Int'l Tax News

In comments that may assuage practitioner fears about a potentially broader move away from the issuance of private letter rulings related to the treatment of transfers of stock to foreign corporations generally, an official indicated September 9 that the IRSwill still consider issuing such rulings upon taxpayer request.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

In comments that may assuage practitioner fears about a potentially broader move away from the issuance of private letter rulings related to the treatment of transfers of stock to foreign corporations generally, an official indicated September 9 that the IRSwill still consider issuing such rulings upon taxpayer request.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to follow throughwith a corporate tax cut, a day after government data underscored businesses' reluctance to ramp up domestic investment.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

The ambiguitywithin Treasury's recent guidance on the transfer of property to partnershipswith related foreign partners is a necessary consequence of moving quickly to address a situation the government views as abusive, a recently departed Treasury official said September 9.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called for greater fairness in tax policy through increased transparency, aswell as equity for citizens and companies, during his state of the EU address September 9 in Strasbourg, France.
For thewWTD story, go here. (subscription required)

In news analysis, Amanda Athanasiou examines cross-border moves to enhance tax savings among multinationals in the European Union,where freedom of establishment is strictly enforced and views on changes in tax domicile are very different from those in the United States -- at least for the time being.
For the Tax Notes story, go here. (subscription required)

Theworld's advanced economieswant to create a "global forum" aimed at ensuring that outcomes from the international plan to fight base erosion and profit shifting are implemented by awide range of countries, not justwealthy and emerging economies, the OECD's tax chief, Pascal Saint-Amans, told Bloomberg BNA.

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

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that the French tax consolidation regime is not compatiblewith the EU freedom of establishment because it excludes cross-border dividends from the full exemption granted to French intra-group dividends (CJEU, 2 September 2015, case C-386/14, Groupe Steria SCA).

For the PwC Insight, go here.

At the B20 Conference in Ankara (Turkey) on 3-5 September, BIAC Secretar -General Bernhardwelschke and Chair of the BIAC Taxation and Fiscal Policy Committeewill Morriswelcomed the B20 recommendation
on taxation and BEPS,which emphasizes the need to encourage trade and investment flows especially in relation to infrastructure and cross-border Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
For the BIAC release, go here.

Lucas de Lima Carvalho explores the benefits of mutual cooperation between Latin American countries in the regional mergers and acquisitions market in the aftermath of the OECD's base erosion and profit-shifting project.
For thewWTD story, go here. (subscription required)

Most members of the European Parliament's Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect,which met September 7, believe the committee's July 20 draft report doesn't go far enough in prescribing specific transparency measures to counteract aggressive tax planning and avoidance by multinational enterprises.
For thewWTD story, go here. (subscription required)

For years, Hungarian tax policy has focused on trying to develop Hungary into an attractive location for foreign investors.while there are many incentives for new investments in the country, the tax regime also provides for favourable regimes for holding shares or intellectual property (IP).
For the ITR story, go here.

Financial sector backlash against UK tax changes continues to grow as revenue figures become clearer.
For the ITR story, go here.

The Treasury Department has pushed American-based corporations to lobby against a tax provision prized by their foreign counterparts, according to peoplewho have heard the pitch.

One senior Treasury official in particular, Danielle Rolfes, urged domestic companies to more aggressively target an incentive for interest expensing during a March tax conference in Florida, in a statement that one person in the room saidwas "almost unprecedented."
For the Hill story, go here.

The G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors called on the OECD to create a framework for the implementation of the OECD and G-20's base erosion and profit-shifting project outcomes by 2016,with input from non-G-20 jurisdictions, particularly developing countries.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

SMEs are important for their contribution to employment, innovation, economic growth and diversity. This report examines the tax treatment of SMEs, the case for SME preferences, and the use of tax preferences and simplification measures for SMEs in thirty-nine OECD and G20 countries.
For the OECD report, go here.

