International
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May 03, 2024
HMRC Director Rejoins KPMG To Boost Tax Dispute Offering
A former deputy director at HM Revenue & Customs has returned to KPMG as director of KPMG Law's tax disputes teams, the firm has announced.
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May 03, 2024
Africa Seeks Early UN Reform On Transfer Pricing, Exchanges
Legally binding protocols that reform transfer pricing and exchange of information to the benefit of all countries where multinational corporations operate should be developed simultaneously with the U.N. framework convention on global tax, the U.N.'s African bloc, India and others said Friday.
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May 03, 2024
Estonia Implements 2 EU Tax Laws After Delays
Estonia officially enacted two European Union-wide tax measures that it was late putting into national law, both relating to the OECD's standards for global minimum taxation of large companies.
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May 03, 2024
Aussie Treasury Seeks Input On Powers After PwC Scandal
With investigations into PwC Australia's leak of classified tax plan documents ongoing, the Australian government is asking the public whether it thinks its regulatory powers over tax and accounting firms are sufficient, its Treasury announced Friday.
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May 03, 2024
New Fiscal Rules Force EU Countries To Limit Deficits
New European Union fiscal rules that recently kicked in will force EU countries to restrict public budget deficits by better balancing tax revenues with government spending, the European Commission said Thursday.
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May 03, 2024
US Trade Position Seen Contradicting Stance In Pillar 1 Talks
The U.S. trade representative's withdrawal of support for digital trade proposals has caused tax policy observers to worry that the U.S. position on trade is undermining that of U.S. Treasury Department officials negotiating a taxing rights overhaul at the OECD known as Pillar One.
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May 03, 2024
Finland's Stance On Swiss Treaty Recalls Ended Portugal Deal
Finland's plan to renegotiate its tax treaty with Switzerland in response to concerns about pension tax avoidance has some observers worried that the country will cancel that accord as it did a treaty with Portugal in recent years.
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May 03, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Skadden, Wachtell, Davis Polk
In this week's Taxation With Representation, L'Occitane International said its executive director and chair is leading an offer to buy the company's shares he doesn't already own, UMB Financial agreed to purchase Heartland Financial USA, Medline said it agreed to acquire Ecolab's global surgical solutions business and The Mosaic Co. said it agreed to sell its stake in a phosphate production joint venture.
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May 03, 2024
IRS Can Assess Foreign Info Disclosure Penalty, DC Circ. Says
The D.C. Circuit on Friday overturned a major U.S. Tax Court ruling that had struck down the Internal Revenue Service's authority to assess and administratively collect penalties from taxpayers for failing to file an information return on their interests in a foreign corporation.
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May 03, 2024
Final EV Tax Credit Regs Add New Battery Tracing Test
The U.S. Treasury Department unveiled final regulations Friday for the up to $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit that include a more detailed process for automakers to trace the battery supply chain to qualify for the credit's domestic content requirements.
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May 03, 2024
German's Austrian Ski Holiday Ends With Arrest In VAT Probe
A German citizen on a skiing holiday in Austria was arrested over a large-scale value-added tax fraud scheme, the Finance Ministry in Vienna said in a statement on Friday.
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May 02, 2024
Claimed Panama Papers Leaker Fights To Hide ID In €5M Suit
A person claiming to be the Panama Papers leaker told a federal court they would fear for their life if the court made them disclose their identity in a €5 million ($6.3 million) suit against Germany, protesting a magistrate judge's suggestion that the suit be tossed because the person wouldn't identify themselves.
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May 02, 2024
IRS To Boost Audit Rates By 50% On Wealthy, Werfel Says
The Internal Revenue Service plans to nearly triple audit rates on corporations with assets over $250 million and increase audit rates by more than 50% on wealthy taxpayers with more than $10 million in total positive income by 2026, Commissioner Daniel Werfel said Thursday.
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May 02, 2024
Latest Stock Buyback Tax Rules May Still Have Wide Reach
The U.S. Treasury Department recently floated regulations that narrow an earlier proposal aimed at preventing foreign-parented corporations from circumventing a new excise tax on stock buybacks, but the regulations still characterize avoidance in ways that could include routine intercompany transactions.
