Recent trends in state and local income tax rules have led to increasing questions about how to treat them under Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) 109 and Financial Accounting Standards Board Interpretation (FIN) 48. This article explores some of these trends and discusses options for handling them in light of the FAS 109 and FIN 48 requirements.

I don’t often use the word “wow” in the title of an article in these newsletters. The last time I did was in January 2010 when the IRS Commissioner announced in a speech to the New York State Bar Association that certain corporate taxpayers will be required to disclose in their annual tax return their uncertain tax positions. Most readers will concur that that was a “wow” moment.

Tax Directors often bemoan the fact that they are given very little face time with their boards. Being seen as “boffins” who sit silently at their desks, heads immersed in large books analysing pages and pages of legislation, hardly helps to secure that tantalising, career-changing invitation to the next board meeting. And, when they speak, their words are met with alarm: What is this alien language?

The Department of Labor has launched an aggressive program to determine whether companies are complying with the Form 5500 and associated audit report requirements in a timely way. The DOL is authorized to impose a penalty of up to $1,100 per day for noncompliance — which includes failure to timely file all or any part of the Form 5500. The recent electronic filing requirement has enabled the DOL to issue delinquency notices and assess penalties more efficiently than in the past.

Partnership income allocation complexities are on the rise across the board. The aggregation rules are broken but should they be fixed or scrapped? Is there a practical solution?

When enacted this summer, Finance Bill 2011 will introduce significant changes to the longstanding chargeable gains rules on degrouping charges for assets, which can arise when a UK target is the subject of a share acquisition. In a recent amendment to the current Finance Bill, it will now be possible for taxpayers to elect for the new rules to apply to transactions carried out since 1 April 2011, rather than having to wait for Royal Assent.

As companies continue to look for ways to minimize IT infrastructure costs and gain the benefits of increasing technological advantages, Software as a Service (SaaS), or cloud computing, will continue to grow. Most states impose sales tax on the sale or transfer of tangible personal property, but a growing number of states tax services, including SaaS. With states facing budget shortfalls, more and more of them are exploring the possibility of taxing SaaS as a potential source of revenue.

Now that tax season is behind us and we have had a chance to catch our breath, the time has come to brush up on the constantly changing landscape of FBAR reporting.

In the current economic environment, many transfer pricing optimization strategies have come under heavy attack from both tax authorities and the general public. Strategies such as the migration of intangible property have historically been popular for large multinational corporations, but they are now being scrutinized heavily and can often result in disagreements between taxpayers and tax authorities (disagreements that have been well publicized).

The world of value-added tax is a rapidly changing environment.

As U.S.-based multinational corporations continue to expand global operations, supply chain initiatives are driving production and management functions increasingly to relatively low-cost jurisdictions.

In an economic environment that has dramatically changed over the past few years, transfer pricing is gaining more and more importance not just as a necessary evil (i.e., compliance with local legislation), but also as a planning tool to optimise a group’s tax effectiveness, thereby improving shareholder return.

The research credit continues to be an area of intense scrutiny during IRS examinations despite strong support from the President and Congress. One of the most common reasons for IRS disallowance of reported research credits is lack of substantiation, but preparing and organizing required research credit documentation is a time-consuming activity that can potentially overwhelm your tax department resources.

FATCA rules enforce international tax accountability.

A Google search for “corporate accountability” nets 534,000 hits (with this writing, make that 534,001). Heavy interest in the topic is unsurprising, given the numerous corporate upheavals, scandals and the like over the past few years. In a business climate of budget cuts, employee layoffs and widespread reporting of corporate losses, corporate officers have become lightning rods for criticism, with many commentators demanding that executives be held accountable for their companies’ actions.