James P. Fuller comments on U.S. tax developmentswith international implications, focusing specifically this month on new competent authority and advance pricing procedures, transfers of property to partnerships, the Altera case, base erosion and profit shifting, and IRS international practice units.
For the TNI article, go here. (subscription required)

Mindy Herzfeld previews the final deliverables the OECD is expected to release October 5 under its base erosion and profit-shifting action plan and explainswhy the United States is unlikely to take any significant action on them.
For the TNI story, go here. (subscription required)

With the expiration of the highway bill at the end of October and pressure to move a tax extenders bill by year-end, congressional taxwriterswill be coming up on a series of deadlineswhen they get back towork after the August recess.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

In news analysis, Marie Sapirie discusses how renewed interest in spinoff transactions could lead to new guidance that answers some older questions.
For the Tax Notes story, go here. (subscription required)

The European Union plans to standardize some national tax and insolvency laws as part of its overhaul of the bloc's capital markets.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, identified divergent tax laws in the bloc's 28 countries as one of the obstacles to a capital markets union and cross-border investment, according to a preliminary commission paper. The Brussels-based commission may propose a "simplified and unified template" for the recovery ofwithholding tax, among other steps.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

The IRS is asking for public comment on a tax form used to report information about transactions between U.S. corporations that are 25 percent foreign owned, or foreign corporations engaged in U.S. trade or business, and related foreign parties.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

In economic analysis, Martin A. Sullivan looks at how a U.S. patent box might be as complicated to administer as the deduction for manufacturing under section 199.
For the Tax Notes article, go here. (subscription required)

The IRS on August 12 issued final guidance significantly revising prior procedures for obtaining assistance under US tax treaties from the US competent authority,which operates through the Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement Program (APMA) and the Treaty Assistance and Interpretation Team (TAIT).
For the PwC Insight, go here.

A U.K. tax official, defending the U.K.'s recently enacted diverted profits tax, said the controversial tax is consistentwith the international project to combat base erosion and profit shifting.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

European Union member states are struggling to reach consensus on the mission of the Code of Conduct Group for Business Taxation.
Countries are split onwhether the group should examine foreign countries' corporate taxation schemes orwhether it should be taskedwith establishing an "effective level of minimum taxation" for companies in various sectors, including intellectual property rights.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Alan Lederman of Gunster, Yoakley & Stewartwrites that the IRS's ruling in PLR 201515006, like PLR 201322009 before it, suggests that the Servicewill insist certain non-tax-avoidance indicia exist as a condition for favorably ruling that a foreign corporation seeking to avoid passive foreign investment company classification can utilize tax code Section 1298(b)(7) to treat, as a non-passive asset, the stock of a second-tier U.S. subsidiarywith significant passive income and assets.
For the BNA Insight, go here. (subscription required)

Varying degrees of lingering disenchantmentwith the OECD's base erosion and profit-shifting projectwere apparent during a September 2 International Fiscal Association panel discussion, as representatives of the United States and the business community expressed concerns about uneven implementation and uncertain outcomes.
For the TNT story, go here. (Subscription required)

Practitioners discussing the effects of the forthcoming October guidance from the OECD's project to combat base erosion and profit shifting said multinational companies are likely to move their cash box structures from zero-tax jurisdictions such as Bermuda to low-tax jurisdictions such as Ireland and Singapore.

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

A U.S. Treasury official said some officials and practitioners in the international tax community have misunderstood the U.S. decision not to participateÔøΩat this timeÔøΩin the negotiation of a multinational tax treaty under Action 15 of the project to combat base erosion and profit shifting.

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

Draft Canadian legislation to deny deductions for inter-corporate dividends on shares involving synthetic equity arrangements pose a significant risk to the ability of Canadian public companies to offer employees incentive-based compensation, the Tax Executives Institutes Inc.warned.

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

Ajay Guptawonderswhether the European Commission maywield its power to conduct state aid reviews as a backup in the event that the OECD's base erosion and profit-shifting project turns out to be a damp squib
For thewWTD story, go here. (subscription required)

In long-awaited proposed guidance, the IRS and Treasury propose adopting an aggregate approach to controlled foreign corporation loans to foreign partnershipswith U.S. partners under section 956.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

The chairman of an OECD focus group taskedwith overseeing the negotiation of a multilateral tax treatyÔøΩunder an international project to combat base erosion and profit shiftingÔøΩhas identified the four action items the treatywill cover.

