October 2020 / United States

October 16 2020

US Treasury Reissues Boycott Countries List

The US Treasury Department (Treasury) has reissued its list of the countries that require cooperation with, or participation in, an international boycott as a condition for doing business. The list was published in the Federal Register on 13 October 2020.

The countries listed are Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Yemen. The new list is unchanged from the list that was published in the Federal Register on 20 July 2020.

The Treasury is monitoring the situation of the United Arab Emirates which issued a decree repealing its boycott law.

The listed countries are identified pursuant to section 999 of the US Internal Revenue Code (IRC), which requires US taxpayers to file reports with the Treasury Department concerning operations in the boycotting countries. Such taxpayers incur adverse consequences under the IRC, including denial of US foreign tax credits (FTCs) for taxes paid to those countries and income inclusion under subpart F of the IRC in the case of US shareholders of controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) that conduct operations in those countries.

October 14 2020

New York’s “Pink Tax” Ban Goes into Effect

New York's gender-based pricing discrimination ban went into effect on 30 September 2020. This "pink tax" ban was enacted as part of the New York's Fiscal Year 2021 budget (FY 2021 budget), and was a key component of the Governor's 2020 Women's Agenda. This measure requires certain service providers to provide price lists for standard services upon request and notifies them that gender-based price discrimination is prohibited under State law. Businesses that violate the law will be subject to civil penalties.

October 16 2020

US to Impose Billions in Anti-Dumping Duties on Aluminium Imports

The United States Department of Commerce (Commerce) seeks to impose aluminium import tariffs worth billions of dollars on 18 countries in the broadest US trade enforcement inaction in two decades.

The announcement was made in a Press Release dated 9 October 2020 and instructs US Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from common alloy aluminium importers.

The goal of this mandate is to prevent foreign companies that undercut the US market by charging lower-than-cost-of-production prices, or that charge prices that are lower in the United States than those charged in the importer's home markets for the same goods.