In this article from Law360 by Maria Koklanaris, Chris T. Lutz tackles questions regarding Wisconsin's state court of appeals to overturn a circuit court ruling that Deere & Co. is entitled to a dividends-received deduction from a Luxembourg affiliate that elected to be treated as a corporation for federal tax purposes. Read the full article by Law360 here.
Wisconsin has argued that to take the dividends-received deduction, a company like Deere must control 70% of the common stock of the foreign affiliate. But in Luxembourg, equity interest in the corporation isn't called common stock, said Chris.
"You could have 100% ownership, but because the equity interest is not called common stock, Wisconsin is taking the position that you don't get that dividends-received deduction," Chris said, adding that Deere is far from the only company challenging Wisconsin on the issue.
"I would say we have somewhere between six and 10 taxpayers who are challenging this right now."
The case is Wisconsin Department of Revenue v. Deere & Co., case number A 2020AP000726, in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District 4.