International

  • May 15, 2024

    South African Tax Official Says Data Swaps Too Limited

    South Africa's requests to exchange information on taxpayers with authorities around the world are often denied for criminal investigations of tax crimes, while automatic exchanges sometimes lack the full identifying information of taxpayers, the commissioner of the country's tax agency said Wednesday.

  • May 15, 2024

    Taxpayers Let Down By HMRC Digital Service, Says Watchdog

    HM Revenue and Customs has let down taxpayers by failing to deliver better online services, according to a report published on Wednesday by the public spending watchdog.

  • May 15, 2024

    Swiss Seek Feedback On Crypto Information Exchange

    Switzerland's executive body, the Federal Council, is seeking feedback from the public on its plan to adopt two Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development standards that will update the country's automatic exchanges of information to account for crypto-assets, it said Wednesday.

  • May 15, 2024

    11 Arrested In €25M Italian VAT Fraud Case

    Italian police arrested 11 suspects in a value-added tax fraud ring involving electronic products that resulted in losses of over €25 million ($27.2 million), the European Public Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.

  • May 15, 2024

    Gentiloni Warns EU States Not To Be Too Harsh With Budgets

    European Union tax commissioner Paolo Gentiloni warned EU countries Wednesday not to be too aggressive with budget cuts, even as some may have to take a more restrictive fiscal stance this year and next than had been planned. 

  • May 15, 2024

    German Finance Minister Wants Lower Tax Burden

    Germany's finance minister said he would like to see the tax burden lowered as part of a broader push to make life less burdensome for industry as the country tries to stimulate economic growth.

  • May 15, 2024

    EU Finance Ministers Plan Road To Tax Revamp

    European Union finance ministers agreed on a work program to implement about 40 measures to improve business financing, including a targeted makeover of tax systems in member countries covering corporate taxes, capital gains and tax breaks for interest payments.

  • May 14, 2024

    A Fifth Of Big Cos. Use Tax Transparency Standard, Org. Says

    About a fifth of the largest 1,000 public companies worldwide have voluntarily used a public country-by-country reporting standard created by an international independent standards organization, the nonprofit said Tuesday.

  • May 14, 2024

    Law Prof Comes To Treasury's Aid In 3M Transfer Pricing Fight

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury did not act arbitrarily when it wrote transfer pricing regulations that allowed the government to disregard foreign legal restrictions on royalty payments when allocating income to 3M from an affiliate, a law professor told the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday.

  • May 14, 2024

    Solarium Sunbaths Not Tax-Free Wellness, Sweden Says

    After receiving multiple questions about whether paying to sunbathe in a solarium is eligible for Sweden's tax-free wellness allowance, the country's tax agency said Tuesday that such activity is not eligible.

  • May 14, 2024

    Microsemi Calls IRS' Penalty Approval 'Woefully Inadequate'

    An Internal Revenue Service supervisor's sign-off on a transfer pricing penalty for Microsemi was "woefully inadequate" to meet statutory requirements for penalty approval, the semiconductor manufacturer told the U.S. Tax Court.

  • May 14, 2024

    Aussie Budget Proposes Green Credits, Capital Gains Change

    Australia would offer tax credits for hydrogen production and critical mineral mining and update its foreign resident capital gains tax rules as part of a proposed 2024-25 budget released Tuesday.

  • May 14, 2024

    British Industry Group Calls For Green Energy Tax Breaks

    The U.K. needs to "outsmart rather than outspend" other countries to grow in the green energy sector, a British business advocacy group said, calling for the government to create a 40% so-called green innovation tax credit, among other tax breaks.

  • May 14, 2024

    Ex-Whiteford Taylor Business Co-Chair Joins Baker Donelson

    Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC has welcomed a new shareholder who spent more than a decade with the Internal Revenue Service and previously co-chaired Whiteford Taylor & Preston LLP's business department, the firm announced on Monday.

  • May 14, 2024

    EU Finance Ministers Strike Deal On Withholding Tax Refunds

    European Union finance ministers agreed Tuesday to a withholding tax refund law, as previous holdouts Poland and the Czech Republic withdrew their objections.

  • May 14, 2024

    EU Chair To Fight On For VAT Deal After Estonia's Rejection

    The chair of the European Union's council of finance ministers said he will fight to get unanimous support for a wide-ranging reform of value-added tax rules after Estonia blocked agreement to the law Tuesday.

  • May 14, 2024

    Aussie Senate Faces Separation Of Promoter Penalty, Gas Tax

    The Australian government is poised to double the penalty for corporate promoters of tax avoidance schemes, but it may first have to compromise by separating its bill from another one dealing with a tax on offshore gas exports, according to a legislative report.

  • May 13, 2024

    Corp. Transparency Act An Overbroad Dragnet, 11th Circ. Told

    Congress exceeded its authority in passing the Corporate Transparency Act, which prompted the U.S. Treasury Department to solicit personal information for law enforcement purposes from those that registered and owned state-registered entities, a small-business group told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday.

