Int'l Tax News

The Democratic and Republican co-chairmen of a Senateworking group making recommendations for a tax overhaul said they have come to a broad agreement on changes to international taxes.
For the BNA DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Following a Canadian Federal Court (FC) ruling, publicly-listed companies could have to disclose technical analyses of their contingent reserves for potential tax liabilities, leading to fears the information could be used by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) to challenge businesses' tax returns.
For the ITR story, go here.

Free from the constraints of coalition government George Osborne has delivered a radical Tory Budget announcing huge cuts toworking age benefits offset by a new national livingwage.
For in-depth Financial Times coverage of the new budget, go here.

Step aside, Doctorswithout Borders. A new class of professionals is ignoring national frontiers to come to the aid of economically struggling nations.
A team called Tax Inspectorswithout Borderswill begin helping developing countries dealwith the flood of income to low-tax jurisdictions once it's established nextweek by the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
For the Bloomberg Business story, go here.

Top senators rolled out a planwednesday to overhaul the United States's decades-old rules on international taxation, a framework they said could also give the nation's roads and bridges badly needed funding.
The long-awaited proposal from Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) could help form the core of a deal in one of the increasingly few potential areas for tax reform agreement this year ÔøΩ international rules for businesses that date back to the days of President John F. Kennedy.
For the Hill story, go here.

The Portuguese Parliament has approved the new special tax regime for the Madeira International Business Centre (MIBC). The regime applies to entities licensed to operate in the MIBC between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2020.

The regime also has been approved by the European Commission as authorized State Aid. That approval protects the regime through December 31, 2027.

For the PwC Insight, go here.

Provisions in anti-inversions guidance intended to stop the use of certain "slim-down" distributions to avoid taxes are too harsh and need clarification, the New York State Bar Association Tax Section told the government.
At issue is the treatment of "non-ordinary course distributions" under Notice 2014-52, the section said in comments to the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department.
For the BNA DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

When Horizon Pharma PLC completed its takeover of a small, closely held Irish drug company last fall, its timingwas fortuitous.
Horizon, formerly of Illinois, closed its dealwith Dublin-based Vidara Therapeutics International Ltd. in September three days before U.S. regulators cracked down on these tax-beneficial corporate migrations known as inversions. Had the pair been slower to the altar, theywould have been subject to tighter rules that make such overseas mergers more difficult and less lucrative.
For thewall Street Journal story, go here.

Developing countries need to take action themselves to better their tax systems and can't rely on the OECD's base erosion and profit-shifting project to address the problems they face, panelists said at a July 7 discussion of the impact of tax competition on developing countries and the prospects for global tax reform.
For thewWTD story, go here. (subscription required)

OECDworking Party 6 has determined that special guidance isn't needed to address intangibles returns attributed to cash box entities andwill instead rely on the general guidance on intangibles and risk produced through the base erosion and profit-shifting project.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

The international project to fight base erosion and profit shifting has set aside plans to create "special measures" for fighting BEPS in the context of cash boxes, a top Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development transfer pricing official said.

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

For the first time in five years, more global business leaders rate the United States as their most important market for overseas investment and growth ahead of all others, including China's.

PwC's Doing business in the United States provides a broad understanding of the critical tax issues and breaks downwhat they mean for you and your business.

For the new edition of Doing business in the United States, go here.

The international tax provisions in the Administration's 2016 Budget unfortunatelywould further impair the competitiveness of globally engaged US companies by imposing a new foreign minimum tax on US-headquartered companies as part of a half trillion dollar tax increase on these companies over the next 10 years.
For the Alliance for Competitive Taxation fact sheet, go here.

Businesseswant George Osborne, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, to make the most of tomorrow's Budget, the first since 1997 to be the exclusive product of Conservative party ideas after its general election victory in May.

For the ITR story, go here.

Jim Fuller comments on U.S. tax developmentswith international implications, focusing specifically this month on inversions, proposed changes to the U.S. model income tax treaty, base erosion and profit shifting, permanent establishments relating to action 7, and country-by-country reporting.
For the TNI article, go here. (subscription required)

Without a more strictly crafted definition of hard-to-value intangibles in the OECD's draft under action 8 of the base erosion and profit-shifting project, the guidance could lead to greater uncertainty and double taxationwith tax administrations left to interpretwhen ex post information may be used, practitioners said at a July 6 consultation.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

Participants in the OECD's July 6 consultation on cost-sharing arrangements under action 8 of the base erosion and profit-shifting project argued that the draft's emphasis on value over costs does not reflect the practice of third parties in such arrangements.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

