Economic Substance

Brattle consulted for the US DOJ in Wells Fargo & Co. v. United States of America. In the suit, the plaintiff sought to recover $76 million in taxes paid based on foreign tax credits, while the government argued that the plaintiff was owed no money because the transaction lacked economic substance. A Brattle team worked with counsel for several years on discovery requests, deposition preparation, and preparing a multi-expert rebuttal strategy. Brattle successfully resolved this complex tax matter by applying effective, creative, and insightful economic analysis. A Brattle principal testified to the lack of profit potential and absence of a non-tax business purpose in the course of a multi-week jury trial, after which the US prevailed.