The recent English Court of Appeal decision in Hargreaves Property Holdings Ltd v HMRC [2024] EWCA Civ 365 http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2024/365.html  has again examined the meaning of beneficial ownership and the related expression “beneficially entitled” in UK domestic tax law. It follows shortly after the Tax Court of Canada decision in Husky Energy Energy Inc. v The…

In my previous blog I examined the Tax Court of Canada’s analysis of the meaning of beneficial ownership in tax treaties in Husky Energy Inc. v The King, 2023 TCC 167 in relation to stock or securities lending. This post examines the application of the General Anti-Avoidance Rule(GAAR) in Canada to the transactions. The facts…

Even before introduction of the BEPS PPT, the UK has had purpose-based provisions in various forms, designed to limit access to treaty benefits in its double tax treaties since the 1960’s. Its standard formulation first appeared in 1992.  Surprisingly, the first case in which the meaning and application of this wording in a tax treaty…

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…