"UK Supreme Court: Legal Advice Privilege Relates to Lawyers’ Advice Only"
Summary - In an eagerly awaited decision of the U.K. Supreme Court in the case of R (on the Application of Prudential plc and Another) v. Special Commissioner of Income Tax and Another, [2013] UKSC 1,...
View Article"Shares for Rights: Over-Sold or Under-Appreciated?"
In this article we consider some alternative approaches to the proposed U.K. status of “employee shareholders,” who receive capital gains tax-exempt shares in their employer (or its parent) in return...
View Article"HMRC Turns Up the Pressure on UK LLPs"
Following the announcement in Budget 2013, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued a consultation document on May 20, 2013 that focuses on two areas of partnership taxation where HMRC perceive...
View Article"UK Provides Marketing Grace Period for Alternative Fund Managers"
The U.K. Treasury recently published its response to its January 2013 consultation on transposing the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). A revised draft version of the...
View Article"International Taxation – OECD Reboot for the 21st Century"
Introduction - Following on its February 2013 report on Addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has now released an...
View Article"UK Government Considers Radical Changes to Approved Persons Regime"
The U.K. government recently published its response to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards’ (the Commission) final report and recommendations, which partly cover the U.K.’s Approved...
View Article"European Council’s Lawyers Opine That Proposed EU Financial Transaction Tax...
The European Council Legal Service has issued an opinion that seriously questions the legal validity of the European Commission’s proposals for a financial transaction tax (FTT). The opinion finds that...
View Article"UK Government to Strengthen Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks"
On October 11, 2013, the U.K. Government announced three key changes to the Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks (the Code): - A bank that breaches the Code could be publicly named. However, before...
View Article"European Union Banking Reform Update"
By the end of this year, the European Commission will present its legislative proposals for EU banking structural reform. Once the proposals are implemented, EU banks will have to separate their...
View Article"UK Regulators Begin the Shake-Up of Asset Managers’ Use of Dealing Commission"
On 25 November 2013, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA) issued a consultation paper proposing new rules to clarify the circumstances in which U.K. asset managers can currently pay dealing...
View Article"Taxpayer Naming – The Future of UK Tax Compliance?"
As part of Autumn Statement 2013, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has today publicly named the banks that have newly adopted or readopted the Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks (the Code)....By:...
View Article"Base Erosion and Profit Shifting: Key UK Issues"
Six months have elapsed since the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its 15-point action plan to address Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). During this time,...
View Article"OECD Releases Global Standard for Automatic Exchange of FATCA-Type Information"
As part of a push for greater transparency, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released on February 13, 2014, a Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for Automatic Exchange of...
View Article"UK Banking Regulators and Foreign Banks: A Vision of Future Supervision"
The U.K.’s banking regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) recently published a consultation paper on its approach to supervising international banks (the Draft Supervisory...
View Article"UCITS V Gets EU Political Backing, Foreshadowing New Limitations on Manager...
European lawmakers have reached agreement on amendments to the Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Directive, which regulates the management and marketing of...
View Article"OECD Outlines Plans to Prevent Double-Tax Treaty Abuse"
On March 14, 2014, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a discussion draft report on preventing double-tax treaty abuse (the Treaty Report). The OECD supplemented...
View Article"Clawback of Bonuses: UK PRA’s Banking Proposals Cast Six-Year Shadow for Bad...
On 13 March 2014, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the U.K. regulator responsible for prudential supervision of banks, insurers and large broker-dealers, issued a consultation paper on bonus...
View Article"European Court Rejects UK’s Financial Transaction Tax Challenge"
U.K.’s challenge to the proposed financial transaction tax (FTT), while recognizing that the U.K.’s challenge was precautionary — and possibly premature. The U.K. was challenging the European Council’s...
View Article"EU Debate on Enforcement of the 'Banker Bonus Cap' Approaches End Game"
Michel Barnier, vice president of the European Commission, recently wrote to the chairman of the European Banking Authority (the EBA), asking the EBA to report by the end of this month on whether...
View Article"Banker Bonuses: UK and EU Remain on Collision Course"
Since 1 January 2014, the EU’s Capital Requirements Directive (CRD)1 has required EU-regulated banks (EU Banks) to limit variable compensation paid to key bank staff to 100 percent of their fixed...
View Article"UK Government Announces New 25 Percent Diverted Profits Tax"
On Wednesday, the U.K. Government released draft legislation to be effective on 1 April 2015, which will impose a “diverted profits tax” (DPT) at 25 percent of the amount of profits deemed to have been...
View ArticleA Guide to the UK Disguised Investment Management Fee Rules
New rules effective from today in the U.K. are likely to have material impact on the tax treatment of payments by a fund to its U.K.-based management executives and service providers. The rules cover...
View Article"Delaware LLCs and UK Entity Classification: The Fallout From the Curious...
Fundamental to any developed tax policy is knowing who the taxpayer is (or should be) with respect to any particular transaction. Although that can be relatively straightforward in purely domestic...
View Article"Key Takeaways: Delaware LLCs - The Implications of Anson"
Skadden held a webinar on September 14, 2015, to discuss certain key aspects of the U.K. Supreme Court decision in Anson v. HMRC, with a focus on potential ramifications for multinational groups...
View Article"EU Banker Bonuses: Collision Avoided?"
On November 12, 2015, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a follow-up report on the treatment of role-based allowances (Allowances) paid by banks to their staff. The EBA’s original, October...
