Taxation Archives

Minor is Guest Speaker at Keidanren Quarterly Tax Committee Meeting  

Published on October 13, 2023

Rick Minor, USCIB VP and international tax counsel, was the featured speaker at the Japanese Keidanren third quarter tax committee meeting on October 12.

Keidanren is the largest industry association in Japan and is roughly equivalent to a national Chamber of Commerce.

Minor was asked to present to the committee on the U.S. views of the Two-Pillar Solution and the significance of this week’s Pillar One Multilateral Convention release and the related U.S. consultation request. Over 60 members of the Keidanren tax committee attended the virtual meeting.

Swiss Government Names USCIB’s Rick Minor to DC Study Group

Published on September 20, 2023
L-R: Rick Minor (USCIB) and Jacques Pitteloud (Swiss Ambassador)

The Swiss government has named USCIB VP of Tax Rick Minor to its 3rd Study Tour to Switzerland from September 26 to 29.

Minor will join 10 other Washington DC-based association and think tank leaders for a full program of high level meetings with Swiss business leaders, politicians and international organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Economic Forum in an itinerary that includes Zurich, Berne, Geneva and Lausanne.

“This year’s trip will explore the theme of innovation in Switzerland, focusing on topics in the areas of finance and the green economy,” according to the invitation from Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud.

USCIB Letter to OECD on Pillar 1 and DSTs Quoted in Tax Press

Published on June 14, 2023

USCIB’s advocacy on international tax policy was referenced in a recent Bloomberg article titled, US Seeks to Extend Digital-Tax Freeze as Global Deal Stalls. The article references a letter that USCIB submitted to the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration Director Manal Corwin, requesting the OECD to extend a moratorium on Digital Service Taxes (DSTs). USCIB raised several concerns about Pillar 1 including that a lack of extension of the moratorium poses a risk in triggering trade disputes with allies.

USCIB was also quoted in a Tax Notes article titled, US Trade Group Calls for Extending OECD Digital Tax Moratorium on the same topic. The article, which can be accessed behind a paywall, focuses on USCIB’s letter to the OECD and extensively quotes from USCIB’s letter.

“We encourage the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework to agree to an extension of the so-called DST standstill agreement, so that no new DSTs are enacted as the work moves forward,” said USCIB Vice President and International Tax Counsel Rick Minor.

Taxation

Published on June 14, 2023

Magnifying Your Voice with USCIB:

  • USCIB’s Tax Committee is the most respected U.S. business association on international tax issues. USCIB is the only U.S. business association formally affiliated with the world’s three largest business organizations where we work with business leaders across the globe to extend our reach to influence policymakers in international markets that are important to American business.

Trends and Challenges Facing U.S. Business:

  • Multiple sets of inconsistent rules that drive up costs and result in double taxation
  • The mounting political pressure to move towards changing the taxation of the digitalized economy
  • Efforts to unfairly increase the tax burden on companies

USCIB’s Response:

  • Build consensus with like-minded industry peers and participate in off-the-record briefings with policymakers both home and abroad
  • Engage with the OECD on the development of international taxation principles
  • Proactively shape the development of the OECD’s guidance on the taxation of the digitalized economy by demonstrating to policymakers that unilateral action can result in double taxation, decreased trade, and reduced global growth
  • Actively monitor and contribute to the work of the UN Committee of Tax Experts to ensure its alignment with the work of the OECD Tax Committee and inform policymakers of their actions’ impact on investment
  • Support enactment of foreign tax simplification provisions in the IRC that would significantly reduce the burden of complexity for U.S. companies and enhance their international competitiveness
  • Host an annual conference in Washington, DC that provides a unique opportunity for the U.S. business community to interact with key representatives from the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (“CTPA”).

USCIB on LinkedIn

Recent Accomplishments:

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Chair

John A. Stowell
Head of Global Tax and International Financial Reporting
The Walt Disney Company

Vice Chairs

Jocelyn Krabbenschmidt
International Tax Director
Apple Inc.

