Avocado Roundup is a quick review of top tax, legal, and climate news stories. It’s written by humans.
- Vietnam reportedly plans to set up a fund to be used to persuade big multinational companies to stay in the country when it begins applying global minimum tax rules next year. Vietnam’s parliament last week approved a minimum top-up tax under the OECD’s Pillar Two plan to ensure multinationals pay at least 15% tax on their global income, with the rate to kick in Jan. 1, 2024. The parliament wants the government to draft a decree that would use revenues from the tax and “other legal sources” for a fund to maintain the country’s “magnetism” to strategic foreign investors, a local report said. The report didn’t specify when the fund would be implemented. (VietnamPlus)
- The global minimum tax could deflate the appeal of tax breaks and similar incentives that Vietnam and other low-tax jurisdictions have long used to attract foreign investors and hold on to multinationals already in their countries. An EY partner in Vietnam reports that the government, in response, plans to shift its focus to new “green carpet” incentives. These include such perks as access to renewable energy, energy conservation grants, and other measures to attract investment while also boosting the country’s progress on its climate and sustainable development goals. (LinkedIn)
Energy transition to cost France 30 billion euros by 2050
- The transition away from fossil fuels will cost France 13 billion euros ($14.05 billion) in lost tax revenues by 2030, and 30 billion euros by 2050, but it will nevertheless be a plus for France’s economy, according to a report. (La Tribune)
- The US Internal Revenue Service said its criminal investigation unit started 2,676 cases in fiscal 2023, identifying more than $37 billion related to tax and financial crimes, and winning an 88.4% conviction rate for cases accepted for prosecution.(IRS.gov)
- A South Florida federal court ordered a Miami tax preparer accused of fraud to permanently shut down his businesses preparing taxes, training others how to prepare tax returns, or operating any tax-return preparation business in the future. It also ordered him to pay a $500,000 fine. (Justice.gov)
