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The Mercatus Institute, a public policy research center affiliated with George Mason University, released a paper by Dr. George H. K. Wang, Research Professor of Finance in the School of Management at George Mason University, titled "Securities Transaction Taxes and Market Quality of Equity and Futures Markets: Issues and Evidence." The paper examines arguments for and against a securities transaction tax ("STT") and evaluates the pros and cons based on a review of empirical evidence concerning the impact of STTs on equity and futures markets and market efficiency in various countries. Dr

On April 24, t he IRS revised the FATCA FAQs on its website to add several new questions and answers dealing with qualified intermediaries, expanded affiliated groups and other interpretative questions. An entire new section titled "General Compliance" contains five new questions and answers. For example, one of the questions addressed is this: How do Certified Deemed-Compliant Foreign Financial Institutions ("FFIs"), Owner-Documented FFIs and Excepted FFIs certify to withholding agents that they are not subject to FATCA withholding, given that they are not required to register with the IRS

On April 29, Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ) urged the Obama Administration to stay negotiations on a FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement ("IGA") with Russia until Russia ends its actions directed against Ukraine. Russia is among several nations that have not yet reached an agreement in substance with the United States over FATCA. Other economically-significant countries without FATCA agreements include China, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Banks and other financial institutions in non-IGA countries that fail to register and enter into an FFI Agreement with the IRS face a 30%

SIFMA, CME Group, Inc., the North American Tax Committee of ISDA, and the Futures Industry Association (the "Associations") submitted comments to the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS requesting guidance on the application of existing rules treating swap upfront payments that constitute "significant" non-periodic payments, as loans for federal income tax purposes. According to the letter, in the context of cleared and many uncleared swaps, a party receiving an upfront payment is not entitled to retain the payment, but rather must remit the payment as variation margin back to the payor of

The IRS issued Notice 2014-39 clarifying that taxpayers that receive a cash grant in lieu of either a Code Section 45 production tax credit or a Code Section 48 investment tax credit may not claim one of the credits for any portion of the basis of the property, even when the cash grant was reduced due to sequestration. Under the Code, production tax credits based on the amount of energy produced over a 10-year period are available for certain renewable energy generation, such as wind power. Other renewable energy property, such as solar generating equipment, is eligible for an investment tax