Int'l Tax News

By Stephanie Soong Johnston

Brazil may be ready to harvest the fruits of a joint projectwith the OECD as it considers two options to bring its transfer pricing regime in linewith OECD standards.

By Jad Chamseddine

Lawmakers from both parties are questioning plans by France and the United Kingdom to impose a digital services tax on U.S. multinational technology companies,warning that doing sowould threaten trade negotiations.

By Tax Analyst

The German Banking Industry Committee and the German Derivatives Association have again raised concernswith aspects of the section 871(m) rules that they say create a disproportionate burden for some German financial institutions, seeking to reach a long-term solutionwith Treasury as full implementation of the rules.

By Annagabriella Colon

Québécoise Minister of Justice and Attorney General Sonia LeBel confirmed that the provincewill join Saskatchewan's fight against the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act ÔøΩ and more specifically, the federal carbon tax ÔøΩ before Canada's Supreme Court.

By Sandy Bhogal

Sandy Bhogal discusses the United Kingdom's proposed digital services tax in the context of OECD and EU efforts to address the perceived tax concerns arising from the digitalization of business.

By Tax Analyst

The Court of Justice of the European Union has published the reference for a case (C-337/19 P) onwhether the Court should overturn a General Court of the European Union judgment (T-131/16 and T-263/16 (GCEU 2019)) that annulled a November 2015 European Commission decision (C(2015) 9837 final) that Belgium's "excess profit" tax scheme violated EU state aid rules by granting selective advantages to multinational corporations.

By Annagabriella Colon

The U.N.'s 2019 tax treaty negotiation manual contains several changes reflected in its updated model tax treaty, including revisions developed as part of the OECD's base erosion and profit-shifting project.

By Tax Analyst

Steptoe & Johnson LLP has asked that the proposed section 163(j) business interest deduction limit not apply to controlled foreign corporations that earn no effectively connected income or that Treasury consider alternatives, such as adopting the firm's recommended safe harbors or applying section 163(j) only to CFCswith specified characteristics.

By B. Anthony Billings, Kyungjin Kim and Santanu Mitra

B. Anthony Billings, Kyungjin Kim, and Santanu Mitra explain the incentives and operation of the global intangible low-taxed income and foreign-derived intangible income provisions under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and recently proposed regulations.

By Andrew Goodall

Discussing the OECD's efforts to find a global solution to tax the digital economy, tax professionals stressed the importance of establishing agreed principles and finding the right balance between simplicity and accuracy.

By Tax Analyst

The IRS has scheduled a July 10 public hearing on proposed regulations (REG-104464-18) that provide guidance on the deduction for foreign-derived intangible income and global intangible low-taxed income under section 250.

By Tax Analyst

HM Revenue & Customs has published draft regulations to ensure that new rules on the taxation of hybrid capital instrumentswork as intended for instrumentswith a takeover or change of control clause; the consultation period closes August 9.

By Teri Sprackland

The French National Assembly has passed a bill to introduce a digital services tax,which is expected to receive final approval from the Senate July 11.

By Tax Analyst

Advocate General Juliane Kokott in Tesco-Global Áruházak Zrt. v. Hungary, C√¢$323/18, advised the Court of Justice of the European Union that a Hungarian progressive turnover tax does not violate EU state aid rules or infringe on freedom of establishment.

By Jennifer Mcloughlin

A new mechanism designed to facilitate faster resolution of tax disputes between EU member states took effect July 1.

By Elodie Lamer

The debate that fueled anti-tax-avoidance measures at the international levelwas poorly informed, and corporate tax increases can only harm revenues collection, growth, and employment, according to an EU advisory body study.

By Ryan Finley

In a case that may affect future digital services tax challenges, a new advocate general opinion says that Hungary's progressive turnover tax does not violate the EU's freedom of establishment or state aid laws.

By Andrew Goodall

International discussions for consensus on a solution to tax the digital economy are progressing quickly, according to the OECD's tax chief,who stressed the need for political agreement as soon as possible.

By Carrie Brandon Elliot

Carrie Brandon Elliot describes how the section 267A proposed regulations apply to reverse hybridswhich are not covered by the statute.

By Mindy Herzfeld

In news analysis, Mindy Herzfeld discusses the recent temporary and proposed section 245A regulations that Treasury says are needed to prevent taxpayer abuse of the integrated international tax system put in place by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

By Tom O'shea

Tom O'shea examines the Court of Justice of the European Union's judgment in X GmbH v. Germany, inwhich the Court upheld the application of German controlled foreign corporation rules regarding a Swiss company owned by X GmbH.

