Economics
Treasury Plans to Weaken Rules Meant to Stop Corporate Tax Avoidance
- Department gives companies leeway to move money across borders
- Republicans say anti-inversion rules less needed after tax law
A pedestrian walks near the U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. Treasury Department plans to pare back regulations championed by President Barack Obama that were intended to prevent American companies from moving profits offshore to avoid taxes, according to guidance released Thursday.
The instructions mark a change in U.S. tax policy that has in recent years focused on imposing stricter rules on American corporations using complex transactions to move money overseas to skirt taxes. The Treasury Department said parts of the regulations, implemented in the final months of the Obama administration, are no longer necessary because of the 2017 tax law enacted under President Donald Trump.