As goes the number of “Controlled Foreign Corporations“, so goes the size of the U.S. tax base. The “messaging” was that the United States was moving to a system of “Territorial Taxation” for corporations. The reality is that the TCJA has actually increased the number of “non-U.S. corporations” that the United States claims to be be its “tax subjects”. (This has been accomplished by increasing the ways in which “non-U.S. corporations” can be treated as “controlled foreign corporations”. Furthermore, those “non-U.S. corporations (“controlled foreign corporations”), subject to U.S. tax jurisdiction, will be subject to U.S. tax on more income. I do understand that those “non-U.S. corporations” cannot be taxed directly by the United States. Fair enough. But “non-U.S. corporations” are clearly taxed indirectly by attributing income earned by the “controlled foreign corporation” to “United States Shareholders” under the Subpart F regime. In the same way that the United States is imposing taxation on the “worldwide” income of individuals who are “tax residents” of other nations, the United States is imposing taxation on the “worldwide income” of “non-U.S. corporations”. (This is done indirectly by imposing taxation on the “United States Shareholder” rather than on the “controlled foreign corporation” directly.) Although this has always been true, the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” has significantly expanded this taxation. This has been accomplished in at least three ways:
1. Expanding the definition of “United States Shareholder” in the Internal Revenue Code – Internal Revenue Code Sec.. 951
2. Expanding the circumstances under which the income from a “Controlled Foreign Corporation” is attributed to “United States Shareholders – Deleting the 30 day requirement – Internal Revenue Code Sec. 951
3. Increasing the number of “United States Shareholders” through changes in the “attribution rules” – Say “Good Bye” to Internal Revenue Code Sec. 958(b)(4)
This list is not intended to be exhaustive. I will discuss each of these in turn.
Continue reading →