纳税人寻求纳税义务最小化和税收利益最大化,这不足为奇. 实现这一结果的一种方法是纳税人推迟收入确认, and thus defer tax liability into the future. Prior to 1962, 受控制的外国公司(“CFC”)采用的一种流行的延期机制是将收益投资于美国.S. 公司股票或不动产等资产,而不是向其美国员工派发股息.S. shareholders. 这一延迟机制非常有效,因为氟氯化碳的收益在汇回美国时要纳税, which, until 1962, was only done through the distribution of a dividend. The overseas cash was brought back to the U.S. without a tax cost.
However, in 1962, 以消除上述延期机制为目的, Congress added § 956 to the Internal Revenue Code. 第956条将氯氟烃收益投资于某些美国公司.S. property as “substantially equivalent to a dividend.” Congress determined that the investment in U.S. 实质上,财产达到了与美国相同的结果.S. shareholder as a dividend distribution, 对递延收益的影响应该和股息分配一样. 因此,有效的股息分配处理结束了这种延迟技术.
快进到减税和就业法案(“TCJA”)的通过,并增加了实际收到的股息的外国部分扣除 (see previous article ). 而TCJA在§245A中为获得实际股息分配的公司股东增加了重大利益, 该法案没有在法典中对第956条付款的外国来源部分增加相应的扣除.
The failure to update § 956 created a new disparity, in direct opposition to the purpose of § 956, 这是为了在实际股息和“本质上等同于股息”的支付之间创造对称性.” Due to this newly created imbalance, on October 31, 2018, 美国国税局(Internal Revenue Service)发布了一项《bet9游戏平台》(Treasury Regulation),以恢复对从氟氯化碳公司收到的实际和有效股息的对称处理.
The proposed regulation allows a U.S. 公司股东扣除第956条支付的外国来源部分,否则将被视为“本质上相当于股息”.” Which, 让公司股东-纳税人满意, means essentially tax-free repatriation of earnings, 无论采用何种机制将这些收益汇回本国! Additionally, as noted in my previous article在美国,我们可能很快就会看到针对F子部分的全部或部分类别发布类似的指导意见.