Beneficial ownership, CJEU, EU law, Exemption, Italy, Withholding Taxes

(Catholic University in Italy; Maisto & Associati) and (Maisto e Associati)/ /1 Comment

On 10 July 2020, the Italian Supreme Court (also ‘Court’) issued its decision No. 14756 (‘Decision 14756/2020’, published in H&I 2020/470 with comments by Arginelli and Tenore) dealing, amongst others, with the interpretation of the beneficial owner requirement under the Interest and  Royalty Directive (Directive 2003/49/EC; ‘IRD’) and the abuse of the IRD. The case…

Abuse of law, Abuse of rights, Anti-tax avoidance, Corporate income tax, EU law, EU/EEA, Finance, GAAR, International Tax Law, M&A and Reorganizations, MLI, MNE Profits, Permanent Establishments, Principal purpose test, Principal/ancillary arrangements, Profit allocation methods, Tax Avoidance, Transfer Pricing, United Kingdom, United States

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

When the UK introduced its diverted profits tax, I was telephoned by a lawyer at the US Treasury. He wanted to know whether the “just and reasonable” apportionment of profits, in certain circumstances where DPT applied, was a new development? What did it mean? I was reminded of that discussion this week as a result…

COVID-19, Employment, Exemption, Italy, Residence, Ruling, Spain, Tax Treaties

(Maisto e Associati)/ /1 Comment

The Revenue Agency confirms the exemption of income derived abroad by foreign maritime employees who are tax residents of Italy The Italian Revenue Agency has recently issued a ruling (No. 134/2020) clarifying that the income derived by a Spanish citizen (and Italian-tax resident) maritime employee working aboard a ship flying a non-Italian flag for more…

BEPS, Digital economy, Intertax, OECD, Pillar II

(University of Hamburg; Tax administration, Germany) and (Ministry of Finance, Germany; LMU University, Munich; Cologne University)/ /Leave a comment

In October 2020, the OECD Secretariat published the ‘Report on Pillar One Blueprint‘ approved by the Inclusive Framework on BEPS as a result of the work on the tax challenges arising from digitisation. The Unified Approach (UA), which is the basis of the Blueprint, is intended to complement the existing system of corporate income taxation….

BEPS, Digitalization, MNEs, OECD, Pillar II

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

1. Introduction The Pillar Two Report[1] (the “Report”) which contains the Global Minimal Tax (the “GloBE tax”) proposal has recently been on the top of discussions both in the academic and practice world. While the proposals objective is debatable[2], the blueprint contains dozens of new rules, exceptions and mechanisms which may possibly complicate life not…

Abuse of law, Compliance, Corporate income tax, Estonia

(RASK Attorneys-at-Law)/ /Leave a comment

One objective of Estonian Tax and Customs Board (ETCB) is to provide simple and convenient services to taxpayers. To achieve this, the ETCB has invested significant amount of resources to enable taxpayers, both companies and natural persons, to submit their tax returns online and communicate with the ETCB via electronic means to the largest extent….

BEPS, CFC, Digitalization, Intertax, OECD, Pillar II

(University of Cologne)/ /Leave a comment

Since the OECD introduced its Global Anti-Base Erosion Proposal (GLoBE) in early 2019 as the second pillar of the ongoing search for a solution to the tax challenges of the Digitalisation of the economy, the goal of GloBE seems to be moving. On the one hand, already the name suggests that the proposal for a…

CJEU, EU law, EU/EEA, Financial services, Negative harmonization, Public consultation, Reform, VAT

, (Baker McKenzie (London))/ /Leave a comment

State of affairs Over the last two decades, eminent scholars and commentators have been highlighting the numerous issues arising from the current regime governing insurance and financial services as laid down in Article 135, 1, (a)-(g) of the Directive 2006/112/EC (“VAT directive“). From the lack of competitiveness of EU financial services businesses versus US counterparts…

Carbon Tax, Customs and Excise, EU Green Deal, EU law, EU/EEA, WTO

(University of Muenster)/ /Leave a comment

I. Introductory remarks In its recently closed public consultation on a possible carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) for selected sectors as a key element of the EU Green Deal, the EU Commission has asked for comments on several policy options for such a mechanism. In the accompanying Inception Impact Assessment, the Commission has furthermore set…

Dividends, India, Tax on distributed profits, Tax Treaties

(Managing Partner at BMR Legal) and (BMR Legal)/ /Leave a comment

In international customary law, the scope of bilateral tax conventions is not exhaustive and instead limited by the temporal scope set out in ‘taxes covered’ clause. It is true that the scope of such clause, albeit with additional procedural stipulations, is ambulatory and taxes subsequently enacted under the domestic law provisions by treaty partners are…

Arbitration, Deduction, India, Investment treaties, Netherlands

, (BMR Legal)/ /Leave a comment

Last month witnessed the release of the operative part of the award of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (‘PCA’) in the dispute initiated by Vodafone’s Dutch entity against Government of India (‘GOI’) under the India-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Treaty (‘Indo-Dutch BIT’). It is understood that the detailed award has been withheld in view of the request…

Permanent Establishments, Profit allocation methods, Switzerland

(Homburger)/ /Leave a comment

Swiss Domestic Law provides for an unlimited personal tax liability for companies if their registered offices or their effective place of management is located in Switzerland. This tax liability however does not extend to permanent establishments abroad.[1] The delimitation methods of the tax liability for permanent establishments in foreign countries is based on the principles…

Administrative cooperation, Digital economy, Law enforcement, Non-established taxpayers, VAT, Voluntary compliance

(Spanish Tax Administration)/ /Leave a comment

Marcos Álvarez Suso (Auditing Department of the Spanish Tax Authorities) The digital economy in the 21st century New business models associated to the so-called digital economy are blossoming in all type of economic activities all over the globe. Among many other examples of increasingly digitalized business we can find online goods sellers, streaming television services, remote…