International
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October 11, 2024
Fla. Businessman's Estate Faces $2.6M In FBAR Penalties
A Florida businessman's estate owes the federal government $2.6 million in penalties plus interest for his failure to report his Swiss bank account from 2013 to 2017, the government told a federal court.
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October 11, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Latham, Kirkland
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Rio Tinto agrees to acquire Arcadium Lithium for roughly $6.7 billion, Ares Management Corp. and GCP International reach a $3.7 billion deal, and Butterfly Equity announces plans to buy The Duckhorn Portfolio for $2 billion.
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October 10, 2024
Ukraine's Parliament Hikes Taxes To Fund War With Russia
Ukraine's Parliament announced that it approved several amendments to the country's tax code Thursday that will raise revenues for its war with Russia.
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October 10, 2024
Pillar 2 Carveout Should Cover Some Mobile Items, NFTC Says
The exemption for tangible investments from the global minimum tax known as Pillar Two should include certain mobile assets, such as ships and aircraft, the National Foreign Trade Council recommended.
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October 10, 2024
Ryanair To Scale Back German Flights After Tax Hike
Irish discount airline Ryanair announced plans Thursday to follow through on its threat to cut back service to Germany next summer over tax issues, saying it will cut 12% of its total capacity in the country — equal to 1.8 million seats — and close three bases of operation.
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October 10, 2024
Pfizer Lone Holdout In Senate Pharma Tax Probe, Wyden Says
Pfizer Inc. is the only company to withhold a country-by-country breakdown of its tax planning in the Senate Finance Committee's probe into how Republicans' 2017 tax package reduced the pharmaceutical industry's U.S. liabilities, according to a letter Chairman Ron Wyden released Thursday.
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October 10, 2024
UK Exit Taxes OK When Paid Over Time, Upper Tribunal Says
An exit tax on U.K. trusts leaving the country pre-Brexit interfered with their European Union right to free movement of capital, but is brought into compliance if trusts can pay the tax over at least a five-year period, the Upper Tribunal ruled.
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October 10, 2024
Switzerland Reports Info Exchanges With 108 Jurisdictions
Switzerland's Federal Tax Administration has exchanged information on roughly 3.7 million financial accounts with 108 jurisdictions so far in 2024, the government said Thursday.
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October 10, 2024
Ireland's Finance Bill Sets Out Foreign Dividend Exemption
The Irish government set out its plans for a new participation tax exemption for foreign dividends as part of a finance bill published Thursday.
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October 10, 2024
Algeria Joins OECD Tax Transparency Treaty
Algeria formally joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's global tax transparency agreement on combating tax avoidance and evasion by multinational corporations, the OECD announced Thursday.
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October 09, 2024
Australia Floats Debt Reduction Creation Rules Guidance
The Australian Taxation Office published draft guidance Wednesday for the country's new debt deduction creation rules, including the planned compliance approach and a framework for risk assessment.
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October 09, 2024
European Parliament Backs Brazil's G20 Wealth Tax Plan
A majority of the European Parliament supports a 2% minimum tax on billionaires presented by Brazil at the Group of 20 nations meeting, asking the European Union to pursue the topic at the group's November summit, according to joint statements by members of Parliament on Wednesday.
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October 09, 2024
Swiss Council Rejects Funding Pensions With Transaction Tax
Switzerland should not use the revenue generated by its two taxes on financial market transactions to fund the country's pension fund, nor should it create new ones for that purpose, the Swiss Federal Council said Wednesday.
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October 09, 2024
OECD Should Clarify Pillar 2 Safe Harbor Timing, CPAs Say
The OECD should clarify when exactly multinational corporations need to determine whether they qualify for a transitional safe harbor under an international minimum tax agreement, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants recommended in a letter.
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October 09, 2024
UK Gov't Greenlights Film Industry Tax Credit
U.K. film companies will be able to gain over 50% tax relief for their films' costs from a tax credit approved Wednesday by the Labour government.
