Category Archives: Tax & Estate

2020 Edition! International Tax Controversies

International Tax Controversies is a practical guide to handling international tax audits and appeals, government-to-government cooperation and special dispute resolution mechanisms, and litigating international tax cases. Disputes with the IRS regarding international tax issues often present special issues in addition to those normally relevant in purely domestic tax controversies.

For example, questions may arise regarding the application of attorney-client privilege and other protections in the cross-border context. Where relevant documents, witnesses, and other information are held abroad, special procedures may be applicable. In addition, special dispute resolution mechanisms may be available in international tax disputes involving tax treaties and transfer pricing. Taxpayers should also be aware of the potential impact on the competent authority process of entering into closing agreements. Finally, country-by-country reporting data will be changed by the United States pursuant to bilateral competent authority arrangements (CAAs) entered into in connection with tax treaties and TIEAs that permit automatic exchanges of information.

International Tax Controversies explores these and other relevant issues in international tax cases, in addition to the issues and procedures that commonly arise in U.S. federal tax audits (whether or not focused on international issues).

This essential treatise is available on PLI PLUS. If you would like to order a print copy, please contact libraryrelations@pli.edu.

New Title! Business Taxation Deskbook

Business Taxation Deskbook is a guide to the fundamental principles governing the federal income tax treatment of domestic and international business transactions involving the organization, operation, and disposition of the four principal forms of business entity.

The Deskbook includes important coverage of the dramatic changes for businesses made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCAJA). It also looks at the federal income tax treatment of both inbound and outbound cross-border transactions and provides a basic introduction to state law issues in business taxation.

This book is designed to provide an introduction to the basic principles of business taxation and not to be the “last word” on any of these highly complex topics.

This new treatise is available on PLI PLUS. If you would like to order a print copy, please contact libraryrelations@pli.edu.

New Edition! Net Leases and Sale-Leasebacks

Net Leases and Sale – Leasebacks: A Guide to Legal, Tax and Accounting Strategies covers every aspect of the ownership, financing, documentation, taxation, and accounting for net leases and sale-leasebacks, focusing on those areas where the treatment of net leases and sale-leasebacks differs from the treatment of other forms of real estate investment.

Authored by specialist Ken Miller, this softbound guide, which assumes some basic understanding of the law and practice of real estate acquisitions, provides a detailed discussion of the important concepts underlying real estate investment transactions, as well as a clause-by-clause explanation of the mandatory and optional provisions of a net lease investment agreement.

This treatise title is available on PLI PLUS. If you would like to order a print copy, please contact libraryrelations@pli.edu.

New Edition! Legal Guide to the Business of Marijuana

Legal Guide to the Business of Marijuana is a unique resource for lawyers who represent clients in what has been called the fastest growing industry in the United States. Many states now allow medical and/or recreational use of marijuana, but it remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. As a result, marijuana enterprises must operate in a legal and regulatory environment of uncertainty and rapid change, and lawyers representing these enterprises must tread carefully when advising clients.

Written by James T. O’Reilly, a lawyer and public health specialist, Legal Guide to the Business of Marijuana offers critical guidance to help lawyers effectively represent their clients while steering clear of seen and as yet unseen perils implicit in the continued federal-state conflict. Highlights of the 2019 Edition include:

  • Discussion and summary of the new laws in Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma and Utah, the latest states to enact some form of legalization.
  • Coverage of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the “2018 Farm Bill”), which legalized production of hemp nationwide while also retaining the regulatory power of the FDA over CBD products derived from hemp.
  • Updated state-by-state Appendix of cannabis-related statutes, regulation, and court cases

This essential treatise is available on PLI PLUS. If you would like to order a print copy, please contact libraryrelations@pli.edu.

Practice Area Webinars – Law School Summer Schedule

Sign up today for PLI’s monthly webinar series on PLI PLUS for law school librarians. Each monthly webinar will cover a different practice area; while also demonstrating the overall functionality of the research database.

These webinars are meant to be a convenient way to learn more about PLI content in an area of the law. Each webinar will start with an overview of relevant PLI resources to be followed by research scenarios. Attendees are welcome to submit their own research questions and scenarios up to one week prior to the webinar.

If you are interested in participating, please send an RSVP to PLUS@pli.edu.

Upcoming webinars:

MAY: Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 2:00pm ET: Immigration Law

JUNE: Wednesday, June 26, 2019, 2:00pm ET: Real Estate Law

JULY: Wednesday, July 31, 2019, 2:00pm ET: Tax Law

AUGUST: Wednesday, August 28, 2019, 2:00pm ET Corporate Law

Treatise Update! Mergers, Acquisitions and Tender Offers

Mergers, Acquisitions and Tender Offers: Law and Strategies is a five-volume guide to domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions, and tender offers, covering a range of aspects including corporate, securities federal income tax, antitrust, pre-merger notification, accounting, and valuation. The book focuses on private company and public company acquisitions negotiated and hostile transactions. The title takes a practical approach to these topics, and many of the chapters have appendices containing deal documents that illustrate the practical application of the particular topic.

Highlights of Release #16 include:

This essential treatise is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database. If you’d like to purchase a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

Treatise Update! Langer on Practical International Tax Planning

PLI recently published an update to Langer on Practical International Tax Planning.

This treatise provides current knowledge and expert advice you need to help clients capitalize on ripe tax havens and financial centers.

