The European Court of Justice on December 17 ruled in Timac Agro Deutschland v.Finanzamt Sankt Augustin (C‑388/14) as . . .
A bill introduced by Senate Finance Committee Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore) to amend US passive foreign investment company (PFIC) rules would clarify the active insurance exception but could also create problems for companies that underwrite catastrophic risks, writes PwC in a June 29 analysis of the bill. See, PwC.
The 384-page OECD report, released August 11, compares tax administrations on their performance and discusses best practices and trends. See: OECD
Iceland has revised its transfer pricing rules to no longer require documentation for domestic transactions, narrow the definition of related entities, and remove a reference to the . . .
The Brazilian Federal Revenue Department on June 8 issued Normative Instruction 1568/15 modifying the calculation of transfer prices based on Brazilian commodities methods applicable to imports and exports, writes PwC in a tax alert. See, PwC.
The US IRS on February 27 published final regulations (TD 9712) on electing the alternative simplified credit under section 41(c)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 41(a) provides an incremental tax credit for increasing research activities based on a percentage of a taxpayer’s qualified research expenses . . .
Switzerland’s Federal Council on September 11 proposed to extend the temporary withholding tax exemption for interest paid on contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) and write-off bonds of systematically important banks and to establish a similar . . .
The National Taxation Bureau of Taipei, Ministry of Finance, on November 23 released guidance on the tax treatment of payments made by profit seeking . . .
The Australian Taxation Office announced December 7 that it will fulfill its obligation to publicly report tax information of corporate entities pursuant to new tax transparency . . .
Singapore’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) published on November 17 a summary of its responses to a public consultation on the Draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2016, indicating which commentator suggestions have been accepted and rejected. See: Summary of Responses.
The US IRS, in a technical advice memorandum released April 24, ruled that a refund claim filed in year 13 is not timely for taxes paid for year 2 if the claim for refund results from a net operating loss (NOL) in year 4 that was generated when the taxpayer made a timely election to deduct foreign taxes paid in lieu of the previously claimed . . .
The US IRS on December 7 published corrections to final and temporary regulations (TD 9734) issued September 18, changing the effective date . . .
The US IRS has announced that it will hold a hearing on September 18 on proposed regulations released April 23 that provide guidance . . .
The OECD on March 2 reported on the outcome of regional meetings held with Latin American and Caribbean nations and with Francophone nations designed to incorporate the views of non-OECD nations into OECD base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project output.The OECD said that tax officials from 14 Latin America and Caribbean nations gathered at a February 26-27 meeting in Lima, Peru, along with representatives . . .
The US IRS on September 9 made public training materials designed to assist agents in determining if a taxpayer has shifted income outside of the US in a sale of tangible goods to related parties by failing to properly . . .
Singapore’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Sept. 24 released its response to pubic consultations on the draft Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2014. The MOF said it would adopt 32 stakeholder suggestions, including widening the scope of the draft law’s antiavoidance provisions applicable to FATCA reporting obligations and changing aspects of the productivity and innovation credit scheme. See, release, annex.
India is negotiating about 50 bilateral advance pricing agreements (APAs) with other . . .
Poland has proposed amendments to its tax laws that would require some taxpayers to provide additional transfer pricing documentation, including local benchmarking analyses, preparation of a master file, and country-by-country reporting, writes PwC in a May 29 tax alert. See, PwC.
Five foreign funds located in the US and UK have filed a writ peition in Bombay High Court challenging India’s demand for minimum alternative tax (MAT) on profits earned before April 1 from . . .
The U.S. IRS on July 21 released an advance copy of Notice 2014-44, announcing that the government will issue regulations to prevent taxpayers from engaging in transactions following covered asset acquisitions that are intended to invoke the application of the statutory disposition rule under section 901(m)(3)(B)(ii) but avoid the purpose of section 901(m). Notice 2014-44
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on March 26 released a draft report that concludes that developing countries are losing about $100 billion every year from MNE tax avoidance through use of offshore hubs. Some 30% of cross-border corporate investment . . .
The European Commission on March 16 released the first report of the Expert Group on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account . . .
The US IRS, in a private letter ruling released May 8, has concluded that royalties paid to a foreign corporation for the broadcasting of television channels are exempt from US income tax under the royalties article of a tax treaty. See, PLR 201519003.
The European Parliament on December 2 voted to create a new committee to investigate tax rulings, specifying that the new committee will have the . . .
The EU Commission has appointed 34 organizations and 12 individuals . . .
Belgium will add Luxembourg to its tax haven blacklist, writes Luxemberger Wort in June 2 article, quoting Belgian media sources. Such a listing would create hassles for Luxembourg and Belgian companies engaged in cross-border business, as all transactions over 100,000 euros must be reported. See, Luxemburger Wort.
The UK on April 20 corrected an errors in its interim guidance on the diverted profits tax. Language was modified in DPT2010 on page 66 concerning the duty to notify and a factual description . . .
The UK’s HM Revenue and Customs on October 2 released four sets proposed regulations governing taxation of corporate debt and derivative . . .
Switzerland’s Federal Council on August 26 announced that it will recommend that Parliament reject a move to heighten bank client confidentiality through the “Yes to the protection of privacy” initiative . . .
A US district court, in the case of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. v. US decided May 8, disallowed a US taxpayer’s claim for a foreign tax credit under the US-UK tax treaty for withholding taxes imposed on substitute dividend payments received by its wholly owned US subsidiary from its UK subsidiary pursuant to back-to-back stock loan transactions, EY writes in a May 19 tax alert. See: EY .
The European Commission on February 6 invited interested parties to comment on its state aid investigation into whether an advance pricing agreement (APA) granted by Luxembourg to Amazon that set the price of intra-group royalties. . .
The European Commission on July 13 released a study exploring policy options designed to make the EU VAT system fairer to business engaged in cross-border trade. The EC-commissioned study, prepared by EY, finds t . . .
The UN has released a draft, designed to serve as the basis of discussion at the UN’s Third Annual Conference on Financing for Development, which recommends that the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation on Tax Matters be upgraded to an intergovernmental committee. The Committee of Experts, currently a subsidiary body . . .
The US IRS in private letter ruling 201514006 released April 3 has granted a taxpayer consent to change to the elective method and period-by-period identification for purposes of including stock based compensation as an intangible development cost that taxpayer must share for purposes of its cost sharing agreement. See, PLR 201514006.
A coalition of European and American trade unions, joined by the anti-poverty campaign group War on Want, released a report February 24 claiming that McDonald’s avoided over €1 billion (USD 1.1 billion) in European corporate taxes from 2009-2013 by shifting income from its European franchises to a Luxembourg subsidiary through use of royalty payments.The group said that McDonald’s restructured . . .
The Australian Taxation Office on November 10 published a general overview if Australia’s advance pricing arrangement (APA) program. See: Australian Taxation Office.
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