Carolina Perez-Lopez
VP Global Tax Planning and Tax Counsel
Johnson & Johnson

Tom Roesser
Senior Director, Tax Affairs
Microsoft Corporation

Vice Chairs

Erik Rosenfeld
VP Taxes, North America
Procter & Gamble

Daniel Smith
Director, International Tax Planning & Policy
Google Inc.

Lennaert ten Cate
SVP Tax
PepsiCo Inc.

Wendy Unglaub
VP, Chief Tax Officer, and Principal Tax Counsel
General Mills

Vice Chairs

Jason Weinstein
Vice President, Tax, North America
Amazon

Chad J. Withers
Chief Tax Officer
Caterpillar Inc.

USCIB Leadership

Rick Minor
Vice President and International Tax Counsel
202-682-7376 or rminor@uscib.org

Subcommittees

Transfer Pricing Subcommittee

VAT Subcommittee

Working Groups

EU Tax Working Group

Rick Minor Announces Appointment of ‘USCIB Big Four International Tax Policy Board’ 

Published on April 4, 2023

Rick Minor, USCIB’s VP and International Tax Counsel, is pleased to announce the creation and appointment of the USCIB Big Four International Tax Policy Board. The four original board members include Barbara Angus (EY), Pat Brown (PwC), Danielle Rolfes (KPMG) and Bob Stack (Deloitte).   

“These four Board members all belong to a very small and distinguished group of tax practitioners who have served at the highest policy levels in private practice and public service,” said Minor. “The Board is expected to enhance the value of the tax committee structure and to complement the ten-member Tax Leadership Team in insuring USCIB remains on the cutting edge of international tax policy advocacy and programming.”

The Board will meet regularly with Minor and the Chair of the USCIB Tax Committee, John Stowell, head of global tax and international financial reporting at The Walt Disney Company, and quarterly with the USCIB Tax Leadership Team.   

Here are the abbreviated bios of the original Board Members: 

Barbara Angus, Principal and Global Tax Policy Leader, Ernst & Young LLP 

Barbara M. Angus is a Principal with Ernst & Young LLP and is EY’s Global Tax Policy Leader.  In addition to her 25 years of private-sector experience in international tax matters, she also has had tax policy roles on Capitol Hill and at the U.S. Treasury Department, including most recently serving as Chief Tax Counsel for the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means during the development and enactment of the 2017 tax reform legislation. Angus received the Pillar of Excellence Award from the Tax Council Policy Institute in 2022 and the Distinguished Service Award from the Tax Foundation in 2018. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College, Harvard Law School and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. 

Pat Brown, Washington National Tax Services Co-Leader, PwC U.S. 

At PwC, Brown advises clients on all aspects of international and domestic tax policy. Prior to joining PwC, Brown was vice president and counsel, tax for GE Power and GE Renewables and a GE corporate officer. Brown joined GE in 2002 from the U.S. Treasury Department, where he served as attorney advisor and associate international tax counsel from 1998-2002. During his time at Treasury, Brown focused primarily on international tax analysis, negotiation of tax treaties, and representing the U.S. government at meetings of the OECD on various tax issues. Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Brown was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. Brown received a BS in Mechanical Engineering, with highest distinction, from the University of Virginia in 1991 and a JD from Georgetown University, magna cum laude, in 1995. 

Danielle Rolfes, Co-Leader, Washington National Tax – International Tax, KPMG LLP 

Rolfes co-leads the international tax group within KPMG’s Washington National Tax office. She joined KPMG in 2017, following her tenure as the international tax counsel at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.  Rolfes advises clients on issues related to international tax policy, tax treaties, the character and source of income, subpart F, foreign tax credits, and the regimes for Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, the Foreign-Derived Intangible Income and the Base Erosion Anti-Abuse Tax. Rolfes is a frequent speaker and writer on a variety of international tax topics. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author of An Analysis of FIN 48 – Accounting for Uncertain Income Tax Positions (Matthew Bender, 3d ed. 2009). 

