International

  • January 27, 2025

    HMRC's Response To Phone Calls Hits Decade Low, Firm Says

    HMRC answered half as many phone calls from taxpayers during the last tax year compared with 2015, with that figure reaching a decade low, a publicly traded British brokerage said Monday, citing documents the firm said it received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

  • January 27, 2025

    Mike Ashley Wins Data Request Battle With HMRC

    HM Revenue and Customs wrongly withheld personal information from Mike Ashley after the founder of the Sports Direct chain issued a data request following the tax authority's demand for £13.6 million ($17 million) in additional taxes, a London court ruled Monday.

  • January 24, 2025

    Gov't Says Ukrainian Duo Should Get 15 Years For $25M Fraud

    Prosecutors have asked a Florida federal court to sentence two Ukrainian men to 15½ years in prison after they pled guilty to laundering money from a hotel staffing scheme that the U.S. government said cost it $25 million in taxes.

  • January 24, 2025

    Tax Break Doesn't Apply To £1.3M Project, UK Court Affirms

    Investors who sank £1.3 million ($1.6 million) into a children's cartoon show will not qualify for a special tax break because the investment failed to meet at least one of the program's qualifications, the U.K.'s Upper Tribunal affirmed.

  • January 24, 2025

    Reed Smith Brings Back Tax Pro From Amazon In Brussels

    An attorney who specializes in customs, trade and excise tax matters in the European Union and U.K. has rejoined Reed Smith LLP in Brussels after a stint at Amazon, the firm announced.

  • January 24, 2025

    Manchester United Ambassador Liable For Tax On £450K

    An ambassador for the Manchester United Football Club is liable for additional taxes on about £450,000 ($562,000) paid by the club over 16 months, but he successfully appealed assessments on about £1.1 million received during several other years, according to a First-tier Tribunal decision.

  • January 24, 2025

    House Bill Would Repeal Stock Buyback Tax

    The excise tax on stock buybacks would be repealed under legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

  • January 24, 2025

    UK Gov't Launches Review Of HMRC Loan Charge

    HM Treasury has launched a review into the U.K. tax authority's loan charge targeting individuals who incurred hefty tax bills after signing up for disguised remuneration schemes, a move critics claim has unfairly hit tens of thousands of contractors.

  • January 24, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Latham, Simpson Thacher

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, a Brookfield private real estate fund acquires Divvy Homes' property portfolio and platform, Kantar Group proposes the sale of Kantar Media, and an Ares Management-led group buys a majority of Form Technologies Inc.'s common equity.

  • January 24, 2025

    Australian Tax Transparency Rules Could Set Benchmark

    Australian lawmakers recently enacted legislation that requires large multinational corporations to publicly disclose their worldwide business operations and tax information with an unprecedented level of scope and detail, which advocates say could set a global standard for corporate transparency.

  • January 23, 2025

    Taiwan Double-Tax Relief Floated In Senate After House OK

    The Senate Finance Committee introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday that would grant tax benefits to Taiwanese businesses in the U.S. and authorize the White House to negotiate a tax agreement with Taiwan, following the House of Representatives' approval of companion legislation.

  • January 23, 2025

    Corporate Transparency Law Remains Flanked By Threats

    The Corporate Transparency Act is facing threats across the branches of government despite the U.S. Supreme Court pausing a nationwide injunction on it Thursday, with another universal injunction in place, other court battles underway and some Republican lawmakers targeting the law.

  • January 23, 2025

    Finland's Corporate Tax Revenue Dipped 8% Last Year

    Finland's corporate tax take fell about 8% last year on an annual basis, although the government has a slight surplus overall with €81.7 billion ($85.1 million) in total revenues, the country's tax authority said Thursday.

  • January 23, 2025

    UK Gov't Tones Down Plan For Non-Dom Tax Changes

    The U.K. government will amend its finance bill to soften its plan to abolish the nondomicile tax status for people claiming tax benefits as nonresidents, Exchequer Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in an interview broadcast Thursday.

  • January 23, 2025

    Australia Looking To Combine 3 Accounting Bodies

    The Australian government asked for feedback Thursday on a plan to combine three accounting standards boards into one, with the goal of streamlining the country's financial reporting architecture to adapt to continued changes to the economy and reporting rules.

  • January 23, 2025

    Poland's €23M For Chemical Co. Clears EU State Aid Inquiry

    The Polish government didn't break state aid law when it awarded €23 million ($23.9 million) to a chemical producer to open a production plant, the European Commission said Thursday.

  • January 23, 2025

    Gov't Floats Tweak To Pension Tax As £49M Returned

    The government confirmed Thursday that it will close a controversial loophole that has resulted in retirees being overtaxed to the tune of £1.3 billion ($1.6 billion) over the past decade.

  • January 22, 2025

    Renewing TCJA Will Deepen Economic Divide, Oxfam Says

    Renewing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would cost the U.S. more than $4.5 trillion in revenue that could be used to reduce economic inequality, nongovernmental organization Oxfam said in the release of its annual report on inequality.

  • January 22, 2025

    GOP Again Floats Reciprocal Taxes In Affront To Global Deal

    Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday renewed their proposal for reciprocal taxes against countries that participate in an international minimum tax agreement, following up on President Donald Trump's rejection of the global accord.

  • January 22, 2025

    Parliament Defends Report Alleging HMRC Has Poor Service

    The chair of a United Kingdom parliamentary committee said Wednesday he was disappointed in HM Revenue & Customs rejection of an inquiry alleging the tax authority's customer service standards deteriorated to an all-time low in 2023 and 2024, arguing the agency approved reports that back up his findings.

