What will 2020 bring for retail? The teen years of this millennium were not the easiest on retail. But as with anything, the beginning of a new year is a good time to pause, take an honest look at both mistakes and opportunities, and make choices that will shape what the future may look like. While the last few years have been difficult for the industry overall, there are critical learnings that can shape the trajectory of the coming ones....

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On January 6, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an alert to U.S. businesses and the cybersecurity community in light of the “current tensions” between Iran and the United States. In particular, the alert describes several of Iran’s previous cyber operations that targeted a variety of industries and organizations, including financial services, the energy and chemical sectors, government facilities, health care organizations, critical manufacturing, communications and the defense industrial base. The alert...

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By Magdalena M. Czerniawski and Robert Lyons of Marks Paneth As expected, President Trump signed into law H.R. 1865 (The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020) on Friday, December 20, 2019. The bill was primarily designed as a government funding bill. Like most bills, it contained various “tag-along” provisions not associated with federal funding. Two of the provisions signed into law have a significant impact on non-profit organizations. Parking and Transit Pass Tax Repeal H.R. 1865, as signed into law, repealed Code section 512(a)(7) that taxed qualified transportation...

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On 27 November 2019, the Directive on cross-border conversions, mergers and divisions was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council (Directive (EU) 2019/2121) (Directive). The Directive clarifies the existing rules on cross-border mergers in the EU and, for the first time, introduces rules on cross-border conversion and division for all Member States. For example, the Netherlands, like most other Member States, does currently not have any legislation on cross-border conversions and divisions. A regulation for cross-border mergers of...

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On December 31, 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that 68 additional HTS provisions and product descriptions will be excluded from the Section 301 trade remedies imposed on Chinese-origin products. The newly announced exclusions all relate to items on China 301 List 3 (the $200 billion trade action) which, unless excluded, are subject to an additional tariff of 25% ad valorem. The list of newly-excluded items (which supplements the exclusions previously granted by the USTR) is provided below. The exclusions...

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The IRS Office of Chief Counsel on Dec. 20, 2019, released a so-called Generic Legal Advice Memorandum (GLAM) that had been issued to Division Counsel within the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division. A GLAM is not binding authority and cannot be used or cited as precedent, but it does provide important insight as to how the IRS views a particular issue, as well as how that issue is likely to be analyzed by an IRS auditor. In GLAM 2019-003,...

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