Bob Stack, Managing Director, Deloitte Tax LLP 

Stack joined Deloitte Tax from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he was the deputy assistant secretary for international tax affairs in the Office of Tax Policy in the Obama administration. At Treasury, he worked directly with the assistant secretary of tax policy and the international tax counsel in developing and implementing all aspects of U.S. international tax policy, including treaties, regulations and legislative proposals and served as the U.S. representative at the OECD during this time on the BEPS projects.  Stack earned his Bachelor of Arts in English education from State University of New York at Albany and his Master of Arts in French language and literature from New York University. He went on to obtain his Master of Science in foreign service from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Law Journal. 

USCIB Announces Appointment of Five New Tax Leadership Team Members (Vice-Chairs, USCIB Tax Committee)  

Published on March 23, 2023

Rick Minor, USCIB VP and International Tax Counsel, is happy to announce five new appointments to the Tax Committee Leadership Team (Vice-Chairs). Leadership team members serve a two-year term with an option to renew for a second, consecutive term.

“These appointments resulted from several retirements from the Tax Committee Leadership Team at the end of last year and the creation of a Big Four International Tax Policy Board as part of our Tax Committee governing structure,” said Minor. “Being part of the Tax Committee Leadership Team is a significant commitment by the team members who are all senior tax executives at leading member companies. I look forward to enjoying their support and counsel along with that of our legacy members.”

The new Vice-Chairs:

Lennaert ten Cate, SVP Tax, PepsiCo Inc. Lennaert has over 28 years of tax experience of which 25 with PepsiCo Inc. Prior to serving as SVP Tax, Lennaert served as SVP, International Tax, leading the corporate tax agenda for PepsiCo’s international operations and partnered with the business and other corporate functions on various business initiatives and M&A transactions. Lennaert has worked in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and in the US, where he is currently based. Prior to joining PepsiCo in 1996, Lennaert spent three years at Ernst & Young Tax Advisory in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Lennaert holds a Master of Law degree from Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Carolina Perez-Lopez, VP Global Tax Planning and Tax Counsel, Johnson & Johnson. In her role, Carolina is responsible for driving the tax strategy and execution for acquisitions, divestitures, licensing deals, and restructurings for the enterprise, as well as the tax planning for the Pharm and MedTech businesses worldwide.  Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Carolina was Vice President, Transfer Pricing and Senior Tax Counsel at Pfizer. Before that, Carolina worked as a counsel at Clifford Chance LLP, spending time both in New York and London. Carolina holds a JD and Master of Laws (LLM) in Spanish Taxation from the Universidad de Navarra, Spain, and an LLM in International Taxation from New York University, School of Law.

Erik Rosenfeld, VP Taxes, North America, Procter & Gamble. Erik leads the North America Tax Operations Team of The Procter & Gamble Company.  In this role, Erik’s responsibilities cover US GAAP external reporting on tax matters, North America direct and indirect tax compliance, M&A and cross-border tax issues, global tax technology and various global tax policy matters.  From 2018 – 2021, Erik led P&G’s European Tax organization from P&G’s international headquarter location in Geneva, Switzerland.  Prior to joining P&G, Erik spent 18 years in public accounting, including six years as an international tax partner with PwC.

Wendy Unglaub, VP, Chief Tax Officer, and Principal Tax Counsel, General Mills. Wendy leads the global tax function at General Mills, with responsibility for managing all aspects of the company’s tax profile from compliance to litigation to identifying solutions to business needs. Prior to joining General Mills, Wendy served in a variety of leadership positions at Microsoft Corporation, Ecolab and Cargill where she was responsible for a wide range of U.S. and international tax matters related to legislative policy, joint ventures, divestitures, mergers, acquisitions, capital market transactions, audits, litigation, intellectual property and strategic corporate tax planning. Before her in-house roles, Unglaub practiced law at the firms of Davis Polk & Wardwell (New York), and Morgan Lewis & Bockius (Philadelphia). Wendy holds her A.B. from Harvard University, JD from Georgetown University Law Center and post-doctorate LLM (Taxation) from New York University School of Law.

