Avocado Roundup is a quick review of top tax, legal, and climate news stories. It’s written by humans.
- Professional services giant Grant Thornton LLP is laying off about 200 workers in the US, mainly adviser jobs, after cutting about 300 jobs earlier this year, according to a report. The report cites employees at Grant Thornton who said the company anticipates a sharp downturn in the economy. (Fox Business) Another report, citing “tips,” says the layoffs did not affect audit or tax roles at the firm. (Going Concern)
- An Italian judge ordered 779.5 million euros ($832.5 million) to be seized from Airbnb’s branch in the country in the context of a tax evasion probe. Prosecutors accuse the short-term rental company of failing to collect a 21% tax on property owners’ rental income from 2017 to 2021, reports say. (Sky News) (TG Com24) (Le Figaro)
- Former Allen & Overy tax lawyer Arthur Leclerc, who was a senior manager at EY Société d’Avocats in Paris, has launched, with former EY attorney Constance Guiraud, a tax law boutique in Paris. They said the boutique, Omni Avocats, advises companies, multinational groups, and investors on tax strategy and international taxation. (Le Monde du Droit)
EY Australia Calls Accused Ex-Partner "Rogue Operator"
- Ernst & Young’s Australia branch said a former partner at the firm who was accused of promoting a tax avoidance scheme was a “rogue operator,” acting on his own. (Consultancy.com)
- Small Australian accounting firms say the country’s regulatory regime for the sector is plagued with conflicts of interest between major professional bodies and giant accounting firms. (Australian Financial Review)
- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development asked for comments on a draft toolkit aimed at helping resource-rich developing countries deal with transfer pricing challenges they face in trying bring in tax revenue from the mineral sector. (OECD.org)
Georgia’s film industry tax incentive costs the US state about $1 billion per year but it gave it about an $8.55 billion boost in fiscal 2022, bringing in nearly 60,000 jobs, according to a study. (Capital Beat)
Laterals, Moves
The Walt Disney company lured away PepsiCo vice chairman and chief financial officer Hugh Johnston to become its senior executive vice president and CFO, effective Dec. 4. (Walt Disney Company)
UK litigation firm Stewarts hired longtime tax litigator Giles Salmond, who was Eversheds-Sutherland’s UK head of indirect taxes and tax dispute resolution, as partner on its tax litigation and resolution team. (StewartsLaw.com)
