What Are the Tax Consequences of the Notes?
The U.S. federal income tax consequences of your investment in the Notes are uncertain. There are no statutory provisions, regulations, published rulings or judicial decisions addressing the characterization for U.S. federal income tax purposes of securities with terms that are substantially the same as the Notes. Some of these tax consequences are summarized below, but we urge you to discuss the tax consequences of your particular situation with your tax advisor. This discussion is based upon the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), final, temporary and proposed U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) regulations, rulings and decisions, in each case, as available and in effect as of the date hereof, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect. Tax consequences under state, local and non-U.S. laws are not addressed herein. No ruling from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has been sought as to the U.S. federal income tax consequences of your investment in the Notes, and the following discussion is not binding on the IRS. This discussion replaces the U.S. federal income tax discussions in the accompanying prospectus.
General. This discussion, other than the section below entitled “Non-U.S. Holders”, applies to you only if you are a U.S. Holder, the original investor in the Notes and you hold your Notes as capital assets within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code for tax purposes. This section does not apply to you if you are a member of a class of holders subject to special rules, such as:
♦a dealer in securities or currencies,
♦a trader in securities that elects to use a mark-to-market method of accounting for your securities holdings,
♦a financial institution or a bank,
♦a regulated investment company or a real estate investment trust or a common trust fund,
♦a life insurance company,
♦a tax-exempt organization or an investor holding the securities in a tax-advantaged account (such as an “individual retirement account” or “Roth IRA”),as defined in Section 408 of the Code or Section 408A of the Code, respectively,
♦a person that owns Notes as part of a hedging transaction, straddle, synthetic security, conversion transaction, or other integrated transaction, or enters into a “constructive sale” with respect to the Notes or a “wash sale” with respect to the Notes or the underlying asset,
♦a taxpayer subject to special tax accounting rules under Section 451(b) of the Code, or
♦a U.S. holder (as defined below) whose functional currency for tax purposes is not the U.S. dollar.
You are a U.S. holder if you are a beneficial owner of a Note and you are: (i) a citizen or resident of the U.S., (ii) a domestic corporation, (iii) an estate whose income is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source, or (iv) a trust if a U.S. court can exercise primary supervision over the trust’s administration and one or more U.S. persons are authorized to control all substantial decisions of the trust.
An individual may, subject to certain exceptions, be deemed to be a resident of the U.S. by reason of being present in the U.S. for at least 31 days in the calendar year and for an aggregate of at least 183 days during a three-year period ending in the current calendar year (counting for such purposes all of the days present in the current year, one-third of the days present in the immediately preceding year, and one-sixth of the days present in the second preceding year).
If a partnership, or any entity treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, holds the Notes, the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a partner will generally depend on the status of the partner and the tax treatment of the partnership. A partner in a partnership holding the Notes should consult its tax advisor with regard to the U.S. federal income tax treatment of an investment in the Notes.
U.S. Tax Treatment. here are no statutory provisions, regulations, published rulings or judicial decisions addressing the characterization for U.S. federal income tax purposes of securities with terms that are substantially the same as the Notes. Pursuant to the terms of the Notes, UBS and you agree, in the absence of a statutory or regulatory change or an administrative determination or judicial ruling to the contrary, to characterize the Notes as prepaid derivative contracts with respect to the underlying asset. If your Notes are so treated, any contingent coupon that is paid by UBS (including on the maturity date or call settlement date) should be included in your income as ordinary income in accordance with your regular method of accounting for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
In addition, excluding amounts attributable to any contingent coupon, you should generally recognize capital gain or loss upon the taxable disposition of your Notes in an amount equal to the difference between the amount you receive at such time (other than amounts or proceeds attributable to a contingent coupon or any amount attributable to any accrued but unpaid contingent coupon) and the amount you paid for your Notes. Such gain or loss should generally be long-term capital gain or loss if you have held your Notes for more than one year (otherwise such gain or loss should be short-term capital gain or loss if held for one year or less). The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations. Although uncertain, it is possible that proceeds received from the taxable disposition of your Notes prior to a coupon payment date that are attributable to an expected contingent coupon could be treated as ordinary income. You should consult your tax advisor regarding this risk.
Based on certain factual representations received from us, our special U.S. tax counsel, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, is of the opinion that it would be reasonable to treat your Notes in the manner described above. However, because there is no authority that specifically addresses the tax treatment of the Notes, it is possible that your Notes could alternatively be treated for tax purposes as a single contingent payment debt instrument, or pursuant to some other characterization (including possible alternative treatment under Section 1256 of the Code), such that the timing and character of your income from the Notes could differ materially and adversely from the treatment described above.
Alternative Treatments. The IRS, for example, might assert that Section 1256 of the Code should apply to your Notes. If Section 1256 of the Code were to apply to your Notes, gain or loss recognized with respect to your Notes (or a portion of your Notes) would be treated as 60% long-term capital gain or loss and 40% short-term capital gain or loss, without regard to your holding period in the Notes. You would also be required to mark your Notes (or a portion of your Notes) to market at the end of each year (i.e., recognize income as if the Notes (or the relevant portion of the Notes) had been sold for fair market value). The IRS might also assert that a rollover of the underlying asset could be treated as a taxable deemed exchange of the Note for a “new” Note, in which case a U.S. Holder would recognize gain or loss (which may be short-term capital gain or loss and such loss may be subject to the “wash sale” rules) equal to the difference between the fair market value of the Note and the U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the Note at the time of the rollover of the underlying asset, and the U.S. Holder would begin a new holding period for the Note on the day following such rollover and take a new fair market value tax basis in the Note. Lastly, the IRS may assert that the Notes should be recharacterized for U.S. federal income tax purposes as instruments giving rise to current ordinary income (even before receipt of any cash).