Jason Weinstein, Vice President, Tax, North America, Amazon. He and his teams are responsible for all U.S. federal and state as well as Canadian tax planning and tax policy, sales and property tax compliance, and tax-business partnering for Amazon’s North American Stores. Jason and his team also cover worldwide M&A, investments, debt offerings, internal structuring, and other special project areas. Prior to joining Amazon, Jason worked at the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson in New York, where he specialized in tax planning for M&A as well as private equity fund formation and strategic joint ventures. Jason has taught tax law at the University of Washington Law School and is a frequent speaker at the usual tax conferences. Jason received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his JD, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School. Prior to law school, Jason served as briefings director for the Governor of New Jersey.

The Tax Committee and the Leadership Team are chaired by John Stowell, SVP of Tax, Incentives and International Financial Reporting at Disney. The 10-member leadership team, among other things, advises the International Tax Counsel on setting Tax Committee priorities, supports tax committee projects and programming, and helps to grow the tax committee network globally. The Tax Committee presently has 450 members. The new members join the other legacy members of the Tax Leadership Team: Daniel Smith, director, international tax planning and policy at Google, Chad Withers, chief tax officer of Caterpillar, Jocelyn Krabbenschmidt, international tax director of Apple, and Tom Roesser, tax policy counsel at Microsoft.

USCIB Announces New Tax Committee Chair: John Stowell of Disney

Published on January 5, 2023
John Stowell, Disney

USCIB Member and the Head of Global Tax and International Financial Reporting at Disney John Stowell took over as Chair of the USCIB Taxation Committee and tax leadership team from Tim McDonald, VP for Global Taxes at Procter & Gamble last month, according to USCIB Vice President and International Tax Counsel Rick Minor.

Stowell has been a member of the tax leadership team since April 2021 and has been directly involved in virtually all the key initiatives of the committee. Stowell has also been active in the U.S. tax policy community for many years now and brings multi-sector experience in tax planning, audit, policy and executive leadership to this role.

“Like his predecessor, John is a collaborative and inclusive leader and highly respected in the global tax community,” said Minor. “I look forward to continuing to work with John now in his elevated USCIB tax committee role.”

USCIB’s Annual OECD Tax Conference Focuses on Pillars One and Two

Published on June 29, 2022
OECD’s Pascal Saint Amans

Following a landmark OECD/G20 statement and implementation plan announced on October 8, 2021, multinational companies are now facing a global minimum corporate tax on their operations with multilaterally agreed limitations on said tax. The implementation plan at national levels, known as Pillar Two, seeks to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy and was endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at their October 2021 meeting.

Such was the backdrop and main focus of USCIB’s 15th annual OECD International Tax Conference at the Four Seasons in Washington DC earlier this week (June 27-28), where more than 200 tax experts, OECD officials, multinational companies, as well as foreign and domestic government representatives gathered for the two-day event to discuss pressing global tax issues and developments, including Pillars One and Two.

“This conference took place at another critical point in the 2022 OECD timeline for designing Pillars One and Two for consensus in the Inclusive Framework and, eventually, implementation at the national level,” said USCIB Vice President and International Tax Counsel Rick Minor.

According to Itai Grinberg, deputy assistant secretary for multilateral tax office of tax policy at the U.S. Treasury, ““Pillar Two helps level the playing field. It will ensure that all U.S. and foreign headquartered MNCs face a common level of minimum taxation. And in doing so, this deal, as it has come to be, really answers the single most frequently heard international tax policy request made by the U.S. multinational business community for the entire course of the 21st century.”

“The stability of the international tax architecture is at stake here,” said Martin Kreienbaum, director general of international taxation at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance. “I think the international tax architecture is the predictability of tax burden for tax payers from a tax payer perspective. But it’s also the avoidance and absence of double and multiple taxation. I think that is the main objective, the main purpose, under which we have the discussions in the inclusive framework.”

Many questions still remain around Pillar One however, especially in terms of better multilateral coordination around multiple and double taxation and how to build trust with tax payers.

