Administrative obligations, CJEU, Compliance, Excise duties, Harmonized taxes, Italy, Subsidies

(PhD – University of Brescia/Bergamo; Tax Lawyer in Milan)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Abuse of rights, Distance selling, Double Taxation, EU/EEA, VAT

(UC Louvain; Arteo Law, Brussels)/ /Leave a comment

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…

COVID-19, EU law, EU/EEA, Tax Avoidance, Tax evasion, Tax haven, Tax Policy

(University of Amsterdam)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Abuse of law, Beneficial ownership, Dividends, EU law, EU/EEA, Switzerland, Withholding Taxes

(Tax Policy Center, University of Lausanne; Danon, Lausanne) and (Tax Policy Center, University of Lausanne)/ /Leave a comment

Recently, national courts of several EU member States (notably France[1], Italy[2], the Netherlands[3] and Spain[4]) referred to the landmark judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in the so-called “Danish cases”.[5] On 20 April 2020, the Swiss Supreme Court gave its own interpretation of these judgments[6] in an outbound dividend case…

EU/EEA, Ireland, MNE Profits, Ruling, State Aid, Subsidiary

(Athens Law School)/ /1 Comment

Some cases just have it all; the Apple case is one of them. First, size: at more than thirteen billion euros, the recovery order Ireland had to enforce dwarfed the previously biggest one (EDF, at around one billion euros). Second, international political implications: the case ignited transatlantic tensions between the EU and the USA, both…

COVID-19, Digitalization, Norway, OECD, Permanent Establishments, Physical presence

(Wolters Kluwer)/ /Leave a comment

The global COVID-19 pandemic that arose in early 2020 could be considered the most disruptive factor the world has witnessed in generations. Paradigms taken for granted until then were upended, resulting in a ‘new normal’ that has changed the way we do business. As with all facets of business, international taxation also came under increased…

Indirect taxation, VAT

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

We are glad to announce that Dr Giorgio Beretta has joined the Kluwer International Tax Blog’s team as an editor, responsible for the new section of the blog dedicated to VAT/GST and indirect taxation. Dr Beretta holds a PhD in Tax Law from LIUC University (Milan, Italy), where he defended his doctoral thesis on “European…

COVID-19, EU/EEA, State Aid, Subsidies

(Maastricht University)/ /Leave a comment

In the aftermath of the surge in COVID-19 related government support to businesses and just days after UK Brexit negotiators announced not to extend the deadline for the ongoing negotiations with the European Union, the European Commission launched its “White Paper on levelling the playing field as regards foreign subsidies” on 17 June 2020. It…

Abuse of law, Beneficial ownership, EU law, EU/EEA, Exemption, Holding company, Spain, Subsidiary, Withholding Taxes

(Partner Cuatrecasas Madrid) and (Tax Associate Cuatrecasas)/ /Leave a comment

In its judgment of January 21, 2020 (Santander case, available here), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) not only prevented the Spanish Central Tax Tribunal (Tribunal Económico-Administrativo Central – TEAC) from requesting a preliminary ruling due to its lack of juridical independence (para. 77), but it also recalled its obligation to ensure that EU law…

Administrative obligations, COVID-19, Digitalization, EU/EEA, Tax Policy, VAT

(Ministry of Finance, Tax Administration – Republic of Croatia)/ /Leave a comment

The global crisis provoked by the Covid-19 disease has affected several spheres of our lives. Apart from health, the biggest impact has been felt in the reduction of production and consumption, accompanied by a general tightening of business conditions. Although the course of the pandemic disease remains a factor of uncertainty, it becomes increasingly apparent…

Direct or General Costs, EU/EEA, Holding company, Share Dealings, VAT

(Maastricht University, PwC Netherlands, ‘s-Gravenhage Court of First Instance)/ /Leave a comment

The VAT treatment of the issue, acquisition, holding and sale of shares has become a rather complicated affair over the last thirty years. The case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on this topic is fundamentally ambiguous, causing serious legal uncertainty among businesses [1]. In its judgment in C&D Foods…

MNEs, OECD, Transfer Pricing, United Nations, United States

(University of Lausanne)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Denmark, MLI, OECD, Permanent Establishments

(International tax professional)/ /Leave a comment

Denmark accepted all MLI articles dealing with PEs, but what does that actually mean?  Reading the MLI itself leaves one somewhat bewildered, being thrown back and forth between a variety of articles and options.  Reading the instrument of ratification, does not necessarily help: it tends be a collection of long list of countries with treaty…

Abuse of law, Anti-tax avoidance, Double non-taxation, Double Taxation, International Tax Law, Mauritius, MLI, Netherlands, OECD, Principal purpose test, Tax Avoidance, Tax Planning, Tax Treaties, Treaty shopping, United Kingdom

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

In last month’s blog I promised to address the treaty aspects of  Davies and Others v HMRC [2020] UKUT 67 (TCC). The case concerned UK resident individuals who each took out a life insurance policy with a Bermuda insurer under which their entitlements were linked to a Mauritian company that developed land in the UK….