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Transfer Pricing Adjustment Does Not Reduce Dividend Received Deduction from C.F.C.

When the I.R.S. successfully maintains an adjustment to transfer pricing within an intercompany group, taxable income is increased to one participant but cash remains at the level that existed at year-end prior to the I.R.S. adjustment.  To avoid a second tax adjustment, the party with excessive cash – as determined after the I.R.S. adjustment – may be treated as if it incurred an account payable, which can be repaid free of additional tax.  In Analog Devices, the I.R.S. attempted to argue that the account payable of the C.F.C. should be treated as an actual borrowing.  The effect of an actual borrowing limited the favorable tax treatment under Code §965.  That provision temporarily allowed an 85% dividends received deduction for a U.S. corporation receiving a dividend from a controlled foreign corporation.  The Tax Court disagreed with the I.R.S. position. Kenneth Lobo and Beate Erwin explain.

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§385 Regulations Adopted with Helpful Changes, but Significant Impact Remains

§385 Regulations Adopted with Helpful Changes, but Significant Impact Remains

On October 13, 2016, the Treasury Department released final and temporary regulations under Code §385 relating to the tax classification of debt.  The new rules were proposed initially in April and were followed by a torrent of comments from Congress, business organizations, and professional groups.  In the final portion of his trilogy on debt-equity regulations, Philip R. Hirschfeld explains the helpful provisions that appear in the final regulations and cautions that not all controversial proposals were modified.

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Uproar Over Proposed §385 Regulations: Will Treasury Delay Adoption?

Earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury Department issued comprehensive and detailed proposed regulations under Code §385 that address whether a debt instrument will be treated as true debt for U.S. income tax purposes or re-characterized, in whole or in part, as equity.  Not surprisingly, significant pushback has been encountered from members of Congress, professional bodies, and affected taxpayers.  It seems that the one-size-fits-all approach contains many defects.  Philip R. Hirschfeld and Stanley C. Ruchelman explain.

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Related-Party Debt: Proposed Code §385 Regulations Raise Major New Hurdles

In a follow-up piece on newly proposed anti-inversion regulations, Phillip R. Hirschfeld offers a detailed analysis of new debt equity regulations.  Mind-boggling complexity is proposed for rules in an area of the tax law that lay dormant for almost 40 years.

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