TAX ATTORNEY

Note: Beginning with the Sept. 4, 2007 entry, this Commentary section contains only a list of topics addressed in U.S. International Tax Outlook (USITO), my subscription e-newsletter. Details and subscription information are on my Services web page.

• Mar. 3, 2009: As predicted in my recent colloquy with Roger Russell, the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act has been reintroduced in the Senate. For more, see the TaxProf Blog's collection of hyperlinks.
• Jan. 9, 2009: Happy New Year! U.S. International Tax Outlook begins its third year of publication with today's issue. Included are the text for Notice 2009-7, which details the "Subpart F Income Partnership Blocker"; notes regarding a new Sec. 965 study (plus a cumulation of several 965 sources that appeared last year); and links for TD 9441 and REG-144615-02, which address a Sec. 482 issue, and TD 9438, which gives foreign base company sales income guidance.
• Dec. 19, 2008: Today's U.S. International Tax Outlook provides the body text for Announcement 2008-115, which “describes issues that the IRS and Treasury Department are considering addressing in a notice of proposed rulemaking (REG–130342–08)” regarding the applicability of FIRPTA to “certain rights granted by a governmental unit that are related to the lease, ownership, or use of real property.”
• Dec. 12, 2008: This week's USITO briefly discusses Notice 2008-111, provides abstracts for two new tax policy articles, draws on Rita de la Feria's research for a summary of the Marks and Spencer VAT case, and culls highlights from the Fall SOI Bulletin, two tax treaty developments, the CIIT conference, TD 9433, and the Treasury's Statement of Regulatory Priorities.
• Nov. 21, 2008: Today's U.S. International Tax Outlook provides excerpts from CCH's report on Eric Solomon's Notice 2008-20 comments at the Philadelphia ABA Tax Conference.
• Nov. 14, 2008: This week's USITO briefly addresses Bob Peroni's presentation today of "Better Than Exemption" at University of Toronto.
• Nov. 6, 2008: Today's U.S. International Tax Outlook provides abstracts for two recent tax policy articles and a comment by Reuven Avi-Yonah regarding the ways that President-Elect Obama may try to fulfill his promise to "end tax breaks for corporations that send jobs overseas."
• Oct. 23, 2008: This week's issue of USITO notes, with a sense of deja vu, a VAT complaint that appeared in this week's Journal of Commerce Online; provides the full text for Notice 2008-91, which expands the 30-day exclusion rule of Notice 88-108; and concludes with a link to an article proposing residence-based taxation of individuals in the U.S.
• Oct. 16, 2008: Today's U.S. International Tax Outlook analyzes an article in The Washington Times that discusses VAT rebates on exports and suggests that the best antidote for the WTO's anachronistic distinction between direct and indirect taxes may be a new, capped U.S. foreign tax credit for value added taxes.
• Oct. 9, 2008: This week's issue of USITO provides details on two technical papers released by the U.S. Treasury and discusses three tax policy papers: two on the worldwide-vs.-territorial debate, and one on the application of tax expenditure analysis to deferral, cross-crediting, and the export sales source rule.
• Oct. 2, 2008: Today's issue of U.S. International Tax Outlook provides an overview of four interesting tax policy articles: two on treaties, one on tax competition in offshore financial centers, and one on the Sec. 965 "repatriation holiday."
• Sept. 25, 2008: This week's USITO briefly addresses a recent article on U.S. state tax liability in the absence of a PE, provides extensive excerpts from a recent Canada Revenue technical interpretation regarding the Canadian tax consequences of the conversion of a Delaware LLC to a Delaware LP, and gives details and links for T.D. 9425 (regarding IRC Sec. 6707A penalties) and the IRS International Tax Gap series of articles.
• Sept. 18, 2008: Today's U.S. International Tax Outlook discusses two recent PE decisions by the Tax Court of Canada (Knights of Columbus and AIL) and provides the abstract for an interesting transfer pricing paper I ran across this past week.
• Sept. 11, 2008: This week's issue of U.S. International Tax Outlook discusses selected parts of the recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on effective tax rates for U.S. multinationals and hyperlinks the full text of a tax policy paper that many USITO readers expressed interest in a few months ago: "The Interaction of Tax Systems and Tax Cultures in an International Order for Taxation."
• Sept. 4, 2008: Today marks the first anniversary of my weekly newsletter, U.S. International Tax Outlook. Today's issue gives a heads-up regarding next week's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on dividend tax abuse, briefly discusses two new tax policy papers by Michael Graetz and Michael Knoll, and provides the executive summary for the AICPA's comments on the new contract manufacturing regs.
• Aug. 21, 2008: This week's U.S. International Tax Outlook notes the publication yesterday of REG-209006-89, "Transfers by Domestic Corporations That Are Subject to Section 367(a)(5); Distributions by Domestic Corporations That Are Subject to Section 1248(f)"; provides an outline for the NYSBA comments on the contract manufacturing regs; and gives details regarding three international tax articles in the Summer 2008 SOI Bulletin. To subscribe to USITO, click here.
