If you are an American company exporting products without an IC-DISC, you are probably overpaying on your US taxes. It’s that simple. The Interest Charge Domestic Sales Corporation (“DISC”) is a tax incentive that U.S. exporting companies should be using to reduce their overall U.S. tax liability. But very few do. IC-DISC Background. The United States originally enacted the legislation for the DISC back in 1971 to provide export subsidies to domestic companies. A DISC is…

In yesterday’s post (How To Succeed When Taking Your Company Overseas) I briefly mentioned one of the most common problems companies face when going international: having a foreign entity when you do not really need one (and relatedly, having the wrong type of foreign entity, which I will discuss in a future post). This mistake is really more common and in many respects more damaging than not having a company in-country. I say…

We international lawyers often get calls and emails from companies looking to set up a subsidiary or other company overseas. This is one of the most exciting but also daunting prospects for a company more accustomed to domestic laws, regulations, financiers, and business partners. In this post, we will briefly look at the key things to consider when looking to form a company in a foreign country to ensure that having a company in a…

The 47th G7 summit was held from June 11-13 in Cornwall. China is, of course, not a member of the G7, yet the country was on everyone’s mind, as illustrated brilliantly by @relevantorgans. While the word “China” was “only” mentioned four times in the communiqué issued by the summit’s participants, each mention was ponderous. First, the G7 leaders called for “a timely, transparent, expert-led, and science-based WHO-convened Phase 2 COVID-19 Origins study including, as…

How often do you stop to think about the ubiquitous “Made in China” label? If you are buying products from China, you should think about this all the time. The same holds true if you are buying your products from any third party manufacturer anywhere. To convince recalcitrant clients of the need for product liability protection for the products they are having made overseas, I sometimes send them the following deposition questions asked of a…

In 1988, Hong Kong passed a Film Censorship Ordinance that updated previous guidelines governing film exhibition in the British-controlled territory. The law created a Film Censorship Authority, and was aimed at regulating the film exhibition process by establishing censorship guidelines and codifying offenses and review processes. Many countries have film censorship processes, including the United States from 1930 until 1968, when the Motion Picture Production Code was replaced by a voluntary film rating system (which…

How many of you know what “deep six” means? How many of you have used equally difficult to comprehend slang/words when emailing with your overseas manufacturer? How many times has your overseas manufacturer emailed you back to seek clarification of such words or of anything at all? I’m betting not often. I recently had a great conversation with one of my law firm’s savviest international manufacturing clients. This is a person/company who has…