Comment Letters

On November 13, 2013, Tax Executives Institute filed comments with the IRS and Treasury Department urging a number of changes to the proposed regulations under sections 6055 and 6056. The proposed rules implement the employer and insurer information reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act and are critical in the administration of the individual and company shared responsibility payments.

On October 16, 2013, TEI submitted a second letter to the OECD commenting on the OECD’s Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.  TEI’s comments addressed issues under the 15 individual items of the Action Plan, including transfer pricing aspects of intangible assets, changes to the OECD model treaty, and improvements to the mutual agreement procedure. 

On September 30, 2013, TEI submitted a letter to the OECD commenting on its White Paper on Transfer Pricing Documentation. TEI’s comments focused on the need to reduce the transfer pricing documentation and compliance burden on taxpayers by standardizing requests for such documentation across tax authorities.

The comments were prepared under the aegis of TEI’s European Direct Tax Committee, whose chair is Alexander Kölbl of General Dynamics. Benjamin R. Shreck, TEI Tax Counsel, coordinated the preparation of TEI’s letter.

On September 18, 2013, TEI submitted a letter to the OECD commenting on its Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. TEI's comments focused on the general principles of the current international tax system and the need for the OECD maintain those principles as it advances its Action Plan to combat perceived base erosion and profit shifting by multi-national enterprises.

On September 16, 2013, TEI submitted a letter to the European Commission recommending areas where additional guidance would help businesses and tax authorities implement recent amendments to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011. The new rules for determining the place of supply for VAT purposes within the EU for sales for telecommunications, broadcasting, and electronic services will take effect on January 1, 2015.

On August 5, 2013, TEI submitted three recommendations for consideration by the Canadian government in connection with its annual Pre-Budget Consultations. The recommendations were submitted to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance through its web-based template form.

On June 10, 2013, TEI submitted comments to the Alabama Department of Revenue on its proposed local sales tax regulation governing seller collection responsibilities. The Institute's letter noted that the proposed regulation would create a more complicated system for determining and complying with sales and use tax obligations in Alabama, and urged the Department to abandon the proposed regulation and retain the existing well-established single nexus threshold for state and local sales taxes.

On May 10, 2013, TEI submitted the following comments to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development on the Draft Consolidated Version of the International VAT/GST Guidelines. These comments follow letters submitted by TEI on previously released VAT/GST guidelines and related commentary filed on March 31, 2010 and September 26, 2012. The Institute's letter praised the work of the OECD and urged clarification on rules applicable to determining the place of supply for cross-border sales of services and intangibles.

On March 29, 2013, TEI filed a letter to the Manitoba Ministry of Finance urging the province to establish a statutory four-year limitation period for assessments of the Provincial Sales Tax. Manitoba is the only jurisdiction in Canada without a legislated limitation period for tax audit assessments.

On March 4, 2013, TEI submitted a memorandum to the Multistate Tax Commission (MTC) urging it to abandon a proposed project aimed at creating model regulations governing the use of state statutory authority to adjust income and expenses between related parties (i.e., transfer pricing).