US debt-equity special focus

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

US debt-equity special focus

us-debt-equity-puff.gif

US taxpayers who seek to exploit the differences in the tax treatment of debt and equity will need to prepare for more aggressive enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The decisions in three recent court cases, all featured in this International Tax Review special focus, suggest how companies could deal with this approach from the tax authorities.

Download the special report as a PDF

The IRS's fight against hybrid financing instruments is an issue US tax directors cannot afford to ignore.

Tax-minimising opportunities arise for multinationals when financing cross-border transactions because treatment of hybrid debt-equity instruments across jurisdictions is not uniform. And the US Tax Court has shown in recent rulings that tax planning, to benefit from such opportunities, is perfectly acceptable.

But the IRS does not like it and is increasingly challenging multinationals on the issue. This report analyses the Hewlett Packard, Scottish Power and PepsiCo debt-equity cases, pulling out the practical lessons for taxpayers considering putting debt-equity structures in place.

It also examines how to defend a debt-equity position against an IRS challenge, with exclusive insight from the taxpayer and adviser team involved in guiding Scottish Power to its hard-fought Tax Court victory over the IRS.

Join your peers by engaging in the debate on LinkedIn and Twitter. The ITR Twitter handle is @Intltaxreview and you can share your views using #ITRdisputes

Tweet this         #ITRdisputes         LinkedIn group

Contents

us-debt-equity1-court.jpg

How to deal with debt-equity in the US

us-debt-equity2-pepsi.jpg

Has PepsiCo's US Tax Court win revealed "super factor" in deciding debt vs equity cases?

us-debt-equity3-scottishpower.jpg

How Scottish Power's US Tax Court victory could hamper IRS

us-debt-equity4-hp.jpg

Hewlett-Packard's court defeat is bad news for US banks

Download this special report as a PDF


Further reading on ITRPremium's Tax Disputes section

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Despite the Netherlands featuring an unusual concentration of World Tax-ranked technology-led providers, sources believe there’s a long way to go to challenge the established players
Ethics seems to be playing a subservient role to an entitlement culture borne out of a pervasive ‘revenue at all costs’ mentality at the big four
Historical World Tax data suggests the ‘largest law firm merger in history’ may not pose a serious threat to the world's leading tax practices
The repeal of Libya’s statute of limitations and tougher enforcement leave taxpayers navigating a high-stakes choice between conciliation and litigation
All the tax partners elevated across the UK, US and Singapore were private client specialists, continuing a market trend of intense investment and competition
Rolf van de Velde, dubbed ‘an expert chosen by experts’, is tasked with scaling Reptune’s self-service compliance offering
The newly combined firm brings together more than 3,500 practitioners across 52 offices, with flagship hubs in Seattle, London, Sydney and New York.
Building a transparent culture, prioritising internal promotions and being different from the big four are all key features of A&M Tax’s ambitious plans for India
ITR’s Indirect Tax Forum 2026 showed why harmonisation remains elusive, advisers must raise their game, and ‘everyone’s data is rubbish’
The firm’s board has reportedly asked Kevin Burrowes to continue until 2028 as the KPMG Australia scandal raises expectations of regulatory reform
Gift this article