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

European Union member stateswill challenge the European Parliament over amendments thatwould require listed EU companies to report revenue earned and taxes paid on a country-by-country basis, according to confidential documents obtained by Bloomberg BNA.

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

International tax practitioners returning to their desks after the August lull face a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape as countries rush to rewrite their international tax rules in response to the OECD's two-year project to combat base erosion, now entering its final stage.

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

The Internal Revenue Service issued long-awaited proposed and temporary rules to make it harder for controlled foreign corporations to use loans to partnerships to avoid income inclusions under tax code Section 956.

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

A tax policy advocacy group called for online retailer Etsy Inc. to be stripped of a certification awarded to companies that adhere to strict standards for transparency and social accountability unless it dismantles its offshore tax-cutting structure.
For the Bloomberg story, go here.

The key issue for multinational pharmaceutical companies decidingwhere to locate a new research facility iswhether the jurisdiction has a research and development credit that is available for contract aswell as proprietary research, a Novartis AG official said.

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

Early October guidance under Action 5 of the international project to combat base erosion and profit shiftingwill adopt a "nexus approach," requiring intellectual property regimes to only grant preferential tax benefits in proportion to the taxpayer's research and development expenditures, an OECD official said.

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

Action 13 of the OECD's Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) strives to enhance transparency for tax administrations by providing themwith adequate information to conduct transfer pricing risk assessments and examinations through increased transfer pricing documentation requirements, specifically including a new country-by-country report (CbC report) and a master file.

The OECD has recommended that the first CbC reports be required to be filed for multinational enterprises' (MNEs) fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2016. The OECD also recommends that MNEs be allowed one year from the close of the fiscal year towhich the CbC report relates to prepare and file it, meaning that the first reportswould be filed by December 31, 2017, for companieswith fiscal years starting January 1, 2016.

Even if the United States does not implement CbC reporting, or delays implementation for one year, US-parented MNE groupswill be required to file reports by the end of 2017 if the group includes entitieswith operations in a foreign country inwhich CbC reporting requirements have been implemented.
For the PwC Insight, go here.

China and Taiwan have agreed a double tax treaty after talks between the Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and Beijing-headquartered Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
For the ITR story, go here.

As governments around theworld assess the bestway to attract – and tax – R&D and
intellectual property investment, Giulia Cipollini and Bianca Macrina ofWithers inMilan look
at the incentives taxpayers can avail in Italy, tracking the nuances of the Italian Patent Box
regime from introduction to operation.
For the ITR article, go here.

Consultationwith an economist can help an examiner determinewhether a taxpayer is using the best transfer pricing method andwhether the price meets the arm's-length standard, according to examiner training materials released by the Internal Revenue Service.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Brazilian government officials confirmed their intention to restore a controversial tax on financial transactions, provoking angry reactions from business leaders and economists.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

When a transaction occurs that moves property from a controlled foreign corporation to a foreign corporation, IRS agentswill be looking first atwhether the controlled foreign corporation ceased to exist after the dealwas done.
In training materials provided to its examiners and released publicly Aug. 28, the Internal Revenue Service's Large and Mid-Size Business Division looks at the potential tax effects of certain foreign-to-foreign transactions on U.S. corporate shareholderswho are making an exchange in the deal.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Though details on a plan to lower tax rates on income from intellectual property emergedweeks ago, a fair bit of silence has followed.
Mum has been theword for manywould-be advocates and opponents alike.
They seem to be holding back in anticipation of other proposals to change taxes on international profits in concertwith the reduced rate for intellectual property, some observers said. Those added details are still to come, according to Houseways and Means Committee members and their staffers.
For the DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

nternational Tax News is designed to help multinational organisations keep upwith the constant flow of international tax developmentsworldwide.
For this month's issue, go here.

The twotop Republican taxwriters in Congress arewarning the Treasury Department not to get ahead of Congress as it negotiatesnewinternational tax rules, questioningwhether the administration is seeking towield power it does not have.
For thewashington Post story, go here.

The latest in a series of tax measures enacted by Brazil's government that reinstate socialwelfare tax contributions on financial income for about 80,000 large companies took effect and already has provoked legal challenges.

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