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 widely reported by the news media, a major corporate tax reform has been under discussion in the United States, which may cause spillover effects on taxpayers engaged in cross-border transactions. One of the proposals on the table is the Paul Ryan’s blueprint “A Better Way — Our Vision for a Confident America”, released by…
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…
Consider this. Formula One World Championship Limited UK (Formula One) entered into a Race Promotion Contract (RPC) with Jaypee Sports International Limited (Jaypee), an Indian entity, under which Jaypee was granted the right to host, stage, and promote a motor racing event in India. Buddh International Racing Circuit located in the Indian state of Uttar…
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 March 2017, the OECD and the IMF published a report on tax uncertainty (Report) confirming that such uncertainty exists and impacts on business and investment. Similar was the outcome of an earlier survey one year ago by the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation: Measuring Corporation Tax Uncertainty Across Countries. The issue is of…
Foreign enterprises for the purpose of Indian Income Tax (IT) Act are enterprises that are incorporated outside India or that do not have their place of effective management in India (as per new section 6 of IT Act, effective from April 2017). Section 5(2) read with section 4 of the IT Act provides that the…
I was recently asked to analyze the often quoted figure of $150 billion lost by the U.S. Treasury to foreign non-tax compliance by U.S. taxpayers. My transcribed remarks are below. Also, see William Byrnes’ Guide to FATCA & CRS Compliance (Matthew Bender 5th ed., 2017) at pp. 30, 33-34, 50, 59, 109-112, and 119-122. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2926119 How…
General On February 9, 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) rendered its decision in the X v Staatssecretaris van Financiën (‘X’). The case concerned the possibility of applying the Schumacker doctrine to a non-resident taxpayer in the situation where he earned almost all his income not in one but in several…
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…
In quantum physics, nothing is certain, particles are not to be found at one point but within waves of probabilities and connected particles can mirror each other faster than the speed of light because there is no transfer of information. Agency PE’s threaten to become the quantum physics of taxation. Introduction But let us get…
If there was ever a need to demonstrate the need to improve international tax dispute resolution mechanisms, it was as a speaker at the TP Minds conference earlier this month. In the course of our panel discussion on dispute resolution post BEPS, I asked the audience of over 100 tax directors and managers of multinational…