By Stephanie Soong Johnston

Although the United Kingdom has missed the deadline to transpose an EU directive setting out a new tax dispute resolution mechanism, it expects to adopt it before the end of the year,with retroactive effect.

By Reuven S. Avi-Yonah and Ajitesh Kir

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah and Ajitesh Kir discuss a recent Indian public consultation document on amending the rules for profit attribution to permanent establishments and askwhether it might indicate a larger movement away from the arm's-length standard toward a unitary tax system.

By Stephanie Soong Johnston

The British crown dependencies' pledges to pass legislation by 2023 to publish their beneficial ownership registers seem like a transparencywin, but U.K. lawmakerswill test those promises before decidingwhether to pass enforcement legislation.

By Annagabriella Colon

The Court of Appeal for Ontario in a 4-1 decision held that Canada's Parliament had the constitutional authority to enact the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to address matters of national concern.

By Tax Analyst

HM Revenue & Customs has issued the draft Double Taxation Dispute Resolution Regulations 2019,whichwould implement Council Directive (EU) 2017/1852 of October 10, 2017, on tax dispute resolution mechanisms in the EU; interested parties should respond by August 27.

Bywilliam Hoke

Glencore PLC, one of theworld's largest natural resources and commodities firms, said it is reviewing its use of subsidiaries in tax havenswith the intention of consolidating or eliminating as many as possible.

By Jennifer Mcloughlin

A new mechanism designed to facilitate faster resolution of tax disputes between EU member states took effect July 1.

By Stephanie Soong Johnston

Leaders of theworld's biggest economies endorsed the OECD's "ambitiouswork program" to get global agreement on a solution to tax the digital economy by 2020, promising to intensify their efforts to reach that goal.

By Tax Analyst

The European Commission has issued an opening decision for Nike's European tax arrangements, finding that the Netherlands' advance pricing agreements to two Dutch companieswere based on flawed applications of the transactional net margin method and therefore constituted state aid.

By Ryan Finley

Luxembourg's tax administration has released a circularwith guidance on the country's amended patent box regime adopted in 2018, including details on the asset and income eligibility rules and documentation requirements.

By Teri Sprackland

Digital taxation remains the most contentious issue as the EU Council presidency shifts from Romania to Finland,which favors an OECD-led approach.

Bywilliam Hoke

Routing royalty payments through Dutch special purpose entities allowed multinational enterprises to avoid roughly 1.2 billion Euro of tax a year, according to a recently published academic study.

By Amanda Athanasiou

EU tax revenueswere higher in 2017 than in the previous decade, and the tax burden on labor hit a historic high that year, according to a new report on tax trends across the EU.

By Stephanie Soong Johnston

Countries face difficult obstacles as theywork toward a unified approach on the reallocation of taxing rights, but G-20 political leadershipwill be necessary for a global solution in 2020, the OECD's chief said.

By Carrie Brandon Elliot

Carrie Brandon Elliot reviews how the unintended consequences of hybrid regulations can reflect overreach as applied to notional interest deductions and group relief, and incompleteness as applied to inclusions under the global intangible low-taxed income and subpart F regimes.

A panel of tax experts surveyed by International Tax Review say digital services taxes (DSTs) are distortive and must be temporary - but few thought theywere illegal or discriminatory.

While feedback on the International Compliance Assurance Program (ICAP) has been overwhelmingly positive, unsurprisingly,the first pilot did encounter some teething problems.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday approved four bilateral tax treaties, rejecting an effort by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to include more privacy protections for Americans in the agreements. The committee approved by voice vote tax treatieswith Spain, Switzerland, Japan and Luxembourg and voted down Paul's proposed amendment to the bilateral treatywith Spain thatwould have raised the standard the U.S. government must meet to request or share taxpayer information under the agreement.

Businesses are getting helpÔøΩbut not everything theywantedÔøΩas the Treasury Department addresses one of the biggest corporate frustrationswith the 2017 tax law. Under a new rule proposed earlier this month, Treasurywould make it easier to escape a minimum U.S. tax thatwas supposed to hit only companieswith low foreign taxes but also ended up affecting those operating in high-tax countries. Once the rule is final, U.S.-based companies could choose to have subsidiarieswith tax rates of at least 18.9% excluded from that minimum tax.

The OECD's Achim Pross says his ultimate aim is to expand the International Compliance Assurance Programme (ICAP), but companies may be disappointed to learn that it could be a relatively slow process.