As of 18 February 2025, the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is once again authorized to enforce the beneficial owner interest (BOI) reporting provisions of the Corporate Transparency Act . Therefore, beneficial ownership interest report filing by Reporting Companies is once again mandatory with an extended deadline of March 21, 2025, for many companies.
On 20 December 2024, the Hong Kong government gazetted the Companies (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2024 (“Bill”) which introduces Hong Kong’s long awaited inward re-domiciliation regime. The Bill was introduced to the Legislative Council on 8 January 2025 and once enacted, will enable non-Hong Kong incorporated companies to relocate their domicile to Hong Kong, while maintaining their legal identity and business continuity.
The IRS recently announced changes to its Form 14457, “Voluntary Disclosure Practice Preclearance and Application,” which allows taxpayers to apply to the IRS in an attempt to limit criminal exposure by disclosing past noncompliance and paying past taxes, interest and penalties. The new form includes several revisions that demonstrate a stricter approach towards taxpayers wanting to voluntarily disclose past tax-related misconduct, including: an admission of willfulness, a more detailed narrative requirement, a shorter time to prepare documents, and mandatory full payment. Taxpayers should consult with counsel to examine any increased risks associated with filing the revised form.
Tax News and Developments September 2024 In brief Many litigants argue that FBAR penalties, which can exceed the value of the unreported foreign accounts, violate the excessive fines clause of the Eighth Amendment. Courts have routinely held that the Eighth Amendment does not apply in this situation. However, the Eleventh…
On 26 September 2024, the OECD Inclusive Framework published a Model Competent Authority Agreement to assist jurisdictions that have implemented the simplified and streamlined approach under Amount B to provide tax certainty. The MCAA is mainly intended to be applied in relation to Covered Jurisdictions as defined in the 17 June 2024 guidance. However, the OECD notes that Inclusive Framework members may use the MCAA as a model for negotiations with jurisdictions that are not defined as Covered Jurisdictions. This workstream has remained pending since the release of the guidance reports in February and June 2024. Therefore, the MCAA brings Amount B one step further toward completion and political agreement, in light of the envisaged local implementation commencing in fiscal years beginning after 1 January 2025.
On 2 August 2024, Bill No. 2308/2023, which establishes the legal framework for low-carbon hydrogen in Brazil, was approved with a partial veto. Numbered as Law 14948/2024, it has created the National Low-Carbon Hydrogen Policy, which will form part of the country’s National Energy Policy. The Law has also established the competence of the National Agency for Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels to authorize, regulate and inspect activities in the low-carbon hydrogen value chain, and has created the Brazilian Hydrogen Certification System and the Special Incentive Regime for Low-Carbon Hydrogen Production, a tax regime designed to foster technological and industrial development, competitiveness and added value in national production chains.
The new disregarded payment loss rules could create material, adverse tax consequences for taxpayers that make check-the-box elections for foreign disregarded entities within a US consolidated group (or otherwise form new foreign disregarded entities). As a result, taxpayers should assess their exposure under the disregarded payment loss rules before making any such elections or forming such entities within the US consolidated group.
Registers of ultimate beneficial ownerships (UBO) are gaining momentum globally, with over 100 countries committed to implementing reforms to UBO regulations.
UBO disclosure and reporting requirements are important for businesses to be familiar with. For employers, understanding their own ownership structure and the transparency rules can mitigate compliance risks and also demonstrate commitment to ethical business conduct.
The personal income tax exemption amount on severance pay for terminated employees is now increased, following the publishing of the relevant Ministerial Regulations in the Royal Gazette. On 26 June 2024, the Ministerial Regulations, Volume 394 (B.E. 2567), (2024) under the Revenue Code Regarding Revenue Tax Exemption (“Ministerial Regulation”) was published in the Royal Gazette on 17 July 2024 and has already entered into force from that date. As a result, the personal income tax exemption amount on severance pay for terminated employees is now increased to the employee’s last 400 days’ wages or THB 600,000, whichever is less.
Does your group have a German subsidiary or a German branch that pays royalties to a related party abroad under an intra-group license agreement? If so, a recent development in the German tax landscape could significantly affect you: The German Royalty Barrier Rule (RBR, Section 4j of the German Income Tax Act, (ITA)) is increasingly becoming relevant in German tax audits. Importantly, the German Tax Authorities (GTA) recently began expanding their scrutiny beyond traditional Patent/IP Box regimes.