[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 26, Volume 4] [Revised as of April 1, 2004] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 26CFR1.367(a)-2T] [Page 252-254] TITLE 26--INTERNAL REVENUE CHAPTER I--INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) PART 1_INCOME TAXES--Table of Contents Sec. 1.367(a)-2T Exception for transfers of property for use in the active conduct of a trade or business (temporary). (a) In general. Section 367(a)(1) shall not apply to property transferred to a foreign corporation if-- (1) Such property is transferred for use by that corporation in the active conduct of a trade or business outside of the United States; and (2) The U.S. person that transfers the property complies with the reporting requirements of section 6038B and regulations thereunder. Where these conditions are satisifed, the foreign corporate transferee of the property shall be considered to be a corporation for purposes of determining the extent to which gain or loss is required to be recognized upon the transfer pursuant to section 332, 351, 354 [reserved as to section 355 or so much of section 356 as relates to section 355], 356, or 361. Paragraph (b) of this section provides rules concerning the requirement that property be transferred for use in the active conduct of a trade or business outside of the United States, while paragraph (c) concerns the application of the requirement where the transferee itself re-transfers the property. In addition, Sec. 1.367(a)-3T provides rules concerning the treatment of stock or securities transferred to a foreign corporation in an exchange described in section 367(a)(1), and Sec. 1.367(a)-4T provides special rules concerning the treatment of other specified types of property. Finally, Sec. Sec. 1.367(a)-5T and 1.367(a)-6T provide rules concerning certain transfers of property that are subject to section 367(a)(1) regardless of whether the property is used in the active conduct of a trade or business. (b) Active conduct of a trade or business outside the United States--(1) In general. Property qualifies for the exception provided by this section if it is transferred to a foreign corporation for use in the active conduct of a trade or business outside of the United States. Therefore, to determine whether property is subject to the exception provided by this section, four factual determinations must be made: (i) What is the trade or business of the transferee; [[Page 253]] (ii) Do the activities of the transferee constitute the active conduct of that trade or business; (iii) Is the trade or business conducted outside of the United States; and (iv) Is the transferred property used or held for use in the trade or business? Rules concerning these four determinations are provided in paragraphs (b)(2), (3), (4), and (5) of this section. (2) Trade or business. Whether the activities of a foreign corporation constitute a trade or business must be determined under all the facts and circumstances. In general, a trade or business is a specific unified group of activities that constitute (or could constitute) an independent economic enterprise carried on for profit. For example, the activities of a foreign selling subsidiary could constitute a trade or business if they could be independently carried on for profit, even though the subsidiary acts exclusively on behalf of, and has operations fully integrated with, its parent corporation. To constitute a trade or business, a group of activities must ordinarily include every operation which forms a part of, or a step in, a process by which an enterprise may earn income or profit. In this regard, one or more of such activities may be carried on by independent contractors under the direct control of the foreign corporation. (However, see paragraph (b)(3) of this section.) The group of activities must ordinarily include the collection of income and the payment of expenses. If the activities of a foreign corporation do not constitute a trade or business, then the exception provided by this section does not apply, regardless of the level of activities carried on by the corporation. The following activities are not considered to constitute by themselves a trade or business for purposes of this section: (i) Any activity giving rise to expenses that would be deductible only under section 212 if the activities were carried on by an individual; or (ii) The holding for one's own account of investments in stock, securities, land, or other property, including casual sales thereof. (3) Active conduct. Whether a trade or business is actively conducted must be determined under all the facts and circumstances. In general, a corporation actively conducts a trade or business only if the officers and employees of the corporation carry out substantial managerial and operational activities. A corporation may be engaged in the active conduct of a trade or business even though incidental activities of the trade or business are carried out on behalf of the corporation by independent contractors. In determining whether the officers and employees of the corporation carry out substantial managerial and operational activities, however, the activities of independent contractors shall be disregarded. On the other hand, the officers and employees of the corporation are considered to