Worldwide Tax Daily Quotes David Rosenbloom: BEAT Conflict Clouds Future of Pending Tax Treaties

The United States’ existing and pending tax treaties potentially conflict with the base erosion and antiabuse tax, but Congress’s silence about its intent to override the treaties clouds what — if any — action Treasury should take.

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H. David Rosenbloom of Caplin & Drysdale strongly disagrees that Treasury should spend any time renegotiating the pending treaties and protocols, on the grounds that Paul’s blockade of the U.S. treaty program would make the effort futile. 

However, Rosenbloom said, even if Paul retired or ended his blockade, Rosenbloom does not believe that the application of the later-in-time doctrine would result in such a black-and-white BEAT result that Treasury should be overly concerned. “Some people say 'later in time' would suggest the BEAT overrides the existing treaties, which I don't buy. It's a much more nuanced world than that,” he told Tax Notes. “I don't think these treaties stand in a different position than the existing treaties as far as the combination with the BEAT is concerned. I think the fact that they go into effect after the BEAT was passed is of minimal importance.”

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Excerpt taken from the article "BEAT Conflict Clouds Future of Pending Tax Treaties” by Alexander Lewis for Tax Notes.