United Nations
The terms of reference (ToR) adopted by the Ad Hoc Committee[i] will be submitted to the UN General Assembly and voted during its 79thth session – taking place from 10 to 24 September 2024 in New York. If these terms of reference are adopted, the negotiating committee will be expected to submit a final text…
Resolution 78/230 was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in December, 2023, creating a mandate for an ad-hoc committee inclusive of all UN member states to draft the terms of reference for a framework convention for international cooperation in tax matters. This unprecedented resolution was approved by a majority vote driven by the global…
What is the current Tax Framework under the UN Model for Taxation of International Shipping and Airline-related income? The current version of the United Nations Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries (“UN Model 2021”)[1] offers two alternatives under Article 8. Alternative A aligns with the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and…
Does the helm of command over international tax policy shift to the United Nations? This is the scenario that could be envisioned following the Nov. 22 U.N. General Assembly that approved the Resolution submitted by the Group of African States, following up on the Secretary-General Guterres’ report of last August. The resolution calls for an…
The very recent CJEU judgement in Berlin Chemie A. Menarini v Administraţia Fiscală pentru Contribuabili Mijlocii Bucureşti (Case C-333/20) ECLI:EU:C:2022:291, admirably examined by Giorgio Beretta last week considered the circumstances in which a subsidiary might be a VAT fixed establishment (FE) of its parent company or another affiliate. A Romanian company supplied advertising, marketing and…
Territorial connection (or its more fashionable name “nexus”) for tax purposes is expressed in a variety of ways in domestic and international legal instruments. Permanent establishment in article 5 of the Model treaties and “fixed base” in article 14 of the UN Model are central concepts in direct tax subject matter jurisdiction. Fixed establishment The…
The most recent UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, or COP26, attracted the attention of long-term investors. The reason for that was the announcement of the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation Trustees concerning the creation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).[1] The initiative aims to address one of the complaints brought up by many…
G E Financial Investments Limited v HMRC [2021] UKFTT 210 (TC) raised central aspects of the interpretation of double tax treaties. My previous blogs considered the corporate residence under article 4(1) of the UK-US Double Tax Treaty and the existence of a permanent establishment under article 5(1) of the treaty. The First-tier Tribunal decided that…
1. Background During the 21st Session of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, the relevant members decided to include a new draft – Art. 12B on Automated Digital Services (ADS) as well as its Commentary – in the UN Model.[1] Concerning the agenda of the proposal, the Committee of Experts…
There’s something about OECD’s Pillar One. For some years now, the world has been under the spell of a new system of taxation of companies that make profits in countries without taking root there in any way. They often operate via internet platforms, which means that the profits that are generated elsewhere cannot be taxed…
This article is the last of a series of three posts dealing with non-chargeable intra group services: Shareholder Activities, Duplicate Activities and Incidental Benefits. This post will specifically focus on the delineation of incidental benefits. To get the bigger picture, transfer pricing rules and the standard on which it relies, the arm’s length principle, considers…
A couple of days ago, in the last weekly session of the Indiana-Leeds Summer Tax Workshop, I attended the presentation of a fascinating paper by Steven A. Dean (A Constitutional Moment in Cross-Border Taxation)(1) where the author analyzes the political and economic predominant influence of central economies in the design and shape of post-WWI in…
Duplicate activities? Duplicate services are defined in the 2017 Transfer Pricing Guidelines (TPG) of the OECD as “activities undertaken by one group member that merely duplicate a service that another group member is performing for itself, or that is being performed for such other group member by a third party.” [1] Those activities are expressively…
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…
