Avocado Roundup is a quick morning review of top tax, legal, and climate news stories. It’s written by humans.
- Professional tax accountants rank ahead of tax lawyers and far ahead of government tax authorities for trustworthiness on tax matters, according to accounting groups’ survey of 7,700 people across the world’s biggest economies. The survey was released Wednesday by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, International Federation of Accountants, and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. (Accounting Today)
- Overrun by tourists, Venice, Italy, plans to test a 5 euro ($5.4) tax on day trippers to its old city, starting next spring. The city plans to launch an online system for visitors to register and pay the tax. People staying overnight in Venice won’t have to pay the tax, but will still have to register, this report says. (Travel Market Report)
- Ernst & Young’s tax consulting revenue grew 7.5% to about $12.1 billion from 2022 to 2023, according to data the firm released Wednesday (EY.com)
Tax Increases, Rulings
- The Internal Revenue Service’s plan to use artificial intelligence to go after wealthy individuals, large partnerships, and corporations includes upping its scrutiny of large law firms. (Above The Law)
- France and Switzerland have concluded a permanent agreement setting out tax treatment of earnings of cross-border workers for the days they work from home. The countries had reached several temporary agreements on the matter during the pandemic, when people were forced to work remotely. (Les Echos)
- The French government’s plan to hit toll road operators with a surtax on their profits could face serious legal challenges, the country’s top administrative court warned. (Capital)
- A former partner at three Big Law firms in the US pleaded guilty to federal bankruptcy fraud. (Justice.gov)
Lateral, Moves, Promotions
- London-headquartered Clyde & Co launched a Middle East tax practice, hiring tax lawyer Rachel Fox as partner in its Dubai office and head of the practice. She arrives after 14-plus years at William Fry, where she was recently a partner. (ClydeCo.com)
- Brown Rudnick brought in Davis Polk tax counsel Kevin Brown as a partner in New York. He advises on tax aspects of executive compensation and employee benefits, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, financings, and corporate restructurings. (BrownRudnick.com)
