Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

The immediate U.S. taxation of foreign subsidiaries’ passive, but not active income is a scenario of increasing practical importance. This paper builds on Alvin Warren’s recent analysis of this partially deferral-tempering case. It clarifies some of the legal and economic mechanics behind Warren’s formula. It also makes several points de novo. It highlights the conceptual relationship between passive-income pass-through and delayed realization of accrued gains. It points out that delayed realization inside the subsidiary effectively deactivates passive-income pass-through. And it describes when it does and does not matter that the parent takes interim distributions from the subsidiary, as when it uses such distributions to pay its interim pass-through tax liability.

Keywords

international tax, deferral, lockout, repatriation, pass-through, realization, controlled foreign corporations, subpart F, foreign base company income, passive foreign holding company income, foreign tax credit, deemed paid foreign tax credit, previously taxed earnings and profits, previously taxed

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