Liberty Global Denied Deduction Over Tax Avoidance Scheme (1)

Telecommunications company Liberty Global Inc. isn’t entitled to a $110 million tax refund because the transactions underlying that refund claim were designed primarily to evade taxes, a federal court said.

LGI, advised by Deloitte LLC, performed a four-step series of transactions code-named “Project Soy” in order to exploit a perceived opportunity in the international tax provisions of the 2017 tax law, according to the US District Court for the District of Colorado. The court granted summary judgment favoring the US on LGI’s refund claim Oct. 31, concluding under the economic substance doctrine that “the only substantial purpose of the transaction ...