Structuring Cross-Border Transactions: U.S. Tax Considerations

The U.S. international tax provisions that impact cross-border transactions are far-reaching. In recent years, the rules have become more complex, less systematic, and more difficult to make sense of. In this helpful book, a well-known author and practitioner demystifies many of the structuring questions implicated in inbound and outbound cross-border investments, acquisitions, and joint ventures, exposing traps and planning opportunities and showing how the rules really operate in specific fact patterns.

All key aspects of structuring a cross-border transaction are analyzed, including:

• anti-deferral regimes (subpart F and global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI));

• how check-the-box (CTB) regulations can maximize tax benefits and minimize tax inefficiencies;

• how the indirect foreign tax credit provides opportunities for tax beneficial planning;

• U.S. tax-free reorganization rules as they apply in the cross-border area;

• U.S. anti-inversion rules that affect cross-border deals;

• effect of anti-hybrid rules;

• concerns of particular classes of investors that will influence the form of a transaction; and

• typical points of friction between buyers and sellers in the cross-border context.

Detailed examples, with financial metrics included, help guide decision making at every step and assist in the understanding of key drivers materially impacting results. Treaty considerations and implications are discussed throughout.

This book fills a big gap in the tax literature by providing a guide for practitioners from any country who need to understand the U.S. tax consequences of a particular transaction. Its focus on how U.S. tax law affects the ways in which transactions are put together in the real world, and its in-depth analysis of how U.S. tax provisions interrelate and interact with foreign tax rules will prove of immeasurable value to corporate lawyers, finance professionals, and others active in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. It will become an indispensable reference tool for transactional tax practitioners.