include the officers and employees of related entities who are made available to and supervised on a day-to-day basis by, and whose salaries are paid by (or reimbursed to the lending related entity by), the transferee foreign corporation. Whether a trade or business that produces rents or royalties is actively conducted shall be determined under the principles of Sec. 1.954-2(d)(1) (but without regard to whether the rents or royalties are received from an unrelated person). The rule of this paragraph (b)(3) is illustrated by the following example. Example. X, a domestic corporation, and Y, a foreign corporation not related to X, transfer property to Z, a newly formed foreign corporation organized for the purpose of combining the research activities of X and Y. Z contracts all of its operational and research activities to Y for an arm's-length fee. Z's activities do not constitute the active conduct of a trade or business. (4) Outside of the United States. Whether a foreign corporation conducts a trade or business outside of the United States must be determined under all the facts and circumstances. Generally, the primary managerial and operational activities of the trade or business must be conducted outside the United States and immediately after the transfer the transferred assets must be located outside the United States. Thus, the exception provided by this section would not apply to the transfer of the assets of a domestic business to a foreign corporation if the domestic business continued to operate [[Page 254]] in the United States after the transfer. In such a case, the primary operational activities of the business would continue to be conducted in the United States. Moreover, the transferred assets would be located in the United States. However, it is not necessary that every item of property transferred be used outside of the United States. As long as the primary managerial and operational activities of the trade or business are conducted outside of the United States and substantially all of the transferred assets are located outside the United States, incidental items of transferred property located in the United States may be considered to have been transferred for use in the active conduct of a trade or business outside of the United States. (5) Use in the trade or business. Whether property is used or held for use in a trade or business must be determined under all the facts and circumstances. In general, property is used or held for use in a foreign corporation's trade or business if it is-- (i) Held for the principal purpose of promoting the present conduct of the trade or business; (ii) Acquired and held in the ordinary course of the trade or business; or (iii) Otherwise held in a direct relationship to the trade or business. Property is considered held in a direct relationship to a trade or business if it is held to meet the present needs of that trade or business and not its anticipated future needs. Thus, property will not be considered to be held in a direct relationship to a trade or business if it is held for the purpose of providing for future diversification into a new trade or business, future expansion of trade or business activities, future plant replacement, or future business contingencies. (c) Property transferred by transferee corporation--(1) General rule. If a foreign corporation receives property in an exchange described in section 367(a)(1) and as part of the same transaction transfers the property to another person, then the exception provided by this section shall not apply to the initial transfer. For purposes of the preceding sentence, a subsequent transfer within six months of the initial transfer shall be considered to be part of the same transaction, and a subsequent transfer more than six months after the initial transfer may be considered to be part of the same transaction upon the application of step-transaction principles. (2) Exception. Notwithstanding paragraph (c)(1) of this section, the active conduct exception provided by this section shall apply to the initial transfer if-- (i) The initial transfer is followed by one or more subsequent transfers described in section 351 or 721; and (ii) Each subsequent transferee is either a partnership in which the preceding transferor is a general partner or a corporation in which the preceding transferor owns common stock; and (iii) The ultimate transferee uses the property in the active conduct of a trade or business outside the United States. (d) Transitional rule. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, property shall be considered to have been transferred for use in the active conduct of a trade or business outside of the United States, if-- (1) The property was transferred after December 31, 1984, and before June 16, 1986; (2) The property was, or would have been, considered to be transferred for use by the transferee foreign corporation in the active conduct, in any foreign country, or a trade or business, under the principles of section 3.02(1) of Revenue Procedure 68-23, 1968-1 C.B. 821; and (3) Based on all of the facts and circumstances, it was, or would have been, determined under section 2.02 of Revenue Procedure 68-23 that tax avoidance was not one of the principal purposes of the transaction. [T.D. 8087, 51 FR 17942, May 16, 1986]