The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented times for the world. Many countries, including India, most of Western Europe and some states of the US have now imposed mandatory lockdowns, in addition to restricting international travel in order to reduce the number of cases, “flatten the curve” and avoid overburdening the healthcare infrastructure. These lockdowns,…
Measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus have impacted on every aspect of life. While the degree of enforced isolation and immobility varies from country to country, the basic elements remain the same: Most people are compelled to stay at home and to work from there if possible. The speed with which the pandemic has…
The purpose of this short contribution is to shed some light on the discussion regarding an Uber drivers’ qualification – whether they should be considered employees or independent contractors. If Uber is considered as an employer and the driver as an employee, then the Company will be responsible for certain matters. For instance, depending on…
Shareholder activities? As mentioned by the 2017 Transfer Pricing Guidelines (TPG) of the OECD[1], one of the two main issues relating to the analysis of transfer pricing for intra-group services, is to determine whether the service has been rendered or not and to this end, the benefit test is applied. However, in some situations, further…
The decisions of European Court of Justice (CJEU) in the Vodafone and Tesco cases[1] were eagerly awaited by many interested in EU tax law. It was expected that the CJEU would answer the question whether progressive turnover-based business taxes levied on certain sectors of the economy are compatible with EU law, more specifically with the…
Introduction There is no divine truth about what the Arm’s Length Standard (ALS) actually means. Its content can only be determined by a decision, which can be reached by a court or by means of political consensus. There is no international tax court with jurisdiction to promote harmonization among countries on the content of the…
In the last years, we have witnessed many reforms to make the EU VAT system more consistent and business friendly. The Quick Fixes, which took effect on 1 January 2020, sought to harmonize some of the rules governing the intra-EU trade as the European Commission pointed out that businesses engaged in cross-border trade incur 11%…
Since 2013 the OECD has worked on forging a grand coalition (now 136 countries) it calls the “Inclusive Framework” around adopting the outcomes of the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project of 15 reports. In 2005, ten years before the BEPS reports, the OECD published E-commerce: Transfer Pricing and Business Profits Taxation to…
Tax Administration Announces New Control Project The Finnish Tax Administration has announced that it will be tackling arrangements to avoid withholding tax on dividends. According to the Tax Administration, nominee-registered shares are subject to withholding tax avoidance also in Finland. The new control project investigates the extent of the phenomenon and plans to implement comprehensive…
1. Purpose of the blog This contribution is a follow up to the previous contribution of the author. The objective is to address the tentative impact of the Pillar I debate on decentralized MNE business models in light of the “ongoing work” of the OECD with respect to the digitalization of the economy[1]. The reader…
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…
1. Purpose of the contribution The purpose of this contribution is to address the impact of the Pillar I debate on principal structures or centralized business models. The tentative assessment will be made in light of the “ongoing work” of the OECD with respect to the digitalization of the economy[1]. 2. Illustration of a typical…
Online platforms are an important part of the digital economy and one of the key enablers of the tremendous growth of the e-commerce sector. According to data published by Ecommerce Europe, business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce turnover in Europe is worth over EUR 621 billion and continues to grow at around 13%.[1] This is quite fast considering…
The Spanish government approved, on 18 February 2020, a bill for a digital service tax (DST) for discussion by the parliament[1]. The current government has a majority consensus on the new tax with the rest of the political parties, and it is, therefore, very likely to pass the bill. Background: EU Proposal The Spanish Digital…
