Int'l Tax News

Corporate income tax rates across the world stabilized in 2023 after years of decline, according to a new report from the OECD summarizing international taxation trends.

The French government is weighing fresh taxes on corporates to cut the country’s budget deficit, newspaper Le Monde reported.

Thomas Horst explains and illustrates his evaluation of the effect of the OECD/G20’s pillar 2 minimum tax rules on U.S. multinational enterprises and on U.S. federal tax revenue.

The former president’s efforts to compel companies to remain in the United States had limited success while he was in the White House.

Ryan Finley explains why the Court of Justice was wrong to assume that its understanding of OECD transfer pricing and profit attribution guidance is the only reasonable interpretation.

Treasury is not overly concerned with practitioner worries stemming from a lack of carryforwards for direct foreign tax credits and book-to-tax income recognition timing differences under its corporate alternative minimum tax proposed regs.

The Democratic presidential nominee outlined her economic plans, including tax credits to boost next-generation industries, during a speech in Pittsburgh.

Germany’s Growth Opportunities Act, applicable as of Jan. 1, highlighted a disparity between the German legislature’s application of the arm’s-length principle for intra-group financing versus OECD transfer pricing guidelines for multinational companies and tax administrations. This has created substantial uncertainty for multinationals, leaving many unresolved questions about application of the new tax legislation.

Nigeria urged the United Nations on Tuesday to begin negotiations toward a global tax treaty opposed by wealthier countries because its work would overlap with that of the OECD.

The US Treasury Department is working on guidance to apply a set of OECD rules that seek to simplify the way businesses value certain intercompany transactions, a department official said Tuesday. The implementation of the rules, known as Amount B, is on the list of Treasury’s priority guidance projects, said Brenda Zent, special adviser on international taxation at Treasury.

The Republican presidential nominee uses tax breaks and tariff threats in a bid to persuade foreign companies to shift production.

The former president highlighted his plans to increase tariffs and reduce corporate taxes for businesses that make products in the United States.

Robert Goulder comments on the final decision of the EU’s Court of Justice on the state-aid claim against Ireland.

The Netherlands and Finland both published draft legislation to update their respective global minimum tax laws to include recent guidance from the OECD.

Switzerland is mulling OECD rules aimed at simplifying transfer pricing methods for certain transactions, also known as Amount B, under the global tax deal. Swiss Competent Authority member Ronny Rosenblatt said that Switzerland may use Amount B as a safe harbor and commit to accept it when dealing with covered countries that are using it.

Tax reforms driven by OECD and UN initiatives are reshaping the international tax landscape and require African economies, governments, and businesses to adapt to an evolving global tax environment.

Lee A. Sheppard examines the recent decision by the EU’s Court of Justice in the Apple transfer pricing case, arguing that it contradicts the Court’s own precedent and OECD guidance.

Mindy Herzfeld examines recently proposed dual consolidated loss regs and questions whether the regs are justified by the legislative history, or whether Treasury has exceeded its authority under Loper Bright Enterprises Inc. v. Raimondo.

Rémi D. Gagnon assesses the U.S. experience with the concept of economic substance and draws lessons for the successful development of this concept in Canada in light of the structural differences between the two systems.

Nine jurisdictions have signed a multilateral instrument to implement the OECD subject-to-tax rule, with 10 others to follow, advancing efforts to help developing countries ensure that some cross-border payments are taxed at a minimum rate.

The International Fiscal Association Congress will this year be held in Africa. The timing is fortuitous, as African countries are making significant advances in both modernizing tax administration and pursuing economic growth.

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While the adverse ruling is embarrassing, it’s only temporary. Ireland has a lot of credit in the bank following its moves to abolish the double Irish corporate tax avoidance structure and its embracing of both EU and global efforts to bring in a new set of global tax rules, which should maintain the country’s attractiveness to international investors.

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Italy’s Investment Management Exemption regime will help foreign investment vehicles avoid PE risk and attract non-resident investors to Italy, say CMS practitioners.

