New England SALT Forum: Ropes & Gray is a sponsor of the 2020 Virtual New England State and Local Tax Forum on November 17-19.

“Apparent Transparency–BEPS Actions 12 & 13,” TEI Annual Conference: On October 27, Kat Gregor was a co-panelist on “Apparent Transparency–BEPS Actions 12 & 13” during the 75th Annual Virtual TEI Conference.

“U.S. Panel  System,” IFA Columbia Annual Summit: On October 26, Kat Gregor was a panelist on “U.S. Panel System” during the IFA Columbia Annual Summit.

“Taxing Change: Challenges in the New Economy,” IBA New Era of Taxation: On September 24, Kat Gregor moderated a panel “Taxing Change: Challenges in the New Economy” during the IBA’s New Era of Taxation Virtual Conference Webinar Series. This panel discussed the key issues facing governments and taxpayers as the economy and technology transform at a faster pace than law.

WIN Virtual Tea Tasting: On September 22, Ropes & Gray and Fenwick co-sponsored a virtual tea tasting and networking event over Zoom as part of the Women of IFA Network (WIN).

Cafecito Con Ropes & Gray: International Tax Enforcement Trends: On September 17, Ropes & Gray attorneys co-hosted the fifth event in their virtual “Cafecito con Ropes & Gray” series with Sánchez Devanny. In this latest session, tax partner and tax controversy group co-founder Kat Gregor and Sánchez Devanny co-panelists, Mariana Eguiarte-Morett (tax partner), Luis Antonio González-Flores (tax partner), and Ricardo León-Santacruz (managing partner), discussed global trends in criminal tax enforcement, examining the increased international enforcement and collaboration, Mexican enforcement, indirect taxes as an easy revenue raiser and the cost of compliance as well as the effects on U.S.-based multinationals. Attendees included firm clients, general counsel, and compliance officers operating in Latin America and around the world.

The IRS has been closely scrutinizing syndicated conservation easements since December 2017. In 2020, there have been some important developments in this area. First, in June 2020 the IRS announced a time-limited settlement opportunity for certain docketed Tax Court cases. Second, in August and September 2020, the Senate Finance Committee issued a report and data quantifying the amounts that syndicated conservation easements have allegedly cost the U.S. government. Third, some affected taxpayers have filed a class-action lawsuit against promoters of syndicated conservation easements.

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In a keenly anticipated development the Cayman Islands was removed from the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions (the “EU blacklist”) on 6 October 2020 after adopting reforms relating to private funds in September 2020.

This will be welcome news for asset managers with Cayman entities in their structures as their tax compliance concerns return to a pre-2020 ‘normal’. Such asset managers will no longer have to worry about the restrictive, and possibly even punitive, consequences of the defensive measures EU member states are required to adopt by the end of the year, or the additional exercise of evaluating every transaction involving a cross-border deductible payment between an EU or UK entity and the Cayman entity to determine if there is a DAC 6 reporting obligation. We expect that it is less likely that the Cayman Islands will be added to the blacklists of individual member states such as the French list of Non-cooperative States and Territories. However, it remains to be seen whether the Cayman Islands’ fleeting addition to the EU blacklist will have any longer term negative associations for certain investors that may prioritise reputational concerns.

Anguilla and Barbados have been placed on the EU blacklist after peer review reports downgraded each of Anguilla’s and Barbados’ compliance ratings in relation to the international standard on transparency and exchange of information on request. Please refer to our previous article on the potential impact for asset managers of having blacklisted entities in their structures (available here).

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Kat Gregor,  tax partner and co-founder of the firm’s tax controversy group, discusses the OECD’s digital tax proposal as well as actions being taken by several countries to pass digital services taxes of their own.

Please click here to watch the video and view the transcript.