Joint Strategic Emerging Issues Team-Submission of Comments re Profit Shifting

Abstract

The attached letter includes concrete suggestions for the IRS Joint Strategic Emerging Issues Team to consider. The approaches suggested attack profit-shifting structures and have the potential to collect additional taxes avoided through aggressive and often sham uses of these structures.

In particular, the letter and its appendices focus on (i) the application of the periodic adjustment mechanism (which implements the section 482 "commensurate with income" Congressional mandate in transfer pricing for intangible transfers) and (ii) effectively connected income taxation. The letter also refers to four articles authored or co-authored by Stephen Curtis that use publicly available information to calculate amounts of tax due under the periodic adjustment mechanism for four multinationals (Facebook, Apple, Google, and eBay). These articles also make the case for application of ECI taxation to these four multinationals. The letter refers to these as "low-hanging fruit" for the IRS to pursue.

Keywords: profit shifting, international taxation, section 482, effectively connected income, IRS enforcement

JEL Classification: H21, H25, K34, E62