I am going to throw a series of posts here that are aimed at U. S companies that are expanding their business operations overseas.

I’m talking to CEOs here. People who need to make decisions.

If your business operations have a border running through them, then your CFO and accountants have all talked to you about international tax. How on earth are you going to make sense of all this arcane gibberish you hear? Subpart F. Transfer pricing. You know they’re talking in English but how can you fit all of that conversation and advice into a decision model and move forward with your business decisions? And how do you know if you’ve made a sound decision.

You’re busy. You need to understand the big picture, make a decision, pass implementation along to someone you trust, and be able to know when they’re done with the job. All without incurring brain damage.

(There’s nothing worse than trying to force a CEO to become an instant international tax expert.)

This series will describe how I work my way through tax planning for cross-border business deals and business operations. I hope the methodology is useful for you, and helps you frame the problem and choose a course of action.

And I will never mention tax at all. What never? Well, hardly ever. OK. We’ll keep it to a minimum–just so you can understand what the High Priests of Tax are jabbering about. (And you can call BS on ’em, too).