View Article"No Gains, Just Pain: Increasingly Uncomfortable Taxation Environment for...
Arguing that their compensation should count as capital gains — since it derives from the appreciation in value of portfolio companies — private equity executives in Europe generally have been taxed...
View Article"Insights: Brexit"
On June 23, the UK electorate took the historic decision to leave the European Union, a process that has never been undertaken by any member state. While the vote itself does not trigger the process of...
View Article"The New UK Corporate Offence of 'Failure to Prevent the Facilitation of Tax...
The U.K. government expands its crackdown on tax evaders and the persons who assist them, by targeting businesses who fail to prevent tax evasion....By: James Anderson
View Article"'Failure to Prevent': The Implications for Global Financial Institutions"
The U.K. government is set to introduce a new corporate criminal offence, based on the strict liability of the entity in question. It almost certainly will come into force in 2017, once the Criminal...
View Article"UK Prime Minister Outlines Objectives for Exiting the EU"
On January 17, 2017, UK Prime Minister Theresa May delivered a speech in London outlining the government’s objectives for exiting the European Union (EU). She set out a “Plan for Britain”, including 12...
View Article"Business Tax Reform All but Certain in US, Europe"
United States - The prospects for business tax reform in the United States were greatly enhanced by the 2016 election results. Reform under Republicans, who control both the White House and Congress,...
View Article"UK Serves Notice of Withdrawal From the EU, Triggering Two-Year Negotiation...
UK Prime Minister Theresa May today served formal notification of the UK’s intention to withdraw from the European Union (EU) pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon. This action commences a...
View ArticleEuropean Commission Opens State Aid Investigation Into Finance Company...
On 26 October 2017, the European Commission (the Commission) opened an in-depth investigation into UK statutory rules that exempt certain financing income earned by foreign subsidiaries of UK corporate...
View ArticleInternational Taxation in the Digital Era: The Rapidly Evolving European...
Europe’s politicians worry that international tax rules have not kept pace with the digital economy and too easily allow multinationals to organize their global operations to minimize net taxable...
View ArticleEuropean Commission Presents ‘Fair Taxation of the Digital Economy’ Package
On March 21, 2018, the European Commission released a draft legislative package for “fair taxation of the digital economy,” which would establish new tax rules for digital business activities within...
View ArticleUK Plans to Maintain State Aid Regime Post-Brexit
On August 20, 2018, the U.K. government published further details of its negotiation position with the European Union on state aid post-Brexit. Three days later, it published guidance on state aid in...
View ArticleEU General Court Rules on Starbucks and Fiat State Aid Cases
On September 24, 2019, the EU General Court (General Court) issued its long-awaited judgments in relation to the appeals brought against two European Commission (EC) decisions of 2015 concluding that...
View ArticleLessons From 2019: Impact of BEPS on Cross-Border Transactions
In 2019, a number of common themes emerged from cross-border transactions that have continued to demonstrate the impact of the 2014 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) actions. These themes, which...
View ArticleSkadden's 2020 Insights
Despite political and economic uncertainties, markets and deal activity were resilient in 2019, and strong fundamentals remain in place heading into 2020. Companies continue to face a challenging...
View ArticleCoronavirus/COVID-19: Implications for Commercial and Financial Contracts
The outbreak of coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) is reportedly impacting global manufacturing, transportation and cross-border supply chains underpinning many aspects of international trade and...
View ArticleCritical Thinking in the Time of COVID-19: What To Consider Next From a...
In this series, “Critical Thinking in the Time of COVID-19,” Skadden’s European tax practice examines the next stage of analysis for corporates that have begun digesting the economic and legal impact...
View ArticleCritical Thinking in the Time of COVID-19: What To Consider Next From a...
In this series, “Critical Thinking in the Time of COVID-19,” our European tax practice examines the next stage of analysis for corporates that have begun digesting the economic and legal impact of...
View ArticleThree Years, Two Pillars and One New Headache for Investment Funds
Fund sponsors, investment advisors and other financial market participants would be forgiven for not concerning themselves with tax initiatives originally targeted at the digital economy. However, with...
View ArticleAntitrust and the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement
The European Union (EU)-U.K. Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) governing post-Brexit trade relations between the U.K. and the EU includes provisions regulating EU/U.K. antitrust enforcement and...
View ArticlePlus Ça Change ... Reframing the Tax Influences of the European Union
Takeaways - While the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) includes new commitments by the parties on tax, certain EU-derived tax rules will remain relevant in the UK. - That is actually a good thing...
View ArticleTax Law Struggles To Keep Pace With the Proliferation of Cryptocurrency
Takeaways - The technical architecture of various cryptocurrencies makes it difficult to bring them within existing tax rules, even those designed to deal more generally with the digital marketplace....
View Article2022: What You Need To Know …
This year, we expect to see new disclosure requirements; rule changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission that will affect directors; activists adopting new tactics; changes to shareholder voting...
View ArticleNew UK Economic Crime and Transparency Laws Take Effect
The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 (the Act) took effect in the UK on 15 March 2022. The Act was expedited through the UK Parliament following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but...
View ArticleUK Government Details Plans To Foster a Cryptocurrency and Fintech Hub
The UK government has unveiled its plans to position the UK as a leading global hub for cryptocurrencies and fintech. John Glen, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury set out detailed proposals to...
View ArticleEU Court of Justice Faults European Commission for Expansive Interpretation...
On November 8, 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), overturning the first instance EU General Court (General Court), annulled the European Commission’s (EC’s) decision that a...
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