Taxation

Magnifying Your Voice with USCIB:

  • USCIB’s Tax Committee is the most respected U.S. business association on international tax issues. USCIB is the only U.S. business association formally affiliated with the world’s three largest business organizations where we work with business leaders across the globe to extend our reach to influence policymakers in international markets that are important to American business.

Trends and Challenges Facing U.S. Business:

  • Multiple sets of inconsistent rules that drive up costs and result in double taxation
  • The mounting political pressure to move towards changing the taxation of the digitalized economy
  • Efforts to unfairly increase the tax burden on companies

USCIB’s Response:

  • Build consensus with like-minded industry peers and participate in off-the-record briefings with policymakers both home and abroad
  • Engage with the OECD on the development of international taxation principles
  • Proactively shape the development of the OECD’s guidance on the taxation of the digitalized economy by demonstrating to policymakers that unilateral action can result in double taxation, decreased trade, and reduced global growth
  • Actively monitor and contribute to the work of the UN Committee of Tax Experts to ensure its alignment with the work of the OECD Tax Committee and inform policymakers of their actions’ impact on investment
  • Support enactment of foreign tax simplification provisions in the IRC that would significantly reduce the burden of complexity for U.S. companies and enhance their international competitiveness
  • Host an annual conference in Washington, DC that provides a unique opportunity for the U.S. business community to interact with key representatives from the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (“CTPA”).

USCIB on LinkedIn

Recent Accomplishments:

News Stories

Annual OECD-USCIB International Tax Conference Zeroes in on Pillars One and Two (11/8/2023) - Since 2021 when 140 countries agreed on a global tax deal, international tax policy discussions have concentrated intensely on Pillars…

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USCIB Member Spotlight: EY on Multinationals Face Complex Data Challenges from Global Tax Deal (11/1/2023) - USCIB member EY America's Kevin Flynn discusses how businesses can position themselves to comply with the BEPS 2.0 project. The…

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Chair

John A. Stowell
Head of Global Tax and International Financial Reporting
The Walt Disney Company

Vice Chairs

Jocelyn Krabbenschmidt
International Tax Director
Apple Inc.

Carolina Perez-Lopez
VP Global Tax Planning and Tax Counsel
Johnson & Johnson

Tom Roesser
Senior Director, Tax Affairs
Microsoft Corporation

Vice Chairs

Erik Rosenfeld
VP Taxes, North America
Procter & Gamble

Daniel Smith
Director, International Tax Planning & Policy
Google Inc.

Lennaert ten Cate
SVP Tax
PepsiCo Inc.

Wendy Unglaub
VP, Chief Tax Officer, and Principal Tax Counsel
General Mills

Vice Chairs

Jason Weinstein
Vice President, Tax, North America
Amazon

Chad J. Withers
Chief Tax Officer
Caterpillar Inc.

USCIB Leadership

Rick Minor
Vice President and International Tax Counsel
202-682-7376 or rminor@uscib.org

Staff

Anastasia Teller
Administrative Assistant, Policy
ateller@uscib.org

Subcommittees

Transfer Pricing Subcommittee

VAT Subcommittee

Working Groups

EU Tax Working Group

USCIB Releases Pride Month Statement, Supporting Equality and Inclusion

New York, N.Y., June 8, 2023—Article 1 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”  The observation of Pride Month, which this June celebrates the contribution of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals to our communities and our societies, sits firmly in this human rights tradition. The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) is proud to take this occasion to underscore our commitment and that of our members to support LGBTQI+ equality and inclusion.

In this regard, we applaud the commitment of the U.S. government to support LBGTQ+ rights, including the efforts of U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield to integrate these rights into the work of the UN Security Council.

“We and our companies are committed to treating all individuals with dignity and respect and we call on the international community to fight for the human rights of LGBTQI+ people around the world,” said USCIB Director, Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs Ewa Staworzynska. 

Sixty-four countries, nearly half of them in Africa, still have laws that criminalize homosexuality, and at least nine criminalize other forms of gender expression. USCIB will continue to work through our international affiliates to raise the voice of business in the ILO, OECD, and the United Nations to advocate for the rights of the LGBTQI+ community around the world.

