International taxes

Brooke Harrington, an American tax expert with a PhD from Harvard University, was about to make Copenhagen her home when she found out she was facing criminal charges.

As legislators in Washington work to get the most sweeping rewrite of the U.S. tax code in three decades, regions including the European Union and China are expressing their concern that the bill may not comply with international rules and frustration about the effect it may have on local markets.

A former Swiss banker was acquitted of helping U.S. clients dodge taxes, dealing prosecutors a dramatic loss in their efforts to hold individuals responsible after the government successfully targeted financial institutions.

Senate Republicans tucked some multibillion-dollar tax increases for corporations into the 515-page tax bill they released this week—spring-loaded hikes that would begin after 2024 if the economy doesn’t grow as fast as GOP lawmakers have promised.

Ireland is set to miss a deadline to hire managers for Apple Inc.’s tax billions during an appeal of a European Union antitrust ruling, the latest delay in a saga that has dragged on for more than a year.

In Vanuatu, a remote archipelago in the South Pacific, a popular tourist attraction is something called land diving. Villagers on the lush outer island of Pentecost jump headfirst from a tall wooden tower with tree vines tied to their ankles to break their fall. For the divers, the rite of passage is a plunge into the unknown—and that’s not a bad metaphor for where this secretive tax haven is headed these days.

U.S. companies that make billions of dollars from patents and other intellectual property held offshore would be eligible for a special 12.5 percent tax rate on those earnings under the Senate tax plan.

The House Ways and Means Committee approved revisions to the GOP tax legislation—changes that would trim the bill’s cost, putting it within the $1.5 trillion limit set by the congressional budget.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Large Business and International division is launching 11 more compliance campaigns looking at various ways to ensure companies are meeting their tax obligations.

The tax reform bill introduced last week includes major provisions related to the taxation of companies’ foreign income and of foreign persons.