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…
In Part 1, we discussed in a first step the ground barrier for taxing data in the context of international taxation: a proper definition of data. In a second step, we showed you which negative effects result from the trilemma of data-based taxation approaches. In part 2, we want to present possible solutions on how…
For international tax law, it is of central importance how to locate, value & control the increasingly digital cross-border supply and service relationships within a multinational enterprise (MNE). This counts primarily from a tax authority perspective. Nevertheless, digitalization has not only significant effects for highly digitalized businesses but for the economy itself, as the overall…
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…
One function of the law is to regulate human behaviour. An instrument to reach this goal is to impose sanctions for undesirable behaviour on persons who are responsible for inadmissible acts. It goes without saying that it should be commonly and clearly known at least: which occurrences are undesirable by the lawgiver; who is responsible…
Introduction Except for the unprecedented health crisis, the COVID-19 spread has generated the biggest economic and financial shock of the century across markets and cross-borders.[1] The preventive and reactive mechanisms developed by national governments and international and supranational organizations to respond to the crisis give in turn rise to a plethora of tax questions. It…
In these unprecedented times of the Coronavirus pandemic, governments all around the world are striving to sustain their health systems while managing, as far as possible, the economic damages caused by the pandemic crisis. One of the most compelling economic objectives of every government during this crisis is to keep businesses in operation while preserving,…
Inspiration, purpose and the context of this contribution In the article “The PPT in Post-BEPS Tax Treaty Law: It Is a GAAR but Just a GAAR!”, Professor Robert Danon convincingly demonstrated that “while the PPT certainly permits a purposive interpretation, it may not be used to build into tax treaty law additional requirements that were…
Composite supplies are one of the most commonly debated issues under European VAT (EU VAT). Despite its unquestionable relevance as a topic, neither Directive 2006/112/EC (the VAT Directive) nor Council Implementing Regulation (EU) no. 282/2011 (the VAT Implementing Regulation) contain any settled rule providing a clear indication on how to deal with the issue of…
The importance of digitalization has been demonstrated especially at this time of the COVID-19 disease pandemic. State and local institutions, as well as entrepreneurs, were in fact able to maintain their legal obligations and rights only through digital applications. In addition, digital purchases and payments have stimulated the further development of digitalization. Countries around the…
Following the Supreme Court decision in Fowler v HMRC [2020] UKSC 22, the UK First-tier Tribunal has considered another case where classification of a source of income for tax treaty purposes was in issue. This time the question was classification as business profit or income from immovable property in the Canada-UK double tax treaty. In…
The Court of Cassation (the Italian Supreme Court), in recent judgment no. 14983 of 15 July 2020, has set forth the principle of law that, as regards excise duties, the omission of a formal compliance requirement (notably, sending a monthly declaration to the Italian Customs Agency) does not preclude the application of a subsidized tax…
International double taxation should be to European VAT harmonization what tropical temperatures should be to the polar regions: a challenge of the natural laws of the universe and, at the same time, a wound inflicted to a fragile ecosystem. And yet, last June, both phenomena were officially recognized by international independent bodies: temperatures of 38…
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…
