Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Accounting News Roundup: Busy Inversion Day; EY: Serious About Independence Since 2012; NASCAR Tracks Just Want Tax Breaks Like Everybody Else | 07.15.14

U.S. Drug Firms Seek Inversion Deals to Evade Taxes [DealBook]
And that was just Monday! "On Monday alone, two multibillion-dollar health care inversions appeared to be sealed. With a fifth offer worth $53 billion, AbbVie, a big Chicago-based pharmaceutical company, has succeeded in winning tentative approval to buy the Irish drug maker Shire . If completed, it would be the biggest deal of the year. Also on Monday, Mylan Laboratories, based in Canonsburg, Pa., said it would acquire the international generic drug business from Abbott Laboratories in an all-stock deal valued at $5.3 billion and reincorporate in the Netherlands."

Ernst & Young to Pay Fine in Lobbying Case [NYT]
EY wants everyone to know that it got serious about independence ages ago: "
In a statement, John La Place, a spokesman for EY, as the firm calls itself, said that 'auditor independence is of paramount importance to EY' and that the firm had 'voluntarily decided to cease performing lobbying work for S.E.C. registrant audit clients' in 2012."

Kansas’ Ruinous Tax Cuts [NYT]
I guess things didn't go as planned: "There was a windstorm of hasty excuses in recent weeks after Kansas reported that it took in $338 million less than expected in the 2014 fiscal year and would have to dip heavily into a reserve fund. Spending wasn’t cut enough, said conservatives. Too many rich people sold off stock in the previous year, state officials said. It’s the price of creating jobs, said Gov. Sam Brownback. None of those reasons were correct. There was only one reason for the state’s plummeting revenues, and that was the spectacularly ill-advised income tax cuts that Mr. Brownback and his fellow Republicans engineered in 2012 and 2013. The cuts, which largely benefited the wealthy, cost the state 8 percent of the revenue it needs for schools and other government services." 

KPMG brings in new managing partner for Austin office [ABJ]
John Recker succeeds Fred Tedesco.

Citigroup to Get Tax Silver Lining in $7 Billion Settlement [Money Beat/WSJ]
When you're a bank, there's always a silver lining: "
Citigroup Inc. will get a tax break on at least part of its $7 billion settlement with the government over its mortgage securities that went bad. The costs incurs in providing $2.5 billion in assistance to distressed homeowners and other consumer relief – will be tax deductible, the bank and outside experts said Monday. So will the $500 million Citigroup is paying to state attorneys general and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp."

NASCAR tracks rev up lobbying for tax break [The Hill]
These race track people just don't want to be left out of the tax break bonanza: "
The Senate’s proposal to extend the current write-off schedule for racetracks for two years would cost about $71 million over a decade, and is part of a broader, $85 billion package to restore dozens of expired tax breaks. Even that two-year extension, racetrack officials say, would only be enough to keep an even playing field with their true rivals — amusement parks such as Disney or Six Flags. 'It’s not like we think we need to have this special thing for us,' said Dan Houser, the ISC’s chief financial officer. 'We just want to be not carved out from the group.' "

Man Arrested for "Passive-Aggressively" Stabbing a Watermelon [Gawker]
Could be trouble for men or women who cut produce in a manner suggesting something other than preparation.

Posted in ANR