International

Pressure For Corp. Tax Transparency May Just Be Beginning

Natalie Olivo
Senior Tax Correspondent

Shareholders of major U.S. corporations increasingly are pushing for tax transparency, and while proposals haven't yet passed, calls for disclosure may continue to grow if asset managers believe the information could help them safeguard against potential risks to their investments.

Cost Puzzle Poses Hurdle To Claiming Bonus Energy Credits

Kat Lucero

Developers of clean energy projects may face challenges claiming the bonus tax credits available for sourcing key materials in the U.S. because recent guidance calls for using certain manufacturing costs — which are often confidential or not readily available — in determining their eligibility.

Spain Seen Preparing Ambitious Tax Agenda As EU Chair

Todd Buell
Senior Tax Correspondent

Spain is expected to pursue an ambitious tax policy agenda for its six-month stint leading meetings of European Union ministers, as it will try to move through an ever-growing list of tax proposals, observers say.

How Foreign Info Return Penalty Case May Benefit Taxpayers

The U.S. Tax Court's recent decision that the Internal Revenue Service cannot penalize taxpayers for failing to file foreign corporation information returns may give similarly situated taxpayers an opportunity to also avoid penalties, provided they protect their rights before the decision is overturned or mooted by legislation, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

The Nuts And Bolts Of IRS Domestic Content Tax Credit

Recent IRS guidance provides specifics on how renewable energy projects can qualify for bonus tax credits by meeting U.S. domestic content rules, but also creates a qualification framework that will be complicated for project developers to navigate, say Scott Cockerham and Wolfram Pohl at Orrick.

Taxing The Digital Economy: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

U.S. tech companies should watch for important developments in international taxation, including the resolution of Apple's decade-old state aid case, growing frustration with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's global tax plan and adoption of the digital services tax instead, says Joyce Beebe at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Big Tax Changes For Multinational Cos. In Budget Proposal

The Biden administration’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposes changes that would materially alter decades-old Internal Revenue Code provisions, requiring a shift in multinational corporations' tax planning strategies comparable to that required after enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, say Xenia Garofalo and Kyle Colonna at Eversheds Sutherland.

Senate Credit Suisse Report Puts Attention On Banks, Trusts

The Senate Finance Committee's recent finding that Credit Suisse violated a plea agreement struck over its role in enabling offshore tax evasion has important ramifications for banks and trusts, including how they onboard, document and report on transactions relevant to U.S. reporting requirements, say Will Barry and Ian Herbert at Miller & Chevalier.

Seeking IRS Accountability For Faulty Microcaptive Notice

Like the taxpayers in Standard Insurances v. U.S. seeking to expand earlier wins in microcaptive insurance cases that limit IRS use of improperly obtained information, others should consider ways to hold the agency accountable and provide incentive for it to follow the law going forward, says Joshua Smeltzer at Gray Reed.

Biden Admin. Proposals Both Encourage And Thwart EV Adoption

While the Biden administration has been aggressively focused on promoting electric vehicles from the start, its recently issued guidance on EV tax credits and its restrictive new auto emissions proposal create a sense of implementation whiplash that may frustrate manufacturers and consumers, says Levi McAllister at Morgan Lewis.

The Key Issues Keeping Transfer Pricing A Top Tax Concern

Several challenges preventing a global economic reemergence from the pandemic era are making practitioners reevaluate commonly used transfer pricing models, and embrace new technologies and ways of doing business, say Farnaz Amini and Sophia Castro Jurado at Marcum.

Curtailing Offshore Tax-Advantaged Investment In China

The U.S. government's plans to establish a new outbound investment regime hold the potential to arrest Chinese companies' increasing use of offshore, tax-advantaged locations to raise capital, says David Plotinsky at Morgan Lewis.

Cos. May Want To Wait Out US-EU Green Incentives Fight

As the European Union considers measures to compete with the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for U.S. production of clean tech, and EU and U.S. officials discuss a possible compromise, companies in the green sector should consider taking a wait-and-see approach to investment decisions, says Todd Thacker at Goldberg Segalla.

India's Budget Proposals May Ease Entry For Certain Sectors

India’s recently released budget includes proposals to facilitate doing business in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City and moderate thousands of compliance requirements, opening up new opportunities for foreign businesses in the digital infrastructure, manufacturing and renewable energy sectors, say Mukesh Butani and Seema Kejriwal at BMR Legal.

High Court Ax Of Atty-Client Privilege Case Deepens Split

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury as improvidently granted maintains a three-way circuit split on the application of attorney-client privilege to multipurpose communications, although the justices have at least shown a desire to address it, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.

US-India Advance Pricing Resolutions Should Reassure Cos.

The United States' and India's tax authorities' recent resolution of a significant number of pending advance pricing agreements should reduce taxpayer uncertainty, reassure companies of the nations' good working relationship and improve India's investment environment, say Miller Williams and Caroline Setliffe at Eversheds Sutherland.