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The IRS is in the process of establishing a compliance assurance process team to streamline and expedite the resolution of transfer pricing issues in the CAP environment, an official has said.

House Republicans have expressed support for a recent legal challenge filed at the Belgian Constitutional Court against the undertaxed profits rule, saying the global minimum tax measure would give up U.S. sovereignty.

Assaf Harpaz explains the key issues being addressed in the U.N. framework convention on international tax cooperation, including the global north-south divide and its role in the multilateral process.

House Republicans are voicing support for a US business group’s legal challenge of an EU directive requiring all bloc member states to apply global minimum tax rules and vowing retaliatory action if countries employ the levy on US companies.

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The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecasts “somewhere between 60 to 80 jurisdictions” to adopt the rules in the coming years, said John Peterson, head of division for cross-border and international tax at the organization.

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Business leaders have warned that the UK government’s tax-raising plans and negativity about its economic inheritance risk undermining its efforts to boost private sector investment.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has confounded the tax world with the announcement that EU tax policy will fall under the purview of the next climate commissioner.

The Estonian government agreed in principle Tuesday to impose a 2% tax on accounting profits of companies and raise value-added tax to 24% in a bid to bolster the country’s security and defense, according to a press release from the country’s ministry of finance.

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The new 15% global minimum tax that became effective in almost 40 countries is barely having an impact on many of the 100 largest US companies so far, but it has prompted low-tax jurisdictions to raise their corporate tax rates.

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After listening to a barrage of diverging arguments about ways to declutter the EU tax system, the European Commission told stakeholders it hopes to present its conclusions in the second half of 2025.

Practitioners are concerned that the IRS and Treasury may have overstepped their grant of rulemaking authority when addressing deduction/no-inclusion transactions without explicit congressional permission.

Governments are continuing to make strides in implementing the base erosion and profit-shifting project through country-by-country reporting under action 13 and mutual agreement procedures under action 14, the OECD said.

Pasquale Tridico, president of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on tax affairs, has called on policymakers to include a formula to share profits in the common consolidated corporate tax rulebook proposed by the European Commission.

EU member states soon will discuss three options for establishing a new joint transfer pricing forum, and the choice they make will determine who is in the driver’s seat.

The OECD has released a standardized template that tax administrations will use when issuing outcome letters to multinational enterprises after completing an international compliance assurance program tax risk assessment.

The Treasury Department has issued long-awaited proposed regulations on the corporate alternative minimum tax. The proposed rules released run through a long list of special situations that require special attention, including treatment of foreign subsidiaries.

The OECD is working with country delegates on guidance addressing incentives that governments are offering to taxpayers that potentially undermine the integrity of the pillar 2 global minimum tax rules, an OECD adviser said.

Companies in Singapore would receive generous tax credits to offset some of the impact of the global minimum tax under legislation being considered by lawmakers.

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Eduardo Méndez, Cameron Taheri, and Thomas D. Bettge explain recent Mexican tax reforms and why businesses may need to reconsider the structure of Mexican manufacturing operations.

Former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in his long-awaited report on the future of EU competitiveness that the EU should use taxation as a carrot rather than a stick.

Apple has suffered a significant defeat after the EU’s top court ruled the iPhone maker must pay €13bn in back taxes, overturning an earlier decision in the Big Tech group’s favor.

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By joining the international tax agreement, the US can move towards a stronger “country by country” minimum tax — which acts as a greater deterrent to tax competition and eliminates the perverse effects of global averaging across high and low tax jurisdictions.

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Mindy Herzfeld examines the progress and prognosis of U.N. efforts to develop a framework convention on international tax cooperation.

The IRS has ruled that lower-tier dividends from a specified foreign corporation to a controlled foreign corporation are ineligible for the dividends received deduction, countering arguments that have long been advanced by taxpayers seeking the deduction.

Anshu Khanna reviews India’s Union Budget 2024 and explains the importance of some key proposals and the effect they could have on the Indian economy and international investors looking to invest in the Indian market.