International Tax Blog

New IRS Practice Unit: Foreign Earned Income

Yesterday the IRS published a new practice unit titled “Foreign Earned Income for Purposes of IRC 911.” This practice unit discusses "foreign earned income" for purposes of Code §911, and rounds out the 10th practice unit on the foreign earned income exclusion ("FEIE"). The IRS now has the following practice units on the foreign earned income exclusion: Foreign Earned Income (2020) Physical Presence Test (2017) Bona Fide Residence Test (2015) Calculating the FEIE - Employee... Read more →

New IRS Practice Units: Reasonable Cause and Good Faith & FTC Limitation

The IRS recently published two new practice units related to international tax: Reasonable Cause and Good Faith and FTC Limitation. The first practice unit discusses the reasonable cause exception for penalty relief. The second practice unit discusses the foreign tax credit limitation for individuals. Foreign tax credits are generally limited to the U.S. tax on foreign income. We have added these practice units to our Practice Units By Topic page. Read more →

New IRS Practice Unit: Flow-Through Entities Effects on FTC

Yesterday the IRS published a new practice unit titled “Flow-Through Entities Effects on FTC.” This practice unit discusses how flow-through entities affect an individual’s foreign tax credit. We have added this practice unit to our Practice Units By Topic page. Read more →

Two New (& One Updated) IRS Practice Units

Yesterday the IRS published some new practice units and updated an existing practice unit. The new units included: FEIE - Disallowance of FTCs for Foreign Taxes on Excluded Income (2020) PTI (now PTEP) Exchange Gain or Loss (2020) The updated practice unit was: Official versus Free Market Exchange Rate (2020) We have added these practice units to our Practice Units By Topic page. (The IRS also yesterday published a practice unit on 481(a) Adjustments for... Read more →

Three New IRS Practice Units

Yesterday the IRS published three new practice units: Substantiation Requirements for Claiming FTCs Foreign Currency Translation for FTCs Installment Method for Installment Sales We have added these practice units to our Practice Units By Topic page. Read more →

New IRS Practice Unit On The Statute Of Limitations

Yesterday the IRS published a new practice unit titled “Overview of Statute of Limitations on the Assessment of Tax.” This practice unit discusses the time limits under which the IRS can no longer assess additional tax, with a focus on international. We have added this practice unit to our Practice Units By Topic page. Read more →

New IRS Practice Unit for “Adjustments for Overwithholding on Form 1042”

Yesterday the IRS published a new practice unit titled “Adjustments for Overwithholding on Form 1042.” This practice unit discusses adjustments for overwithholding of tax done on payments of U.S. source income to foreign persons on Forms 1042 tax returns and Forms 1042-S information returns. As discussed in the practice unit, how corrections to overwithholding are made depends on the timing of when the overwithholding is discovered. Three time periods are discussed: Before last deposits for... Read more →

New IRS Practice Unit – FDAP Statistical Sampling in the Audit of a U.S. Withholding Agent

The IRS has published a new practice unit that deals with FDAP statistical sampling in audits of U.S. withholding agents. This practice unit would typically apply to the audit of a U.S. financial institution. To see all IRS Practice Units, click here. Read more →

New IRS Practice Units published in March

Last week the IRS released 3 new practice units titled: Competent Authority Revenue Procedure 2015-40 Guidance: Foreign-Initiated Adjustment(s) (03-21-2019) Introduction to Traditional Automatic Exchange of Information (03-15-2019) Competent Authority Process Under a MAP Article of a U.S. Income Tax Treaty (03-08-2019) We updated our IRS Practice Units By Topic page to add these new practice units. Read more →

New IRS Practice Unit: Creation of a Permanent Establishment (PE) through the Activities of a Dependent Agent in the United States

Yesterday the IRS released a new practice unit titled: Creation of a Permanent Establishment (PE) through the Activities of a Dependent Agent in the United States. We updated our IRS Practice Units By Topic page to add this new practice unit. Read more →

Updated IRS Practice Units by Topic Page

The IRS publishes Practice Units (“PUs”) (formerly "International" Practice Units) on its website. PUs provide IRS staff with explanations of general tax concepts, as well as information about specific types of transactions. These PUs discuss many U.S. international tax issues that are applicable to businesses. The IRS website does not categorize them by topic therefore it can be difficult to find PUs on a particular topic. Our page Practice Units by Topic categorizes the PUs... Read more →

Updated - IRS Practice Units by Topic

Recently, the IRS published 11 new International Practice Units (“IPUs”) on its website. We have updated our resource page that categorizes the IPUs by topic. The new IPUs include: IRC 367(d) Transactions in Conjunction with Cost Sharing Arrangements (CSA) Hedge Fund Basics Summary of Foreign and Domestic Loss Impacts on the Foreign Tax Credit How to Assess Penalties for Failure to File Form 8886 Disclosing IRC 988 losses Sourcing of Exchange Gains or Losses in... Read more →

Updated IRS Practice Units by Topic

Recently, the IRS published 5 new International Practice Units (“IPUs”) on its website. We have updated our resource page that categorizes the IPUs by topic. The new IPUs include: Employee Share of Employment Taxes - U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Working Abroad Self-Employment Taxes - U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Working Abroad Portfolio Debt Exemption – Requirements and Exceptions Source of Income for Nonresident Alien Individuals Identifying Foreign Goodwill or Going Concern Read more →

IRS International Practice Units By Category

The IRS drafts publications that summarize in plain English U.S. tax rules for a variety of tax topics. A few of the publications discuss U.S. international tax issues. However, most of the IRS international publications deal with the U.S. taxation of individuals, and not with the U.S. taxation of businesses. For example, IRS publications do not cover Subpart F Income, outbound transfers to foreign corporations, transfer pricing, etc. To learn about these rules, one would... Read more →

I.R.S. International Practice Units

Last week the I.R.S. published 46 International Practice Units. The Practice Units provide I.R.S. staff with explanations of general international tax concepts as well as information about specific types of transactions. The 46 topics covered in the Practice Units are shown below. In addition, we have added a link to the Practice Units in our “Resources” section in the right column. Interest Income Derived by CFC or QBU Engaged in Banking Financing or Similar Business... Read more →