About USCIB: USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development, and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. As the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and Business at OECD (BIAC), USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More at www.uscib.org.

USCIB Participates in US-EU Trade and Technology Council Meeting in Sweden

USCIB Vice President for International Investment and Trade Policy Alice Slayton Clark was in Luleå, Sweden to attend the fourth meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), a platform to advance Transatlantic cooperation and democratic approaches to trade, technology, and security.   

An official delegate, Clark served as a principal in the TTC’s Trade and Labor Dialogue (TALD), a selective exchange between business and unions on both sides of the Atlantic to explore policies related to the intersection of trade, labor and technology. The meeting in Luleå showcased an agreement on forced labor trade strategy principles reached between business and labor partners. The principles reflect inputs from USCIB members on the need for a “multifaceted” approach involving diplomacy, foreign assistance, capacity building, and supply chain due diligence to address the root causes of the problem. Because industry and unions could not reach agreement on the role of border enforcement as a trade tool, footnotes were inserted to reflect differences. 

“USCIB is pleased business and unions were able to agree through the TALD process on principles to address forced labor,” Clark asserted.  “Importantly, the document notes industry support for incentives rather than punitive border measures as trade tools of choice to prevent violative goods from being produced and entering into commerce in the first place.”    

Also discussed by TALD participants were trade and labor issues linked to the green transition, a topic of key concern to the US and EU and showcased in official visits to the green steel Hybrit plant in Luleå. USCIB initial views on the topic promoted a comprehensive strategy of trade, investment, education and training policies. USCIB will work with members to develop these points as the TALD green transition discussions continue in the months ahead.   

Importantly, the TTC meeting also produced a Joint Statement that reaffirms transatlantic alignment on the war in Ukraine, reform of the World Trade Organization, policies against economic coercion and pursuit of supply chain diversification. Many issues discussed at the meeting reflect transatlantic convergence on policies related to Russia and China. As such, according to Clark, the TTC continues to draw high level government participation including full engagement from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and European Commission Executive Vice President Margreth Vestager.     

Other key issues advanced in Luleå were the launch of principal level consultations to head off subsidy races for the semiconductor industry, a task force to address cooperation in quantum technologies, the development of a work program for the Transatlantic Initiative on Sustainable Trade, exploration of increased use of digital tools to enhance trade, continued cooperation on export controls, illegal diversion of technologies and sanctions, availability of critical minerals, and managing emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence. 

USCIB Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee Meets in Chicago

USCIB held its Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee (CFTC) meeting at Google’s Chicago offices on May 16. 

The meeting, which was attended by USCIB members and staff, included a robust agenda. 

According to USCIB Senior Director for Customs and Trade Facilitation Megan Giblin, members were updated on and discussed the work of the ICC Customs and Trade Facilitation Commission. Topics addressed included the ICC’s paper on transboundary waste for recovery, 21 CCF/ Customs Modernization, Forced Labor, the Green Trade Innovation and Incentives Forum scheduled for July 11th and related CBP Federal Register Notice call for comments as well as other priority CFT topics.  

The Committee also received updates on the work of both the World Trade Organization (WT0) and the World Customs Organization (WCO). Regarding the WTO, updates included work undertaken by the WTO Committee on Trade Facilitation, such as those pertaining to, for example, Indonesia Regulation 190 and humanitarian cargo / shipments. WCO matters included the upcoming Secretary General (SG) election, discussion on recent and upcoming meetings in the technical classification and valuation space. 

Following the meeting, Google hosted an outdoor, rooftop, networking reception.  

USCIB Conducts eATA Carnet Pilot With CBP at JFK Airport

USCIB collaborated with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Headquarters staff and leaders from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on a training, hosted on-site at JFK in New York on February 7, 2023. The goal of the training was to educate customs officers on the “eATA” Carnet System and process.