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May 02, 2024
HMRC Asked To Investigate Firm On Dodging Sanctions
HM Revenue & Customs should investigate a German-owned garage door manufacturer for violating sanctions by importing products from Belarus into the U.K., but instead authorities brushed off the case and now the company might receive a license, a U.K. lawmaker said.
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May 02, 2024
Canada Budget Seeks To Establish Corp. Min. Tax Standards
Budget proposals submitted to Canada's Parliament by the finance minister would implement the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's global corporate minimum tax standards as part of the country's overarching budget plans.
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May 02, 2024
OECD-Asia Group Helping Reform Agenda, OECD Head Says
A group that brings together countries from the mostly Western Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Southeast Asia to discuss issues, including tax, is helping countries make changes, the head of the OECD said Thursday.
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May 02, 2024
Airlines Slam Increase In German Air Passenger Tax
The increase in Germany's air passenger tax on May 1 will weaken the country's economy and damage the aviation industry's ability to cut down on its carbon use, an airline group said on Thursday.
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May 01, 2024
No Relief For Fla. Adviser Convicted In $80M Trading Scam
The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the conviction of a Florida investment adviser who bilked more than $80 million from the hundreds of people he persuaded to invest in a fraudulent company, after concluding he was not in custody when he made statements to the police.
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May 01, 2024
Middle East, North African Gov'ts Back UN For Corp. Tax Talks
Governments should make a high-level commitment to address corporate tax reform within the United Nations' framework convention on international tax cooperation, an intergovernmental group of Middle Eastern and North African countries said Wednesday.
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May 01, 2024
Think Tank Says 'Distortive' DSTs Not The Right Way Forward
As jurisdictions around the world continue to struggle with how to adequately tax the increasingly digital economy, they should look to expand their consumption taxes, not enact digital services taxes, the Tax Foundation said.
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May 01, 2024
Liberty Global Defends $109M Tax Refund Bid In 10th Circ.
Telecommunications giant Liberty Global urged the Tenth Circuit to revive the company's $109 million tax refund bid, arguing a lower court rejected the claim by wrongly disregarding intercompany transactions that are permitted under legislation involving the repatriation of foreign profits.
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May 01, 2024
UN Must Improve Corp. Tax Rules, Platforms, Some Gov'ts Say
Governments must commit to improving existing corporate tax rules and platforms created at the OECD within the terms of reference for a United Nations framework convention on global tax cooperation, two tax officials who participated in drafting those rules said Wednesday.
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May 01, 2024
HMRC Simplifies Late Filing Penalties For Digital Filers
U.K. taxpayers voluntarily filing their personal income tax returns using a program intended to modernize the country's tax system will receive more leniency and access to a simpler penalty structure in cases of late filing, HM Revenue & Customs said.
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May 01, 2024
Hong Kong Proposes Amended Automatic Info Exchange List
Hong Kong is considering adjusting the list of countries it automatically exchanges financial information with by subtracting nine jurisdictions and adding 11, which the country's tax authority said is in line with recommendations from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Expert Analysis
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How Attorneys Can Be More Efficient This Holiday Season
Attorneys should consider a few key tips to speed up their work during the holidays so they can join the festivities — from streamlining the document review process to creating similar folder structures, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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How Clients May Use AI To Monitor Attorneys
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Artificial intelligence tools will increasingly enable clients to monitor and evaluate their counsel’s activities, so attorneys must clearly define the terms of engagement and likewise take advantage of the efficiencies offered by AI, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.
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The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape
The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.
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Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct
The U.S. Supreme Court recently adopted its first-ever code of conduct, and counsel will need to work closely with clients in navigating its provisions, from gift-giving to recusal bids, say Phillip Gordon and Mateo Forero at Holtzman Vogel.
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Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave
To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.
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A Year-End Look At Florida's Capital Investment Tax Credit
Notwithstanding the Walt Disney Co.’s feud with Gov. Ron DeSantis this year, Florida's capital investment tax credit will continue to make the state a favored destination for large corporations, particularly in light of the new federal alternative minimum tax and the Pillar Two top-up tax, says Alan Lederman at Gunster.
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Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms
In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.
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AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier
Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.
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Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World
As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.
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General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI
With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.
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Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information
As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.
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Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD
Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.