Int'l Tax News

By Kristen A. Parillo

Treasury has issued proposed rules on classifying cloud transactions as either a provision of services or a lease of property.

By Martin A. Sullivan

In economic analysis, Martin A. Sullivan examines the incentives for U.S. multinational corporations to shift profit out of the United States.

By Annagabriella Colon

Associations from Austria and the Czech Republic have criticized the digital services taxes proposed by their governments,warning that the move could be challenged as unconstitutional.

By Stephanie Soong Johnston

Many U.K digital tech businesses are against tax avoidance, and some have expressed frustrationwith the tax practices of global tech companies operating in the United Kingdom, according to new HM Revenue & Customs research.

By Ryan Finley

African governments that lack the resources necessary to enforce complex transfer pricing rules should carefully design safe harbors that approximate arm's-length outcomeswhile simplifying tax administration, according to a paper released by a nongovernmental organization.

By Nathan Boidman and Michael N. Kandev

Nathan Boidman and Michael N. Kandev discuss Canada's ratification of the OECD's multilateral instrument, focusing on the rules of entry into force and effect of the MLI for Canada. They also consider Canada's position on the MLI and the principal purpose test.

By Annagabriella Colon

The Association of Large French Companies has recommended that the U.S. trade representative postpone a final assessment concerning France's digital services tax until the OECD concludes its digital economy taxationwork in 2020.

By Annagabriella Colon

The United Kingdom asserts that the European Commission selected an artificially narrow reference frameworkwhen it found that an exemption from its controlled foreign corporation rules for intragroup financing profit constituted state aid.

Bywilliam Hoke

Qualifying businesses carrying out manufacturing and research and development in the newly expanded Shanghai Free Trade Zonewill pay income tax at a reduced rate of 15 percent, China's State Council has announced.

By Tax Analyst

The General Court of the European Union has published the reference for the United Kingdom's appeal (T-363/19) of a European Commission ruling that found a U.K. CFC group financing exemption constitutes unlawful state aid that benefited some U.K. companies in violation of the EU freedom of establishment.

By Frans Vanistendael

Frans Vanistendael discusses the recent European Parliamentary elections and the process of choosing the top EU institutional leaders,whowill set the EU tax policy agenda for the next five years.

By Tax Analyst

An organization identified by Treasury as the Information Technology Industry Council has raised concernswith digital services tax (DST) proposals in several European countries, sayingwhen implemented the DSTswill infringe the EU's and the member states'wTO obligations by discriminating de facto against digital service providers from otherwTO members.

By Annagabriella Colon

Alberta filed legal arguments in its fight against Canada's Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act as Canada's attorney general pushed back on Saskatchewan's request to postpone the hearing of its appeal regarding the carbon tax.

By Ryan Finley and Kristen A. Parillo

Despite a pending request before the Ninth Circuit for an en banc rehearing in Altera v. Commissioner, the IRSwill resume enforcement of a regulation that requires sharing of stock-based compensation costs by cost-sharing participants.

By Tatiana Falcao

In this article, the author examines the status of the OECD'swork program on the digitalization of the economy and considerswhat a consensus solution might look like. She also discusses the potential effect of a proposed modified residual profit-split method for multinational entities on the extractive industries, analyzing a recent Nigerian transfer pricing case.

By Sebastian Duenas

In this article, the author examines controlled foreign corporation tax regimes in Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Colombia, the Netherlands, China, and Spain regarding the possible expansion of existing anti-base-erosion CFC regimes or the potential adoption of a minimum tax.

By Yue "Daisy" Dai

In this article, the author examines how companies like Uber and Airbnb present themselves to tax authorities, how different jurisdictions respond to and tax the sharing economy, and the unique challenges of taxing platform businesses in China, the United States, and around the globe.

By Carrie Brandon Elliot

Carrie Brandon Elliot reviews how new section 245A temporary regulations curtail section 245A's participation exemption for distributions of E&P earned after the transition tax final measurement date but before the effective date of GILTI.

By Andrew Velarde

As litigation over the validity of the transition tax regs advances, the Justice Department is continuing to fight the taxpayer's attempt to establish standing through incurred compliance costs.

By Ryan Finley

By Mindy Herzfeld

Mindy Herzfeld continues her series on guidance interpreting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, focusing on questions left unresolved by final and proposed regulations.

Google, Facebook and Twitter have taken a combined $1.6 billion income tax hit from June's Ninth Circuit decision to reinstate IRS rules requiring related parties in intercompany cost-sharing arrangements to share stock-based compensation expenses, recent SEC filings show. The Silicon Valley powerhouseswere among major tech industry players to disclose, in financial statements to investors via the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, negative effects from the appeals court's opinion in Altera Corp. v. Commissioner.

In-house blockchain experts and consultants say companies and tax authorities can use distributed ledger technology to report and administer transactional taxes as real-time reporting increases.

Mexico's governmentwill propose adjusting the tax system to address the "realities" of the digital economy and e-commercewhen the 2020 budget is presented in September, Finance Ministry official Francisco Arias said onwednesday. Arias said that no new taxeswill be created and that existing taxeswill not be increased, but the governmentwill aim to incorporate more taxpayers.

