2024 IFA International Tax Student Writing Award; Call For Entrants In 2025 Competition

The winners of the International Fiscal Association's 2024 International Tax Student Writing Competition are:

Emily Lawson (Temple), EITC For ITIN-Holders: Bilateral International Tax Treaty Nondiscrimination Articles To The Rescue 

Faculty Sponsor: Alice Abreu 

The field of international tax stands as one of the most complicated and intricate parts of the tax law, and the study of the interpretations of the nondiscrimination article of tax treaties is no exception to that general observation. Leading tax treaty scholars have described the nondiscrimination article as “a most confusing area of the tax law.”188 However, the IRS interpretations and positions on the importance of residency make clear that the nondiscrimination article requires equal treatment of US citizens and Resident Aliens. The residency factor analysis would provide a sound argument for an undocumented Resident Alien—who otherwise qualifies for the EITC and is a national of a treaty-partner state—to seek redress from the IRS in the form of a refund suit or if necessary, escalating through the mutual agreement procedure provided in the treaty.

Even without a treaty, undocumented immigrants without SSNs should be able to claim the EITC if they otherwise qualify. Consider again the two identical taxpayers described above. Both live and work in this country, support their families, and pay taxes but only one of them—the SSN-holder—has been deemed worthy of EITC support. The disparate treatment of ITIN-holders was on full display during the COVID-19 pandemic as ITIN-holders were denied stimulus payments. Accordingly, some US states began to take notice of this injustice, like California and Colorado, and expanded their state-level EITC to ITIN-holders. Since 2020, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington have all expanded their EITC to include ITIN-holders.

The states that have expanded their EITC recognize the value of supporting immigrant workers and their families. California governor, Gavin Newsom, described the expanded EITC as providing “a critical boost to undocumented and mixed-status families across the state, stimulat[ing] the economy and make[ing] us all stronger in the face of economic uncertainty.” He rightly went on to say, “these Californians are taxpayers and should be treated like taxpayers, eligible for the same credits, and pay the same tax rates.”193 Congress should follow suit in expanding the federal EITC to include ITIN-holders not only to comply with tax treaties but more importantly, in recognition of the contributions of undocumented immigrants who deserve fair treatment.

Seth Stowe (Virginia), Circularity and Creditability: Breaking Down Notice 2023-80

Faculty Sponsor: Ruth Mason

The conflicts between the US regime of taxation and the OECD’s Pillar II structure have raised important questions for tax practitioners advising MNEs. Among the primary issues raised by these conflicting structures is creditability of Pillar II taxes in the US FTC regime. While Notice 2023-80 states that QDMTTs and IIRs may be creditable under the US FTC regime, potential creditability looms in the penalizing shadow of the Push-Down Disallowance Rule for Final Top-Up Taxes. The US FTC regime as it stands after Notice 2023-80 requires an analysis as to both qualification of Pillar II taxes under the § 901 regulations and an examination under the Push-Down Disallowance Rule. While there are some discrepancies between the US and Pillar II tax regimes which raise qualification issues under the stricter 2022 US FTC regulations for § 901, they should still pass the requirements. As for the Push-Down Disallowance Rule, there are concerns as to statutory authority for imposition as well as remaining circularity concerns for deductions that are not accompanied with a § 78 gross-up. When considering the potential solutions to address the Push-Down Disallowance Rule, the best option is expanding the soak-up tax portion of the § 901 regulations to include Final Top-Up Taxes. While this option still has the downside of circularity concerns for deductions, it properly falls within Treasury’s authority to designate soak-up taxes while also granting qualified creditability to US taxpayers. While an imperfect solution to the problems of creditability raised under Notice 2023-80, the soak-up tax expansion provides a statutory foothold for Treasury to enact regulations allowing for credits to US MNEs while limiting circularity attributed to creditability.

2025 International Tax Student Writing Competition

Subject:  Any topic relating to U.S. taxation of income from international activities, including taxation under U.S. tax treaties.

• Open to: All students during the 2024-25 academic year pursuing a graduate degree. Any appropriate papers written in fall 2024 or spring and summer 2025.
• Submission Deadline: September 30, 2025.
• Prize: $5,000 cash, plus expenses-paid invitation to the IFA USA Branch Annual Meeting in Spring 2025. The faculty advisor of the winning submission will also receive an expenses-paid invitation to the annual meeting. The award winner and the academic institution of the competition winner will each receive a one-year membership in the IFA USA Branch. View the member benefits.

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