Avocado Roundup is a quick review of top tax, legal, and climate news stories. It’s written by humans.
- Five EU member states have officially notified the European Commission that they intend to delay application of two key components of the Pillar Two global minimum tax in the big OECD tax reform. (LinkedIn.com)
- Pillar Two rules, which aim to make sure big multinationals pay at least 15% tax on their global income, are supposed to start taking effect Jan. 1, 2024, including in the European Union. So far, global uptake of the rules has been slow, but the OECD is hoping for momentum to “snowball” next year. (LegalAvocado)
- The EU in Tuesday’s Official Journal included a European Commission notice that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Slovakia have elected to delay application of Pillar Two’s income inclusion rule and undertaxed profits rule. The rules underpin Pillar Two’s mechanism that allows a jurisdiction to apply a so-called top-up tax to a multinational company whose global income is taxed at less than 15%.
- Article 50 of the EU’s Pillar Two Directive allows member states to put off applying the rules for up to six consecutive years from Dec. 31, 2023, if no more than 12 ultimate parent entities of multinational groups covered by the directive are located in their territories. (Europa.eu)
- Under the directive, the EU’s 27 member states have until Dec. 31 to notify the commission that they intend to delay application of the rules. So far, five have done that.
- The commission said member states’ election to delay application of the rules does not eliminate a multinational group’s potential liability to pay top-up tax in other member states or third countries.
- “The mere fact that certain member states may use the election ought not distort the operation of the Pillar Two system within the EU and elsewhere. For that reason, a member state making the election must nevertheless transpose all the other relevant Pillar Two Directive provisions, so as to enable taxpayers and other member states and jurisdictions to properly apply the system,” the commission said. (Europa.eu)
UK's HMRC Thinks US Firms Underpaid Tax by $7.04 Billion Last Year
- The UK tax authority believes US multinational corporations underpaid UK tax by 5.6 billion pounds ($7.04 billion) last year, according to a report citing a national accounting firm. (The Guardian)
- A French taxpayer convicted for tax fraud and money laundering can’t be required to compensate the government for “moral” damages, France’s supreme court ruled, according to a French-language press report. The Cour de Cassation’s Nov. 15 finding overruled the Versailles Court of Appeals. The lower court had agreed with the government’s argument that the taxpayer’s crime caused the state moral damages by calling into question its program for fighting money laundering. (Le Monde du Droit) (Legifrance.gouv.fr)
- France and Cyprus signed a bilateral convention for elimination of double taxation of income and prevention of tax evasion and avoidance. (Stockwatch)
Alvarez & Marsal Hires Tax Advisers in London, Australia
- Professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal hired veteran tax advisers Andy Murray and Prasam Patel as managing directors in London. Murray, whose primary focus is M&A transactions and private credit markets, arrives from Kroll, where he was managing director leading the transaction tax practice for the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. Patel, specialized in real estate and infrastructure tax, arrives after about 10 years at Mazars LLP, where he led the UK real estate practice. (AlvarezandMarsal.com)
- Alvarez & Marsal also grabbed six managing directors for its tax practice in Australia, from Big Four firms Deloitte, EY, and, KPMG, and financial and banking group ANZ. It also hired six senior advisers for its infrastructure, disputes, and performance improvement units. (Australia Financial Review)
- French business law firm LPA-CGR Avocats hired transfer pricing economist Cédric Maheo as partner in Casablanca, Morocco. He was recently head of transfer pricing at Chassany Watrelot & Associes and earlier had a similar role at CMS Francis Lefebvre Maroc. (LPALaw.com)
Legal Technology
- UK and Ireland corporate tax compliance software provider Tax Systems, owned by private equity company Bowmark Capital, acquired Dutch tax technology company TaxModel. (Businesswire)
