BEPS, Double Taxation, Hybrids, International Tax Law, MLI, OECD, Residence, Tax Treaties, Treaty shopping, United States

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

Commissioner of Taxation v Resource Capital Fund IV LP [2019] FCAFC 51 addressed a number of fundamental international tax issues. The case concerned a gain from the sale of shares in an Australian incorporated public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange by two Cayman Island limited partnerships whose partners included residents of the United…

BEPS, Digitalization, Latin America, OECD

(Bomchil)/ /1 Comment

A. Where are we? A worldwide and LATAM picture A current worldwide picture of unilateral initiatives developed on the direct taxation of the digitalized economy includes at least the following paths:[1] (i) the traditional PE concept, as updated by BEPS Final Recommendation on Action 7, and subsequently reflected in the OECD MC 2017 and the…

BEPS, Digitalization, MNE Profits, OECD

, (Squire Patton Boggs)/ /Leave a comment

On June 9, 2019 the G20 finance ministers endorsed the program of work that was issued by the OECD’s Inclusive Framework on BEPS on May 31, 2019 in relation to tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy. As expected, the program of work has two parts. The first part, called Pillar One, aims…

Cryptocurrency, Finland

(Hannes Snellman Attorneys Ltd)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The taxation of cryptocurrencies has managed to attract strong interest even among the general Finnish population. A key reason has been the perceived unfairness of crypto taxation, because a private person pays taxes on crypto gains but has been unable to deduct losses. Luckily, recent case law brought change to this asymmetry. For the…

BEPS, CbC, OECD, Transfer Pricing

(International tax professional)/ /Leave a comment

This is a short series of blogs on transfer pricing documentation: what I have seen over the years, how it does (not) align with OECD documentation requirements, and thoughts on possible improvements. I focus on practicalities. Why do we need TP documentation? One answer is because many countries’ laws require it. More interesting is the…

Tax Policy, Transfer Pricing, United States

(Texas A&M University Law)/ /Leave a comment

In a double take two-to-one decision because of a withdrawn decision due to the death of a judge, a Ninth Circuit panel in Altera reversed a unanimous en banc decision of the Tax Court that the qualified cost sharing arrangements (QCSA) regulations[1] were invalid under the Administrative Procedure Act.[2]  The renown Professor Calvin Johnson (Texas) and I shared comments on this case. Professor Johnson’s…

BEPS, Double Taxation, International Tax Law, MAPs and APAs, OECD, Residence, Tax Treaties

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

Mutual agreement procedure (MAP) pursuant to article 25 of the OECD and UN Model treaties imposes obligations on tax administrations. Inadequacies in the performance of these obligations has been the subject of much work by the OECD in the course of the 21st Century. BEPS Action 14 OECD Action 14 – 2015 Final Report, Making…

Switzerland, Tax Policy

(EY)/ /Leave a comment

Beginning 1 January 2020, Switzerland will significantly reshape its corporate taxation in an effort to comply with international tax standards while remaining one of the most attractive jurisdictions for foreign investments. 1. Introduction In this article, I will provide the background that led to that Swiss tax reform (“Reform”) also elaborating on the tax regimes…

Intertax

(General Editor of Intertax)/ /Leave a comment

I am delighted to inform you that the June-July 2019 double issue of Intertax has been published. It includes the editorial by Stef van Weeghel, Digitalization in a Broader Tax Perspective; double-blind peer-reviewed articles on corporate tax systems, the MLI, cross-border losses and EU law, liability in EU VAT, and taxation of cryptocurrencies. You may…

BEPS, Digitalization, OECD, Withholding Taxes

(Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)/ /3 Comments

Taxation of the digital economy has become a war in the post-BEPS world. As with any war, there are more or less clear rivals and there will be of course winners and losers. It goes without saying that there are also “casualties” in this conflict, i.e. those policy options initially included in the drafts published…

Digitalization, Employment, Residence, Tax Policy, Tax Treaties

(University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

The quest to align the international tax order with the challenges posed by the digital economy has so far mostly focused on solving issues involving incorporated structures. What is somehow escaping the attention of the tax treaty policymakers is the fact that it is not only in the domain of companies that we have lost…

BEPS, India, Limitation on benefits, Mauritius, Principal purpose test, Treaty shopping

(Indian Revenue Service)/ /Leave a comment

BEPS Action Plan 6 observes that corporations are misusing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) provisions by indulging in treaty shopping. A typical example of treaty abuse that BEPS Action Plan 6 seeks to counter is that of an American corporation entering the Indian market through Mauritius because of the favourable India-Mauritius DTAA. An intermediary mailbox…

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digitalization, Residence

(Brazilian Institute for Tax Law (IBDT))/ /Leave a comment

This is the first article of a short series that explores the international taxation of income attributable to Autonomous Artificial Intelligence (AAI). The series is based on an article written by the author and published by Kluwer in INTERTAX, Volume 47, Issue 05 (May 2019).[1] Each article features questions posed by prominent tax professors around…

Double Taxation, MAPs and APAs, OECD, Tax Treaties, Transfer Pricing

(Tax Policy Division, Ministry of Finance, India) and (Tax Policy Center of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland)/ /Leave a comment

Corresponding adjustments and the MAP process When the price charged for goods or services sold between related parties is not in accordance with the arm’s length principle, Article 9(1) of the OECD Model authorizes the tax authorities of a State to make primary adjustments to the transfer price. This may trigger economic double taxation as…