The international project to combat base erosion and profit shifting should address the issue of financing separately from itswork on cost contribution arrangements, a top business representative said.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released its non-consensus draft on cost contribution arrangements (CCAs) on April 29 under its 15-item action plan for fighting BEPS. The draft states that value, rather than cost, governs in evaluating CCAs
For the BNA DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

India's advance pricing agreement program continues to make headway,with the Income Tax Department confirming that an APAwas signedwith an information technology company at the end of JuneÔøΩthe first major APA in this sector.
The unilateral APAwith BNP Paribas Solutions, the local arm of the European bank, is significant because it should pave theway for improving the currently aggressive transfer pricing environment, tax experts say. Sophan Ghar, a senior official in the department, told Bloomberg BNA that information technology and IT-enabled services (ITeS) companies have proved enthusiastic about APAs.
For the BNA DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is considering adopting additional exemptions beyond those proposed in its recent discussion draft on hard-to-value intangibles to limit the scope of re-evaluations based on evidence obtained after the fact, an OECD official said.
For the BNA DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Richard Collier comments on the OECD's recent proposals on the dependent and independent agent provisions,which he noteswill lead to a material lowering of the permanent establishment threshold.
For thewWTD Viewpoint, go here. (subscription required)

Recently approved European Union legislation requiring country-by-country tax reporting by banks and other financial services is flawed and some financial institutions have seized upon the deficiencies to avoid specifyingwhere profits are made andwhere taxes are paid, according to tax reform advocate Richard Murphy.
For the BNA DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

International Tax News is designed to help multinational organisations keep upwith the constant flow of international tax developmentsworldwide. Among the topics featured in this month's edition are:

• OECD issues revised discussion draft on treaty abuse
• Italy's notional interest deduction anti-avoidance rules
• Canada's upstream loan rules in the foreign affiliate arena
• New taxation agreement between the EU and Switzerland

For the latest issue of International Tax News, go here.

Withworld leaders, environmentalists and even Pope Francis clamoring for tough action to slow the rate of growth of greenhouse gasemissions -- a major factor in climate change -- the idea of imposing a tax on industrial carbon emissions and pollutants is getting a fresh look.
For the Fiscal Times story, go here.

The Obama administration quietly handed a victory to U.S. companies that avoid taxes by claiming a foreign address, suggesting that virtually all of them are still eligible for government contracts.
For the Bloomberg Business story, go here.

The IRS is seeking to train exam agents to give them a deep understanding in particular issues likely to come up in an audit, rather than a broad understanding of overall business operations.

"Rather than relying solely on groups of generalists, they're trying to get additional specializationwithin those cadres, similar to the Transfer Pricing Practice established three years ago," Michael Danilack, global tax controversy and dispute resolution principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said June 30 on awebcast hosted by the firm.

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

While the OECD has political backing and momentum behind it, the organisation has no binding authority to implement legislation, so the engagement of key jurisdictions including the USwill be central to the project's ultimate success.

For the ITR story, go here.

The tax classification of a foreign pension fund investing in the United States has major implications in terms ofwho is subject to tax, the applicable tax rate and the associated reporting obligations. Francis Helverson ofwTS explainswhy pension fundswith certain characteristics may have significant advantages over other pension funds aswell as over other types of foreign investors.
For the ITR story, go here.

Action 3 of the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) agenda promised to address how countries could use controlled foreign corporation (CFC) rules to combat BEPS. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon one's vantage point), as is pretty much universally agreed, the OECD's draft report on CFC rules (the "draft")1 failed in every conceivableway to address the issues presented by the use of CFCs.
For the Bloomberg BNA article, go here.

To escape the developedworld's highest corporate tax rate, U.S. companies have sought to change their corporate "citizenship" by purchasing foreign partners and merging into them -- called an inversion.while the Obama administration has tried to deter inversions, the benefits of avoiding U.S. corporate taxation are so great that foreign companies are now buying up American companies instead. The pharmaceutical industry illustrates both the need for effective tax reform and the futility of piecemeal solutions.
For thewall Street Journal article, go here.

Although proponents of a financial transactions tax (FTT) say that such a taxwould discourage risky speculation and recoup revenue lost in the Great Recession, a June report by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center says that an FTT is only a "second-best solution" and suggests that a VAT or financial activity tax might be more effective.

For the TPC report, go here.

Multinational companies, not governments, have set corporation tax policy, encouraging some countries in a race to cut corporate tax rates, according to a U.K. barrister specializing in international taxation.

