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Insights Vol. 5 No. 2: Updates & Other Tidbits

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Insights Vol. 5 No. 2: Updates & Other Tidbits

This month, Tomi Oguntunde, Sheryl Shah, and Nina Krauthamer look briefly at four recent developments in international tax: (i) an I.R.S. directive temporarily halting new examinations involving cost sharing agreements that do not include stock-based compensation costs, (ii) an I.R.S. appeal of a Texas District Court case in which certain anti-inversion rules were invalidated for nonconformance with the Administrative Procedures Act, (iii) Dutch measures to eliminate intragroup dividend withholding tax and address abusive tax planning channeled through the Netherlands, and (iv) a revised timeline for implementation of withholding tax on transfers involving effectively connected gain under Code §1446(f).

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Corporate Matters: Partner Representative and the New Partnership Audit Regime

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Corporate Matters: Partner Representative and the New Partnership Audit Regime

Commencing in January 2018, the I.R.S. began a new centralized audit regime with respect to partnerships.  It replaces the concept of a “Tax Matters Partner” with a “Partnership Representative.”  This is more than a change in name.  Unless the partnership is able to elect out of the new rules and actually does so, the I.R.S. will only deal with the Partnership Representative, and the individual partners have no right to separately appeal any tax assessment.  Additionally, the I.R.S. may now collect tax at the partnership level as a result of a tax audit.  Simon Prisk examines these and other changes – including the opt-out provisions – that will affect partnerships, partners in the current taxable year, and partners at the time that year is examined by the I.R.S.

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A New Opportunity for Nonresident Aliens - Ownership in an S-Corporation

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A New Opportunity for Nonresident Aliens - Ownership in an S-Corporation

U.S. tax law allows a domestic corporation to elect pass-thru tax treatment of income by making an S-corporation election.  Several conditions must be satisfied before the election can be made, including a prohibition of any foreign ownership.  In an almost invisible provision of the T.C.J.A., U.S. tax law has been revised to allow an individual who is neither a citizen nor a U.S. resident to hold an indirect current interest in an S-corporation without causing an automatic termination of pass-thru treatment for the corporation.  The key is for the current interest to be held through an Electing Small Business Trust that qualifies as a domestic trust for U.S. tax purposes.  This may be a boon for Canadian-resident individuals who face mind and management issues when a U.S. L.L.C. is established to invest in a U.S. opportunity.  Rusudan Shervashidze and Stanley C. Ruchelman explain all.

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Non-Corporate Taxation: Individuals & Partnerships Face Highs & Lows Under the T.C.J.A.

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Non-Corporate Taxation: Individuals & Partnerships Face Highs & Lows Under the T.C.J.A.

Most cross-border tax advisers with clients that are impacted by the T.C.J.A. focus on the principal items, such as B.E.A.T., G.I.L.T.I., and the like.  However, the act contains many additional provisions that can affect the non-corporate cross-border investor.  Taxes have been reduced, a holding period for capital gains treatment now applies to carried interests, the scope of like-kind exchanges has been limited, and the tax treatment of alimony payments has been changed.  These are just a few of the items addressed by Sheryl Shah.

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B.E.A.T.-ing Base Erosion: U.S. Subjects Large Corporations to Anti-Abuse Tax

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B.E.A.T.-ing Base Erosion: U.S. Subjects Large Corporations to Anti-Abuse Tax

Cross-border payments to related parties have been an arrow in the quiver of cross-border tax planners since the time that income tax and global trade first intersected.  The new Code §59A introduces the Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax (“B.E.A.T.”) on large corporations that significantly reduce their U.S. tax liability through the use of cross-border payments to related persons.  It is structured as another form of the now-repealed corporate Alternative Minimum Tax rather than a disallowance of a deduction in computing regular taxable income.  Banks that have significant interest payments and U.S. companies that pay significant royalties for trademarks, copyrights, and know-how are the targets of the tax to the extent full 30% withholding tax is not imposed.  Galia Antebi and Sheryl Shah explain how the tax is computed.  Is this another step towards a global trade war?

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Reform of the U.S. Tax Regime – The Swiss Perspective→

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Published by Prager Dreifuss, Tax Newsletter (February 2018).

