Submissions

On May 30, 2022, TEI submitted formal comments in connection with the European Commission’s public consultation on VAT in the Digital Age.  The submission highlights the vastly different technological approaches Member States have taken to VAT reporting and recommends a unified digital approach.

Download the comments

On December 29, 2021, TEI submitted comments to the Department of Finance Canada concerning the government’s proposal to introduce a new limitation on the deduction of business interest expense, as described in Budget 2021.  Generally speaking, the proposal would limit the amount of net interest expense that a corporation could deduct in computing its taxable income to a fixed share of the corporation’s earnings.

On September 22, 2021, TEI submitted an open letter to states that have not amended their corporate return due dates to November 15. The letter requests that such state automatically waive penalties for failure to file corporate tax returns due on October 15, 2021 if the taxpayer files such returns no later than November 15, 2021.

The Hill Extra interviewed TEI Tax Counsel Pilar Mata and covered TEI's State Tax Havens Policy Statement in a recent article regarding state tax haven legislation. The article notes that although only six states and the District of Columbia have enacted such legislation to date, other states are likely to follow suit in upcoming legislative sessions. The article also notes that state tax haven laws raise many constitutional questions and referenced TEI's policy statement on state tax haven legislation, which was issued on June 15, 2016.

On July 6, 2016, TEI submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service regarding its proposed regulations for 26 U.S.C. § 385, which would give the IRS broad authority to recharacterize related-party debt to equity. We submitted these comments pursuant to the REG-108060-15 notice of proposed rulemaking. The comments discuss the negative macroeconomic effects the proposed regulations could have, the technical tax complexities they would create for corporate taxpayers, and suggested changes Treasury and IRS should make to the proposed regulations before finalizing them.

On February 16, 2016, TEI submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service offering a definition of "minor assembly" for purposes of the domestic production activities deduction ("DPAD") of 26 U.S.C. § 199. We submitted these comments pursuant to the REG-136459-09 notice of proposed rulemaking, which proposed various changes in the regulations surrounding the DPAD. These comments also offered an alternative new Example 9 from what was suggested in REG-136459-09, an example generally regarding as attempting to overturn by regulation the holding in United States v. Dean, 945 F. Supp.

On February 10, 2016, TEI submitted a comment letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board concerning the FASB's proposal to require public disclosure of material terms and conditions of government assistance agreements.

On February 9, 2016, TEI submitted a letter to the Canadian Revenue Agency recommending that certain employer-provided gift cards be included in the CRA's policy of not including small employer-provided gifts as income to employees. The letter discusses why including gift cards into this policy increases choices for recipient employees and maintains the policy’s purpose of reducing the administrative burdens on employers who would otherwise have to track the value of such gift cards for tax purposes.

On October 13, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order following TEI's recommendation to issue a "GVR order" in First Marblehead v. Massachusetts Commissioner of Revenue. First Marblehead involves the proper apportionment of financial institution's income under Massachusetts' financial institutions excise tax under the dormant Commerce Clause.