Base Erosion and Profit Shifting – A project of the OECD to curb international income tax planning.
As widely reported, the signing ceremony of the Multilateral Convention to implement tax treaty related measures to prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“MLI”) took place on 7 June 2017, in Paris, with the participation of Ministers and other high-level political representatives from various countries around the world. Besides the United States, which from the…
Limited Liability Companies have become one of the most common forms of business organisation in the United States. Their main attraction is a combination of limited liability for LLC members and structural flexibility that can be adapted to almost any business requirement. US federal income tax seeks to eliminate double taxation of profits in the…
“The judge who always likes the results he reaches is a bad judge,” Justice Antonin Scalia had famously said. A recent ruling delivered by the Bengaluru Bench of the Indian Income Tax Tribunal in ABB FZ-LLC vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax (pronounced on June 21, 2017) is a case in point. In what was a…
This contribution lays down a general plan for what the EU should do in order to attain a harmonized set of norms regulating the allocation of taxing rights among Member States and in the relation between those States and third countries, which would benefit both Member States and their taxpayers by eliminating several instances of…
Google’s international corporate structure and operating model has featured significantly in the political and legal debate about the taxation of multinational companies, particularly in the technology sector. Although presented in anonymous form, “Rco Group”, engaged in internet search and advertising services described in the OECD BEPS Action 1, Addressing the Tax Challenges of the Digital…
On 22 June 2017, the OECD released for public comment the revised discussion draft on the application of the profit split method, which intends to continue the work developed in the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines and, in more details, in the BEPS Actions 8-10, whose motto aims to assure that transfer pricing outcomes are in…
On June 7, 2017, India joined more than 65 countries in signing the OECD’s Multilateral Instrument to implement tax treaty-related base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) recommendations. The Instrument – developed under Action 15 of the BEPS project – seeks to transpose BEPS recommendations into over a thousand tax treaties in a “synchronized and efficient…
On 23 May the OECD published a Public Discussion Draft on Implementation Guidance on Hard-to-Value intangibles (HTVIs). Comments are due by 30 June 2017, so hurry. 1. Introduction All guidance by the CFA and the opportunity to comment is appreciated, especially on a major topic like intangibles. That being said, I think that this paper…
There is no doubt that 7 June 2017 is a day that will be a milestone in the history of international tax law. Signature of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“MLI”) at a high-profile ceremony at the OECD in Paris by 68 ministers and…
A world of tax without disputes is an illusion. It is just as much an illusion as a world without tax. Tax and disputes come together inseparably. Disputes is not something to be ashamed of – I say this in particular to authorities. Nor – and it this meant more for taxpayers – to be…
As a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) Mexico[1] has been actively involved in the design and development of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project and began implementing many of the recommended actions in 2014, even before the final BEPS reports were finalized in 2015. The execution and implementation…
Cornerstone of modern tax systems is the somehow forgotten axiom that taxpayers need to consent to the taxes imposed by governments. This may sound peculiar in an era where political correctness dictates that certain taxpayers do not pay their “fair (?) share” of taxes, although they do comply to tax laws in force; in this…
On 24 April 2017 the Indian Supreme Court held that Formula One World Championship Ltd, the holder of the commercial rights to the Formula One Grand Prix, had a permanent establishment in India at the Buddh International Circuit where the event was held in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The Supreme Court concluded that the UK…
In a 207 page opinion the Tax Court ruled March 23, 2017 that the IRS’s adjustment with respect to Amazon.Inc’s transfer pricing buy-in payment for an intragroup cost sharing agreement (CSA) is arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable [1]. Another major blow for the IRS in a string of such losses starting with VERITAS [2] (2009), the 2010 Xilinx [3] about-face…
