International Taxes

House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) on Wednesday introduced legislation aimed at closing several tax breaks used by U.S. multinational companies. 

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Wednesday said legislation by Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) that increases taxes on U.S. multinational firms will hit the floor by the end of the week. 

European Commissioners Michel Barnier and Karel De Gucht recently wrote Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) warning that his bill disallowing deductions for reinsurance premiums paid to offshore firms would shrink coverage options for U.S. companies.  

House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) said his chamber will take up jobs legislation next week that will include the international tax increases and the Build America Bonds provision that were included in the recent jobs bill that extended expiring tax breaks. 

The German government has come out opposing legislation by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) that limits tax deductions for reinsurers that transfer large portions of premiums paid in the U.S. offshore.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) on Tuesday will announce a new campaign seeking to end abusive tax shelters that cost taxpayers as much as $123 billion a year. 

The Business and Investors Against Tax Haven Abuse campaign will mobilize a group of business leaders and investors who want to end abusive tax shelters because they believe they are for bad business.

House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) could rescind tax breaks for U.S. multinational companies to help pay for a $22 billion green energy jobs bill he hopes to markup next week, several sources told The Hill. 

Levin initially wanted to pay for the bill by repealing oil and gas tax breaks. But Senate resistance to using those provisions has apparently forced him to look elsewhere for offsets.  

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The Ways and Means Committee could announce a hearing on transfer pricing as early as Thursday, several sources told The Hill. 

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Wednesday said he is probing the tax practices of Transocean Ltd., the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor and owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.

The April 20 explosion of the rig, which oil giant BP had leased for a deepwater drilling project, killed 11 workers and touched off the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

The probe will explore the company’s decision to move its headquarters outside the United States.

“This investigation will examine whether Transocean has exploited current U.S. tax law by moving its headquarters overseas and help us determine what more can be done to protect American taxpayers from companies who avoid paying their fair share,” Baucus said in a statement Wednesday.

In reaction to the Swiss blocking the U.S. from the names of potential tax evaders, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Treasury officials to try another route in securing at least a partial list of those individuals.

The names sought are of U.S. citizens suspected of opening accounts at the Swiss bank UBS to evade U.S. taxes. Grassley contends that a former employee at the bank, Bradley Charles Birkenfeld, has already supplied the U.S. with the names and contact information of UBS AG employees, which could be used to identify their U.S. clients.

"It seems this information would allow the IRS to trace individuals in the U.S. that had UBS bank accounts," Grassley wrote in a June 8 letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.