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Insights Vol. 5 No. 1: Updates & Tidbits

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Insights Vol. 5 No. 1: Updates & Tidbits

This month, Neha Rastogi and Nina Krauthamer look briefly at three recent developments in international tax: (i) expired I.T.I.N.’s and how tax returns that use an expired I.T.I.N. will be treated by the I.R.S., (ii) the E.U. blacklist of uncooperative jurisdictions, which includes American Samoa and Guam, and (iii) and unanticipated tax demands on contributions to the Brexit campaign.

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Income Shifting: Common Ownership or Control Under Code §482 in an Inbound Transaction

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Income Shifting: Common Ownership or Control Under Code §482 in an Inbound Transaction

The Large Business and International Division of the I.R.S. (“LB&I”) periodically develops international practice units (“I.P.U.’s”) that serve as training material for international examiners.  In November 2017, an I.P.U. entitled “Common Ownership or Control Under IRC 482 – Inbound” was published.  On the same date, the I.R.S. issued a sister I.P.U. for outbound transactions, “Common Ownership or Control Under IRC 482 – Outbound.”  Together, they serve as a primer for determining whether sufficient control exists between two parties to bring the arm’s length transfer pricing rules of Code §482 into play.  Stanley C. Ruchelman explains how the I.R.S. trains its examiners when determining whether a transfer pricing adjustment is appropriate. 

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Individual, Corporate, and Trust News from France

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Individual, Corporate, and Trust News from France

The end of each year in France is marked by a fiscal legislative process to amend the current year’s finance law and to draft the law for the upcoming year.  The year 2017 was no exception.  Changes will be made to wealth tax, tax brackets, tax on investment income, corporate tax rates, and the 3% additional tax on dividend distributions (retroactively).  Fanny Karaman and Nina Krauthamer explain the tax changes.

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Circular Letter No. 25/E Clarifies Italy’s New Carried Interest Regime

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Circular Letter No. 25/E Clarifies Italy’s New Carried Interest Regime

Early last year, the Italian government announced new rules regarding favorable taxation of carried interests.  Graduated tax rates and social charges would be replaced by a flat 26% tax on investment income.  Towards the end of the year, guidelines were published by the Italian tax authorities providing significant clarifications on the scope, requirements, and conditions under the new tax regime.  Andrea Tavecchio and Riccardo Barone of Tavecchio Caldara & Associati, Milan, examine how the new regime will work in practice.

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New U.S. Tax Law Adopts Provisions to Prevent Base Erosion

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New U.S. Tax Law Adopts Provisions to Prevent Base Erosion

Following the lead of the O.E.C.D. and the European Commission (“E.C.”), the T.C.J.A. adopts several provisions designed to end tax planning opportunities.  In some instances, the new provisions closely follow their foreign counterparts.  In others, the provisions that are specific to U.S. tax law.  Among these changes are (i) the introduction of the G.I.L.T.I. minimum tax on the use of foreign intangible property by C.F.C.’s, (ii) the total revamp of Code §163(j) so that it reflects an interest ceiling rather than an earnings stripping provision, (iii) the restriction of tax benefits derived from the use of hybrid entities and transactions, (iv) the broadened scope of Subpart F through definitional changes, (v) legislative reversals of judicial decisions in which I.R.S. positions in transfer pricing matters were successfully challenged, and (vi) legislative reversals of a judicial decision invalidating Rev. Rul. 91-32 regarding the sale of partnership interests by foreign partner.  Sheryl Shah and Stanley C. Ruchelman discuss these provisions and place them in context. 

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Modifications to the Foreign Tax Credit System Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

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Modifications to the Foreign Tax Credit System Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The T.C.J.A. introduces new concepts in foreign tax credit planning and eliminates others.  Gone are the pool of post-1986 earnings & profits and deemed-paid foreign tax credits for intercompany dividends.  In their place is a dividends received deduction.  Allocations of interest expense between foreign-source income and domestic income now must be based on tax book value.  Entities that manufacture in one jurisdiction and sell in another will find that the source of income is controlled only by production activities.  Neha Rastogi and Stanley C. Ruchelman explain.