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October 09, 2024
3M Tax Ruling Must Fall Post-Chevron, Chamber Tells 8th Circ.
The U.S. Supreme Court's ending of the Chevron doctrine calls for overturning a U.S. Tax Court ruling that let the IRS allocate $24 million of income to multinational conglomerate 3M from a Brazilian affiliate, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the Eighth Circuit on Wednesday.
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October 09, 2024
Starmer Refuses To Rule Out Payroll Tax Hike
Prime Minister Keir Starmer didn't rule out raising employers' National Insurance contributions, a payroll tax used to fund healthcare and state pensions, during Wednesday's question time.
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October 09, 2024
Election Uncertainty Hampers Companies' Tax Planning
With the November election approaching, businesses are bracing for the potential impact of two very different sets of tax policies, with the resulting uncertainty making long-term tax planning increasingly difficult.
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October 09, 2024
Australia Seeking Large Cos.'s Tax Execs For Advisory Board
The Australian Taxation Office is looking for executives in charge of taxes for the country's largest businesses to join an advisory group focused on improving the Australian taxation systems, the ATO said Wednesday.
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October 09, 2024
Final Treasury Rules Shut Off Inclusion For Repatriated IP
The U.S. Treasury Department adopted final rules Wednesday that shut off an annual income inclusion associated with intangibles for companies in certain situations that have transferred intellectual property back to the U.S. from overseas.
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October 09, 2024
Gov't Warned Over National Insurance Levy On Pensions
About half of U.K. employers would scale back the amount they pay into staff pensions to regulatory minimums if a new tax was applied to contributions, according to a survey by a trade group published Wednesday.
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October 08, 2024
Germany May Offer Tax Break For 'E-Fuel' Cars, Ministry Says
The German government will consider a motor vehicle tax exemption for cars running only on fuels manufactured with renewable energy, known as e-fuels-only vehicles, the German Ministry of Finance announced Tuesday.
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October 08, 2024
China Pushes Back On Turkish EV Tariffs, Targets EU Brandy
China said Tuesday that it is appealing to the World Trade Organization to halt Turkish tariffs on electric and hybrid vehicles made in the country, and it announced a temporary anti-dumping measure on European Union brandy that follows the bloc's own EV tariffs.
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October 08, 2024
Tire Seller Counts As Importer, Owes $2M Tax, 5th Circ. Says
A Houston truck sales company owes nearly $2 million in excise taxes because it qualifies as the importer of tires that it bought from a Chinese manufacturer, the Fifth Circuit ruled Tuesday in overturning the decision of a Texas federal judge.
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October 08, 2024
Loss Rule Carveouts Raise Challenges In Pillar 2, Official Says
An IRS official flagged administrability concerns Tuesday with potential safe harbors that would, in some cases, carve out an international minimum tax agreement from interacting with long-standing domestic rules aimed at preventing companies from using the same economic loss twice.
Expert Analysis
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Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Preserving Payment Rights
Stephanie Magnell and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions that together illustrate the importance of keeping accurate records and adhering to contractual procedures to avoid inadvertently waiving contractual rights to cost reimbursements or nonroutine payments.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step
From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity
The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism
As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.
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Reading Between The Lines Of Justices' Moore Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Moore v. U.S. decision, that the Internal Revenue Code Section 965 did not violate the 16th Amendment, was narrowly tailored to minimally disrupt existing tax regimes, but the justices' various opinions leave the door open to future tax challenges and provide clues for what the battles may look like, say Caroline Ngo and Le Chen at McDermott.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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After Chevron: Uniform Tax Law Interpretation Not Guaranteed
The loss of Chevron deference will significantly alter the relationship between the IRS, courts and Congress when it comes to tax law, potentially precipitating more transparent rulemaking, but also provoking greater uncertainty due to variability in judicial interpretation, say Michelle Levin and Carneil Wilson at Dentons.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.
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3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.