“Together with the agreement on October 8, we had a detailed implementation plan with an extremely ambitious political timeline,” reflected Pascal Saint Amans, Director of the OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration. “Keep in mind that the overall debate and the deal was still concluded against the background of transatlantic tensions with the previous administration and the need to show that we are restoring better relationships among the countries at stake and cooling down on threats of multilateral measures or trade sanctions.”

Other panels during the conference focused on the tax implications of an increased global mobility of workers arising from the pandemic, tax and climate change, a global minimum tax, dispute prevention and resolution, and much more.

USCIB members from Deloitte, Google, Procter & Gamble and Ernst and Young, among others, joined as panelists to contribute their companies’ perspectives on these pressing taxation issues.

More information on the agenda, speakers, and topics of discussion can be found here.

USCIB is the national affiliate of Business at OECD (known as BIAC), the official multi-jurisdictional business advisor the to OECD.

Featured speakers included:

  • Grace Perez-Navarro – Deputy Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
  • John Peterson – Head of Unit, Aggressive Tax Planning, OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration
  • Achim Pross – Head of International Cooperation and Tax Administration Division, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
  • Pascal Saint-Amans – Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
  • Rick Minor – Vice President & International Tax Counsel, USCIB
  • Itai Grinberg – Deputy Assistant Secretary (International Tax Affairs), U.S. Treasury
  • John Hughes – Director of Field Operations, Northeastern Compliance Practice Area (Mid-Atlantic) (LB&I), IRS
  • Rebecca Kysar – Counselor to the Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, U.S. Treasury
  • Michael Plowgian – Co-Chair, OECD Task Force on the Digital Economy and Counsellor, Office of Tax Policy, US Treasury
  • Isaac Wood – Attorney-Advisor, Office of Tax Policy, US Treasury
  • Martin Kreienbaum – Director General, International Taxation, Federal Ministry of Finance, Germany
  • Fabrizia Lapecorella – Director General of Finance of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance and Chair of OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs
  • Gaël Perraud – Co–Chair, OECD Task Force on the Digital Economy; Director of International Taxation and European Affairs, Ministry of Economy and Finance, France
  • Mike Williams – Director, Business and International Tax, HM Treasury, United Kingdom
  • Barbara Angus – Global Tax Policy Leader, Ernst & Young LLP
  • Mary Bennett – Senior Counsel, Baker & McKenzie
  • Ryan Bowen – Senior Manager, Washington National Tax Office, Deloitte
  • Nate Carden – Partner, Skadden
  • Liz Chien – Global Head of Tax and Chief Tax Counsel, Protocol Labs Inc.
  • Tracee Fultz – Global Transfer Pricing Leader, Ernst & Young LLP
  • John Harrington – Partner, Dentons US LLP
  • Hannah Hawkins – Principal, KPMG Washington National Tax, KPMG
  • Harris Horowitz – Managing Director, Global Head of Tax Policy & Innovation, BlackRock, Inc.
  • Tom Hutchinson – Vice President, Finance, Google
  • Mark Martin – Principal, Washington National Tax, KPMG
  • Tim McDonald – Chairperson, USCIB Tax Committee and Senior Vice President, Finance & Accounting, Global Taxes, The Procter & Gamble Company
  • Alan McLean – Chairperson, Business at OECD Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Affairs and Executive Vice President, Tax and Controller, Shell International Limited
  • Will Morris – Deputy Global Tax Policy Leader, PwC
  • Loren Ponds – Member and Co-Lead of the Tax Policy Practice, Miller & Chevalier
  • Tom Roesser – GM, Tax Policy Counsel, Microsoft
  • Danielle Rolfes – Co-Partner in Charge, Washington National Tax-International Tax, KPMG
  • Sonja Schiller – Head of Global Tax Controversy, Netflix
  • Daniel Smith – Director, International Tax Planning & Policy, Google
  • Liz Stevens – Member, Caplin & Drysdale
  • Bret Weaver – Partner, KPMG
  • Louise Weingrod – Vice Chairperson, USCIB Tax Committee and Vice President, Global Taxation, Johnson & Johnson
  • Lisa Wolski – Head of Government Affairs and Senior Executive Counsel, General Electric

USCIB Tax Committee Work Featured in Bloomberg, Tax Notes International

Published on April 27, 2022

USCIB and the USCIB Taxation Committee appeared prominently in the tax press this week—Tax Notes International and Bloomberg Tax—with coverage of a USCIB letter filed with the U.S. Treasury Department on April 25.  According to USCIB Vice President and International Tax Counsel Rick Minor, this was a unilateral consultation and not a letter related to a public consultation that USCIB’s Tax Committee is currently working on.