• Aug. 14, 2008: Today's USITO notes the signing of the U.S.-Malta tax treaty on 8 August, provides highlights from Tax Analysts' interview with Dan Berman, gives details regarding a new tax arbitration paper, and touches on two recent IRS releases regarding withholding tax on the U.S.-source income of foreign taxpayers.
• Aug. 7, 2008: This morning's U.S. International Tax Outlook provides perspective on the prior versions of the two international revenue raisers in H.R. 6595, the "Middle Class Tax Fairness Act of 2008," which was introduced by Rep. Timothy Walz, R-Minn., on 24 July.
• July 31, 2008: Today's issue of USITO provides a follow-up regarding last week's HSGAC tax haven hearing, gives details about a recently published tax arbitration paper, and briefly notes the review of my PE book in the current issue of Canadian Tax Journal.
• July 24, 2008: Today's U.S. International Tax Outlook provides details regarding the Senate Finance Committee hearing this morning on the Cayman Islands and the continuation tomorrow of the HSGAC hearing on financial institutions in offshore tax havens.
• July 16, 2008: Today's issue of USITO discusses the permanent establishment portion of the technical explanation for the U.S.-Canada Fifth Protocol, provides details about tomorrow's U.S. Senate hearing on financial institutions in offshore tax havens, gives a heads-up regarding the structured passive investment regulations released today, and notes publication of two interesting tax policy papers by Christopher Hanna and Alex Khachaturian.
• July 9, 2008: Today's U.S. International Tax Outlook is devoted entirely to an in-depth discussion of the 26 June Senate Finance Committee hearing on international tax reform. Here's the opening paragraph: "The witnesses at the 26 June Senate Finance hearing presented three distinct points of view on reforming U.S. international tax policy. One was to "reinvent 1986" by broadening the corporate tax base, this time via elimination of deferral, and lowering the corporate tax rate. Another was to throw worldwide taxation from the train and switch to territoriality. The third was to abolish the corporate tax." To read the rest, send your contact information, including email address, to subscribe@martintittle.com.
• July 3, 2008: Today's issue of USITO provides follow-up information about last week's SFC international tax hearing and gives a heads-up regarding three recently released documents: Ernst and Young's comments on the new contract manufacturing regs, Tom Brennan's interesting repatriation article, and Chief Counsel Advice 200826036 ("Proposed Disallowance of Foreign Tax Credits Attributable to Cross-Border Trust and Financing").
• June 26, 2008: Today's U.S. International Tax Outlook briefly discusses the new "Killer 351" regulations, provides information regarding the JCT report prepared in connection with today's Senate Finance Committee hearing, and gives details on two newspaper articles prompted by Melissa Redmiles's Sec. 965 report. To subscribe, click here.
• June 23, 2008: Another one-page edition of USITO provides additional details on the testimony Jim Hines can be expected to give at Thursday's Senate Finance Committee hearing and gives preliminary information on S.3162, the international tax reform bill that Sen. George Voinovich, R-OH, introduced last Thursday.
• June 20, 2008: A special one-page edition of USITO provides details regarding next week's Senate Finance Committee hearing on international tax reform and the four witnesses who are scheduled to testify.
• June 19, 2008: Today's issue of USITO surveys two new reports that address U.S. taxation of foreign sovereigns, reviews both the analysis of Sec. 965 (the dividends received deduction) in the Spring SOI and Lisa Nadal's critique of that analysis, gives details on Shannon McCormack's new tax shelter paper, and briefly addresses Sen. Ben Nelson's reportable transactions bill, the recently released IRS APA report, Sen. Barack Obama's comments to the Wall Street Journal on corporate taxes, and the treaty revenue raiser in Charlie Rangel's AMT relief bill (H.R. 6275).
• June 16, 2008: Today's USITO hits the high points of Ernst & Young's comments on the -8T GRA regs and the New York City Bar's comments on derivative benefits in treaties, gives a heads-up on Rev. Rul. 2008-31, and calculates a combined state-and-federal effective tax rate for the U.S.
• June 12, 2008: This week's U.S. International Tax Outlook recounts the Kerry-Graham tax colloquy on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" last Sunday, gives details regarding the hearing now scheduled in July on the new contract manufacturing regs, comments briefly on the court decision in the AWG Leasing SILO case, and explores the two international revenue raisers proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus in his substitute amendment to H.R. 6049.
• June 5, 2008: This week's USITO provides highlights of Aviva Aron-Dine's new corporate tax reform paper, gives details on the Fortune magazine tax shelter article, lists interesting discussion topics from the recent Law & Society annual meeting, includes information regarding the TCPI presentations in the current issue of TAXES -- The Tax Magazine, and briefly notes Gene Steuerle's recent career move, a WSJ article on the Sala case, and the passing of U.S. international tax expert Walter Diamond.