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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