This training built on past trainings with JFK officers and advanced implementation of the eATA test at JFK. The “eATA” is the digital version of the ATA Carnet, currently a paper-based unified customs document used for the temporary movement of goods that are free of customs duties and taxes across the 79 countries and territories that are part of the ATA Carnet system. ATA Carnets are critical tools of trade facilitation for companies of all sizes, especially the small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), which can be used for multiple trips into countries that are party to the ATA System, providing, for example, reduced cost to Holders as well as greater predictability at each customs border.

The joint USCIB-CBP HQ hands-on training at JFK was in preparation for Holder (user) selection and formal launch of the eATA test at JFK, according to USCIB Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Declan Daly. The ICC World Chamber Federation pilot, which the U.S. is participating in, is supported by the World Customs Organization (WCO).

Belgium, China, Germany, Russia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are also participating in the pilot.

According to Daly, this training included end-to-end processing of several eATA Carnets in a test environment. USCIB is working in close collaboration with CBP HQ, JFK and ICC WCF IT developers of the eATA Carnet on next steps.

“We hope to conduct further testing in the coming months at other port locations beyond JFK, as well as engage in dialogue with Canada in partnership with the CBP, Canada Customs and the Canadian NGA,” added Daly.

The eATA System is developed by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) World Chambers Federation (WCF). USCIB manages and guarantees the ATA Carnet system in the United States. USCIB’s Daly is part of the ICC WCF’s eATA Project Team responsible for the development and rollout of the new digital ATA Carnet (eATA) system and has also recently been elected Vice Chair of the World ATA Carnet Council (WATAC).

 

Robinson Joins BIAC’s London Consultation in Advance of 2023 OECD Ministerial Meeting

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson joined Business at OECD (BIAC) Chair and USCIB Vice Chair Rick Johnston (Citi Group) in London for the annual BIAC/TUAC (Trade Union Advisory Committee) and OECD consultation with the Chair government of the OECD Ministerial—this year being the UK government. The consultation, aimed at preparing for the 2023 OECD Ministerial meeting, was held at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Whitehall).

Hanni Rosenbaum (Business at OECD) and Peter Robinson (USCIB)

The high-level BIAC and TUAC delegations, representing OECD’s key institutional stakeholders, met with the OECD Ministerial Council Bureau and leadership, including UK Minister of State for Indo-Pacific the Rt. Hon. Anne-Marie Trevelyan and OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann. This session provided a critical opportunity to provide targeted input to the Ministerial agenda, share business priorities and help guide expected key deliverables.

The annual OECD Ministerial will take place on June 7-8 in Paris under the theme “Securing a Resilient Future: Shared Values and Global Partnerships.” The Ministerial will convene Ministers of Economy, Foreign Affairs and Trade from OECD countries and beyond.

Robinson with ICC UK and ICC Germany Secretary Generals

While in London, Robinson met separately with ICC UK Secretary General Chris Southworth and staff, together with ICC Germany Secretary General Oliver Wieck, who was also in town. The three ICC National Committee heads discussed ICC activities and priorities, including the Digital Standards Initiative.

USCIB Joins Global Business Effort on EUCS Without Sovereignty Requirements

Washington DC, May 25, 2023—The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) has joined forces with businesses based in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan to issue a statement urging swift and timely adoption of the “EU Cybersecurity Certification Scheme for Cloud Services (EUCS)” without sovereignty requirements. This effort was organized by AMCHAM EU.

Additionally, CCIA, a USCIB member, also issued a similar statement co-signed by the U.S. business community, including USCIB, and shared with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, in advance of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting taking place in Sweden this weekend.

USCIB recognizes its members’ acute concerns that the EUCS unfairly undermines U.S. competitiveness in Europe.

According to USCIB, such restrictive sovereignty restrictions do not add value to cybersecurity of cloud services in the EU. For well over a year, many European and international associations, industry actors and Member States have continued to publicly express their concerns with the lack of progress and the ongoing examination of restrictive sovereignty requirements in the EUCS. In addition, several Member States have proposed alternative options to end the stalemate, such as a European evaluation mechanism based on trustworthiness for non-EU cloud providers. Discussion on these proposals could offer a robust alternative that would meet the desired high level of cybersecurity requirements, while keeping the market open to all cloud providers.

