Credit Repair: Do the Proposed Foreign Tax Credit Regulations Do Enough?

Episode 11-2022 | In previous episodes of this podcast, The Credit Crunch: Exploring the Impact of the Final Foreign Tax Credit Regulations and  No Credit Where Credit Is Due: Exploring the Practical Impact of the Foreign Tax Credit Regulations, we explored how the final foreign tax credit (FTC) regulations published at the beginning of the year could negative impact the creditability of many common foreign taxes paid by U.S. multinationals.

In July, Treasury and the IRS issued “technical corrections” to the final regulations that were intended primarily to narrow the number of foreign levies that would be rendered noncreditable by reason of the cost recovery requirement. These changes were helpful, but many issues remained. Last month, the government proposed additional changes to the final regulations to address key taxpayer concerns over the cost recovery requirement as well as with respect to foreign withholding taxes on royalties.

Has the government given taxpayers a gift in just time for the holidays or a lump of coal? Which foreign taxes do the proposed rules “bless,” and are there still foreign levies that remain problematic? What should taxpayers consider doing now in response to the proposed rules?

In this episode, Gary Scanlon interviews Seth Green and Quyen Huynh from the International Tax group of the KPMG Washington National Tax practice to answer these and other questions regarding the proposed FTC regulations.