International Tidbits

Readers of International Tidbits in the Houston area may have seen UHY LLP’s billboards around town including the one proclaiming, “No Lack of Energy from our CPAs.” That message was underscored in recent events geared to the energy industry and focusing on tax issues critical to success for companies engaged in cross-border business activities.

“Know before you go” has long-been a tag-line for various U.S. government publications and programs aimed at international travelers for everything from understanding restrictions on taking liquids through security at airports to how much alcohol a traveler can bring back to the U.S. duty-free.  For companies in the energy services sector, “know before you go” can be a critical part of bidding a job and completing a project on-budget.

On the tax side, the list is extensive but can be summed up based on three key areas.

On February 13, UHY LLP participated in a seminar hosted by U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Commerce’ U.S. Commercial Service on Doing Business in Russia (After the Reset – A New Era in U.S.-Russian Business Relations).  I was privileged to speak about U.S. tax planning for investment in Russia, including information on Russian taxes provided by Nikolay Litvinov of UHY-Yans Audit in Moscow.

– A Soft Landing for Two Key International Provisions

International investors and the tax practitioners who advise them had among their top concerns two expiring provisions, including one that had expired at the end of 2011 but for which hope was kept alive in various “extender” initiatives.  Both have been addressed in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (“ATRA”) and are summarized as follows.

As the Panel discussed at last month's UHY Fall Tax Forum, an aspect getting little attention when it comes to going over the so-called fiscal cliff is the end of dividends from foreign corporations being taxed at capital gains rate.  For investors in foreign corporations, especially where a deferral strategy was implemented, the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts may have significant consequences.