Title: Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2019
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2019
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise rules for the taxation of inverted corporations (i.e., U.S. corporations that acquire foreign companies to reincorporate in a foreign jurisdiction with income tax rates lower than the United States). The bill provides that a foreign corporation that acquires the properties of a U.S. corporation or partnership after May 8, 2014, shall be treated as an inverted corporation and thus subject to U.S. taxation if, after such acquisition (1) it holds more than 50% of the stock of the new entity (expanded affiliated group), or (2) the management or control of the new entity occurs primarily within the United States and the new entity has significant domestic business activities.


[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2140 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2140

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the rules relating 
                       to inverted corporations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 17, 2019

Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Reed, Ms. Warren, Mr. Brown, Ms. Baldwin, 
    Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Merkley, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. 
 Sanders, and Mr. Blumenthal) introduced the following bill; which was 
          read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the rules relating 
                       to inverted corporations.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATIONS TO RULES RELATING TO INVERTED CORPORATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (b) of section 7874 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) Inverted Corporations Treated as Domestic Corporations.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding section 7701(a)(4), a 
        foreign corporation shall be treated for purposes of this title 
        as a domestic corporation if--
                    ``(A) such corporation would be a surrogate foreign 
                corporation if subsection (a)(2) were applied by 
                substituting `80 percent' for `60 percent', or
                    ``(B) such corporation is an inverted domestic 
                corporation.
            ``(2) Inverted domestic corporation.--For purposes of this 
        subsection, a foreign corporation shall be treated as an 
        inverted domestic corporation if, pursuant to a plan (or a 
        series of related transactions)--
                    ``(A) the entity completes after May 8, 2014, the 
                direct or indirect acquisition of--
                            ``(i) substantially all of the properties 
                        held directly or indirectly by a domestic 
                        corporation, or
                            ``(ii) substantially all of the assets of, 
                        or substantially all of the properties 
                        constituting a trade or business of, a domestic 
                        partnership, and
                    ``(B) after the acquisition, either--
                            ``(i) more than 50 percent of the stock (by 
                        vote or value) of the entity is held--
                                    ``(I) in the case of an acquisition 
                                with respect to a domestic corporation, 
                                by former shareholders of the domestic 
                                corporation by reason of holding stock 
                                in the domestic corporation, or
                                    ``(II) in the case of an 
                                acquisition with respect to a domestic 
                                partnership, by former partners of the 
                                domestic partnership by reason of 
                                holding a capital or profits interest 
                                in the domestic partnership, or
                            ``(ii) the management and control of the 
                        expanded affiliated group which includes the 
                        entity occurs, directly or indirectly, 
                        primarily within the United States, and such 
                        expanded affiliated group has significant 
                        domestic business activities.
            ``(3) Exception for corporations with substantial business 
        activities in foreign country of organization.--A foreign 
        corporation described in paragraph (2) shall not be treated as 
        an inverted domestic corporation if after the acquisition the 
        expanded affiliated group which includes the entity has 
        substantial business activities in the foreign country in which 
        or under the law of which the entity is created or organized 
        when compared to the total business activities of such expanded 
        affiliated group. For purposes of subsection (a)(2)(B)(iii) and 
        the preceding sentence, the term `substantial business 
        activities' shall have the meaning given such term under 
        regulations in effect on January 18, 2017, except that the 
        Secretary may issue regulations increasing the threshold 
        percent in any of the tests under such regulations for 
        determining if business activities constitute substantial 
        business activities for purposes of this paragraph.
            ``(4) Management and control.--For purposes of paragraph 
        (2)(B)(ii)--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall prescribe 
                regulations for purposes of determining cases in which 
                the management and control of an expanded affiliated 
                group is to be treated as occurring, directly or 
                indirectly, primarily within the United States. The 
                regulations prescribed under the preceding sentence 
                shall apply to periods after May 8, 2014.
                    ``(B) Executive officers and senior management.--
                Such regulations shall provide that the management and 
                control of an expanded affiliated group shall be 
                treated as occurring, directly or indirectly, primarily 
                within the United States if substantially all of the 
                executive officers and senior management of the 
                expanded affiliated group who exercise day-to-day 
                responsibility for making decisions involving 
                strategic, financial, and operational policies of the 
                expanded affiliated group are based or primarily 
                located within the United States. Individuals who in 
                fact exercise such day-to-day responsibilities shall be 
                treated as executive officers and senior management 
                regardless of their title.
            ``(5) Significant domestic business activities.--For 
        purposes of paragraph (2)(B)(ii), an expanded affiliated group 
        has significant domestic business activities if at least 25 
        percent of--
                    ``(A) the employees of the group are based in the 
                United States,
                    ``(B) the employee compensation incurred by the 
                group is incurred with respect to employees based in 
                the United States,
                    ``(C) the assets of the group are located in the 
                United States, or
                    ``(D) the income of the group is derived in the 
                United States,
        determined in the same manner as such determinations are made 
        for purposes of determining substantial business activities 
        under regulations referred to in paragraph (3) as in effect on 
        January 18, 2017, but applied by treating all references in 
        such regulations to `foreign country' and `relevant foreign 
        country' as references to `the United States'. The Secretary 
        may issue regulations decreasing the threshold percent in any 
        of the tests under such regulations for determining if business 
        activities constitute significant domestic business activities 
        for purposes of this paragraph.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Clause (i) of section 7874(a)(2)(B) of such Code is 
        amended by striking ``after March 4, 2003,'' and inserting 
        ``after March 4, 2003, and before May 8, 2014,''.
            (2) Subsection (c) of section 7874 of such Code is 
        amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by striking ``subsection 
                        (a)(2)(B)(ii)'' and inserting ``subsections 
                        (a)(2)(B)(ii) and (b)(2)(B)(i)''; and
                            (ii) by inserting ``or (b)(2)(A)'' after 
                        ``(a)(2)(B)(i)'' in subparagraph (B);
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ``or 
                (b)(2)(B)(i), as the case may be,'' after 
                ``(a)(2)(B)(ii)'';
                    (C) in paragraph (5), by striking ``subsection 
                (a)(2)(B)(ii)'' and inserting ``subsections 
                (a)(2)(B)(ii) and (b)(2)(B)(i)''; and
                    (D) in paragraph (6), by inserting ``or inverted 
                domestic corporation, as the case may be,'' after 
                ``surrogate foreign corporation''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years ending after May 8, 2014.
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