The latest update includes several newly added sections covering the following topics:

  • The 2017 Tax Act. This new section outlines numerous changes made by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including changes to the capital gains rate, deduction for state and local property and income taxes, dividends-received deduction, net operating losses, and like-kind exchanges.
  • Unemployment Compensation Paid After Leaving the United States.In what it said was a case of first impression for it, the Tax Court addressed whether a nonresident alien (Canadian) who had worked in the United States was exempt under treaty from taxation on unemployment compensation she received after having gone back to Canada.
  • Expatriating Corporations—Excise Tax. Updates provide the latest on how the 2017 Tax act affect the excise tax, which can apply to certain “disqualified” individuals if a corporation expatriates and gain on any stock in the expatriated corporation is recognized by any shareholder with respect to the expatriation transaction.
  • Charitable Distributions. This discussion covers newly modified procedures for how foundations may make a “good faith determination” that a foreign grantee is a “qualifying public charity.”
  • Payments to Related “Captive Insurance Companies”. Coverage of a 2017 Tax Court case examines the Service’s denial of a taxpayers’ claimed deductions under section 162 for amounts paid by their pass-through entities to a related captive insurance company.
  • Deemed Repatriation. This new section discusses how, under the 2017 Tax Act, U.S. shareholders owning at least 10% of a foreign subsidiary generally must include in income, for the subsidiary’s last tax year beginning before 2018, the shareholder’s pro rata share of the accumulated post-1986 historical E&P of the foreign subsidiary as of the “measurement date,” to the extent such E&P has not been previously subject to U.S. tax.

The updated treatise is available on PLI PLUS, our research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

New Title! Legal Guide to the Business of Marijuana

PLI recently published a new title, Legal Guide to the Business of Marijuana.

This title is a new and unique resource for lawyers who represent clients in what has been called the fastest growing industry in the United States. The majority of states have enacted laws legalizing medical marijuana — with nine states to date allowing for recreational use — but marijuana remains illegal under the Federal Controlled Substances Act, giving rise to constitutional challenges to these state laws under the doctrine of preemption. As a result, marijuana enterprises must operate in a legal and regulatory environment of uncertainty, and lawyers representing these enterprises must tread carefully when advising clients.

Written by James T. O’Reilly, a lawyer and public health specialist, Legal Guide to the Business of Marijuana offers critical guidance to help lawyers effectively represent their clients while steering clear of seen and as yet unseen perils implicit in the continued federal-state conflict. The guide provides discussion and analysis of:

• the complex and varying state regulation of medical and non-medical marijuana, including a survey of state cannabis laws, with summaries and citations

• federal law, enforcement, and preemption

• the various aspects of establishing and managing a marijuana enterprise, including the growing, licensing, labeling, transporting, and distribution of marijuana and related products

• the implications of preemption on employment, taxes, and banking

For lawyers new to representing marijuana clients, the author provides an understanding of the definitions of marijuana and other cannabis products, as well as a review of the policy and political issues that have led to the controversy and uncertainty of the current environment.

This essential new title is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

New Edition! Transfer Pricing Answer Book (2018 Edition)

PLI recently published the 2018 edition of Transfer Pricing Answer Book.

The phenomena of increasingly global business enterprises with valuable intangible property expose companies to transfer pricing enforcement by different countries around the world. Many of these countries are increasingly aggressive in enforcing their local transfer pricing rules, as they attempt to protect their tax revenue base. To avoid double taxation of the same income in this environment, companies often are required to deal with the highly specialized, bilateral treaty-based competent authority process developed to prevent double taxation at a time when trade mainly involved only two established countries. Even more challenging today, companies and tax authorities increasingly are faced with the potential for multiple taxation of the same income, as supply chains cross many borders and as the tax authorities of emerging countries become players in the global taxation process, and the resulting stresses, strains, and limitations of the bilateral treaty-based competent authority process have become more apparent.

In light of the high-dollar risks presented by the increased enforcement efforts of tax authorities worldwide, the complexity of the ever-changing, inherently uncertain transfer pricing standards, and the continually evolving business models of businesses adapting to the constantly changing global economy, companies need practical guidance to permit them to develop and defend their transfer pricing strategies.

Transfer Pricing Answer Book gives companies such guidance by discussing all aspects of transfer pricing, from initially planning a transfer pricing strategy, to alternative ways to defend the strategy from attack by two or more tax authorities, to resolving a case before competent authorities, to bringing a transfer pricing case to court. It also provides an overview of the IRS’s approach to transfer pricing enforcement. The book’s non-technical discussion is presented in a question-and-answer format that will appeal to readers regardless of their prior level of experience or familiarity with taxes in general and transfer pricing in particular.

Transfer Pricing Answer Book is an invaluable resource for company executives and their advisors who are seeking to better understand this important area of tax law–one that has become  an important economic facet of so many businesses.

The new edition is available on PLI PLUS, our research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.

Tax Series Special Update! Tax Practice After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Following the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we felt it was important to provide you with a resource analyzing some of the domestic and international implications of the tax reform package. The result is the Tax Series Special Update, which contains new, original articles covering topics including:

• The impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on choice of entity
• Observations on M&A consequences
• Structuring and negotiating cross-border acquisitions
• Section 965 transition and repatriation tax on foreign based earnings
• New Section 245A DRD for foreign-source portion of dividends from specified foreign corporations
• Global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”)
• Foreign derived intangible income (”FDII”)
• Base erosion and anti-abuse tax (“BEAT”)

The Tax Series Special Update is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.