Treaties dealing with the division of taxing rights between states.
As from the first BEPS proposals with respect to intangibles, it has been considered that the Arm’s Length Standard (“ALS”) is “slowly but surely being relegated to the back seat” of the OECD Guidelines.[1. R. Robillard, BEPS: Is the OECD Now at the Gates of Global Formulary Apportionment?, 43 Intertax 447, at 447.] Indeed, some…
In many European countries, the question of legal personality has relevance for determining the transparent character of a business entity for tax purposes and this assessment is even more complex when the entity has been established under foreign law. On the other side, in the United States, any business entity can acquire status of corporation…
In the last few months I have been deeply committed with the Klaus Vogel Lecture, which will be held in September 25, 2015, in the Vienna University of Economics and Business (see invitation here). I have chosen the theme “Arm’s Length beyond the Guidelines of the OECD”. My research has led to the writing of…
In many respects a multilateral tax treaty represents an utopian view of international tax law: a wide consensus among nation states to submit themselves to a common set of rules that govern the levying of taxes across national boundaries. While there have been several examples of attempts at multilateral double taxation treaties, such as the…
A Delaware company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of a Swedish corporation (aktiebolag), acted as a non-independent agent on behalf of exporting companies in the United States. The profit of the subsidiary was exempt from corporate taxation in the United States, while the dividends paid to the Swedish parent were subjected to federal tax….
The case brings about the opportunity to fill a gap in the Norwegian tax law. In order to determine the fiscal residence of a corporation, the current formula stipulated by art. 2(2) Tax Act uses the notion of ‘belonging to the jurisdiction’, while the OECD model employs the term ‘place of effective management’[1] as a…
The services permanent establishment concept is perhaps the most noteworthy contribution to tax treaties provided by the UN model. The tax treaty concluded by South Africa and the United States in 1997, to replace the one terminated during the apartheid era, has provided an opportunity to consider thorny questions of services and permanent establishments. The…
In our previous blog we were discussing issues of non-discrimination on the basis of Nationality (article 24.1 MOCDE). Today, it is relevant to point out the fact that the idea of non-discrimination is radically different when the problem is addressed from the perspective of other International Investment Agreements (IIA’s) such as BIT’s and FTA’S. Foreign…
Part 1 of the Report to G20 Development Working group (DWG) on the impact of BEPS in Low Income countries (LICs), dated July 2014, listed in its Section 6: Other High priority BEPS Issues for developing countries, paragraph c), the topic of base erosion through wasteful tax incentives designed to attract investment, labeling it as…
This week, the United Kingdom Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, has ruled that a UK resident individual member of a Delaware limited liability company is entitled to credit in the UK for US tax on the profits of the LLC. Anson v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [2015] UKSC 44 has rejected…
Co-authored by Luís Eduardo Schoueri and Mateus Calicchio Barbosa Spotlight was shed on transparency by the OECD’s BEPS Plan, where a set of Actions was put forward under the flag of “ensuring transparency while promoting increased certainty and predictability”. The document suggests a “more holistic approach” to the matter, and states that the obtaining of…
Article 7(1) of the OECD model treaty is perhaps the most important rule regulating the international taxation of business. It sets out the fundamental basis on which businesses are taxed, that is, the state of residence has the primary right to tax with source state entitlement restricted to taxing the profits of permanent establishments. Source…
Action 6 of the BEPS Action plan is aimed at (i) developing Model Treaty provisions and recommendations on the design of domestic tax rules to prevent the granting of treaty benefit in inappropriate circumstances, (ii) clarifying that tax treaties are not intended to be utilized to generate double non-taxation, and (iii) identifying tax policy considerations…
The DTT’s signed by the LATAM countries generally follow the rule included both in the OECD and UN Tax-Convention Models. Article 24 Section 1 states that “nationals of a contracting state shall not be subjected in the other contracting state to any taxation or any requirement connected therewith, which is other or more burdensome than…
