In part 1 of this blog, we focused on the increased involvement of platforms in the levy of direct and indirect taxes. In this blog, we will highlight other digital economy tax trends, such as the shift of taxation rights on digital activities and fixed establishments. Shift of taxation rights between jurisdictions More user-and-consumer based…
The digitization and globalization of the economy have created a challenging environment to enforce tax rules and ensure tax compliance. Ever since the OECD’s release of the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)[1], the taxation of the digital economy has been under scrutiny from both a direct and indirect tax perspective. The…
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…
Few events in the last decade have contributed as much to the growth of the digital economy as Covid-19. The pandemic forced entire populations to go into lockdown, working from home became the norm and outdoor activities were limited to a bare minimum out of fear of infection. All these factors have contributed to a…
On 10 July 2020, the Italian Supreme Court (also ‘Court’) issued its decision No. 14756 (‘Decision 14756/2020’, published in H&I 2020/470 with comments by Arginelli and Tenore) dealing, amongst others, with the interpretation of the beneficial owner requirement under the Interest and Royalty Directive (Directive 2003/49/EC; ‘IRD’) and the abuse of the IRD. The case…
When the UK introduced its diverted profits tax, I was telephoned by a lawyer at the US Treasury. He wanted to know whether the “just and reasonable” apportionment of profits, in certain circumstances where DPT applied, was a new development? What did it mean? I was reminded of that discussion this week as a result…
State of affairs Over the last two decades, eminent scholars and commentators have been highlighting the numerous issues arising from the current regime governing insurance and financial services as laid down in Article 135, 1, (a)-(g) of the Directive 2006/112/EC (“VAT directive“). From the lack of competitiveness of EU financial services businesses versus US counterparts…
I. Introductory remarks In its recently closed public consultation on a possible carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) for selected sectors as a key element of the EU Green Deal, the EU Commission has asked for comments on several policy options for such a mechanism. In the accompanying Inception Impact Assessment, the Commission has furthermore set…
Case law on thepurpose of transactions is starting to develop around the world. Is there a common pattern? Whether a financing structure was a “tax avoidance arrangement” under now repealed general anti-avoidance provisions of the New Zealand Income Tax Act 2004 was examined last month by the New Zealand Court of Appeal in Commissioner of…
Last month, the second edition of the book ‘Fundamentals of EU VAT Law‘ was published.[1] It was written by Herman van Kesteren, Simon Cornielje, Frank Nellen and me. The second edition received a major update and contains – among other things – new key CJEU case law and new EU VAT legislation (such as the…
With the General’s Court ruling on July 15, 2020, a first step has been taken in the question whether the Irish government has provided Apple with State Aid. So far, the General Court has ruled that the Commission has not been able to prove that the Irish government has provided State Aid to Apple. The…
Tatiana Falcão[1] On 22 July 2020 the European Commission opened a public consultation on the Carbon Border Adjustment proposal put forward as part of the EU Green Deal. This is not the first document issued under that initiative. In March 2020 the European Commission published an Inception Impact Assessment Report to discuss policy options for…
In a moment of crisis like the one provoked by the Coronavirus, the problems of tax avoidance and tax evasion become particularly relevant, even more when they are blamed for cutting national resources to ride out the crisis and save millions of lives. Experts and activists in many countries are appealing to governments to go…
Recently, national courts of several EU member States (notably France[1], Italy[2], the Netherlands[3] and Spain[4]) referred to the landmark judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in the so-called “Danish cases”.[5] On 20 April 2020, the Swiss Supreme Court gave its own interpretation of these judgments[6] in an outbound dividend case…
