Traditionally, in the world of international tax planning, it has not been uncommon to see corporate structures utilizing entities organized in offshore jurisdictions that do not impose an income tax on corporate earnings –...more
4/30/2019
/ BEPS ,
British Virgin Islands ,
Cayman Islands ,
Corporate Structures ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Economic Substance Doctrine ,
GILTI tax ,
International Tax Issues ,
Jurisdiction ,
Multinationals ,
Offshore Companies
In February, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released its FY 2018 Annual Report and announced a record-breaking year for the agency’s whistleblower program. Overall, whistleblowers provided information that contributed to...more
On November 29, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") published a memorandum (the "Memorandum") dated November 20, 2018, outlining the new process for all voluntary disclosures, both domestic and offshore (the "New...more
12/21/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
FBAR ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Financial Accounts ,
IRS ,
Offshore Funds ,
OVDP ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Tax Evasion ,
Tax Planning ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
White Collar Crimes
Code section 965 establishes a transition tax (the “Transition Tax”), which applies to U.S. corporations (and in certain cases, U.S. partnerships and individuals) having control over unrepatriated offshore earnings as of the...more
On July 12, ISDA initiated a market-wide consultation on technical issues related to new benchmark fallbacks for derivatives referencing certain interbank offered rates, or IBORs, in response to the expected discontinuance of...more
8/24/2018
/ Benchmarks ,
Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Derivatives ,
Digital Currency ,
Dodd-Frank ,
FinTech ,
Foreign Currency ,
Hedging ,
ISDA ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Virtual Currency ,
White Papers
On August 7, 2018, the Ninth Circuit withdrew its July 24 decision in Altera so that new panel member, Judge Susan P. Graber, can now consider the case....more
On July 24, 2018, in the Altera Corp v. Commissioner decision, the Ninth Circuit overturned a 2015 U.S. Tax Court opinion and upheld the validity of regulations requiring taxpayers to treat stock-based compensation as a cost...more
8/3/2018
/ Arms Length Transactions ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Foreign Corporations ,
IRS ,
Multinationals ,
Stock-Based Compensation ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Technology Sector ,
Transfer Pricing
On May 25, 2018, the Council of the European Union formally adopted Council Directive 2018/822/EU on the reporting of "potentially aggressive" cross-border tax-planning arrangements....more
Last week, the Supreme Court in Marinello v. United States significantly limited the government's ability to prosecute taxpayers for allegedly obstructive conduct related to potential tax violations. ...more
Congress has passed the tax reform bill, known as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (the “Act”), and President Trump signed it into law on December 22, 2017. The Act contains wide-ranging changes to the tax law, many of which will...more
Congress has passed the tax reform bill, known as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (the “Act”), and President Trump signed it into law on December 22, 2017. The Act contains wide-ranging changes to the tax law, many of which will...more
2/2/2018
/ Bonus Depreciation ,
Carried Interest Tax Rates ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Taxes ,
EBITDA ,
Executive Compensation ,
Income Taxes ,
Net Operating Losses ,
New Legislation ,
Partnership Interests ,
Pass-Through Entities ,
Portfolio Companies ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration
On December 15, the U.S. Congress issued its final version of tax reform via the Conference Report Bill (the “Bill”), which was passed by both Houses of Congress. The Bill represents a compromise of two prior tax reform ...more
12/29/2017
/ Alternative Minimum Tax ,
Base Erosion Tax ,
Business Taxes ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Foreign Tax Credits ,
Income Taxes ,
International Tax Issues ,
Legitimate Business Interest ,
New Legislation ,
Pass-Through Entities ,
Repatriation ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Deferral ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration
The Paris administrative court ruled on July 12th, 2017, that Google Ireland Limited did not have to pay $1.3 billion in back taxes in France for the period 2005-2010.
The Irish company Google Ireland Limited sells digital...more
9/12/2017
/ BEPS ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Double Taxation ,
France ,
Google ,
Income Taxes ,
Ireland ,
Multilateral Agreement ,
OECD ,
Tax Treaty ,
Value-Added Tax (VAT) ,
Withholding Tax
In July 2014 AbbVie Inc. and Shire Plc's announced a $54.8 billion merger deal that would have made AbbVie the largest U.S. company to move its legal residence, though not its operations, abroad in order to lower its tax rate...more
3/3/2017
/ AbbVie ,
Capital Losses ,
Inversion ,
IRS ,
Offshore Companies ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Stocks ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Rates ,
Termination Payments
On January 19, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued final, temporary, and proposed regulations (the “Regulations”) under section 871(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). Code...more
2/2/2017
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Derivatives ,
Dividend-Equivalent Transactions ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Master Limited Partnerships ,
Partnerships ,
Qualified Derivatives Dealers (QDDs) ,
Section 871(m) ,
Securities ,
SIFMA ,
Stocks
On December 2, 2016, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued Notice 2016-76 (the “Notice”), which provides highly anticipated guidance regarding “dividend equivalent” payments under section 871(m) of the Internal...more
On October 13, 2016, the IRS and Treasury Department issued much anticipated regulations (the “Final” or “Temporary” Regulations) under Internal Revenue Code section 385. These regulations, which consist of both temporary...more
11/10/2016
/ Bifurcation ,
Debt ,
Debt Instruments ,
Expanded Group Instruments (EGIs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Issuers ,
IRS ,
Multinationals ,
Section 385 ,
Stocks ,
U.S. Treasury
On October 5, 2016, the IRS and Treasury released a package of new regulations under Code sections 707 and 752 designed to curtail the use of debt to reduce tax on the contribution of appreciated assets to leveraged...more
An Overview of Proposed Regulation AT -
Orrick attorneys authored an overview of Regulation Automated Trading (known as "Regulation AT") proposed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") in the May/June 2016...more
8/2/2016
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Derivatives ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Electronic Trading ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Innovative Technology ,
IRS ,
Regulation AT ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps
On April 4, 2016, the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department, in connection with a package of anti-inversion regulations prompted by news of the recent spate of corporate inversions (particularly the $160 billion Pfizer-Allergan...more
On April 4, 2016, the IRS and U.S. Treasury Department, in connection with a package of anti-inversion regulations prompted by news of the recent spate of corporate inversions (particularly the $160 billion Pfizer-Allergan...more
The Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the "PATH Act"), expected to be soon passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, permanently extends the 100% exclusion for gain recognized on the sale of...more
The Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the "PATH Act"), expected to be soon passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, permanently extends the 100% exclusion for gain recognized on the sale of...more
On August 6, 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2015-54, which states that the IRS and Treasury intend to issue regulations under section 721(c) of the Internal Revenue Code to ensure that, when a U.S. person transfers certain...more
NYDFS Finalizes BitLicense Regulations -
On June 3, 2015, the New York Department of Financial Services released its final BitLicense regulations, which it described as "the first comprehensive framework for regulating...more
6/16/2015
/ BitLicense ,
CFTC ,
Department of Financial Services ,
Derivatives ,
End-Users ,
IRS ,
Mandatory Clearing Requirements ,
Payment Schedules ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securitization ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
SPVs ,
Trade Options