Treasury unveils anti-inversion rules against corporate deals

The U.S. Treasury Department announced steps Monday that will make it harder for U.S. companies like Fridley's Medtronic Inc. to move their addresses outside the country to reduce their taxes, clamping down on the practice known as inversions.

The rules, which apply to deals that close after Monday, include a prohibition on "hopscotch" loans that let companies access foreign cash without paying U.S. taxes and curbs on actions that companies can take to make an inversion attractive for tax purposes. Both steps could affect Medtronic's plans to acquire Dublin-based health care supplier Covidien PLC for $42.9 billion and move its combined legal headquarters to Ireland.

"We are studying Treasury's actions," Medtronic spokesman Fernando Vivanco said Monday in an e-mail. "We will release our perspective on any potential impact on our pending acquisition of Covidien following our complete review."

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told reporters on a conference call that he wanted to make companies think twice before considering an inversion. He said Treasury also is reviewing other potential actions.

"This action will significantly diminish the ability of inverted companies to escape U.S. taxation," he said. "For some companies considering deals, today's action will mean that inversions no longer make economic sense."

The changes could cause difficulty for companies such as Medtronic, which is planning to channel $14 billion in overseas cash through a series of intercompany loans to help pay part of the cost of buying Covidien. Medtronic officials argue that the transaction makes sense for strategic business reasons beyond the tax implications, but executives also negotiated a clause in the merger agreement that allows for cancellation of the deal if tax advantages disappear.

The Obama administration has been trying to stem inversions, in which companies seek foreign addresses through mergers while keeping their executives and major operations in the United States.

Lew, who had said in July that Treasury lacked authority to stem inversions, reversed himself in August and the administration began studying its options. In recent days, Lew said the department was completing its work.

The rules announced Monday seek to limit so-called spin-versions, in which U.S. companies spin off units into a foreign company. They also would restrict the use of a technique known as skinnying down, in which companies make special dividends to reduce their size before a merger to meet the current law's requirements.

Under current law, U.S. companies that invert through a merger are still treated as domestic for tax purposes if the former U.S. company's shareholders own less than 80 percent of the combined company. The administration wants to reduce that 80 percent number to 50 percent, which requires legislation.

Other changes announced in the rules would make it harder for inverted companies to relinquish control of their foreign subsidiaries to get them out of the U.S. tax code's orbit. U.S. companies must pay taxes when they repatriate foreign profits.

Obama has raised the inversion issue publicly, saying that inversions were wrong and unfair.

Investors have been watching for signs of what the Treasury would do because the changes could penalize or unravel some of the pending inversion deals.

There are eight pending inversions, including Burger King Worldwide Inc.'s planned merger with Tim Hortons Inc., which would put the combined company's headquarters in Canada. Another inversion involving Horizon Pharma Inc. closed on Sept. 19.

Lawmakers, who left Washington to campaign for the Nov. 4 election, haven't shown much interest in writing bipartisan legislation to curtail inversions. Most Republicans say the issue should be addressed as part of a broader revamp of the U.S. tax code.

The U.S. corporate income tax rate is 35 percent, and the U.S. is one of few industrialized nations that imposes its corporate tax on the foreign income of companies based in the country.

Those rules — along with the ability of inverted companies to reduce U.S. taxes on their future income — have made inversions attractive to companies.

Staff writer Joe Carlson contributed to this report.