International

  • May 13, 2024

    Estonia Objecting To VAT Proposal On 'Neutrality' Grounds

    Estonia is objecting to a proposed overhaul of European Union value-added tax rules because the proposal doesn't respect the principle of "neutrality," the country's finance minister said Monday, casting doubt on the fate of the proposal, which needs agreement by all 27 EU countries to pass.

  • May 13, 2024

    EU Chair Offers Compromise To Clinch Withholding Tax Deal

    The chair of European Union finance ministers offered last-minute concessions to try to persuade holdouts the Czech Republic and Poland to agree to a withholding tax refund law, a document published Monday showed.

  • May 11, 2024

    Gov't Urges 8th Circ. To Uphold 3M's $24M Pricing Adjustment

    The U.S. government asked the Eighth Circuit to uphold a U.S. Tax Court decision allowing the IRS to allocate nearly $24 million from 3M's Brazilian affiliate, arguing the company's appeal involves misplaced reliance on a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

  • May 10, 2024

    5 Goals Gov'ts Have For The UN Tax Convention

    Transfer pricing, country-by-country reporting, wealth taxation, the digital economy and the participation of developing countries in negotiations are topics governments at the United Nations said they want to address during the first session on drafting terms of reference for the Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.

  • May 10, 2024

    Austria Eyes Fines For Fake Invoices Used In Tax Fraud

    People creating false invoices in Austria could face fines of up to €100,000 ($108,000) as the country looks to crack down on tax fraud involving fictitious businesses, the country's Ministry of Finance said Friday.

  • May 10, 2024

    DC Tax Atty Can't Use Ch. 7 To Ditch Depo In $19M Theft Suit

    A corporate D.C. tax attorney accused of bilking a former client out of $19 million via a captive insurance scam will be deposed, despite a stay in the Maryland federal case against him and his firm after both filed for bankruptcy.

  • May 10, 2024

    Use Of AI For Tax Comment Letters Poses Ethical Quandaries

    While artificial intelligence can streamline the process of conducting a comprehensive review of complex, IRS-proposed federal tax regulations, tax attorneys must be aware of professional and ethical considerations when using it to help draft comment letters to submit to the agency.

  • May 10, 2024

    Australia Looks To Tweak Tax Exemption For US Entertainers

    Australia wants public comments on a proposal that would simplify the elimination of withholding taxes for U.S. entertainers who make $10,000 or less — or the Australian equivalent — in the country in a given year, the Australian Taxation Office said.

  • May 10, 2024

    Calif. OTA In Untested Area On Ruling That Biz Wants Binding

    A decision by California's Office of Tax Appeals that Microsoft can include 100% of the dividends from foreign affiliates in its California sales factor denominator pleased businesses, who now want the OTA to designate the opinion as precedential, thus binding on it and the state Franchise Tax Board.

  • May 10, 2024

    Osborne Clarke Lawyer To Face Tribunal Over Zahawi SLAPP

    An Osborne Clarke LLP partner who represented Nadhim Zahawi could face a disciplinary tribunal over allegations that he used intimidatory warnings in an attempt to silence a critic who was probing the former Conservative chancellor's tax affairs.

  • May 09, 2024

    Mich. Doctor Ordered To Stay In Jail Until Assets Repatriated

    A Michigan doctor fighting accusations that he failed to report his foreign bank accounts will stay in jail, as a federal court declined to release him Thursday when he didn't comply with an order to deposit over $1 million to cover the judgment against him.

  • May 09, 2024

    Pop Star Shakira's €6.6M Spanish Tax Fraud Case Dropped

    A Spanish court dropped a case alleging that Colombian pop superstar Shakira had willfully defrauded the country of €6.6 million ($7.1 million) worth of taxes in 2018, multiple news outlets reported Thursday.

  • May 09, 2024

    Pension Plans Want Witness Stopped In $2B Danish Dispute

    U.S. pension plans accused by Denmark's tax authority of committing $2.1 billion in fraud against the European country by taking illegal refunds on dividends asked a New York federal court to reject the authority's request to depose a witness who pled guilty in Denmark.

  • May 09, 2024

    Voluntary Carbon Credit Trades Will Trigger UK VAT

    Transactions involving voluntary carbon credits in the U.K. will be assessed value-added tax starting in September, HM Revenue & Customs said Thursday.