The CCIA letter states that the business groups have called for removing discriminatory ownership requirements that would prevent American cloud service providers from bidding on public sector and critical infrastructure cloud contracts across Europe.

Other industry concerns about the EUCS include its limited transparency and lack of stakeholder engagement, conflicting views of Member States and legal confusion and uncertainty caused by the interplay with other EU legislation.

Click here to read the AMCHAM EU letter.

Click here to read the CCIA letter to U.S. Government.

About USCIB

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development, and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. As the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and Business at OECD (BIAC), USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More at www.uscib.org.

 

Clark Moderates WITA Panel on Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms

Top row, L-R: Alice Slayton Clark, Ken Ash, Mark Linscott
Second Row, L-R: Catrina Rorke, Ken Levinson, Ludivine Tamiotti

USCIB Vice President for International Investment and Trade Alice Slayton Clark moderated a Washington International Trade Association (WITA) webinar May 5 on Finding Synergies on Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAM). The goal was to review the various international workstreams on carbon mitigation, discuss their synergies and explore how they can achieve climate solutions without disrupting trade.

The panel included experts with extensive knowledge in the field, including Ludivine Tamiotti, secretary to the Committee on Trade and Environment at the WTO, Mark Linscott, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, senior advisor at the Asia Group and former assistant USTR for WTO and Multilateral Affairs, Ken Ash, visiting fellow, Institute for International Trade, Adelaide and former Director of Trade and Agriculture at the OECD, and Catrina Rorke, executive director, Center for Climate and Trade and senior vice president for Policy and Research, Climate Leadership Council.

“With so many international organizations like the OECD, WTO and United Nations, and various government or government entities, such as the G7 and EU, exploring ways to reduce the global carbon footprint, we thought it would be helpful to industry and other stakeholders for this WITA panel to sort it all out,” said Clark in her opening remarks. “A priority for industry is cohesiveness of these efforts.  We are looking for consistency in carbon measurement methodologies and interoperability of carbon mitigation approaches in order to avoid duplicative efforts and potential trade disruptions.”

A collaboration between USCIB, WITA and the Silverado Policy Accelerator sponsors, the webinar drew an audience of nearly 200 participants from 15 countries including Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, the UK, Spain, Turkey, China, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Switzerland and the U.S.

Click here to watch the webinar.

Wanner Reports on OECD Digital Economy Policy Meetings

The 91st Session of the OECD Committee on Digital Economy Policy (CDEP), which convened May 10-11, featured substantively rich discussions on various topics of interest and concern to USCIB members, according to USCIB VP for ICT Policy Barbara Wanner, who was on the ground in Paris covering the meetings as part of a Business at OECD delegation.

Topics included the launch of the Global Forum on Technology (GFT) under theme “Shaping Our Future at the Tech Frontier,” the AI Governance Working Party’s future work on generative AI, and the OECD’s potential role in taking forward the G7’s call for the Institutional Arrangement for Partnership (IAP) to operationalize the Data Free Flows with Trust (DFFT) concept, among other topics.

“A high point of the meeting was a presentation by Japan about the Ministerial Declaration of the G7 Digital and Tech Ministers issued on April 30,” said Wanner. “The Declaration calls for establishing the IAP to bring governments and stakeholders together to operationalize the DFFT through principles-based, solutions-oriented, evidence-based, multistakeholder and cross-sectoral cooperation.”

“The Declaration is an important foundation for operationalizing data free flow with trust and other bilateral/multilateral agreements to further trusted cloud environments, but there is more work to be done to unlock the full potential of digitization,” added Wanner.

Regarding the next GFT, Israel announced it will host the meeting on November 27 in Tel Aviv. The theme will be “Challenges Posed by Quantum Technologies and National Strategies for Emerging Technologies.” This will be followed by the 92nd OECD CDEP meeting, November 28-29, also in Tel Aviv.

According to Wanner, Business at OECD commended the work done to date in launching the GFT. BIAC also reiterated its interest in making meaningful contributions to the GFT, noting that more than 60 percent of investment in new technologies is from the private sector.