Countries must have the flexibility to pursue their "own policy mix" inwhatever tax deal is reachedwithin the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a spokeswoman for Singapore told Law360. The comments Tuesdaywere in response to an investigation into a meeting led by another smallwealthy country, Switzerland, to discuss ongoing negotiations led by the Paris-based OECD to shift more corporate taxing rights from countrieswith corporate headquarters to thosewhere customers are located.

As France's digital services tax takes retroactive effect and the UK releases more details, tax heads spoke of a nightmarish cocktail of uncertainty and high politics. Tax directors admitted to ITR that they are increasingly alarmed both at the prospect of more unilateral digital services taxes and at their emergence at the forefront of international tax politics.

By Matthijs Haarsma

Matthijs Haarsma discusses recent changes to the definition of a permanent establishment under Luxembourg's domestic tax law and considerswhether the changes may amount to a tax treaty override

By Martina A. Sullivan

Altera Corp.'s quest to have its cost-sharing dispute reheard by the Ninth Circuit is getting support from Xilinx Inc. and other business representatives,which argued in amicus briefs that the court botched its administrative law analysis.

By Stephanie Soong Johnston

Amazonwill increase fees for vendors selling on Amazon.fr by 3 percent in response to France's digital services tax, fulfilling economists' predictions that affected companieswould pass on the tax to other businesses and consumers.

By Christian Kaeser, Jeffrey Owens and Sam Sim

Christian Kaeser, Jeffrey Owens, and Sam Sim discuss proposals to use formulary apportionment to tax the digital economy in the historical context of adapting the arm's-length principle to changing circumstances, and they considerwhether those proposals ÔøΩ as departures from the arm's-length principle ÔøΩ spell the end of that long-held cornerstone of international taxation.

By Stephanie Soong Johnston

The Canadian government is asking for input on several proposed tax measures announced in Budget 2019, including amendments to its transfer pricing rules for non-arm's-length cross-border transactions and improvements to the foreign affiliate anti-dumping rules.

By Amanda Athanasiou

Three British nongovernmental organizations have identified Brexit and a reshuffling of the Cabinet as opportunities for the U.K. government to improve consultationswith businesses and revise its approach to tax policy.

By Tatiana Falcao

Tatiana Falcão examines existing carbon taxing regimes and considers how countries can create and gain public support for fair, equitable carbon schemeswith a view toward reaching an international consensus on carbon taxation.

Bywilliam Hoke

U.S.-based Tesla Inc. committed to pay the Chinese government CNY 2.23 billion (around $324 million) in tax annually as part of an agreement to build a Chinese plant to produce electric cars and battery packs.

By Robert Goulder

Robert Goulder examines the efforts of the OECD Inclusive Framework and predicts the United Stateswill never implement the resulting recommendations, despite playing a critical role in their formulation.

By Amy Hamilton

New York City intentionally is not conforming to the state's newly enacted law exempting 95 percent of global intangible low-taxed income from the state corporate franchise tax base, according to a city finance official.

By Stephanie Soong Johnston

After hitting out on Twitter at France's newly enacted digital services tax and arguing that the United States, not France, should tax American tech companies, President Trump hinted at a potential tax on Frenchwines.

By Andrew Velarde

The IRS is considering changing its foreign-derived intangible income provisions to allow for the application of the manufacturing rule to licensed intangible property.

By Mindy Herzfeld

In the first of a series on guidance addressing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Mindy Herzfeld reviews final and proposed regulations interpreting the TCJA's changes to cross-border taxation.

By Martina A. Sullivan

In economic analysis, Martin A. Sullivan explains a spreadsheet he provides as a tool to helpwith the complexity inherent in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's new international provisions.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Saturday that Francewould proceedwith taxing revenues of big technology firms and urged the United States not to bring trade tariffs into the debate on how to fairly raise levies on digital services.

Companies are starting to explorewhether the UK corporate Accountability Network's latest accountancy framework,which requires tax data to be included in financial accounts for investor analysis, benefits their tax and business strategies.

France's Emmanuel Macron discussed the need for an international agreement on taxing digital service companieswith U.S. President Donald Trump in a call on Friday, the French president's office said.

G7 finance ministers have said that there is an urgent need to address the tax challenges posed by the digitalization of the economy. In a joint statement issued after their July 17-18 meeting, the ministers emphasized the "need to improve the current international tax framework" and pointed to the issues raised by digitalization and "the shortcomings of the current transfer pricing system."

Spain's acting Economy Minister, Nadia Calvino, said the Governmentwill seek approval of legislation to introduce a digital services tax at the earliest opportunity. Speaking to Cadena Ser radio lastweek, Calvino said the Government intends to put the tax back on the agenda "as soon as possible," once a coalition government can be negotiated.

The Irish Government has released additional guidance on its proposals for new anti-hybrid rules, responding to feedback to a consultation launched in November 2018. Under the EU's Anti-Tax Avoidance Directives (ATADs), EU member states are required to introduce rules to prevent taxpayers from engaging in tax system arbitrage and seeking to exploit differences in countries' tax systems.