Jim Roumell
Americans are being conned into believing that U.S. corporations are hampered by outsize Taxrates that undermine their competitiveness. Tax inversions,whereby U.S. multinational companies mergewith foreign companies to re-domicile in the partnering company's low- Taxhome country, are the logical result of oppressive U.S. corporate taxrates. Or so the story goes.
For thewashington Post story, gohere.

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Serial Borrowers From Cash Pools May Be Facing Equity Recast


by Amy S. Eilliot
The principal drafter of arguably the most controversial part of the proposed related-party debt regulations -- the transaction rules, also referred to as the recast rules -- indicated in one of his first speaking engagements on the new rules that the government might not bewilling to exempt cash pooling arrangements from the rules upon finalization.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

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Tax authorities adapt to rise of e-commerce (1)


As tax authorities around theworld start to examine how e-commence sales affect their revenue from indirect tax it is important for taxpayers to knowwhat measures are being enforced.


For the ITR story, go here.

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Stack: IRS Working to Accept Early Country-by-Country Reports


by Alex M. Parker
The IRS isworking to accept voluntary country-by-country reports for the 2016 tax year, a Treasury official says.
Optional 2016 filingsÔøΩif they are accepted by foreign jurisdictionsÔøΩcould smooth over potential "gap year" issues in the implementation of the OECD's country-by-country reporting plan,which taxpayers have said could create huge administrative and privacy headaches.
For the DTR story, gohere.(subscription required)

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Debt-Equity Breakup Rule Sweeps in the World'


by Laura Davison
Treasury Department officials know that a rule that could split up related-party financing instruments into equity and debt portions is all-encompassing,and arewilling to be convinced it should be narrowed.
For the DTR story, gohere.(subscription required)

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Practitioners, Officials Hash Out Earnings Stripping Regs


bywilliam R. Davis
Several of the many questions raised about the recently issued earning stripping regulations designed to recharacterize debt as equity in some situationswere addressed by a panel of Treasury officials and practitioners on April 28.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

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OECD Urged to Clarify How PE Definition Applies to Servers


by Ali Qassim
The OECD needs to better definewhether companies that use computer servers, such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., have a permanent establishment at the location of the server, according to practitioners at a Dublin tax conference.
For the DTR story, gohere.(subscription required)

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OECD Sees Roughly 100 Countries Adopting BEPS Changes


by David McAfee
The OECD expects to have about 100 countriesworking together to implement its action plan to combat tax base erosion and profit shifting,whichwill standardize international tax practices, an organization official said.
For the DTR story, gohere.(subscription required)

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Governments Urged to Use Transfer Pricing Values to Acquire IP


bywilliam Hoke
The U.S. and other countries could go a longway toward minimizing multinational enterprises' tax avoidance by using eminent domain to acquire intellectual property from the companies at the lowballed prices they often declare for transfer pricing purposes, according to a paper beingwritten by the University of Maryland's Andrew Blair-Stanek.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

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Stack Calls for More MNE Engagement


by Ryan Finley

Treasury and the IRS areworking toward a solution to the "gap year" problem by allowing optional country-by-country reporting for 2016, but U.S. multinationals can help their own cause by engaging more in the global debate over corporate tax avoidance, according to Robert Stack, Treasury deputy assistant secretary (international tax affairs).

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

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Integration Plan Is Progressive but Aims to Be Revenue Neutral


A forthcoming corporate integration plan is showing signs that its current designwill raise revenue, but Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, said April 21 that hewants the final outcome to be revenue neutral.


For the TNT story, go here. (subcription required)

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Transfer Pricing Cannot Be Fixed


Tax reform proposalswon't fix our broken corporate tax system. Most proposals suggestwe lower the rates and broaden the base by removing tax expenditures and the interest deduction. Those proposals have merit and seem attractive, but they fail to fix the unfairness of domestic companies paying more tax than multinational enterprises in identical circumstances. This article examines two reform options outlined by Edward D. Kleinbard.


For the Tax Notes viewpoint, go here. (subscription required)

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It's Time to Revisit the Application of the CUT


In this article, Daniel Falk demonstrates that the requirements of the comparable uncontrolled transaction method regulations are virtually impossible to meetwhen strictly applied, and he discusses potential solutions to the problem.

For the Tax Notes viewpoint, go here. (subscription required)

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Boustany Seeks Clarity in Meetings on International Reform


Houseways and Means Tax Policy Subcommittee Chair Charlesw. Boustany Jr., R-La., said April 19 that hewill be meeting thisweekwith Republican committee members in order to seek clarity over how to proceedwith international tax reform.


For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required

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