Organisation for Economic and Commercial Development.
Introduction This is the first part of the input regarding the MLI’s LOB. It addresses the active conduct of a business, which constitutes the first subtest under the MLI’s LOB rule. The second part, in turn, will draw attention to the second and the third subtests, i.e. the concept of income emanating from or being…
Introduction As the General Reporter for the Subject 2 (The Future of Transfer Pricing) of the 2017 IFA Congress in Rio de Janeiro, I joined the plenary session on August 29 in a panel chaired by Luís Eduardo Schoueri and composed of Isabel Verlinden, Jefferson Vanderwolk, Mateus Calicchio Barbosa, Natalia Quiñones, Richard Vann, and Yariv…
There is only one legal certainty about Brexit. On 29 March 2019 EU law will cease to apply in the United Kingdom, as a result of the UK having given notice of withdrawal on 29 March 2017. This is clear from Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union. Draft withdrawal agreement A Draft Agreement…
On 21 March, just a few days after the publication of the (frankly not exciting) OECD report on the tax challenges of digitalization, the European Commission presented its own “package” on the taxation of the digital economy. This comprises: (a) a proposal for a Directive on the corporate taxation of a “significant digital presence”, or…
International VAT Principles Multi-Stage Tax Value-Added Tax (VAT) is designed to collect tax through a staged process. Each business in the supply chain takes part in the process of controlling and collecting the tax based on that supply chain. The business will then remit the portion of tax corresponding to its margin, in other words…
On 6 March 2018 the Grand Chamber of the CJEU ruled in the Achmea decision (C-284/16) that the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between The Netherlands and the Slovak Republic violated EU law because it allowed an arbitral tribunal to interpret provisions of EU law in a dispute between investors and (Member) States, while such interpretation…
Increased focus on taxation of cross-border situations involving both individuals and companies is one of the key features of the post-BEPS international tax environment. One central aspect of this is increased administrative cooperation between tax administrations in exchange of information and assistance in recovery of taxes. Territoriality principle Recent UK decisions have emphasised the need…
Introduction The financial crisis had made multinational enterprises (MNE) look inward for funding options, as external sources of capital were not readily available. Among various intra group-financing possibilities, cash pooling among group members is undoubtedly one of the most important tools to facilitate cash management. Even though tax authorities recognize the commercial rationale of such…
Non-inclusion of the Swiss-United Kingdom income tax treaty in the list of Covered Tax Agreements of both the states on signing the BEPS MLI on 7 June 2017 surprised some observers. This evident gap between two OECD member countries was quickly filled by a protocol to the Swiss-United Kingdom treaty concluded on 30 November 2017….
On February 1, 2018, Indian Finance Minister presented the country’s latest Budget, which contains an international tax proposal that may not send a positive message to foreign companies doing business with India. The Budget proposes to amend the definition of “business connection” stipulated in Explanation 2 to section 9(1)(i) of the Income Tax (IT) Act…
At the current stage, it is difficult to predict a potential application of the principal purposes test (PPT) and its outcome since it has not entered into force in the 72 Signatories of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI). However, assuming that this happens…
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…
