Like the many competitors at the recently wrapped Calgary Stampede, the M&A market in Q2 dusted itself off and showed its resilience. With continued strength in the middle market, an increase in distressed M&A and an uptick in go-private transactions, the first half of 2023 played out in many ways as we expected when we published our Look Ahead to 2023 in early January. A few things we did not anticipate included the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and...

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Editor's Note: Texas, Oregon, and Delaware became the latest states to pass a comprehensive privacy bill, while the CPRA, Connecticut, and Colorado's privacy laws came into force. In the litigation world, the FTC filed an amended complaint against Kochava, and the HHS settled with a psychiatric center that disclosed patient information in an online review. This month, international efforts focused on AI, as European Parliament members approved the AI Act, and the Japanese privacy watchdog warned OpenAI about collecting...

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The EACC, in partnership with the International Property Tax Institute (IPTI), wants to keep its members up to date with the latest developments in property taxes in the USA and Europe. IPTI has put together below a selection of articles from IPTI Xtracts; more articles can be found on its website (www.ipti.org). UNITED STATES New York: NYC Property Tax System Cushions Near-Term Blow to Revenue Office values are based on lagging income and expense data City also phases in changes in...

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Information exchange has always been a tricky area within which to undertake a competitive assessment. It is very fact-specific and whether or not exchanges fall foul of the competition rules may depend on a range of different factors, including: whether the parties are actual or potential competitors; the purpose of the exchanges; the context in which the exchanges take place; the type of data being exchanged; the age of the data; whether it is useful for current and future...

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The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to take up a constitutional challenge to a tax in light of the U.S. Constitution’s 16th Amendment concerns. Late last month, the High Court granted certiorari with respect to the 9th Circuit’s decision in Moore vs. United States, which involves a one-time tax imposed by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The TCJA restructured the U.S. international tax regime and added the transition tax to prevent accumulated earnings from going untaxed permanently. The High Court...

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On 11 July, the EU Commission proposed measures to make freight transport more sustainable and efficient, aiming to improve rail infrastructure management and offer stronger incentives for low-emission lorries. Further, the proposal seeks to empower the sector in increasing efficiency which would help reduce transport emissions by 90% by 2050, which has been highlighted in the European Green Deal.  Freight transport is essential in supporting the EU’s single market, allowing for supermarkets, pharmacies, and factories to be stocked whilst equally enabling European companies to sell...

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On 10 July 2023, the EU Commission adopted its adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (“Framework”). After years of negotiations between the EU and the US, the EU Commission concluded that the US offers an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred from a controller or processor in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) to US companies that abide by the obligations under the Framework. The adequacy decision was adopted in light of Executive Order on Enhancing Safeguards...

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The European Union (EU) announced on July 10 that it had formally adopted the adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, which goes into effect on July 11. U.S. organizations have been without a self-certification mechanism to allow for the legal transfer of personal data from the EU to the U.S. since the Schrems II decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) striking down the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Program in July 2020. The new EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework puts...

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Key insights By leveraging clean energy tax credits, companies can proactively align their tax strategies with their ESG objectives. Clean energy credits can generate cash tax savings to help finance capital investments. Integrating ESG principles and transparent tax practices can help you build trust with stakeholders and attract socially conscious investors and customers. Proactively disclosing tax-related information can help your organization adhere to regulatory requirements and leverage transparency as a strategic tool. The business landscape has evolved with an increased...

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The monthly newsletter gives you an overview of recent notable changes in Canadian and American immigration. Here is an overview of the most recent news as of July 3, 2023. CANADA Addition of 13 new countries to the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) program With the intention of fostering cultural exchanges and promoting tourism, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser, announced on June 6 that travelers from these countries who have had a Canadian visa within the past 10 years...

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