Other topics addressed at CDEP that are of interest to USCIB members included, Transparency Reporting on Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA), a draft outline for a report on “Human rights in the digital age: shaping a human-centric digital transformation,” financing broadband networks of the future, identifying common guideposts for identifying AI risks and developing a comprehensive roadmap on generative AI.

Business at OECD further noted the relevance of its May 9 workshop on “Privacy, Immersive Technologies, and the Metaverse,” which is part of a project dedicated to exploring the implications of immersive technologies on for the OECD Privacy Guidelines and urged that this work be fed into the GFT process. The USCIB Foundation has been supporting this project.

Finally, the CDEP Secretariat announced the appointment of Jerrard Sheehan as new director of the OECD Science, Technology, and Innovation Bureau (STI). Sheehan, who succeeds Andrew Wyckhoff, will begin July 10, 2023. He is currently Deputy Director for Policy and External Affairs at the National Library of Medicine at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and will bring more than 30 years of experience in policy development, scientific data, and information technology.

USCIB, OECD, BIAC Roundtable on AI Considers Path Forward to Make AI More Trustworthy

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to drive economic growth and commercial activity, as well as to improve lives. AI deployment and applications have swept across many sectors and have been embraced by a broad array of companies, beyond traditional “tech companies.” However, different frameworks and standards for AI have also emerged, aimed at ensuring that AI systems are “human-centric” and “trustworthy” and to safeguard against AI misuse that can undermine personal privacy and online security protections, support decision-making biases that exacerbate social inequality and cause disruptions in the labor market.

Against this backdrop, USCIB launched the Joseph H. Alhadeff Digital Economy Roundtable Series as a virtual event on April 26. The event was a joint initiative of USCIB, Business at OECD (BIAC) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and addressed the topic “Advancing Implementation of the OECD AI Principles Across Sectors.” Representatives from companies such as IKEA, LEGO and Walmart discussed non-traditional use cases of AI in delivering products and services and shared experiences about how their respective companies are assessing and addressing potential risks of AI.

“What we’re seeing is that AI can increase safety and quality of the associate and customer experience,” said Walmart Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel of Digital Citizenship Nuala O’Connor. “As long as we are fair, accountable, transparent, and we embed those values into the use of AI, we believe AI can be a trust enhancer. Digital trust is essential to our brand and our company in the future, and we continue to strive to be the world’s most trusted retailer.”

“If done right and consistent with principles, including the OECD AI Principles, the impact of AI can be positive,” added LEGO Global Lead on Digital Policy Adam Ingle. “But there are workforce challenges and other risks that we can’t walk blindly into. The nature of our conversation on this panel shows that everyone is aware of the risk and that we’ll find a solution that is a net benefit.”

During the panel on “Government and Standards Setting Perspectives,” experts from both the OECD and government agencies examined how ground-breaking AI Principles provide a foundational reference for companies across all industries so they might feel more confident that their AI deployment is trustworthy.

“The OECD previewed work aimed at promoting global consistency in frameworks and standards to ensure that AI systems deployed are trustworthy, human-centric, accountable and ethical,” said USCIB Vice President for ICT Policy Barbara Wanner.

Furthermore, representatives from the U.S. and UK, as well as technical organizations such as DG-Connect and IEEE, discussed how they will be working with the OECD to identify common guideposts to assess AI risk and its trustworthiness. They also reviewed their own frameworks, responded to business concerns and considered the prospects for greater global interoperability.

Participants also heard from AI pioneers such as Amazon Web Services, Google, GSMA, Microsoft and RELX on the way forward.

“Standards will be our short cut to interoperability,” said Marc Etienne Ouimette, global lead for AI policy at Amazon Web Services. “It’s likely that different jurisdictions will have different risk tolerances, or different understandings of what constitutes high risk AI. Notwithstanding this, standards (and audits and assessments against these) will be the method by which we will define what good development/deployment is (what the “good” is). When jurisdictions embrace international standards, they allow for differences in regulatory approaches while ensuring access to and alignment with global markets. This provides the right type of enabling environment for responsible AI, a key OECD recommendation.”

USCIB has released a report of the Roundtable. Please click here to access the summary report.