United Nations

United Nations

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…

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…

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…

BEPS, Digitalization, Equalization levy, India, International Tax Law, MNE Profits, OECD, Permanent Establishments, Tax Avoidance, Tax Policy, Tax Treaties, Uncategorized, United Nations

(Advocate)/ /Leave a comment

Globally, countries are making a concerted effort to rein in the direct tax challenges posed by the digital economy. Some of this work is directly inspired by the recommendations set out by the OECD as part of its 15-point Action Plan to tackle base erosion and profit shifting. The Indian government, too, introduced two key…

Alienation of Shares, Double Taxation, International Tax Law, M&A and Reorganizations, MNE Profits, OECD, Real Estate, Tax Treaties, United Nations

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

Two of my recent articles have examined the Australian decision in Commissioner of Taxation v Resource Capital Fund IV LP [2019] FCAFC 51. The articles examine the central question on the source of income earned and the tax classification and entitlement to treaty benefits of investment funds. Real property gains This time I consider two…

Double Taxation, International Tax Law, OECD, Tax Policy, Tax Treaties, United Nations

(Temple Tax Chambers; King’s College London)/ /2 Comments

The High Court of Kenya gave judgement on 15 March 2019 on a challenge to the validity of the Kenyan-Mauritius double tax treaty in Tax Justice Network- Africa v Kenya Revenue Authority and others.  The petitioners had sought a declaration that the treaty had not been subjected to the ratification of domestic law and the…

BEPS, International Tax Law, MLI, OECD, Tax Policy, Tax Treaties, Transfer Pricing, United Nations

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

The update on tax certainty IMF/OECD Report for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors   published on 22 July 2018 may not have been everyone’s summer holiday reading. This report follows on from the 2017 IMF/OECD Report for the G20 Finance Ministers in March 2017. It should certainly give pause for thought. The “tax…

CSR, United Nations

(Lund University) and (University of Oklahoma)/ /Leave a comment

On 25 September 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the historic resolution Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The agenda calls upon all 193 UN member states to strive to achieve a socially, environmentally and economically sustainable world by 2030. The agenda contains 17 goals and 169 sub-objectives – Sustainable Development Goals…

Arbitration, BEPS, EU/EEA, MAPs and APAs, OECD, Tax Policy, United Nations

(TRIBUTE Foundation for improvement of international tax dispute resolution)/ /Leave a comment

A world of tax without disputes is an illusion. It is just as much an illusion as a world without tax. Tax and disputes come together inseparably. Disputes is not something to be ashamed of – I say this in particular to authorities. Nor – and it this meant more for taxpayers –  to be…

Arbitration, BEPS, Hybrids, OECD, Permanent Establishments, Residence, Tax Avoidance, Tax Treaties, United Nations

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

Tax treaty negotiators in 100 countries will be tied up over the next few months with the challenge to evaluate their positions on the BEPS Multilateral Convention (BEPS Convention) with a view to participation in the signing ceremony scheduled for 7 June 2017 in Paris. The many options offered by the BEPS Convention make it…

BEPS, OECD, Tax Policy, Transfer Pricing, United Nations

(International Tax Student at Jindal Global Law School)/ /Leave a comment

A recent ruling in GE Money Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. v. DCIT, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has further contributed to the uncertainties in Transfer Pricing in India. The ruling is a drastic departure from international transfer pricing norms especially the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines and UN Transfer Pricing Manual. Brief Facts GE Money…

BEPS, OECD, Transfer Pricing, United Nations

(University of Sao Paulo; Lacaz Martins, Pereira Neto, Gurevich & Schoueri Advogados) and (Lacaz Martins, Pereira Neto, Gurevich & Schoueri Advogados)/ /1 Comment

Brazil is known for its unique transfer pricing legislation. While in most countries the use of comparables is central for the application of the transfer pricing methods, the Brazilian system has conceived the “fixed margins”, as means of ensuring practicability[1]. The Brazilian legislation adopts the predetermined profit margins under the equivalents of the resale and…

Arbitration, BEPS, OECD, Tax Treaties, United Nations, WTO

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

The OECD has today published details of the peer review and monitoring process of the Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) under Action 14 of the BEPS Action Plan. The framework includes the terms of reference for peer review based on the Action 14 final report minimum standards, an assessment methodology for the process and a reporting…

BEPS, OECD, Permanent Establishments, Tax Planning, Tax Policy, Tax Treaties, Transfer Pricing, United Nations

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

The attribution of profits to a permanent establishment is already a complex issue with at least three separate regimes in the tax treaty context- the OECD Authorised Approach under the 2010 OECD version of Article 7 of the OECD Model, the AOA subject to limitations required by the pre-2010 version and that permitted by Article…