Base Erosion and Profit Shifting – A project of the OECD to curb international income tax planning.
It is 30 December and 2 MNEs contact me about my YouTube videos on uploading Country by Country Reports (CbCRs); they need help. In the week of New Year, I helped taxpayers in Bermuda, Belgium, Britain (for B’s), Cyprus, China, Colombia (for C’s) and then some more down the alphabet (not Zimbabwe). I remembered how…
Among the main issues the BEPS project intends to address is the phenomenon of “double non-taxation”. It is a term that is used quite frequently nowadays; primarily in order to describe situations that are considered as problematic from a policy perspective. However, not all situations where something remains untaxed provoke public outrage. As, for example,…
In mid-November, the Republican majority in the US House of Representatives has passed its version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act bill. Last Saturday, the Senate has followed suit and has cast a 51:49 approval vote on the parallel tax reform bill introduced by its Republican members. Admittedly, it is still not entirely clear…
Recently, a special Mexican Circuit Court (“the Court”) issued a ruling regarding the interpretation of an international convention (the North American Free Trade Agreement or “NAFTA”) which may signal broader guidance for the interpretation of treaties in Mexico. The case was ruled in order to resolve conflicting decisions by two Circuit Courts, as a result…
Taxation of the digital economy featured in discussion on the implementation of the OECD/G20 BEPS action items at the annual conference of the Canadian Tax Foundation in Toronto on 21 November 2017. Several speakers note that no generally accepted solution had been found to address the impact of the digitalisation of the global economy on…
The Argentine 2017 proposed income tax amendment: A misstep averted just before reaching the edge of the cliff 1. Background 1.1. International context The post-BEPS international tax scenario shows a rough, agitated transition towards a much more inter-nation equitable system where, progressively but within uncertain time contours, the states’ national tax base is expected to be…
The problem “Please tell me what the header is, I don’t know what the namespace for multiple schemas should be.” It seemed like a reasonable question, but I never got the answer. The same fate struck my other seemingly simple request: “Can you please give us a sample of a completed, valid, xml file so…
In regards to the title of this post, the Ways & Means version of international tax reform moves toward a territorial regime of granting an exemption for foreign profits but then derogates from the exemption with a series of BEPS measures.[1] by William Byrnes, Texas A&M University Law On Thursday, November 2, 2017, the Republicans…
India’s Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Bangalore on September 28, 2017, handed down a decision in which it noted that the profits of a foreign company based in Saudi Arabia cannot be taxed in India under the India-Saudi Arabia tax treaty because the company did not have a service permanent establishment (PE) in India. Under Article…
Adoption of the EU Council Directive on Tax Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in the European Union on 10 October 2017 is a milestone in international tax dispute resolution. The Directive offers a uniform mechanism to address tax treaty disputes among EU member states that meets the BEPS Action 14 minimum standard, and largely renders the arbitration…
Controlled Foreign Corporation rules are a hot issue in Europe and beyond. Last year, EU countries agreed to have national CFC rules in force by 2019. The Big Four – Germany, France, Italy and Spain – need to make minor changes only to their existing rules. (Like in the accountancy profession, there used to be…
IRS Operational Update: Reorganization and Risk-Based Approach The IRS new Large Business and International (LB&I) risk approach has been implemented in the form of “campaigns”, focusing on weighing the size of the compliance risk, how often the risk is occurring, where it is occurring and if the risk is a result of a promoted scheme….
The decision of the CJEU in Republic of Austria v Federal Republic of Germany (Case C-648/15) on 12 September 2017 is a landmark decision in tax treaty dispute resolution. Han Verhagen raised important questions about the Court as an arbitrator for tax treaty disputed in his blog-post on 13 September 2017. One obvious benefit in…
In March I blogged about the first OECD draft guidance on the allocation of profits to commissionaire and other PE’s. Looking at the June OECD draft, further ideas have come up as to why the allocation of profits to absentees is not a good transfer pricing idea. I have great respect for the OECD’s work…
