OECD

Organisation for Economic and Commercial Development.

BEPS, COVID-19, Double Taxation, Employment, Fees for technical services, International Tax Law, Ireland, MLI, OECD, Permanent Establishments, POEM, Residence, Tax Treaties, United Nations

(Temple Tax Chambers; King’s College London)/ /Leave a comment

Measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus have impacted on every aspect of life. While the degree of enforced isolation and immobility varies from country to country, the basic elements remain the same: Most people are compelled to stay at home and to work from there if possible. The speed with which the pandemic has…

Digitalization, OECD, Pillar I

(Tax Policy Center of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland)/ /Leave a comment

1. Purpose of the blog This contribution is a follow up to the previous contribution of the author. The objective is to address the tentative impact of the Pillar I debate on decentralized MNE business models in light of the “ongoing work” of the OECD with respect to the digitalization of the economy[1]. The reader…

Abuse of law, Anti-tax avoidance, BEPS, Double non-taxation, Double Taxation, International Tax Law, MLI, OECD, Principal purpose test, Residence, Substance, Tax Avoidance, Tax Planning, Tax Treaties, Treaty shopping, Uncategorized, United Nations

(Temple Tax Chambers; King’s College London)/ /1 Comment

The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the Tax Court of Canada decision in Canada v. Alta Energy Luxembourg S.A.R.L., 2020 FCA 43 (CanLII).   The case is of some significance because the Canadian Revenue Agency (“CRA”) sought to apply the Canadian domestic general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) in order to deny treaty relief. The…

Digitalization, OECD, Pillar I

(Tax Policy Center of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland)/ /Leave a comment

1. Purpose of the contribution The purpose of this contribution is to address the impact of the Pillar I debate on principal structures or centralized business models. The tentative assessment will be made in light of the “ongoing work” of the OECD with respect to the digitalization of the economy[1]. 2. Illustration of a typical…

OECD

(Osgoode Hall Law School)/ /Leave a comment

This is not a technical commentary.  It does not react to a ‘new’ development or case.  But these comments do try to focus on understated rudiments of the present international tax debate which may not have received the focus and direct unvarnished attention they deserve.[1] We would do well to remember, as we seek solutions…

Digitalization, MNE Profits, OECD

(Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)/ /Leave a comment

The magnitude of the so-called Pillar 1 of the OECD Unified Approach to address the tax challenges of the digitalization of the economy should not be underestimated, especially after the endorsement by the Inclusive Framework that took place last week. Specifically, under the name of “Amount A”, the proposal entails the creation of a new…

Abuse of law, Anti-tax avoidance, BEPS, EU law, International Tax Law, Ireland, MNE Profits, OECD, Transfer Pricing

(Temple Tax Chambers; King’s College London)/ /Leave a comment

Revised transfer pricing legislation set out in the Finance Act 2019 (No 45 of 2019), sections 24 to 27, represents a radical shift in the Irish approach to this area of international tax law. Transfer pricing legislation came somewhat later to Ireland than other OECD countries, having been first introduced in Finance Act 2010. The…

Double Taxation, EU law, EU/EEA, International Tax Law, Ireland, MNE Profits, OECD, Permanent Establishments, Tax Treaties, Transfer Pricing, United States

(Temple Tax Chambers; King’s College London)/ /Leave a comment

Two cases, currently before different courts highlight long-standing questions around the attribution of profits to permanent establishments. Irish and United Kingdom law on the attribution of profits to branches of non-resident companies remined identical for decades until 2003. In each country, a non-resident company trading through a branch in that country was chargeable to corporation…

Brazil, OECD, Transfer Pricing

(Rio de Janeiro State University, Sergio André Rocha Advocacia & Consultoria Tributária)/ /Leave a comment

In 2017, Brazil sent a formal request to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) to become one of its members. It seems that this decision — made by the economic team of former president Michel Temer — was not preceded by relevant discussions with areas potentially impacted by the occasional accession of the…

Double non-taxation, EU law, EU/EEA, Hybrids, OECD

(Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)/ /Leave a comment

May linking rules related to hybrid financial instruments be incompatible with the EU Fundamental freedoms? And with Article 24 (4) OECD MC? What about treaty override? It is no secret that hybrid financial instruments (HFIs) serve actual business and legal purposes by allowing investors and issuers to better meet their economic and legal needs from…

EU/EEA, Fixed establishment, OECD, Subsidiary, VAT

(Amsterdam Centre for Tax Law (ACTL) of the University of Amsterdam; Lund University)/ /Leave a comment

On 14 November 2019, AG Kokott released her opinion in Dong Yang Electronics (Case C-547/18), referred to the Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) by the Regional Administrative Court of Wroclaw (Poland) and concerning the existence of a VAT fixed establishment (FE) of a third-country (Korea) company in an EU Member State (Poland). As AG…

Dividends, Double Taxation, International Tax Law, Latin America, Netherlands, OECD, Personal income tax, Residence, Tax Treaties, United Nations, Withholding Taxes

(Temple Tax Chambers; King’s College London)/ /1 Comment

Equality is one of the core values of modern democratic societies. It is no accident that equality featured in opening preamble to the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the first article of both the French Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789 and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights…

EU/EEA, OECD, Sharing economy, Tax Policy, VAT

(Amsterdam Centre for Tax Law (ACTL) of the University of Amsterdam; Lund University)/ /Leave a comment

The past few years have seen the sensational rise of new models of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, which have been synthetically captured under the umbrella definition of “sharing economy”. The ascent of digital platforms – including renowned companies headquartered in the Silicon Valley like Airbnb and Uber, or the French unicorns…

International Tax Law, OECD, Tax Treaties, United Nations

(Temple Tax Chambers; King’s College London)/ /1 Comment

Some four years ago in this blog, I wrote about problems that would start to emerge as exchange of information between tax administrations became more routine and extensive.  If nothing else, the number of disputes in this area was bound to increase. See also Exchange of Information: bumps in the road. 2019 has already seen…