International taxes

The U.S. has dropped a key demand in negotiations over digital taxation of technology companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc., lifting a barrier that had raised transatlantic trade tensions and prevented an international deal.

Governments around the world are confronting budget deficits due to the COVID-19 pandemic and corporate tax leaders are worried about higher tax assessments, double taxation, penalties, interest and surcharges.

His story reveals the far-reaching net that continues to entangle individuals and firms who were engaged in so-called Cum-Ex transactions, almost a decade after the dividend-tax practice ended.

With blacked out or blank television screens, front pages and web portals, Poland’s private media companies protested against plans to implement a new advertising tax they say is a disguised government attempt to muffle criticism.

Former investment banker Paul Mora is the first Cum-Ex suspect placed on Interpol’s public list of most-wanted suspects as Germany launched an international search for him in an escalation of its vast tax-evasion probe.

Five international tax enforcement heads, including from the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit, have been meeting this week to discuss their joint initiatives for combating tax evasion.

The European Union is seeking to overturn Apple Inc.’s victory in a 13 billion-euro ($15.7 billion) tax dispute, saying judges used “contradictory reasoning” when they found that the company’s Irish units weren’t liable for huge payments.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said President Joe Biden’s administration has shown a readiness to clinch an agreement on how to tax global tech companies, potentially overcoming an American block and paving the way for an accord later this year.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday talked with her U.K. and German counterparts about resolving mushrooming disputes over the taxation of internet giants such as Facebook Inc., highlighting the issue as a priority in her initial bilateral calls.

The year ahead will be full of tax uncertainties in the U.S. and internationally, ranging from digital taxes and carbon taxes to possible tax hikes under the Biden administration.