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Impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on U.S. Investors in Foreign Corporations

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Impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on U.S. Investors in Foreign Corporations

International tax planning in the U.S. has been turned on its head by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“T.C.J.A.”).  This article looks at (i) the new dividends received deduction that eliminates U.S. tax on the receipt of direct investment dividends paid by a 10%-owned foreign corporation to a U.S. corporation, (ii) the repatriation of post-1986 net accumulated earnings of 10%-owned foreign corporations by U.S. persons and the accompanying deferred tax rules, (iii) changes to Code §367(a) that eliminate an exemption from tax on outbound transfers of assets that will be used in the active conduct of a foreign trade or business, and (iv) a broadening of the scope of Subpart F income by reason of a change to certain definitions.  Rusudan Shervashidze and Stanley C. Ruchelman address and comment on these revisions.

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A New Tax Regime for C.F.C.’s: Who Is G.I.L.T.I.?

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A New Tax Regime for C.F.C.’s: Who Is G.I.L.T.I.?

The T.C.J.A. introduces a new minimum tax regime applicable to controlled foreign corporations (“C.F.C.’s”).  It also provides tax benefits for incomefrom “intangibles” used to exploit foreign markets.  The former is known as G.I.L.T.I. and the latter is known as F.D.I.I.  Together, G.I.L.T.I. and F.D.I.I. change the dynamics of cross-border taxation and can be seen as an incentive to supply foreign markets with goods and services produced in the U.S.  Both provisions reflect a view that only two value drivers exist in business: (i) hard assets (such as property, plant, and equipment) and (ii) intangible property.  In a detailed set of Q&A’s, Elizabeth V. Zanet and Stanley C. Ruchelman look at the ins and outs of the new provisions.

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Tax 101: Virtual Currency – What Is It? And How Is It Taxed?

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Tax 101: Virtual Currency – What Is It? And How Is It Taxed?

With the recent launch of Bitcoin futures trading, this once obscure asset class may soon become a mainstream investment.  Alev Fanny Karaman delves into the details of virtual currency in the U.S. context.  She explains the blockchain computations that make Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies attractive to investors and the U.S. tax treatment and reporting obligations of virtual currency holders.

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Austrian Guidance on Taxation of Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies

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Austrian Guidance on Taxation of Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies

While wild fluctuations in the value of Bitcoin are reported daily in global press and social media, the Austrian Ministry of Finance recently summarized its views on the tax consequences of investing in this relatively new asset class.  Niklas J.R.M. Schmidt and Eva Stadler of Wolf Theiss, Vienna, explain the real-life consequences of the transacting in virtual currencies.

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The U.K. Trust Registration Service: Impact for Trustees

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The U.K. Trust Registration Service: Impact for Trustees

The past few years have seen a steep increase in trust reporting obligations in the context of F.A.T.C.A. and the Common Reporting Standard.  Trustees must come to grips with a new set of record keeping and disclosure obligations introduced by the U.K. Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, which came into force from June 26, 2017.  Jennifer Smithson and Isobel Morton of Macfarlanes LLP, London, explain the wide-ranging effect of the regulations and the dividing line between non-U.K. trustees that fall inside the regime and those who are outside.

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Insights Vol. 4 No. 11: Updates & Other Tidbits

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Insights Vol. 4 No. 11: Updates & Other Tidbits

This month, Sheryl Shah and Nina Krauthamer look briefly at two I.R.S. actions: (i) the roll out of a long-awaited passport denial program and (ii) the end of favorable rulings on certain worthless stock deductions and spinoffs.

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Art and the Estate Part II – Nonresidents

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Art and the Estate Part II – Nonresidents

Foreign persons owning artwork physically located in the U.S. must be mindful of special income, estate, and gift taxes associated with that ownership.   In the second of a series, Rusudan Shervashidze and Nina Krauthamer look at issues such as use tax, which is the U.S. equivalent of a reverse charge of V.A.T., estate tax, and gift tax.

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Employment Tax Basics and Paths to Compliance

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Employment Tax Basics and Paths to Compliance

 When a company expands across a border, it faces a complex web of employment-related taxes.  Penalties for failure to properly comply with these rules can be severe.  Fanny Karaman looks at the U.S. rules that are applicable to the payment of wages and bonuses, the penalties that can be imposed on compliance failures, and the procedures that are available to cure errors.  The rules are not straightforward, guidance is often minimal, and an experienced advisor is extremely valuable.

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