John P. Warner is Quoted in Bloomberg BNA Daily Tax Report on OECD’s Discussion on Nixing Tax Exemptions for Certain Companies

John P. Warner, shareholder in Buchanan’s Tax section, was quoted in the August 23 edition of the Bloomberg BNA Daily Tax Report titled, “OECD Discussion Draft Targets Branch Hybrid Mismatches.” The article focuses on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s latest draft of legislative recommendations that will aim to reduce “tax exemptions for companies that use branches to create so-called hybrid mismatches.”

The report includes recommendations for how countries can identify those situations and either deny the deduction or remove exemptions based on the entity's status as a branch. Many include triggers based on how the corresponding country treats the payment or entity—something observers have said could give rise to inconsistent enforcement or double taxation.

“That's a pretty tall order,” said John Warner , a shareholder specializing in international tax and financial instruments at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, in an e-mail to Bloomberg BNA. “Broadly worded domestic tax legislation implementing the draft's recommendations could lead to double taxation, or at least taxation broader than needed to implement the underlying policies described in the draft.”