Taxing the Deal: State and Local Tax Issues in Telecom M&A Transactions

March 10, 2016 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm (EST)

The acquisition of a telecommunications service provider or a cloud-based service provider raises unique state and local tax issues that do not arise in connection with the acquisition of other businesses. Telecom and cloud-based providers typically have customers in many states, but often have little or no infrastructure or personnel in states in which their customers reside. This gives rise to difficult tax issues, including whether and to what extent a potential target is taxable in a particular jurisdiction. Furthermore, significant tax uncertainty often arises because many state tax laws have not changed to reflect new technologies commonly used in telecom and cloud-based services.

These uncertainties often are accompanied by aggressive state and local audit activity in the telecom area, which can compel a potential acquirer to engage in effective due diligence and to structure an acquisition to ensure that the acquirer does not unwittingly assume significant undisclosed tax liabilities.

Please join us for a webinar, during which we will discuss the unique state and local tax issues arising in connection with the acquisition of telecom providers (and similar cloud-based businesses) and offer strategies to minimize the tax risks. Our panel of experts have seen these telecom tax questions as buyers and sellers, across many states, and from an in-house and outside counsel perspective. They will share their insights and lessons learned from a variety of deals made in the space.

Please click here to view a copy of the slides.

Other Speakers:

James Prenetta, General Counsel, Hibernia Networks