  • January 22, 2025

    India Won't Apply Tax Treaty Abuse Provision Retroactively

    An India tax agency said it won't retroactively apply an anti-abuse provision added to India's double-tax treaties with other countries by the nation's adoption of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's multilateral convention on base erosion and profit shifting.

  • January 22, 2025

    UK Insurance Premium Tax Haul Up 10%, Hits Record £6.7B

    The U.K. government raised a record £6.7 billion ($8.3 billion) in insurance premium tax in the first nine months of the financial year ending March, up 10% from the corresponding period a year earlier, according to HMRC figures released Wednesday.

  • January 21, 2025

    Parliamentary Panel Faults HMRC's Customer Service

    HM Revenue & Customs is failing to deliver a good service to taxpayers, with its standards sliding even lower last tax year compared with the prior year, the U.K. Parliament's Public Accounts Committee said in a report published Tuesday.

  • January 21, 2025

    Detroit Council OKs $45K Settlement Over Holding Co.'s Gain

    The city of Detroit approved a settlement Tuesday in the Michigan Tax Tribunal in a long-running tax assessment dispute stemming from a holding company's gain from selling stock in a Canadian tobacco testing company.

  • January 21, 2025

    Mexico Extends Tax Breaks To Domestic Taxpayers

    Mexico is extending a number of tax breaks aimed at foreign companies to qualifying domestic taxpayers, such as the ability to reduce taxable income by immediately deducting investments in fixed assets through late 2030, according to a presidential decree Tuesday.

Expert Analysis

  • What Large Language Models Mean For Document Review

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    Courts often subject parties using technology assisted review to greater scrutiny than parties conducting linear, manual document review, so parties using large language models for document review should expect even more attention, along with a corresponding need for quality control and validation, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Participating In Living History Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My role as a baron in a living history group, and my work as volunteer corporate counsel for a book series fan association, has provided me several opportunities to practice in unexpected areas of law — opening doors to experiences that have nurtured invaluable personal and professional skills, says Matthew Parker at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Private Equity Owners Can Remedy Law Firms' Agency Issues

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    Nonlawyer, private-equity ownership of law firms can benefit shareholders and others vulnerable to governance issues such as disparate interests, and can in turn help resolve agency problems, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • How Taxpayers Can Prep As Justices Weigh Repatriation Tax

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    The U.S. Supreme Court might strike down the 2017 federal tax overhaul's corporate repatriation tax in Moore v. U.S., so taxpayers should file protective tax refund claims before the case is decided and repatriate previously taxed earnings that could become entangled in dubious potential Section 965 refunds, say Jenny Austin and Gary Wilcox at Mayer Brown.

  • OFAC Designation Prosecutions Are Constitutionally Suspect

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    Criminal prosecutions based on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanctions-related listing decisions — made with nearly unfettered discretion through an opaque process — present several constitutional issues, so it is imperative that courts recognize additional rights of review, say Solomon Shinerock and Annika Conrad at Lewis Baach.

  • How The OECD Global Tax Proposal Could Affect M&A

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    Following agreement on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Pillar Two proposal to introduce a global minimum tax, domestic implementation is expected to have a significant impact on international M&A transactions, with financial modeling, deal structuring, risk allocation and joint venture arrangements likely to be affected, say lawyers at Freshfields.

  • UK Shares-Tax Proposals Offer Long-Awaited Modernization

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    The U.K. government's recent consultation on the introduction of a new tax on transactions in securities raises detailed legal and practical issues, but the prospect of a single digital stamp tax offering both streamlined legislation and administration will be welcomed, say Zoë Arnautov and Mark Sheiham at Simmons & Simmons.

  • IRS Foreign Tax Credit Pause Is Welcome Course Correction

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    A recent IRS notice temporarily suspending application of 2022 foreign tax credit regulations provides wanted relief for the many U.S. multinational companies and other taxpayers that otherwise face the risk of significant double taxation in their international operations, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • IRS Criminal Probe Spells Uncertainty For Malta Pension Plans

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    The IRS’ recent scrutiny of Malta pension plan arrangements — and its unusual issuance of criminal administrative summonses — confirms that it views many of these plans as illegal tax evasion schemes, and the road ahead will not be smooth and steady for anyone involved, say attorneys at Kostelanetz.

  • IRS Announcement Will Aid Cos. In Buyback Tax Planning

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    Recent IRS transitional guidance regarding current requirements for reporting and payment of the stock repurchase excise tax will help corporate taxpayers make decisions about records retention and establishing reserves for future tax payments, say Xenia Garofalo and Kyle Colonna at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Flawed Analysis Supports Common Law Tax Deficiency Ruling

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    The Colorado federal district court’s recent decision in Liberty Global, holding that the U.S. Department of Justice may assert a common law tax claim without the notice of tax deficiency required by the Internal Revenue Code, relies on a contorted reading of the statute and irrelevant case law, say Loren Opper and Christie Galinski at Miller Canfield.

  • Review Of Repatriation Tax Sets Justices On Slippery Slope

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to review the constitutionality of the repatriation tax in Moore v. U.S. has implications for many tax rules involving unrealized amounts and could leave the court on the brink of invalidating large swaths of the Internal Revenue Code, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • What To Make Of IRS' New Advance Pricing Guidance

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    Recent guidance on the IRS' goals for its advance pricing agreement system provides helpful insight into review and decision-making procedures for advance pricing agreement requests, but it also raises questions about the IRS' objectives, say Richard Slowinski and Stefanie Kavanagh at Alston & Bird.

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