International taxes

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made the most far-reaching changes in the Tax Code in over 30 years, but it’s far from the last word on tax reform.

European finance chiefs arrived at a meeting of their global peers in Riyadh demanding the urgent creation of a new global tax system for the 21st century that would capture the profits of tech multinationals. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin responded: it’s not that simple.

Even though each digital service provider differs from the next, all DSPs are forced to navigate a complicated, evolving and non-harmonized set of tax rules that govern their businesses around the world.

Leaders from the service’s Criminal Investigation unit and tax authorities from Australia, the U.K., Canada and the Netherlands met in Australia this week to set priorities in the fight against international tax crimes.

Spain will introduce a digital services tax at the end of the year that would hit the revenue of companies such as Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google in a move likely to draw the ire of the U.S. administration.

Mark Zuckerberg for the first time said he supports efforts to create a global digital tax that would ultimately raise the amount Facebook Inc. pays to foreign countries, in a move that may boost efforts to put a new levy in effect by year-end.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, have introduced legislation to block the Treasury Department from providing a way for multinational corporations to choose the lowest available tax rate.

Updating global tax rules could boost government revenue by as much as $100 billion, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday in an effort to spur complex negotiations between world powers.

The threat of a new transatlantic trade war diminished after 137 countries agreed to continue negotiations aimed at creating rules for taxing multinational technology companies that receive foreign revenue.

About 135 of the world's countries are negotiating a radical change to the rules about where and how much multinational companies pay in taxes.

Apple Inc. reduced a massive back tax bill it must pay Ireland after other governments claimed a slice of the payment last year, according to regulatory filings.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin weighed in on the debate about a carbon tax in Davos, saying technological developments would make it redundant.

Having just persuaded France to hold off on a digital tax that would hurt its biggest technology firms, the U.S. is facing a similar threat from another part of Europe.

The U.S. and Europe are making progress toward a global pact on the taxation of digital services, with France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, saying on Thursday that American officials agreed on a blueprint for negotiations.

Global TaxUpdate, a Lisbon, Portugal-based global tax information provider, has introduced GTU OnDemand, an e-commerce service that provides access to an online store of translated tax legislation.

Even as France indicated a willingness to postpone a disputed tax on technology companies, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin dangled the prospect of retaliatory tariffs on automobile imports if the issue isn’t resolved.

Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump agreed to a truce in their dispute over digital taxes that will mean neither France nor the U.S. will impose punitive tariffs this year.

American Citizens Abroad, a group that promotes the interests of U.S.-born expatriates, has updated and relaunched its online Expat Tax Services Directory of firms providing tax services, tax preparation, accounting services, financial advisory and legal services.

The Internal Revenue Service said it may provide relief from double taxation in some circumstances to corporations because of the repatriation tax under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Vladimir Putin is putting his trust in an obscure technocrat with little political experience to be prime minister and revive Russia’s flagging economy, as he prepares the country for the most significant constitutional overhaul in a generation.