On 1 April 2015 the UK is introducing a new tax, the Diverted Profits Tax (“DPT”) which has been dubbed the “Google tax” by the media. It is aimed at aggressive tax planning that erodes the UK tax base.

In this article, we review the convergent impact of ongoing drivers of change that will coincide with an acceleration of CMS payment reform.

In 2013 private equity investors committed $10.6 billion to 755 transactions in India. However, in the first half of 2014, private equity deal activity declined. Investor confidence has been impacted by fraud and accounting scandals involving private equity portfolio companies in India.

This edition of Tax Advisor Weekly focuses on how key aspects of the proposed regulations may affect how taxpayers identify and substantiate IUS-related costs as part of their future R&D credit calculations.

Incentive compensation is an integral part of the total compensation package for executives at most large, publicly traded companies.

A fresh set of implementation guidelines was issued early in February by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Action 13, Transfer Pricing Documentation and a Template for Country-by-Country Reporting of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) initiative.

For nearly two decades, the federal courts virtually unanimously agreed that fiduciaries of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) were entitled to a presumption of prudence in purchasing or holding employer securities, except under extremely limited circumstances.

The expansion of A&M’s offering in Asia, including the Transaction Advisory Group launch, is uniquely suited to the region’s current market environment. A&M’s end-to-end service offering helps clients, including private equity funds, corporates and state-owned enterprises, unlock the real potential of their businesses and fosters the creation of Asia’s next generation of game-changer companies.

Business dinners, rounds of golf and holiday gift baskets are everyday business expenses for many U.S.-based professionals. These expenditures are often viewed as a necessity in building business relationships and showing appreciation to clients for their loyalty. Internationally, such practices are in many cases even more deeply ingrained in a country’s culture and tradition. Rather than a complement to daily business proceedings, entertainment and gift-giving are often viewed as highly essential in creating and maintaining customer relationships.

Healthcare is a $3 trillion industry with significant variation in local market demographics and socio-economics, care-delivery fragmentation, efficiency and effectiveness, as well as competitive intensity. A&M's analysis suggests that the growing local market power of hospital-led health systems and insurance companies is “squeezing” downstream costs without necessarily enhancing clinical outcomes or operational efficiencies on a commensurate level. The messaging of reform far exceeds the reality of change. This article seeks to provide supporting evidence to our hypothesis.

Retailers of all kinds look to the holiday season as a time for revenue-generation, as shoppers fulfill their wish-lists with purchases big and small. What often emerges following this time of year, are the trends that have shaped and influenced customer spend and behaviors.

How is it possible to generate cash savings from assets that have disposed of previously, in many cases years ago? The answer resides in recently released Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) regulations. If you have conducted renovations of your hotel and thus disposed of assets, yet are still depreciating the disposed assets for tax purposes, the new regulations allow for a deduction of the carrying value of the disposed assets. The effect is that by deducting the carrying value of the disposed assets immediately - rather than continuing to depreciate these assets over longer periods of time - there is a net present value savings generated by the deduction.

Over the past 20 years, the real property valuation profession has reached a consensus regarding the appropriate framework and analytical methodologies for evaluating the potential effect of environmental contamination on the market value of real property. Coincidentally, also during the last 20 years, through Daubert, et al. v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993), the courts have established a more robust gatekeeping process to shield triers of fact and litigants from unreliable expert opinions and testimony.

Healthcare transaction scrutiny is becoming increasingly more common in today’s complex regulatory environment. Deals such as the consolidation of physician practices, hospital mergers and acquisitions, and hospital purchases of physician groups and specialty clinics all require a high level of valuation and healthcare compliance expertise to ensure that all state and U.S. regulatory requirements have been met.

Alvarez & Marsal will present and exhibit at the world’s leading risk management conference, RiskMinds International, 8th December 2014. Fernando de la Mora and Paul Sharma examine the key takeaways and recommendations for banks’ future success.