On April 11, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued Revenue Procedure 2019-18, creating a safe harbor that allows professional sports teams to treat trades of personnel contracts (including contracts for players, coaches and managers) and draft picks as having a zero value for determining gain or loss
Proposed FDII Regulations under Section 250
I. Introduction.
On March 4, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and the Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) released proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) regarding the deduction for “foreign-derived intangible income” (“FDII”) under section 250 of the Internal Revenue Code.[1] Section 250 was enacted in 2017 as part of the tax reform act.[2] Very generally, section 250 provides domestic corporations with a reduced effective 13.125% tax rate on FDII, which is a formulary proxy for a domestic corporation’s intangible income attributable to foreign sales and services.[3] The reduced tax rate for FDII is intended to encourage U.S. multinationals to retain intellectual property in the United States rather than transfer it to a foreign subsidiary where it could generate global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”), which is taxable at a 10.5% rate. The Proposed Regulations also would permit individuals who make a section 962 election with respect to their controlled foreign corporation (“CFCs”) to benefit from the reduced 13.125% rate on the GILTI earned by those CFCs.
The Proposed Regulations are generally effective for taxable years ending on or after March 4, 2019.
This post provides both background to and a summary of some of the most important aspects of the Proposed Regulations. For more information, please contact any of the Proskauer tax lawyers listed on this post or your regular Proskauer contact.
“Passthrough Deduction” Regulations Finalized
On January 18, 2019, the U.S. Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) released final regulations (the “Final Regulations”) regarding the “passthrough deduction” for qualified trade or business income under section 199A of the Internal Revenue Code.[1] The Final Regulations modify proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) that were released in August 2018. The Final Regulations apply to tax years ending after February 8, 2019, but taxpayers may rely on the Proposed Regulations for taxable years ending in calendar year 2018.
Section 199A was enacted in 2017 as part of the tax reform act.[2] Generally, section 199A provides a deduction (the “passthrough deduction”) of up to 20% for individuals and certain trusts and estates of certain of the income from certain trades or businesses that are operated as a sole proprietorship, or through certain passthrough entities. The passthrough deduction provides a maximum effective rate of 29.6%.
This post provides background and summarizes some of the most important changes from the Proposed Regulations to the Final Regulations. For more information, please contact any of the Proskauer tax lawyers listed on this post or your regular Proskauer contact.
Summary of the Opportunity Zone Program
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted section 1400Z-2 of the Internal Revenue Code, which created the qualified opportunity zone program. The program is designed to encourage investment in distressed communities designated as “qualified opportunity zones” by providing tax incentives to invest in “qualified opportunity funds” (“opportunity funds”) that, in
Impact of Recent Tax Legislation on M&A Transactions
This post outlines at a high-level certain provisions under the recently enacted 2017 tax legislation (Pub. L. 115-97, the “Tax Act”) that may affect M&A Transactions. Some of these rules are very complex, particularly in cross-border transactions, and this post describes them in general terms without all of their fine details. The discussion of foreign corporations below is in the context of foreign subsidiaries of U.S. groups.
Multiple Lower Effective Corporate Tax Rates
There are now multiple effective corporate tax rates and the much-despised corporate alternative minimum tax has been repealed. Because all of them are substantially below 35 percent, they may contribute to an increase in asset prices. In addition, tax benefits now may be less valuable to corporate purchasers than to non-corporate buyers.
Base Corporate Income Tax Rate—21 percent tax rate (effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017). No sunset provision.
Certain Foreign Source Income Earned from the U.S (“FDII”).—Intended to attract cross-border business back to the U.S., a tax rate lower than 21 percent is now imposed on certain excess returns earned by a U.S. corporation on the sale, license or lease of property or the provision of services to an unrelated foreign party for foreign use or consumption. (Additional rules apply when the transaction is with a related party.) In broad terms, the lower rate applies to the foreign source income from these transactions in excess of 10 percent of the corporation’s allocable depreciable tangible property basis.