Treaties dealing with the division of taxing rights between states.
The Trade Agreement between the EU and the UK rules out any direct effect. However, the Trade Agreement could have an indirect effect. EU Member States should interpret the capital ownership provisions in their bilateral tax treaties with the UK in line with the Trade Agreement and its provision on national treatment. On the basis…
The relationship between treaties and domestic tax law ought to be straightforward. The pacta servanda sunt principle expressed in articles 26 and 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties itself implies that treaty obligations must be upheld notwithstanding domestic law. A variety of constitutional arrangements around the world mean that there is…
1. Introduction To be able to compete successfully in international markets, companies need to turn their R&D results fast and effectively into marketable products. Thus, besides the development (enhancement, maintenance, exploitation) of IP, its protection is of essential importance for companies. In order to ensure maximum legal protection, companies oftentimes formally register their IP assets…
There’s something about OECD’s Pillar One. For some years now, the world has been under the spell of a new system of taxation of companies that make profits in countries without taking root there in any way. They often operate via internet platforms, which means that the profits that are generated elsewhere cannot be taxed…
Introduction India’s 2021 Finance Bill proposes to add a definition of “liable to tax” in its domestic direct tax law. As per the definition, the term ‘liable to tax’, “in relation to a person, means that there is a liability of tax on such person under any law for the time being in force in…
HMRC v Embiricos [2020] UKUT 370 (TC) reflects a common issue that arises in connection with tax investigations or audits of internationally mobile individuals. Mr Embiricos filed his tax returns on the basis that he was resident, but not domiciled in the UK. On that basis, he was entitled to the remittance basis of taxation….
The newly concluded Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and UK has limited provisions concerning taxation, but interesting provisions relevant to interpretation of treaties including good faith. The Agreement does not seek to replicate many of the rights which UK citizens and businesses had under EU law. There is no general non-discrimination provision. Double…
The Revenue Agency confirms the exemption of income derived abroad by foreign maritime employees who are tax residents of Italy The Italian Revenue Agency has recently issued a ruling (No. 134/2020) clarifying that the income derived by a Spanish citizen (and Italian-tax resident) maritime employee working aboard a ship flying a non-Italian flag for more…
In international customary law, the scope of bilateral tax conventions is not exhaustive and instead limited by the temporal scope set out in ‘taxes covered’ clause. It is true that the scope of such clause, albeit with additional procedural stipulations, is ambulatory and taxes subsequently enacted under the domestic law provisions by treaty partners are…
Those with a long memory for cricketing events may remember the 1996 World Cup hosted jointly by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The winner, Sri Lanka, made 398 runs for 5 wickets, in a one-day international match, a record that stood until April 2006. South Africa’s Gary Kirsten scored 188 runs, not out, against the…
A couple of days ago, in the last weekly session of the Indiana-Leeds Summer Tax Workshop, I attended the presentation of a fascinating paper by Steven A. Dean (A Constitutional Moment in Cross-Border Taxation)(1) where the author analyzes the political and economic predominant influence of central economies in the design and shape of post-WWI in…
Following the Supreme Court decision in Fowler v HMRC [2020] UKSC 22, the UK First-tier Tribunal has considered another case where classification of a source of income for tax treaty purposes was in issue. This time the question was classification as business profit or income from immovable property in the Canada-UK double tax treaty. In…
In last month’s blog I promised to address the treaty aspects of Davies and Others v HMRC [2020] UKUT 67 (TCC). The case concerned UK resident individuals who each took out a life insurance policy with a Bermuda insurer under which their entitlements were linked to a Mauritian company that developed land in the UK….
We have all become familiar with the expression in the PPT set out in article 7(1) of the MLI and article 29(9) of the 2017 OECD Model where “obtaining that benefit was one of the principal purposes of any arrangement or transaction”. Discerning which is a principal purpose is one of the main challenges in…