  • May 13, 2024

    House GOP Bills Target Foreign Funding To Tax-Exempt Orgs

    The House Ways and Means Committee will vote Wednesday on a package of bills that would increase scrutiny of foreign donations to tax-exempt organizations, including legislation that would require those organizations to publicly report the donations, the Joint Committee on Taxation announced Monday.

  • May 13, 2024

    Income Nixes Exxon's 'Final Loss' Deduction, Court Says

    Exxon's Norwegian operation cannot deduct 900 million krone ($83.2 million) from its fiscal year 2012 taxable income that it spent liquidating an Exxon subsidiary in Denmark, a European court ruled Monday.

  • May 13, 2024

    2nd Circ. Won't Revive UBS Suit Over Disclosed Account Info

    The Second Circuit declined Monday to revive a couple's suit accusing UBS of fraudulently flagging an account to the Internal Revenue Service, finding that any alleged harm resulting from an audit would have been caused by the agency itself.

  • May 13, 2024

    Int'l Authorities Want Increased Anti-Money Laundering Efforts

    Countries need to do more to tackle the "huge illicit profits" being generated by international crime organizations and used for harmful practices such as funding terrorism, the heads of the Financial Action Task Force, Interpol and a United Nations group said Monday.

  • May 13, 2024

    Estonia Needs To Improve Property, Health Taxes, OECD Says

    While Estonia has the lowest ratio of government debt to gross domestic product of any OECD country, it has numerous areas where it could improve its tax system, from broadening its tax base to increasing healthcare funding, the OECD said Monday.

  • May 13, 2024

    EU Initiative Pushes Bloc To Strengthen Carbon Taxing

    The European Commission on Monday officially registered a citizen initiative to focus on accelerating the taxing of greenhouse gas emissions as well as making it more equitable, giving the group behind it a year to meet certain criteria that would force the European Union's executive arm to act.

  • May 13, 2024

    Houston Truck Co. Doesn't Owe $2M Excise Tax, 5th Circ. Told

    A Houston truck company that sells tires made by a Chinese manufacturer doesn't owe $2 million in import taxes because it's not legally the tire importer, the company told the Fifth Circuit in asking it to affirm a ruling that could split circuits.

Expert Analysis

  • As Promised, IRS Is Coming For Crypto Tax Evaders

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    The IRS is fulfilling its promise to crack down on those who have neglected to pay taxes on cryptocurrency earnings, as demonstrated by recently imposed prison sentences, enforcement initiatives and meetings with international counterparts — suggesting a few key takeaways for taxpayer compliance, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • 5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money

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    As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52

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    Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.

  • Employee Experience Strategy Can Boost Law Firm Success

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    Amid continuing business uncertainty, law firms should consider adopting a holistic employee experience strategy — prioritizing consistency, targeting signature moments and leveraging measurement tools — to maximize productivity and profitability, says Haley Revel at Calibrate Consulting.

  • 6 Practice Pointers For Pro Bono Immigration Practice

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    An attorney taking on their first pro bono immigration matter may find the law and procedures beguiling, but understanding key deadlines, the significance of individual immigration judges' rules and specialized aspects of the practice can help avoid common missteps, says Steven Malm at Haynes Boone.

  • Lessons From Country Singer's Personal Service Saga

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    Recent reports that country singer Luke Combs won a judgment against a Florida woman who didn’t receive notice of the counterfeit suit against her should serve as a reminder for attorneys on best practices for effectuating service by electronic means, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • 7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond

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    The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.

  • 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024

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    Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

  • 4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year

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    As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.

  • What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like

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    As the legal landscape shifts, it’s become increasingly clear that the BigLaw business model must adapt in four key ways to remain viable, from fostering workplace flexibility to embracing technology, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • 4 PR Pointers When Your Case Is In The News

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    Media coverage of new lawsuits exploded last year, demonstrating why defense attorneys should devise a public relations plan that complements their legal strategy, incorporating several objectives to balance ethical obligations and advocacy, say Nathan Burchfiel at Pinkston and Ryan June at Castañeda + Heidelman.

  • Unpacking The Proposed Production Tax Credit Regulations

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    Recently proposed tax regulations for claiming the U.S. clean-energy manufacturers' production credit under Internal Revenue Code Section 45X are less stringent than many had feared but fail to define a fundamental eligibility requirement, say Casey August and Jared Sanders at Morgan Lewis.

  • 10 Considerations For Litigating A New York Tax Case

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    While some of New York’s recently adopted corporate tax regulations are likely to face legal challenges, aggrieved taxpayers should answer certain questions before deciding to embark on the tax litigation process, say Cyavash Ahmadi and Jeffrey Friedman at Eversheds Sutherland.

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