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nessbotlast Tuesday at 9:49 PM4 repliesview on HN

Can one "cut a deal" with the IRS without it ending up in legislation (i.e. tax law)?


Replies

CursedSiliconlast Tuesday at 9:59 PM

Not without a big beautiful bribe [1] I assume

[1] https://www.theverge.com/news/737757/apple-president-donald-...

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bux93yesterday at 12:30 PM

The IRS can issue Private Letter Rulings (which are anoymized but public so you could check if they treat a company preferentially - although not which company) and Advance Pricing Agreements.

Rulings from different countries are typically used to ensure no taxes are paid. E.g. get a ruling from the US that some activity is taxable in Luxembourg, and then get a ruling from Luxembourg that it's taxable in the US. Like McDonald's did. Either country will then say "well, it's up to the other country to tax that, I'm not policing that". Mostly after a while, multiple companies get clued in and it all gets exposed and the "loophole" is closed. E.g. a uble Irish with a Dutch Sandwich. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement

This can be an honest error by one or both tax services, a strategic move (to be a "tax paradise" and prevent other taxable activities from leaving the country), or - one would speculate, allegedly - for political or personal gain.

mattnewtonlast Tuesday at 10:06 PM

Legally no, but in practice the president has been trying to assert the power to unilaterally levy taxes, even in spite of the supreme court ruling that you need the legislature to pass a tax. People still paid the tariffs. I would be extremely suprised if that's the only place this admin is trying to tax by fiat, and tax policy enforcemetn is far less visible than consumer tariffs.

d--byesterday at 12:24 PM

Large companies cut deals with the government all the time.

When a large company wants to create a new plant somewhere, they go shopping for what state/city will give them the most favorable tax. Politicians throw in special exemptions, special tax credits, exclusivity contracts, all sorts of things.

In the US, everything is flexible.