Bloomberg Tax quoted Minor and excerpts of USCIB’s letter in its article, Amount B Could Involve Routine Function List, Treasury Told. “Our members consider Amount B to be, as it has been described in the 2020 Pillar One blueprint, one of the key benefits of a Pillar One solution,” he said. “The concept is directly related to one of the fundamental goals of Pillar One, improved tax certainty.”

Click here for the Tax Notes International story. Below is the Bloomberg Tax coverage with quotes from Minor and excerpts from the USCIB letter to the Treasury Department.

Bloomberg Tax: Amount B Could Involve Routine Function List, Treasury Told

By Natalie Olivo · Apr 26, 2022, 8:01 PM EDT ·  Listen to article

An approach for determining Amount B — the routine portion of profits subject to allocation under a global corporate tax plan — could include an agreed list of functions related to these earnings, a U.S. business association told the U.S. Treasury Department.

The U.S. Council for International Business sent Treasury a letter Monday that listed marketing and distribution functions that relate to normal, or routine, returns that fall under Amount B of a tax agreement reached in October by an inclusive framework of nearly 140 jurisdictions. Amount B would simplify and streamline the application of the arm’s-length principle to in-country baseline marketing and distribution activities, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which led negotiations on the tax rewrite.

Amount B falls under the overhaul’s first pillar alongside Amount A — a separate provision that involves a narrow departure from traditional arm’s-length transfer pricing rules, which divide intercompany profits based on how unrelated parties would behave. Under Amount A, large companies would reallocate a portion of their above-normal returns to market jurisdictions where they have customers but not a physical presence.

The USCIB told Treasury in its letter that Amount B must be anchored in the arm’s-length principle. The group included a list of entrepreneurial functions — which commonly generate residual returns that would fall under Amount A — and a list of routine marketing and distribution functions that would relate to normal returns under Amount B.

“These two categories cover a significant volume of the transfer pricing controversies of our members which we understand Pillar One is intended to largely eliminate,” the USCIB wrote.

The group’s list of entrepreneurial functions included final decision-making on large discounts and nonstandard contracts and setting global or regional branding, marketing, pricing and promotional strategies. As for routine marketing and distribution functions, the group’s list included bearing limited market and business risks, as the profits of routine distributors are fixed, in addition to not owning any high-value intangible property.

These lists were compiled by the USCIB’s members from company transfer pricing files, meaning they represent “functions that are audit tested and generally represent clear distinctions between entrepreneurial and routine functions,” according to the group’s letter.

Rick Minor, vice president and international tax counsel at the USCIB, told Law360 on Tuesday that his group wanted to be helpful in the absence of a formal consultation to offer timely guidance on Amount B to delegates of the inclusive framework.

“Our members consider Amount B to be, as it has been described in the 2020 Pillar One blueprint, one of the key benefits of a Pillar One solution,” he said. “The concept is directly related to one of the fundamental goals of Pillar One, improved tax certainty.”

So far, the OECD has only released draft rules aimed at helping countries implement Amount A in addition to the overhaul’s second pillar, which involves minimum tax rules. The organization has also released public feedback on its Amount A draft rules, including calls for guidance that would let multinational corporations seek advance certainty on how tax administrations would apply the new rules, including a proposed anti-abuse provision.

Meanwhile, KPMG issued a proposal for Amount A that was released Tuesday by Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy. According to the firm, the proposal involves identifying entities to fund Amount A and determining the share of Amount A that would be allocated to each payer entity.

This proposal would use a formulaic approach that approximates a “market-connection” test without the need to look at transfer pricing documentation or make factual judgment calls, according to KPMG.

Treasury didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.