Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act

Bill: 114-s-174
Sponsor: Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
Introduced: 2015-01-13 in the Senate
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Accounting and auditing
Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Administrative remedies
Bank accounts, deposits, capital
Banking and financial institutions regulation
Business investment and capital
Civil actions and liability
Commodities markets
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Congressional oversight
Corporate finance and management
Credit and credit markets
Department of the Treasury
Evidence and witnesses
Financial services and investments
Foreign and international banking
Foreign and international corporations
Fraud offenses and financial crimes
Government information and archives
Government trust funds
Income tax credits
Income tax deductions
Income tax exclusion
Income tax rates
Interest, dividends, interest rates
Jurisdiction and venue
Sales and excise taxes
Securities
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
Taxation of foreign income
Wages and earnings

Summary:
action_date: 2015-01-13
text: 

Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act
 
 
Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to impose restrictions on foreign jurisdictions or financial institutions operating in the United States that are of primary money laundering concern or that significantly impede U.S. tax enforcement. 
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: 
 
 
expand reporting requirements for U.S. persons who hold an interest in a passive foreign investment company; 
 
establish a rebuttable presumption against the validity of transactions by institutions that do not comply with reporting requirements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act; 
 
treat certain foreign corporations managed and controlled primarily in the United States as domestic corporations for tax purposes; 
 
require tax withholding agents and financial institutions to report certain information about beneficial owners of foreign-owned financial accounts; 
 
treat swap payments sent offshore as taxable U.S. source income; and 
 
impose additional requirements for third party summonses used to obtain information in tax investigations that do not identify the person with respect to whose liability the summons is issued (i.e., John Doe summons).

 
Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to: (1) require corporations registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to report annually, on a country-by country basis, on employees, gross revenues, payments made to governments, and other financial information; and (2) impose a fine for failure to disclose any holdings or transactions involving equity or debt instruments known to involve a foreign entity that would otherwise be subject to disclosure requirements. 
 
Makes investment advisers and persons engaged in forming new business entities subject to anti-money laundering requirements. 
 
Imposes new restrictions on U.S. corporations and other entities with foreign income with respect to: (1) tax deductions allocable to deferred foreign income, (2) the recalculation of foreign income taxes, (3) intangible property transferred overseas, (4) tax evasion activities by U.S. corporations reincorporating in a foreign country, and (5) the interest expense tax deduction of certain subsidiaries of foreign corporations with excess domestic indebtedness.
 
Modifies 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) to provide 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.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-01-13
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-01-13
text: Introduced in Senate