On Monday December 19, 2011, the Department of Justice announced year-end results for False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases in fiscal year 2011. The results, summarized below, demonstrate a dramatic increase in FCA cases brought by the government and private whistleblowers. The pharmaceutical industry is the prime target at the moment, but companies with defense contracts, federal subsidies and loans, and government contracts more generally are on the enforcement radar ...
Following is a list of year-end administrative issues for Texas limited partnerships and limited liability companies (“LP/LLC”): Ensure that the LP/LLC’s activities, transactions, capital infusions (capital contributions or loan proceeds), and distributions are accurately reflected in the entity’s records; Avoid causing the LP/LLC to make any distributions not in compliance with the terms of its LP/LLC agreement or applicable law; for example, an LP/LLC should not make disproportiona
The role, and especially the liability, of corporate directors have evolved considerably over the last few decades. Obviously, the financial scandals of the 1990s are largely responsible for this change that began in the United Stated with the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 200, prompting Canadian authorities to follow suit with the adoption of more stringent securities regulations ...
As the end of the year approaches, it is a good time to consider actions that may lower your tax bill this year and possibly next year. High-income earners should consider that top income tax and capital gains tax rates are scheduled to increase after 2012, and Congress could raise taxes during 2012, which could make acceleration of dividends and capital gains to 2011 appealing ...
TO REMEMBER •The establishment of good governance practices is useful if not essential for SMEs, their directors, shareholders and managers. •Good governance practices can protect directors against their risks of liability.•Governance must be adapted to the realities of SMEs* This adaptation is achieved by a combination of informal measures and a few formal measures ...
TO REMEMBER - The establishment of good governance practices is useful if not essential for SMEs, their directors, shareholders and managers. Good governance practices can protect directors against their risks of liability. Governance must be adapted to the realities of SMEs. This adaptation is achieved by a combination of informal measures and a few formal measures ...
The Regulations on Contracting the Provision of Foreign Technical Assistance and Management Services, as provided for in Presidential Decree 273/11 of 27 October (the “Decree”), were published recently. This legislation has great relevance, on the one hand, because it aims to cover contracts for the provision of services made with non-resident entities and, on the other hand, because it introduces a number of new obligations for the parties involved in these contracts ...
1.- Tax treatment of different acquisitions: What are the differences in tax treatment between an acquisition of stock in a company and the acquisition of business assets and liabilities? The main difference from the acquirer’s perspective is that there is only a step-up in the tax basis on an asset purchase, while a stock acquisition as a general rule does not allow for a step-up on the basis of the target’s assets ...
The Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale (the “Committee”) reported a 121 page bill governing horizontal wells that utilize 210,000 gallons of water or more per month or that involve surface disturbance of 3 acres or more. The final version of the bill was posted to the West Virginia Legislature’s website on November 18, 2011 (the “Bill”) ...
You are the general counsel of a public company and your company is entering into a transaction to be acquired by another company. Your board and your stockholders want you to make sure the transaction is consummated but they also want you to make sure the company gets the best deal for its stockholders. The acquiror is also going to demand a certain level of deal security ...
November 8, 2011- The Minister of Finance and Economic Development delivered his Budget Speech on the 4th of November 2011. The Budget aims at providing for innovative measures to support key economic sectors (such as ICT/BPO, Tourism, Financial Sector...) and new markets (renewable energies...). The Budget also provides for a National Resilience Plan to support the economy in a global economic downturn ...
The Congressional Super Committee (the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction) continues to meet in Washington, D.C., with the goal of reducing the country’s deficit through program cuts and revenue increases. There have been several unsubstantiated rumors regarding proposed changes to the estate and gift tax laws. One online rumor sparked particular interest even though no source was mentioned ...
The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently held that a complaint does not need to meet the heightened pleading standards for fraud claims in order to satisfy the first-to-file rule under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). The first-to-file rule provides that, once a private plaintiff brings suit under the FCA, no one other than the government may intervene or bring a related suit “based on the facts underlying the pending action.” 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(5) ...
The IRS has today released proposed amendments to the Code Section 892 regulations. Code Section 892 is the provision within the Internal Revenue Code that exempts foreign sovereigns from taxation in respect of investment income earned in the U.S. The primary amendments are described below. 1 ...
On October 28, 2011, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued an opinion in the Chapter 15 case of Qimonda AG (“Qimonda”).1 The bankruptcy court held that the application of § 365(n) to executory licenses to U.S. patents was required to sufficiently protect the interests of U.S ...
Order in Council no. 292/2011, published on 8 November, updated the list of countries, territories and regions with clearly more favourable privileged tax regimes ( known as ‘tax havens’) appearing in the earlier Order in Council no. 150/2004 of 13 February. It also excluded from the list two countries that are members of the European Union (EU): Cyprus and Luxembourg ...
Rejection of a contract in bankruptcy may not always accomplish a debtor’s goal to shed ongoing contractual obligations and liabilities, especially when dealing with employee benefit plans. On October 13, 2011, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals highlighted this issue in its opinion in Evans v. Sterling Chemicals, Inc ...
The IRS has today released proposed amendments to the Code Section 892 regulations. Code Section 892 is the provision within the Internal Revenue Code that exempts foreign sovereigns from taxation in respect of investment income earned in the U.S. The primary amendments are described below. 1 ...
After a public consultation phase initiated at the end of 2010, the Portuguese Competition Authority (“PCA”) made available, at the end of July 2011, the final version of its “Guidelines on the Adoption of Remedies in the Control of Concentrations” (“Guidelines”). As clarified by the PCA, the Guidelines are “a set of de indications pertaining to the selection, design, execution and monitoring of remedies, within the procedure of previous control of concentrations between undertakings” ...
Panama’s current administration began its tax reforms with Law 49 of September 17, 2009 (Law 49/2009), that was followed by Law 69 of November 6, 2009 (Law 69/2009), Law 8 of March 15, 2010 (Law 8/2010), Law 33 of June 30, 2010 (Law 33/2010), and finally Law 31 of April 5, 2011 (Law 31 / 2011). All were implemented through formal laws and complemented with subsequent reforms in related executive decrees ...
You’re the general counsel of a public company and you find out that one of your company’s stockholders intends to wage a proxy contest. Your board of directors and CEO are going to want some answers right away. How prepared are you and how do you respond? The average annual number of proxy contests has nearly doubled from 60 in 2001-2005 to 112 in 2006-2010. In 2009, activist shareholders were able to successfully gain board seats approximately 43 percent of the time ...
Although the currently effective Hungarian Civil Code does not name a call option as security, it does not prohibit the use of a call option as security either. The first question this raises, therefore, is whether Hungarian law permits the use of a call option as security? Naturally, this then creates more questions ...
Entity classification refers to a set of rules used in the U.S. tax system to classify entities for the purposes of the Internal Revenue Code. Once classified, the entity will either be subject to the Code rules for corporations or the Code rules for partnerships. The Canadian tax system, on the other hand, does not have entity classification rules. Instead, the Canadian tax system simply categorizes entities for tax purposes based on their classification under commercial law ...
President Obama recently sent to Congress proposed legislative language and analyses of his proposed deficit-reduction plan. Among the proposed legislative changes is a change to the formula used for calculating the cap on the amount that the federal government will reimburse federal contractors for executive compensation ...
As part of the implementation or reorganization of a business structure, the integration of a trust as a shareholder of an incorporated family business can prove to be an interesting tax and estate-planning tool. This holding vehicle is being used more and more in Quebec.INTEGRATING A TRUST AS A SHAREHOLDER OF YOUR FAMILY BUSINESSDIANA DARILUS ddarilus@lavery ...