  • May 09, 2024

    IRS Turning to Final PFIC Rules This Year, Official Says

    The Internal Revenue Service expects to "begin in earnest" this year on final regulations for partnerships that hold stock in passive foreign investment companies, including guidance that would treat partnerships as an aggregate of their partners, an agency official said Thursday.

  • May 09, 2024

    Country Adjustment Would Undermine Common EU Tax Base

    Allowing countries within the European Union to adjust companies' allocated tax base under proposed rules would undermine the rules' goal of streamlining the corporate tax base, according to business groups. 

  • May 08, 2024

    DOJ Says Man Owes $6.2M After Failing To Report Foreign Biz

    A man owes tax penalties of $6.2 million to the U.S. after failing to disclose his ownership interests in two foreign entities from 1997 to 2004, the government told a California federal court Wednesday.

  • May 08, 2024

    Biz Groups Tell 10th Circ. Economic Substance Doesn't Apply

    The economic substance doctrine doesn't apply when a business considers tax in making a choice between two legally permissible alternatives, two organizations told the Tenth Circuit in their briefs supporting Liberty Global's position in its $109 million tax refund bid.

  • May 08, 2024

    4th Circ. Asks If High Court Ruling Bars Credit Suisse Tipster

    A Fourth Circuit panel questioned Wednesday whether a U.S. Supreme Court ruling prevented it from reviving a whistleblower case by a former Credit Suisse employee alleging the bank helped U.S. citizens evade taxes after paying a $2.6 billion criminal penalty.

  • May 08, 2024

    Auto Cos. Brace For EV Battery Compliance Hurdles

    New federal regulations aimed at shoring up the domestic electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain give automakers a much-needed two-year cushion to navigate a compliance minefield, and to figure out how to reinvigorate the recent waning consumer demand for electric vehicles.

  • May 08, 2024

    Africa Should Solve Own Tax Problems, Nigerian Official Says

    The solutions to Africa's taxation challenges should come from those actually on the continent, not the Western world, the chairman of Nigeria's tax authority said at an African Tax Administration Forum meeting, the authority said Wednesday.

  • May 08, 2024

    EGC Won't Annul EU Decision To Toss Spanish Tax Scheme

    The European General Court will not annul a European Commission decision that a Spanish tax scheme for vessels built in its domestic shipyards must be abandoned because it was incompatible with the European Union's internal market, according to a judgment released Wednesday.

  • May 08, 2024

    Ambulance Co.'s Former Owner Gets 6 Years For Tax Evasion

    The former owner of an ambulance company was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for failing to pay employment taxes to the federal government and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service as it tried to collect, according to Virginia federal court documents.

  • May 08, 2024

    A Foley Hoag Co-Chair Joins Litigation Firm As Name Partner

    Litigation and dispute resolution firm Elliott Kwok Levine & Jaroslaw LLP will operate under a new name after welcoming as its newest name partner a former federal prosecutor who most recently co-chaired Foley Hoag LLP's white-collar crime and government investigations practice.

  • May 08, 2024

    UN To Publish Draft Terms Of Reference For Tax Pact In June

    National governments agreed Wednesday to publish the first draft of terms of reference for the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation for a two-week consultation during the week beginning June 3.

Expert Analysis

  • Law Firm Strategies For Successfully Navigating 2024 Trends

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    Though law firms face the dual challenge of external and internal pressures as they enter 2024, firms willing to pivot will be able to stand out by adapting to stakeholder needs and reimagining their infrastructure, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants.

  • Attorneys' Busiest Times Can Be Business Opportunities

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    Attorneys who resolve to grow their revenue and client base in 2024 should be careful not to abandon their goals when they get too busy with client work, because these periods of zero bandwidth can actually be a catalyst for future growth, says Amy Drysdale at Alchemy Consulting.

  • How Attorneys Can Be More Efficient This Holiday Season

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    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.

  • How Clients May Use AI To Monitor Attorneys

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    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.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape

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    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.

  • Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct

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    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.

  • Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave

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    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.

  • A Year-End Look At Florida's Capital Investment Tax Credit

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    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.

  • Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    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.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    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.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    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.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    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.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    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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