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

At the close of the first year since the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act on July 1, 2014, practitioners are finding that its burdens are meeting expectations, but see no sign of the nightmare scenarios that some had feared might occur.
For the TNT story, go here. (subscription required)

Taxpayers continue towrestlewith big questions a year after the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act opened for business.
Acknowledging that the Internal Revenue Service is doing its best to implement a complex law, issues still remain as the reach of FATCA goes global, practitioners told Bloomberg BNA in a series of interviews.
For the BNA DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Many Japanese taxpayers have encountered difficulties in corporate tax examinations,whenwhat are generally considered transfer pricing issues have been challenged by the Japanese tax authorities not under the transfer pricing legislation, but under the "donation rules" of the Japanese Corporate Tax Act.

These challenges may arise evenwhere the taxpayer's transfer pricing is at arm's length, or more dramatically, evenwhere the taxpayer's transfer pricing leaves more than arm's length profit in Japan. In such cases, most taxpayers have trouble understanding the basis for the tax authorities' approach. This confusion can be further compounded by the fact that adjustments made under the donation rules,which typically give rise to double taxation, are not eligible for the mutual agreement process.

For the PwC Insight, go here.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's "soft law" approachwill be more effective in combating base erosion and profit shifting than the European Commission's rules-based approach because it is backed by awide range of countries, according to a senior U.K. tax official.

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

Australia's Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2015 Measures No.1) Bill 2015 received Royal Assent on June 25, 2015. Therefore, the third and final element of the Investment Manager Regime (IMR 3) has now become law (the Act).

Broadly, the Act exempts foreign funds (including eligible US onshore and offshore funds) from Australian tax on Australian-source gains. The final legislation addresses a number of issues identified in the last exposure draft, discussed in the March 19, 2015, PwC Insight.

For the PwC Insight, go here.

In news analysis, Lee A. Sheppard looks at how new regulations might change the treatment of convertible debt instruments.
For the Tax Notes article, go here. (subscription required)

The United Nations says thework of the international project to combat base erosion and profit shifting, including changes to double taxation treaties, should be coordinatedwith the provisions of international investment agreements.

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

Robert B. Stack discusses the progress made so far on, and the future of, the base erosion and profit-shifting project.
For the Tax Notes viewpoint, go here. (subscription required)

In economic analysis, Martin A. Sullivan discusses how multinationals are pushing for a U.S. patent box because of the potentialweakening of check-the-box rules.
For the Tax Notes article, go here. (subscription required)

Governments are failing to leverage taxes to curb the negative effects of energy use on the environment but are becoming increasingly interested in using taxation as a policy tool to promote sustainable resource development, the OECD said June 25.
For thewWTD story, go here. (subscription required)

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said June 25 that multinational enterprises avoid $200 billion in taxes annually by routing investments through offshore financial hubs, some ofwhich are in tax havens.
For thewWTD story, go here. (subscription required)

In a June 25 letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, three U.S. business groups asked Treasury to "continue to advocate strongly for clear, detailed agreement" on the rules countries arewriting to combat base erosion and profit shifting.
In their letter, the National Foreign Trade Council, the Software Finance & Tax Executives Council, and the United States Council for International Business asked Treasury to ensure that the BEPS projectwill provide countrieswith domestic and international instruments thatwill "better align rights to taxwith economic activity."
For the BNA DTR story, go here.

The European Commission is on the defensive over its list of 30 tax havens that failed to include even a single EU member state,with criticism led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Tax Justice Network, the European Parliament, and a host of countries or independent territories targeted.
For the BNA DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Patent boxes can lure companies to move their intellectual property to a jurisdiction, butwithout conditions requiring the incentive to be backedwith local research and development, the policy can have a negative effect on local innovation, according to a new study.
"The size of the tax advantage is negatively correlatedwith the local R&D," said the European Commission study, released June 18. "This suggests that the effects of patent boxes are mainly of a tax nature."
For the BNA DTR story, go here. (subscription required)

Thirty-nine of theworld's biggest economies continue to tax diesel for transport use at lower rates than gasoline, despite scientific evidence that diesel fuel is more damaging to the environment and human health than gasoline, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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

French corporate tax legislation stipulates that profit distributions from a subsidiary to a French parent company are not, in principle, taxed at the parent. Excluded from this is a 5% proportion representing the charges incurred by the French parent company in connectionwith its holding in the subsidiary.
For the ITR story, go here.

Developing countries are losing around $100 billion a year in revenues because foreign investors are channelling profits through offshore zones to avoid tax, a study by U.N. think-tank UNCTAD said onwednesday.
"Tax avoidance practices therefore are responsible for a significant leakage of development finance and resources," UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi told a news conference.
For the Reuters story, go here.

Imposing a tax on repatriated earnings to fund highways "would impede progress toward the vital goal of overhauling our outdated tax system," the Alliance for Competitive Taxation said in a June 24 statement inwhich it also expressed support for revenue-neutral tax reform thatwould cut the corporate tax rate and reform international taxation.
For the ACT statement, go here.